Resident Evil Village Review

RE Village is structured like a theme park, each of the four lords controls a distinct zone with its own visual identity and gameplay approach, and you work through them before converging on the finale. It's an unusual structure for the series and mostly it works brilliantly. Castle Dimitrescu is everything the trailers promised. Three stories of gothic architecture, Lady Dimitrescu herself stalking the halls like a nine-foot nightmare in couture, her daughters hunting you through ballrooms and wine cellars. It's the longest section of the game and the best. The combination of exploration, resource management, and the constant threat of being found scratches the same itch as early Resident Evil. House Beneviento is something different entirely. No weapons, no combat, almost no explanation. It's thirty minutes of pure psychological horror that is genuinely one of the most unsettling things Capcom has made. We're not going to describe it further. Just make sure you play it at night with headphones. Moreau's reservoir and Heisenberg's factory are where the game loses altitude. Moreau's section is fine, atmospheric but brief. Heisenberg's factory is a long, visually grey, mechanically repetitive industrial slog that arrives precisely when the game should be building to its climax. It isn't bad exactly; it just doesn't belong next to Castle Dimitrescu. The Duke is a great character. The merchant mechanic, selling treasures, buying upgrades, combining items, creates an excellent loop that rewards exploration and gives weight to resource management decisions. Finding a hidden room and realising you can afford the shotgun upgrade is a specific kind of RE satisfaction. The Ray Tracing mode on PS5 is beautiful and struggles to hit 60fps consistently, hovering in the mid-40s during heavy scenes. The non-RT performance mode is the practical choice.