I really enjoyed the game, I pre ordered it awhile before it came out. It was worth every penny.
Resident Evil 7 Final thought's on RE7?
- Thread starter black 93
- Start date
i kinda love this game, and i was probably one of the most sceptical people at first
being very dissapointed in every game after re4
i think i get what black93 meant by it feeling like a different lore in a way
i fellt it had a bit more serious tone than the previous games
but gameplay wise i loved getting the item management and boxes and everything else old school
not to keen on the camera change but the way i see it the camera has been wrong since re4
but VR tottally made up for the change
all in all its the most true resident evil game since the outbreak series
being very dissapointed in every game after re4
i think i get what black93 meant by it feeling like a different lore in a way
i fellt it had a bit more serious tone than the previous games
but gameplay wise i loved getting the item management and boxes and everything else old school
not to keen on the camera change but the way i see it the camera has been wrong since re4
but VR tottally made up for the change
all in all its the most true resident evil game since the outbreak series
After reading all comments I like to think of this game as a piece of work that a retired artist has just finished, it's not the best but it's something that resembles the original pieces of works, it had some really nice puzzles, the game was generally scary and made me jump and scream a few times, limited ammo was obvious as enemies didn't drop anything. The molded were few in variation with one in particular the four legged molded resembling a licker. Capcom hasn't done an original resident evil game like this in many years so I think it was more of a test, and to see how the fan base reacted and possibly build from there. some of the documents felt more like a tease because I wanted more, redfield at the end and the umbrella logo left me with questions I'm not sure will be answered for some time. Why is umbrella back? Why does redfield work for them (if its him) Ethan seems like he knows them for some reason. Which leads me to believe that he's not as inexperienced as some of you might like to think, his wife was escorting Evelin's for petes sake. So he is possibly working for umbrella as well.
Anyway all around I liked it. Could it if had more? Definitely, I felt the game was too short but I still enjoyed the game
Anyway all around I liked it. