If there is something that I can miss the Resident Evil saga, it is that I believe a real feeling of fear. I usually relate to the franchise of Capcom with moments of tension, events that make my pulse race and make my head boil with all the possible options to make.
However, I don’t remember that moment when my skin froze, my hair stood on end, and a cold spine ran up and down my back. Perhaps it is not even the fault of the game, perhaps it is a task directed to other more recognizable brands in this regard such as Silent Hill or recently the masters of horror: Supermassive Games.
Nonetheless, Resident Evil Village makes real efforts for it, just like its predecessor. It is enough to remember the first walks through the village or walk the corridors of Lady Dimitrescu’s castle to hear how hewood complains and creaks, the gate at the back makes a strange noise or simply, everything is too calm.
When that information from the study suggested that the eighth installment would be less terrifying, they forgot to mention a small part: the Beneviento mansion. Those of you who have played this section of the play know perfectly what I mean and those of you who are not warned, since from now on there are real spoilers for the game.
This is not going to be a pleasant walk in the park
Although most of the experience is centered within the four walls of the mansion, it all begins before you walk through its doors. Ethan advances to a new area after finishing Dimitrescu, safe behind your guns and with the determination to save his daughter Rose.
The tone already changes, even in the environment itself. A soft mist it begins to appear unexpectedly, while the graves and corpses hanging from the trees become a common sight. The rickety wooden bridge warns us that the place we are going is far away.
After a short walk, what was once a splendid garden today stands with withered flowers and a stamp of death. To make matters more difficult, Mia begins to appear in front of us, at intervals of sudden hallucinations.
A sign that our family and emotional ties will be the central axis of what is coming to us. A large tomb surrounded by smaller ones are the advance to the elevator that asks us to deliver the photo of Mia and Rose that we have kept from the beginning of the game. We have arrived, the Beneviento mansion stands in the distance, behind a waterfall.
If we pay attention to the designs that it brings as an extra Resident Evil VillageWe will see that initially Donna Beneviento was going to be the village doc tor, which would have deprived us of suffering the Angie doll. In addition, it was even thought of granting a darker past in which all of Donna’s family had thrown themselves from the top of the waterfall, increasing their misfortune.
In the mouth of the wolf
We’ve been in this boss’s area for too long now and we still haven’t had to face an enemy, shoot and tension can be cut with a knife. Every step we take around the house investigating if there is something useful is fruitless, since there is nothing, beyond the painting of Donna watching us with Angie.
With no choice, we find a new elevator and descend. We ended up in a fairly old autopsy room, with wooden arms and legs, and our full-scale wife in the center. To round off the play, Angie takes away our guns And this is where the real show begins.
This is the moment when Resident Evil Village abandons its conventions and becomes a Outlast or a Silent Hill In all rules. Make no mistake, for a long time the saga was described as survival horror and in this game I ended up with ammunition and resources to spare to survive without hardship.
The definition of gender falls like a slab on us and the escalation of tension increases even more. The inspection of the wooden Mia allows us to solve various puzzles, while her hallucinogenic appearances disturb us more.
Fear is what I felt when we had to descend those stone stairs in the dark, with the cry of a baby in the background and a flashlight that barely illuminates what we have in front of us. Panic is what I suffered once I returned to the autopsy room and found that the lights had been turned off. Terror is what every fiber of my body screamed when that giant fetus began to chase me
I put my hand in the fire that that bloody bloody baby, with distorted cries is a direct inspiration of the same that we could see in the demo of PT on PS4. It was one in the morning when I played this part, in the dark in my house and with my helmets on. I do not know what face it would have but I can imagine it, because I did not have that shotgun or sniper that the game had given me, the main way of acting until that moment disappears. No weapons, no way to defend ourselves, it’s time to run without looking back while we continue solving puzzles.
When we finally manage to activate the elevator, a feeling of relief, a weight that is going away, invades us. Although of course, the Laughter festival for a person who has a phobia of dolls. Angie awaits us and among all her brood of toys, we must find her and put an end to her miserable existence.
The tonality of the camera is yellow, with a certain blur, intensifying the effect of the hallucinations that it causes us with its flowers. After playing hide and seek with her, it all ends with a final stab to Donna. The nightmare is over.
One of the best parts of everything Resident Evil Village and that I have enjoyed the most. Capcom managed to put the word fear on the table and start slapping us with it mercilessly. I don’t know what the future of Resident Evil 9, but with sections close to these, my presence is assured.
