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Resident Evil 7: Biohazard Review

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A few years ago, I reviewed Resident Evil 6 and expressed my disappointment that the series had become overly convoluted and that Capcom had prioritized action and explosive set-pieces over survival horror. I believe I went so far as to suggest it might be time for a franchise reboot of Resident Evil. Naturally, when Capcom released a demo for Resident Evil 7 during E3 2016, I clamored for the credit I deserved for the seeming change in tone and structure. The demo teased a Resident Evil which had abandoned the explosions and bombast of the most recent games and instead had returned to the franchise’s survival horror roots, albeit from a first-person perspective. The dreary environment, the decaying manor, and the foreboding mood present in that demo were an appetizer for Resident Evil 7’s return to the fear and terror that defined the franchise and helped establish the survival horror genre.

Resident Evil 7 puts players in control of Ethan Winters, a generically named every-man protagonist in search of his wife Mia who vanished under mysterious circumstances three years prior. Ethan sets out to Louisiana after receiving an email from Mia beseeching him to come get her. Upon arriving, Ethan is forced to break into the dilapidated Baker Manor. After solving a handful of puzzles, Ethan is reunited with Mia, although she has no recollection of sending him a message. Their reunion is short-lived as Ethan soon encounters the savage Baker family who torture and trap him in their decaying mansion. Ethan soon learns of a strange affliction affecting both Mia and the Bakers and sets out to save his wife, escape the mansion, and survive.

There is no doubt that Capcom took the critical reaction to Resident Evil 6 seriously and decided to return to the franchise’s roots. There are undeniable nostalgic cues meant to remind players of the things that made the early games in the franchise so successful. Resident Evil 7 abandons the globe-spanning missions of the latest entries and returns to a more intimate and enclosed setting. Similar to the Spencer Mansion of the original Resident Evil, Resident Evil 7 takes place in a mysterious mansion (with an eerily familiar shotgun puzzle), albeit one that is far less well-maintained. The game reintroduces the puzzles and keys that force players to trek across the harrowing hallways. Inventory management and item boxes return and even the save system draws cues from the early games. However, it’s the story that feel most familiar to the franchise’s origins. Resident Evil 7 is not about bioterrorism or global threats, it is about being trapped in a spooky mansion where strange and unexplained events are occurring, where horror and danger lurk around every corner, and where the only respite can be found in well-lit rooms which house typewriters tape recorders -- wouldn't want things to be too modern. Resident Evil 7 feels like an undeniable evolution of the original Resident Evil, seemingly discarding the clutter of the rest of the franchise to remind players what attracted them in the first place.

A major part of what makes Resident Evil 7 succeed is how multiple pieces work together to craft a truly terrifying mood that keeps players anxious and on the edge of their seats throughout the game. The Baker Manor is truly a horrifying sight to behold. The windows are boarded up, sinks are filled with unwashed and disgusting plates, and signs of dereliction cover the halls. To make it worse, much of the game is spent in the dark and Ethan is forced to rely on the dim lighting provided by a flashlight. This only serves to draw more attention to the appalling sights which litter the mansion. Fans of the early Resident Evil games will remember how those games relied on fixed camera angles to obscure parts of a room so that players never knew if a monster was lurking out-of-sight. While the first-person camera eliminates this element, the constant sense of paranoia returns through a new feature: doors. Doors are no longer used as load points which provide a momentary calm. Instead, doors are a constant reminder that anything could be lurking out-of-sight and Capcom has done a phenomenal job animating the way that Ethan opens doors to emphasize this fact. Even during combat, when players are face-to-face with the horrors hounding Ethan, the game manages to maintain the sense of anxiety. Unlike most protagonists in the franchise, Ethan has no combat training. Capcom has stressed this point by adding a ridiculous amount of bloom following every shot, which, combined with limited ammo, creates even more stress during high-pressure combat encounters as every shot must count. All that said, I would argue that the biggest mood-setting element is the game’s sound effects. From the creaking of the floors, to the dripping pipes, to the wind blowing through holes in the walls, the sound effects work beautifully to keep players paranoid and constantly remind them that danger could lurk around every corner.

