Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

For Resident Evil 7, Capcom went back to what made the series so popular in the first place, horror. While I liked the Resident Evil games that were more action based, fans were growing tired of this so Capcom decided to take things back. Resident Evil 7 would be a new beginning for the series and one of the scariest games in the franchise’s history!

Where Is She?????

Resident Evil 7 features a story that is quite unlike any that have come before it. The game sees you playing the role of a man called Ethan who is still missing his girlfriend that went missing a few years earlier. Out of the blue, Ethan gets a message from her telling him that she is alive and being held in a plantation somewhere in the south.

That is all Ethan needs to hear and he heads off to “save” her. Well, Ethan gets into the middle of a right mess. While he finds her, she is not the same as she was before and even worse is the Baker family. This is the family that lives here and they are infected with…. Let me not spoil that for you. Just know that they are freaking nuts and they do not want Ethan or his girl to leave.

The story is absolutely fantastic and had me on edge the whole time I played it. You do care about Ethan and the Baker family are tremendous villains. Also, there is more to the game than just that, but I will not spoil it for you guys.

Horror in The First Person

The biggest change that Resident Evil 7 went from Resident Evil 6 was not that it scaled back the action. It was that the game was now all in the first person. This is not the first Resident Evil game to actually do this, but this one here absolutely nails it. The first-person point of view makes you actually feel like you are Ethan and it works incredibly well.

The actual gameplay is a great mixture of exploration, puzzle solving, action and changing your underpants on a regular basis as this game without a shadow of a doubt is scary!

This Place is Huge!

When you hear that Resident Evil 7 is set on a plantation you might think that it is a step back from the worldwide trotting that Resident Evil 6 had. The plantation is actually really large and features many different areas that you will need to explore. Finding keys and moving things around to get into areas are all classic Resident Evil gameplay tropes and this game really embraces them.

I love the design of the plantation and the place the Baker family call home. You can explore all around and as you do you start to piece together that these were once just normal folks and you start to feel sorry for them. Then the dad or mom chases you down and that feeling goes straight out of the window.

What About VR?

Sadly, there is no VR for the PC version of Resident Evil 7. However, I will say that if you do have a PlayStation 4 that checking out the game in VR is well worth doing. I will say that Resident Evil 7 is one of the better VR experiences I have ever had so I really do hope that they bring the VR mode to PC sooner than later.

Pros:

• The story is very engaging
• The Baker family are crazy with a capital C!
• Exploring the house and plantation is great
• The story has some great twists
• The first person POV is a great addition to the series

Cons:

• It is very, very scary!
• There is still no VR mode on PC

I have played some games that have made me jump over the years, but Resident Evil 7: Biohazard took it to a whole new level. Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 did take a more action route to the gameplay. Resident Evil 7 though brought the horror back as well as changing the perspective.

The Story

I got very invested in the story of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard right from the start. You are playing as a guy called Ethan whose significant other Mia went missing around three years ago. One day, Ethan gets a really weird video from her telling him that she is not only alive but that she is being kept somewhere and for him to come.

The place Mia is being kept is this old, dilapidated and creepy as hell plantation in the South. To say that Ethan has stumbled into a real mess of a situation is a massive understatement. He finds Mia and she is clearly different and worried about someone called “daddy” coming. Turns out Daddy is the patriarch of the Baker family and these people are crazy, messed up and there is more going on here than you first think.

I was very impressed with the storytelling in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Just when you think you have it all fully figured out the game throws a twist at you that for longtime fans is pretty awesome.

The Presentation

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a fantastic looking game. Moving the game into the first person made for a very immersive experience. You really do feel like you are in the Baker home and the surrounding area. The house is very well detailed and there are all kinds of photos, newspaper clippings, and other stuff all around the house that make it seem really well lived in. The character models are great and they are not shy about getting into your face. My only little gripe about the presentation is the facial animations. They are not “bad” however, sometimes they do not match up to the words that are coming out and it can take you out of the moment.

The voice acting is amazing and each character feels like a real person. The whole sound of the game is great actually. There is not much in the way of music, but ambient sounds, as well as the creepy noises coming from the house, make you feel like you are there.

The Gameplay

The shift to a first-person perspective for Resident Evil 7: Biohazard also changed up the gameplay considerably. This is a game that is played at a far slower pace than Resident Evil 6 was. I think that the game plays at a perfect pace, there is some Puzzle solving that you will have to do. Finding keys, mixing items together, moving things around and so on. It is classic Resident Evil, but the change to the first person makes it feel brand new.

There is still some great action in Resident Evil 7. You have limited ammo and weapons that you can pick up to fight off the enemies, but this just makes you be more careful with what you have. I tended to try and avoid as many enemies as I could just in case something big and nasty came my way.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is not an overly challenging game on the easier difficulty settings, but if you move the difficulty up the enemy AI becomes much more aggressive. I like the different difficulty settings as it makes the game accessible for everyone.

Final Thoughts On Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

I really could not be any happier with what Capcom did with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. They took a massive gamble changing the game as much as they did, but they pulled it off. This game is genuinely scary in places and has you on edge the whole time you play it. Add this to the puzzles, action and the engrossing story and you have a must play game.

Final Score: 9/10

Pros:

• Resident Evil and FPS work great together
• The graphics are very well detailed
• The story is engrossing and has a great twist
• There is still some great action in this game
• Puzzles that make you think

Cons:

• Some of the facial animations are a little off
• So far VR is only on the PlayStation version