Initial Thoughts - Resident Evil Village DEMO (Playstation 4)

Earlier this week I finally got the Resident Evil Village DEMO downloaded to my PS4. My internet connections speeds in my game room aren't the best so it took a good chunk of the day to download the 9 GB file. Once it was finally done I eagerly launched the game.

I didn't notice at first that the demo gave you two different options. You could explore the Village or you could jump right into the Castle area. I started with the Village since it seemed more "appropriate" to begin at the beginning. For the most part I had steered clear of watching any videos on YouTube or reading other's reactions to the demo. I knew that the story takes place a few years after part 7 and you again take control of the hero, Ethan Winters. It's been a few years since I played through the 7th chapter of the Resident Evil franchise, but the similarities to the previous game in terms of game play existed. I also felt like I was playing part 4 at times, what with the breakable boxes and the return of money and a merchant. I loved the 4th game in the series so I was OK with these additions.

The graphics are top notch, and I don't even have a PS4 Pro. The village was very eerie looking, even under a blanket of fresh snow. The buildings old, some falling apart, but what made the village so creepy was knowing something was going on and just not having all the info. No longer was I fighting villagers like in part 4, but now werewolves? The demo gave you just enough of a taste without spoiling too much as I believe I only had two encounters where I had to fight. The gunplay was more of the same, which I was OK with, but the enemies seemed a lot tougher than before. I can already tell the challenge will be there, even on normal or easy difficulty.

The demo only allows you to play for one hour, then it's essentially useless. It took me about 38 minutes to complete the Village part of the demo so when I was ready to enter the castle, I didn't have as much time to play and to explore. I was amazed at how eerily gothic and beautiful the castle was. The level of detail is simply amazing. Just going through a few rooms on the first and second floor I can already tell there will be a lot of backtracking and puzzle solving, let along running from the Lady Dimitrescu. From what I know, she will stalk you like the Tyrant from RE2 (which I recently just completed on the PS4)...I'm still unsure of what to think of this aspect.

The demo was just enough to wet my appetite and leave me wanting more. I'm sure plenty of people that played the game and enjoyed it quickly preordered the game afterwards (if they didn't already have a copy secured), but I'm going to wait. I'm not the biggest fan of the Resident Evil franchise, but RE4 & RE7 left me wanting more so I decided to go back and check out some of the PS4 remakes of earlier games. I recently played through RE2 three times to secure the best ending. I picked up RE3 to try next, though I still want to get Origins. I figure there is enough previous RE content to keep me busy for awhile.

Resident Evil Village launches in the US today, 05/07/21 so I'm not sure if the demo will remain available for download, but if you're like me and just curious it's worth a play through if nothing else. I'm sure the game is worth full retail and I'm sure I'd play the game through on multiple occasions, but this is one new release that I'll be waiting for the inevitable price drop / Greatest Hits.