Late Jan 2021, Resident Evil dropped the Maiden demo for their upcoming eighth installment in the series, Resident Evil Village.
Village is a direct follow-up to “Resident Evil Does Texas Chainsaw Massacre”, and sees Ethan Winters reprising his role of most vanilla RE leading man.
Franchise-hype remains decently consistent with new entries, and a new onslaught of vicious, varied, viral-villains to avoid. However, this time, the game’s antagonist has players running in the opposite direction of the nearest exit.
Also, “vicious, varied, viral-villains…”
You like that v-alliteration? Nobody in games journalism doing alliteration as big as me.
The end of the demo reveals Tall Vampire Lady, Alcina Dimitrescu. She makes a bold entrance, busting through the courtyard doors, towering over you with her 9’6″ stature (confirmed by art director Tomonori Takano), and lifting you like a goddamn ragdoll. The internet was very much into it.
Let’s play upon let’s play, streamers, journalists, and fans collectively became horny on main. I won’t judge. I’m here for tall women appreciation. Also, hey, maybe the more the people out here, openly talking about wanting to be stepped on, the less sexually repressive our society — I don’t know, but I can advocate for wholesome-degeneracy.
I just hope the game doesn’t get male-gazey. It’s cool having a character that such a broad spectrum of the community is into, and the players hold limited power over. It makes much more sense for Ethan to be the protagonist, too. That dude radiates sub.
Lady Dimitrescu is a mutant countess running things at Castle Dimitrescu, an Eastern European mediaeval fortress. No doubt, the fortress is going to be unhygienic. They don’t bother with cleaning the bloody wineglasses and torture devices. I would like to see more satanic witch-cult followers and werewolves and vampires, you know, embrace modern, minimalist interior design. I suppose an oblong coffee table is more challenging to booby trap.
Resident Evil Village will feature similar first-person gameplay to Resident Evil 7, with the notable return of Resident Evil’s 4’s inventory system, complete with merchant.
O.G. Resident Evil beefy-boy protagonist, Chris Redfield, seems to be an antagonistic figure in Village — nothing out of the ordinary for the RE universe. Many characters have switched sides throughout the franchise’s 25-year run. The blend of folklore and mad-science pharmaceuticals is a welcome way to expand the game-world.
Resident Evil Village comes to PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, and PC May 7, 2021.