While the mood and environment help to craft a truly terrifying experience, the undeniable stars of Resident Evil 7 are the primary antagonists, the Baker family. Players will spend much of the first half of the game dealing with Jack and Marguerite Baker -- and by dealing with, I really mean hiding in corners and cowering in fear from Jack and Marguerite Baker. The Bakers are immortal enemies that will randomly appear and hunt Ethan down, forcing players to flee in terror as they hobble along in pursuit. While Marguerite will shriek and shout at players, Jack will rely more on taunting, reminding players that he is toying with Ethan and there is little he can do to escape. Yes, players can waste ammo to knock him down, but that’s only a temporary solution as Jack will come barreling through a wall in pursuit of Ethan before too long. In addition to the Bakers, Ethan also encounters zombie-esque enemies called the Molded. These lumbering creatures come in a handful of varieties and serve to break up the encounters with the Bakers. While some have complained about the lack of enemies, I personally viewed the Molded as a necessary supplement which allowed the game to focus on the truly terrifying Bakers. It also meant that the game did not provide players with an arsenal of tools, which, coupled with the aforementioned limited ammo, meant that there was nothing to take away from the horror during each encounter with the Bakers.

For all the good parts of Resident Evil 7, that’s not to say the game is without a handful of flaws. For starters, the majority of the game’s puzzles are far too easy, especially for fans of the franchise’s early games. For instance, there is one puzzle where players must track down three pieces of a lock to proceed, a fairly classic Resident Evil puzzle. In the original Resident Evil, players would have been forced to use context clues and would have been left to scour the rooms they could access in search of the next step in the puzzle. Resident Evil 7 provides a note detailing exactly where the three pieces are located, I believe in the same room. It’s somewhat disappointing and reduces the sense of exploration. That said, I can’t help feeling that the simple puzzles were partially the result of Capcom’s desire to ease fans back after the franchise’s last few action-oriented entries.

A more glaring issue, however, are the game’s handful of bosses. I don’t agree with the sentiment that the bosses are necessarily bad, just that they feel out of place given the tone of the rest of the game. After spending hours creeping around corners and hiding from enemies, bosses feel like enormous bullet-sponges which must be confronted head-on. Coupled with the fact the game throws ammo at you before a boss fight, these encounters lack the tension the game so carefully maintains through pretty much every other part. In some ways, this dissonance between the horror experience of the majority of Resident Evil 7 and the boss fights is indicative of the franchise trying to relocate its footing. It’s almost as if Capcom knew they had to return to the game’s survival horror roots, but since it is a Resident Evil game, it had to have bosses, and since they’ve been away for so long, they weren’t sure how to craft boss encounters that could maintain that tension. This feeling is also exemplified by the divide between the majority of the game and one of the later acts which tries to build connections to the franchise. While the majority of the game is built around mystery and horror, this act is clearly built for exposition, drags on, and is plagued by near-identical hallways. The game still maintains the feeling of paranoia and dread, but it does so through a fairly cheap tool-set, as if Capcom forgot they didn’t need such cheap tools for the majority of the journey.

A number of people have jokingly related Resident Evil 7 to a J.J. Abrams movie -- in that it is constructed around a nostalgic draw to things we remembered and liked, without offering anything new or novel. Yes, Resident Evil 7 uses a number of nostalgic cues to previous games, but I disagree with this sentiment. Resident Evil 7 creates a more terrifying experience than ever experienced in the franchise and the first-person perspective allows new ways to experience those classic Resident Evil horror elements without the limitations of the fixed camera angles. I consider Resident Evil 7 a successful return to the franchise’s survival horror roots, a step back from the action and quick-time events that felt so out of place. When I reviewed Resident Evil 6 nearly four years ago, I recounted a story from my childhood: the gripping fear I felt while playing the first Resident Evil that even the sound of an air-conditioner coming to life was enough to startle me. After around fifteen years, I think I finally have a new version of that story. This time it wasn’t an air-conditioner, but the sound of a loud motorcycle driving by that caused me to jump, pause the game, and do a couple laps around the living room. Honestly, given what Resident Evil 7 set out to do, I think that moment is some of the best praise I can offer.

(Re)Enter the survival horror.


All images owned by Capcom.

Comments

  1. Draylo -
    Draylo's Avatar
    Played 1hr and wanted my money back, too far off track with this game. Gimmie my RE2 remake.