However, this move partially had the opposite effect. In addition to good initial sales, destructive wave 5e  received a flurry of criticism from both camps: fans of classic REs criticize Village for a lot of action, and fans of RE4 for having to wander around locations in search of clues and the presence of mysteries.

This article is devoted to the controversial and problematic moments of Resident Evil Village, which the author faced during his walkthrough.

Graphic Component 

It makes no sense to dwell in detail on the implementation of tracing in the Village – this topic has long been considered by people who are more competent in this matter. There is tracing, but its implementation is far from ideal (read – “screwed to be”).

But the moment of criticism of the game for the lack of an interactive environment in it needs to be considered in more detail.

Indeed, there are few interactive objects in RE Village, mainly objects / mechanisms directly marked for interaction, as well as some destroyed interior elements – bags, vases, etc.

And here it is worth taking a break and thinking a little.

• Only its creators know about all the capabilities and limitations of RE Engine, and something tells me that with this level of graphics, the engine is unlikely to be able to draw out a large number of interactive objects without significant performance drops – this time.
• The RE Village picture is primarily the result of the painstaking work of CAPCOM artists and designers, where each object plays a role in creating a unique atmosphere. And one has only, for example, to shoot from a grenade launcher in one of the rooms of the castle of Eldritch Blast 5e, as all this work, and with them the very atmosphere of the game will sink into oblivion under a pile of scattered rubbish – these are two.

From the above, it follows that the limited interactivity in RE Village is a meaningful and logical decision of the authors.

The Plot Component

Only the lazy didn’t kick Village for the plot. So much has been said and so much more will be …

In general, the story with its extravagance corresponds to the canons of the series, which cannot be said about individual scenes, as well as the characters themselves – they are flat, poorly worked out, most of them are given too little attention and their actions often contradict themselves.

Just what is the initial scene of the appearance of Chris Redfield, who, after another plastic surgery, breaks into the Winters’ house, arranges a pogrom and then loudly commands the hero: “Ethan, no!”. The only thing missing is “Ethan, sit!” or “Ethan, give me a paw!” – this scene looks so wild.

And many of the moments in the Village evoke similar feelings. The protagonist himself gives out diametrically opposite reactions to similar events and no, this is not the evolution of the hero, because such jumps occur more than once or twice during the entire passage.

A Little About the Masters                         

Some time after the beginning, we are presented with the “Firebolt 5e” of the rulers of the Eastern European village, as well as their leader – a certain mother Miranda.

And I don’t know about you, but such an introduction caused mixed feelings in me. If in Resident Evil 7 we were shown the Baker family at the beginning and such a narrative trick was new to the series, in the Village it looks more like self-repetition.

All this strongly resembles another well-known series that has long put a similar technique on the stream – Far Cry. Each new game first introduces the antagonist, and then offers to deal with him, along the way fiddling in the sandbox. Everything repeats itself, right up to an advertising campaign focused on the main villain. I think that if CAPCOM decides to use this technique in the last part of the Winters trilogy, then many will pay attention to this point.

Gameplay Component 

One of the responsibilities of a game designer is to think over and create ways for the user to interact with the game, and the final perception of the product will depend on how fully and efficiently this work is done.

I went through RE Village in a “classic” style – quietly and carefully exploring the locations, thinking over each subsequent step.

One moment puzzled me. I shot a blue bird in a tree and a message appeared: “Take it to the duke, he will do something to it.” Following the advice, I took the bird and … sold it. Because there were no other options. The end…

Imagine my surprise when some time later the cooking function appeared in the game. Here are just an ingredient for the best dishes – that very blue bird (wait a minute – 1 piece for the whole game!) – I have already sold. So my hungry Ethan ran to the very end, occasionally spoiling himself with a pork stew with lamb and local fish ..

If the first moment can still be attributed to my inattention or the notorious “you are not playing like that,” then the next one is a flaw that can potentially spoil the perception of the game.

Imagine you are slowly making your way through the narrow corridors of the factory, there are a couple of cartridges left in the shotgun, and the merchant is still far away. Turn around the corner and then a huge monster appears, wanting to tear the hero to shreds. You unload the remnants of cartridges into it, but in vain – the massive figure of the revived flesh is getting closer … Slowly back away, deciding what to do next – use a pistol or place a mine. And then … the monster turns around and leaves … Drum roll. Curtain.

It turns out that monsters are poorly scripted in the Village and if you accidentally cross the line of their habitat, they will stop pursuing and calmly wander back, not paying attention to shots in the back.

I ran into this several times during the walkthrough, which allows me to say with complete confidence – this is an obvious flaw in CAPCOM.

It was this moment that upset me the most in RE Village. The only good news is that among the numerous reviews I have not seen a mention of this, which means that many, I hope, will not encounter something like this and will not spoil their impression of the passage.

As a result, Resident Evil Village came out as an interesting and varied game. Not without flaws, but still she is able to give 9-12 hours of pleasure. And this is worth a lot in our time. Let’s hope that Game of Thrones S08E03 Torrent will take constructive criticism into account and things will be much better in the new game.