Resident Evil 4 Mk II, I mean Village.

[Moribunderast]

madhair couldn't get past the tyrant on the plane, only way such an opinion on CV could be forumulated.

That happened to me! Though I recently re-purchased it on PS4 to give it another go because up until that stopping point I really liked it.

Have finished Village now. Very much enjoyed it though it is certainly a game of two halves. The story is absolutely bonkers - though in a fun RE way rather than an RE5 "Chris is punching boulders now?" way. The tone

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really changes once you get to the Stronghold. It's all been pretty straight (and very effective) survival horror up to that point but from thereon it becomes much more of a FPS with horror elements. The Chris Redfield section, in particular, is just "here's a fuckton of ammo, go shoot everything." I did enjoy the story, as silly as it is. The post-credits set-up for RE9 (I'm guessing) with Rose was fun.

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My thoughts, going by the main sections of the game:

The V

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illage. Thought this section was really well laid out and fun to gradually explore as it opens up further upon return visits. The Lycan enemies and werewolves are fast and feel very threatening early on. The Duke is an absolutely splendid character. The whole section feels like an homage to RE4 and works very well in that regard.

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The C

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astle. 2nd favourite area in the game. Classic RE gameplay of finding keys, solving puzzles and unlocking more areas. The Dimitrescu clan are great villains and the final boss was a great visual metamorphosis.

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The H

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house. The best area in the game. No weapons, solve some puzzles, get chased by one of the more disturbing enemies I can recall and then play hide and seek with a creepy doll and stab it to death. This whole area had me on edge and is probably where the game peaks.

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The W

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indmills. I found this area a little frustrating just because it took me a while to negotiate my way around the on-water part with the giant sea-thing chasing you. My own mistakes but it was annoying while it was happening. The boss in this area was fun though, bemoaning how inept it is and asking why you don't like it as you're blowing it to bits.

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The S

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tronghold. So this is where the game changes quite dramatically. It's suddenly an all-guns blazing action game against swarms of Lycan. I can see Timothy's Metro comparison in this section as it did feel quite similar, though obviously without the stealth element. Still enjoyed the area but was probably the weakest section of the game for me.

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The F

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actory. Really intense section with the mechanical enemies being very strong and daunting. This was the first section where I really felt as if my health and ammo were a concern. I seemed to always have just enough to scrape by but it did make the encounters quite thrilling. Also continued the tonal shift as I now felt a bit like I was playing Bioshock with the enemies resembling the Big Daddies somewhat. Heisenberg was another fun villain, though, and while the boss fight was now entering ludicrous territory vs. the original tone of the game, it was still entertaining.

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The E

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nd section. Playing as Chris was a further departure from the tone in the first half of the game. Pretty much straight action game stuff that wasn't really my cup of tea but I could see it maybe as a "gift" to players: "Here, after all the tense stuff, have a fuckton of ammo, strong weapons and blast the shit out of the things that hurt you at the start of the game." This is also where the story goes completely apeshit but it's Resident Evil - as long as it's campy and B-movie horror apeshit, I can enjoy it. I don't love it when the series goes Action Movie apeshit. The final boss fight was decent. I'd basically saved all my strongest weaponry and explosive rounds (a habit I formed from my first playthrough of RE1) so I kicked the shit out of her in short order.

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All in all, very enjoyable and, as someone who rarely buys games on release day, I feel like I got my money's worth and it was a very good Resident Evil installment. The cast of villains is arguably the best in game history and while I would have preferred the game keep to the tone of the first half, I'm also used to RE games changing things up (with varying results). I'm keen to try out the Mercenaries mode now. If it's fun I can see myself playing enough to unlock infinite grenade launcher ammo and doing the main campaign again just destroying everything in my wake.

[Bazooka]

If you get an SS rank in all the Mercenaries missions you unlock a lightsaber.

[Timothy]

Just finished the game. Finished it in 8 hours and 8 minutes.

I have almost the exact same opinion as Moribunderast.

I was loving the game until the

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I left the house with the dolls

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. The W

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indmills were indeed frustrating. It was hard to see where to go. The boss fight was fun.

