Details on Resident Evil Village have been coming in thick and fast as we count down the days to its imminent launch. Here at GamingBolt, we’ve been talking about the game pretty much non-stop, but with several new pieces of info on the game emerging not only from its recent demo, but other sources as well, it turns out there’s still plenty more to talk about. Here in this feature, we’re going to cover a few more things we’ve learned about the upcoming horror shooter in recent days.
TREASURES AND COLLECTIBLES
The return of a merchant character in Resident Evil Village is a big shake-up to the gameplay formula that was established in RE7, and the game is going to adopt an approach that’s quite similar to RE4. We already know there’s an economy in place, where money that you loot from fallen foes or the environment can be used to purchase items and weapons and upgrade your firearms, but there’s other ways to earn money as well. As the demo shows, like Resident Evil 4, players can also find treasures, which are going to be hidden and might even need to be shot down to collect, RE4 style, and can then likely be sold to the Duke for cash. Meanwhile, you can also shoot crows to net more small quantities of money- once again, just like Resident Evil 4.
BARRICADING
Barricading yourself inside structures is another way Resident Evil Village is proudly displaying its RE4 influences. In the game’s recent Village demo, players have the chance to enter a small half-ruined shack and barricade its entrance with a shelf, and then make a stand against swarms of enemies inside and attempt to keep them from getting in. From shooting at bags of flour to create cover for yourself to placing mines in choke points, several tactics can be used in these situations. It remains to be seen how often the game will give players the opportunity to do this stuff, but it is a dynamically occurring mechanic rather than something that’s scripted as a set-piece, so hopefully we’ll be seeing quite a bit of it.
PUZZLES
Puzzles are a crucial part of any Resident Evil game, and so they will be in Resident Evil Village as well. Capcom have said that combat has seen many improvements in the game, but puzzles will still remain a major focus in the gameplay. What’s more, something the developers have paid attention to is including puzzles that make contextual sense within the game’s world, rather than just being plopped in there as artificial brain teasers. Speaking to Game Informer, director Morimasa Sato said, “We’re pouring just as much effort into the puzzles, and personally, I feel that the puzzle elements here are just as strong, if not stronger, than previous entries. One of the things we always focused on was making sure that the puzzles act as an additional piece to the overall stage. We don’t want a logic puzzle to feel like it was dropped into an area without feeling integrated into the rest of the world.”
MOTHER MIRANDA
Lady Dimitrescu might have grabbed the lion share’s of the headlines and the fans’ attention so far, but it doesn’t look like she’s the ultimate big bad. In a couple of trailer by now, we’ve heard mentions of a character named Mother Miranda, and the game’s recent demo also drops her name quite a few times. It’s clear that she’s the head of the cabal of the monsters and villains who rule over this unnamed village, with everyone from Dimitrescu and the man who’s apparently named Heisenberg working on her orders. So far, we’ve only seen Mother Miranda herself in artwork, wearing a crow mask that’s hiding her face, but clearly, she’s a crucial piece of the game’s story. Is Resident Evil setting up its next major villain? It certainle feels that way.
CHRIS REDFIELD
Chris Redfield has often gone off the deep end throughout the course of Resident Evil’s many games, but RE Village is taking his character’s rogue elements to new heights. We know for a fact that he breaks into Ethan’s house, kills Mia, and then kidnaps their daughter very early in the game, so obviously, he’s not exactly a good guy here- and what drove him to do that is going to be a central mystery in the game. Speaking to Game Informer, RE Village director Morimasa Sato recently said that he will have a very significant role in the story, adding, “He has a pivotal role in one of the major mysteries in the game. It’s one of those things where we want to see the character grow… But we will say that this title taps into the dark side of Chris Redfield.”
LOCATIONS AND VARIETY
Being set in a single village is all well and good, but does that mean Resident Evil Village is going to be lacking in terms of environmental diversity? Well, apparently not. Speaking to IGN, director Morimasa Sato recently said in spite of being set within a single village, the game has going to have plenty of variety in its locations. “Especially in a horror game, I think it’s important to keep providing new experiences along the way,” he said. “Within the village, it’s important to keep delivering new surprises to the player.” So far, we’ve seen bits and pieces of the village, the gothic interiors of the castle, while the recent trailer showed off a network of caves that’s likely going to end up being the area called “Heisenberg’s Factory” that we’ve seen on the game’s map. Here’s hoping there’s plenty more to be discovered.
ADDITIONAL DETAILS
Thanks to the game’s new demo, some other details on the gameplay have also come to light. The one that seems most significant is how much more mobile Ethan feels in terms of movement and combat. Resident Evil Village has larger locations, faster and more threatening enemies, and puts more emphasis on combat, so it’s not surprising to see Ethan being more capable as well. His movement is quicker, he can vault over objects, guarding is a powerful defensive tool. Meanwhile, some objects in the environment, such as fences, are also destructible, which can be worked into combat strategies in interesting ways. The demo also confirms that similar to RE4, key items don’t take up space in your briefcase-style inventory, which is reserved only for weapons, ammo, and consumables. Of course, the demo itself was quite short, so there’s only so much it could reveal- but what it did reveal was quite interesting.
CURRENT-GEN PERFORMANCE AND RESOLUTION
RE Engine games are always absolute lookers, and Resident Evil Village is promising to uphold that tradition. But how is it going to run on the new current-gen hardware? Well, Capcom have confirmed now that the game will have multiple visual modes across nearly all platforms. On PS5 and Xbox Series X, it can either run at 4K with HDR at 60 frames per second, or at 4K with HDR and ray-tracing enabled at 45 frames per second. On Xbox Series S, meanwhile, it can either run at 1440p with HDR at 45 frames per second, or 1440p with HDR and ray-tracing enabled at 30 frames per second.
LAST-GEN PERFORMANCE AND RESOLUTION
How about the last-gen consoles though? There’s always concern about how technically demanding major cross-gen releases will fare on older hardware, so what can we expect from Resident Evil Village on eighth gen consoles? On both Xbox One X and PS4 Pro, the game will have two visual modes- you can either play at 4K with HDR at 30 frames per second, or at 1080p at 60 frames per second. Meanwhile, on the base PS4, the game will run at 900p at 45 frames per second. Finally, there’s the base Xbox One, which will run the game at 900p at 30 frames per second.
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