Capcom has taken a step forwards with Resident Evil 7 Biohazard by introducing a new engine ,scenario and protagonist making it truly a new addition to the Resident evil series. I can with a clear conscience call it a reboot for a series which was sequel on sequel becoming more like a Abbas-Mastan movie with over the top gun battles and same repeating cast (Valentine and Leon Kennedy ).
If you are going to buy Resident Evil 7 Biohazard expecting to have fight scenes from Michael Bay movies you are going to be very disappointed but if you a horror movie junkie who has watched all that Korean cinema has to offer then you are in for an absolute delight.
Resident Evil 7 Biohazard
Detailed Review
What Resident Evil 7 Biohazard offers is the same claustrophobic creepy pasta induced psychological horror which made the first resident evil such a great game. First person perspective adds to the dark and ugly surrounding of the game and truly makes the player feel the gory and well designed graphics provided by the developers.
(+) Tonight on Sewer Gators
At the very beginning of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard one can see all the hillbilly bayou surrounding making it feel like a visit to Louisiana Gator Reserve . But as soon as you enter the “derelict house” the fear kicks in with leaking walls and random dead body parts lying all over the kitchen and fridge , all around the house you find the evidence of slaughter and mayhem making the impending zombie attacks evident at each step.
What ups the ante for me is the voice acting done by the Baker Family members which makes them both fearful and interesting at the same time, you can feel them oozing the psychotic mayhem and madness throughout the game. Each family member makes a great boss fights with all their distinct powers coming in to a very great effect. There are various great jump scare apart from the game engine induced scares which can make any manly adult traumatized finding for their mommies. Whenever you think that the Bakers cannot get more scary and crazy they will pull out a move that will prove you wrong making you think what kind of demented sociopath devised Resident Evil 7 Biohazard.
(+) Learning from the best
But it desn’t end there. Oh… the map and the fucking clues…..oh god like who is the sadistic man up in Capcom who is like “oh this is not sadistic enough lets make this game the dark souls of puzzle solving”. Maybe there is something in that, because even “The you are dead” screen that comes up is a lot like the dark souls franchise.
The huge map gives the player a good idea of all the secret trap doors and mystery passages hiding behind the lurking eyes of the mansion owners. The sheer amount of levels and different sub layers added by makers makes it more and more like a maze in which the player is like a mouse with a death wish.
The nostalgic effect can be seen with the presence of the VCR players and tapes lying all around the house with each of them containing different types of secret clue left for the player to figure out. The puzzles can be a bit frustrating at times but it truly feels like an achievement on completing such which again is the only rewarding or any kind of positive feeling given out by the game. It truly brings out the horror survival feeling throughout the game with limited amount of ammo and constant hiding from the family members.
You will feel that how Capcom has learned from the games like Outlast, Alien Isolation, Five Nights at Freddy’s and Slender etc to bring out a game which fills the player with more mental horror than graphic.
(-) Suspension of Disbelief
The only setback for me is the pacing of the game, while it does give me adrenaline rushes from time to time. But the distance between them are awfully large. The puzzles could have been better placed if not easier because at one point it forced me to run back and forth to the same places which had already been explored making it a very lengthy and tiresome process preventing me to further explore the map. This in turn always made me feel under-prepared for what lay ahead and whether I had missed a door containing shotgun ammo or whatnot.
Even the damage healing system can be found childish when the main character joins back his cut off limbs back again with just a strong medical solution. I shit you not I joined back my severed limbs at least two-three times without even a band aid. Its as if the team that Capcom hired skipped all their Biology classes in school, like everyone and by the time they realized it, it was too late.
(+) Still better than 6
Such trivial misdemeanors however can be excused however. Because, all in all this family freak show horror game hits all important departments needed to make these crazy redneck hillbilly into a true American Horror Story. It shows how Resident Evil Team has truly reinvented itself making it and I say it with no regret a true horror game after Silent Hill whose name still sends chills down the spine among all gamers throughout the world.