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. Then at the S

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tronghold the game flew off the rails for me. The game turned into a dumb shooter, the plot was ridiculous even for RE standards and all tension was gone.

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All in all an enjoyable game but it truly is a game of two halves. Loved the first half, didn't enjoy the second as much. I wanted more areas like the C

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astle

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and the H

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ouse

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. The game wasn't as scary as I suspected and the fact they

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introduced nearly all the villains in a cutscene at the start of the game removed a lot of the tension.

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Give me more puzzle RE, not more shooter RE.

Would recommend it, but not for full price.

[Thursday]

See I'm alright with "shooter resi" but it's shooting mechanics are good not great, but it should really be about resource management. I was pretty much never worried about running out of ammo in this.

[St_Eddie]

The writer/director of the film Frankenstein's Army (2013), Richard Raaphorst, is accusing Capcom of plagiarism in regards to the game's monster designs.  Comparisons here.

Pretty obvious that Capcom did indeed rip off the propeller head design there and it's hardly surprising, given that it's always been what they've done; be it with Romero's living dead movies, Stuart Gordon's Dagon (the closing sequence of act I is clearly where the village siege in Resident Evil 4 was taken from) Return of the Living Dead III (the bandersnatch in Resident Evil: Code Veronica), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Friday the 13th (the Baker family in Resident Evil VII and the chainsaw wielding cloth sack faced killer in Resident Evil 4) and so on...

This is probably the first time that I've seen a creative kick up a fuss about Capcom's "homages" though and to be fair, who can blame him.  I'd be pissed off too in Raaphorst's position.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but that probably doesn't really hold water when a corporate entity is profiting off your designs without due credit or financial compensation.

[Bazooka]

See I'm alright with "shooter resi" but it's shooting mechanics are good not great, but it should really be about resource management. I was pretty much never worried about running out of ammo in this.

Is this on normal?  On hardcore it's making sure you have enough first aid potions, because ammo and those both require the chemicals, and it's a two hit death from some attacks.

[madhair60]

The writer/director of the film Frankenstein's Army (2013), Richard Raaphorst, is accusing Capcom of plagiarism in regards to the game's monster designs.  Comparisons here.

Pretty obvious that Capcom did indeed rip off the propeller head design there and it's hardly surprising, given that it's always been what they've done; be it with Romero's living dead movies, Stuart Gordon's Dagon (the closing sequence of act I is clearly where the village siege in Resident Evil 4 was taken from) Return of the Living Dead III (the bandersnatch in Resident Evil: Code Veronica), The Texas Chainsaw Massacre/Friday the 13th (the Baker family in Resident Evil VII and the chainsaw wielding cloth sack faced killer in Resident Evil 4) and so on...

This is probably the first time that I've seen a creative kick up a fuss about Capcom's "homages" though and to be fair, who can blame him.  I'd be pissed off too in Raaphorst's position.  They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery but that probably doesn't really hold water when a corporate entity is profiting off your designs without due credit or financial compensation.

they don't really look a whole lot alike to me outside of there just being a fan there

[St_Eddie]

It's been confirmed that the developers were "inspired" by Frankenstein's Army...

Dutch filmmaker Richard Raaphorst has accused Capcom of using one of his monster designs for a boss fight in Resident Evil Village.

The filmmaker has said that a boss character in Resident Evil Village copies the design of a monster he designed for his 2013 found footage horror film Frankenstein's Army.

In a post on Linkedin, Raaphorst claimed that one of the designs from his film had been used "completely without authorization or credit" before providing a comparison of the two monsters.

Comments by Daniel Ponce and Robin Hemmersbach confirm that Capcom credits Frankenstein's Army as inspiration for the creature, in the concept art files unlocked when the game is completed.

"At first I felt pissed," Raaphorst said in an interview with Eurogamer. "Then I felt proud. Now, I see all the reactions and I feel pissed again, and insulted. It's so difficult to come up with a great design."

Incidentally, that same NME article also contained this disconcerting tidbit regarding the design process behind Resident Evil Village...

In a recent interview, Resident Evil Village producer Tsuyoshi Kanda said that some of the scarier elements of the game were toned down after fan feedback.

"Some of the feedback we received regarding [Resident Evil 7 was] that it was too scary to play," Kanda began.

He added: "At the same time, it's always our goal to create something that anybody can feel comfortable jumping in and playing, so we eased up on the tension curve [in Resident Evil Village] relative to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, so that players aren't in constant fear."

"Scaredy cats complained that our scary horror series was too scary, so we made it less scary to placate them."

Don't think I'll bother playing this installment now, to be honest.  All this talk of how the 2nd half of the game devolves into an action fest was already grinding my gears and that quote is pretty much the final nail in the coffin of my interest.  Ah well, the return to horror with VII and the remake of Resi 2 was nice while it lasted.

[Chedney Honks]

😅😅😅😂😂😂🤣🤣🤣

[madhair60]

Beneviento in Resi 8 is probably the scariest thing ever in a Resi game (or any game to be honest)

[Jerzy Bondov]

Daniel Ponce lol

[Bazooka]

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Just got to the Brian Blessed with a hammer boss in the stronghold, but got snagged on some scenery and got hammer locked and then lycanned to death, so will try again tomorrow.

I didn't mind the Windmill part, it's hardly exciting but nothing too taxing, but then Moreau, on normal difficulty I can imagine he's a piece of piss, but with double health on hardcore and he kept stun locking me with his vomit that can go through buildings and his insta spit, thank fuck I had enough mines.

I've killed two giants and upgraded all but the first guard upgrade and the run faster upgrade.I know I've missed some goats but will clear up any trophies on normal or casual, depending on what's left.

I tried the Alpha werewolf after the water temple that's in the field behind the church, but didn't have ammo to deal with it's HP after just coming off the Zora boss.

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[BritishHobo]

Just finished it. So all my spoilers below will contain heavy end spoilers.

Can't really argue with anyone about it

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becoming a totally different thing towards the end. But then I suppose that's consistent, as 7 did a similar thing once you found the boat and played the long long flashback section. I actually quite like it as a structure; I usually find with horror games that I'm absolutely terrified for the first few hours, inching slowly round every corner, treading verh carefully,  but that that passes the longer you play. Incredible sections like the Beneviento House help keep the fear fresh, but otherwise I think the more you see of the locations and the villains, the braver you feel. So there's a nice catharsis in sliding into more of an actiony finale.

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That said, I thought it was properly bizarre and backwards how, having really revitalised the franchise in 7 (and the 2 remake) with a focus on being a really pared-back, fuck-scary experience,

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they now appear to be consciously abandoning that again. Everything from playing as Chris[nb]and I know

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Chris

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was in 7, but surely

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with all the homages to 4, you should be using Leon instead

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[/nb] onwards feels like it's returning to a focus on squads of suited-up agents and corporate espionage. There's a worry that their tribute to Resident Evil 4 is going to extend to them repeating the mistakes the franchise made with the direction of 5 and 6.

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All that aside though, I had an absolute blast with that.

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They did a great job with the pacing, and creating a number of very distinct environments and locations to keep it feeling fresh. The village, the castle, the doll's house, even the factory, were all thick with atmosphere in their own ways. Some absolutely batshit boss fights, but very very fun, especially the absurd Heisenberg showdown. I did think it felt quite easy on Standard mode though, compared to other Resi games.

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Overall I love that it was packed with so many joyful ideas. The

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classic-horror-inspired monsters were lovely, the detail given to the Duke's character was a real highlight. I worried that the game would lull or drag after leaving the castle, but I think they opened it up quite nicely with the treasures and the hunting element.

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[Bazooka]

Finally finished it, enjoyed it so much more than Resident Evil  7, which had some great ideas but felt a bit empty. Whilst Village did link into Resident Evil lore, I really hope the next instalment even if a FPS, returns to some traditional enemies. The best Resident Evil since Revelations 2.

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Opening and closing animations are atrocious, I'll get that out of the way, it's not bloody Tim Burton.

I disliked the combat at first, I think because at the start with weaker firepower the enemies are quite annoying, particularly the Lycans and the triplets because they have a honing insta attack which is a two hit killer on hardcore, I was much more tuned to movement later on.

The over the top nature which seems to follow Chris in particular I didn't mind so much, but they are really walking a fine line with the enemies, let's be real we aren't far from having dragons and fairies next. I thought there was a good variation in enemies and I did like the additional mini bosses to be found, and generally liked going back to previous areas to get loot

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Next stop platinum trophy.

[madhair60]

just finished. lots of fun, if you like games that are fun you'll like this. good package too with the post-game stuff.

[Bazooka]

It's a really fun game, and the genre is in despair without these games.

Bawkbasoup doing really entertaining Village of Shadows runs, quell surprise. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H3YDPRPDtog&t=1830s

[TrenterPercenter]

Just started playing it and it is already infuriating me in the way only res games can.  I wouldn't play any of these games on anything else but hardcore but the controls are just a bit too clunky.  Doing this survive the attack thing right at the beginning is really testing my patience.  Have been past the 6 mins counter several times and nothing happens I've died a load of times simply because the crouch mechanic is complete balls.  I've seen loads of people moaning about this online and they've got a point it's just inconsistent and badly designed. 

Currently watching and following another persons video of it doing virtually to the letter yet it is still not playing the cut scene.  Very frustrating.

[Thursday]

Later game, I'd completely forgotten the blocking mechanic. I watched someone else playing through it and realized "Oh yeah, that would have been useful if I'd remembered that."

[TrenterPercenter]

Just got past it but seems really random how it all works - you need to be seen by the main dude and followed somewhat for a certain time and be in a certain place.  Load of fucking balls. Hopefully there isn't too many of these things going forward.

[Jerzy Bondov]

Saw loads of people on Twitter saying there's a really scary bit so I looked it up and I guess it's the

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fucked up baby that eats you

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, it did actually look really scary

[madhair60]

Just got past it but seems really random how it all works - you need to be seen by the main dude and followed somewhat for a certain time and be in a certain place.  Load of fucking balls. Hopefully there isn't too many of these things going forward.

It's probably the hardest part of the game, but to be fair you are playing on Hardcore where two hits will do you in. It's no picnic on standard either.

[brat-sampson]

Finished it! Great fun ride from start to finish, I liked that they kept mixing up the style, even though obviously people will prefer different areas. As mentioned it's 7 meets 4 but with optimised inventory management and a crafting system that's super-clean, fast to use and does lead to careful decision-making so good job there. Best part was Duke turning up in a maze or on a toilet or in your baby's crib etc.

My In-game time was under 12 hours, but my steam time was more like 15. I'm a slower player in general but especially in sth like this where I'm kinda stalling/hunting most rooms for secrets for... too long. Might try another run on Hardcore, which would be a first for me.

[thelittlemango]

Posting to fix bug.

[madhair60]

Finished this on Saturday and did nearly the whole thing again Sunday. Brilliant game. Only downer on a replay is

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the giant baby bit

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is the same every time with no way to vary your approach besides skipping a couple of steps if you remember the

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door code

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.

[BritishHobo]

I quite like those escape-room-like sections in the new game, taking the puzzle mechanic and applying it to a smaller area - but yeah, not amazing for replay value. I liked the touch in Resident Evil 7 with the

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birthday room,

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where

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you had to use your knowledge of how to complete it, to skip a few steps and find an alternative escape route.

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[Goldentony]

CV is fucking wank and not because I was shit at it, mainly for that bit where you have to leg it from that fucking bellend and it not giving you some clue you're about to enter the final boss battle with 11 9mm rounds and two shotgun shells on you

[madhair60]

Just beat second go through. I think this is my favourite Resi since 4

[brat-sampson]

And here's Distortion2 running New Game Village of Shadows difficulty in under 2 hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ioBmkbZcY

[Bazooka]

And here's Distortion2 running New Game Village of Shadows difficulty in under 2 hours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7ioBmkbZcY

Yeah so I've seen, I like the door block to ease through the village attack section.

[H-O-W-L]

Picked this up and just put the

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first bit of baby in the altar

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. Seems quite good thus far.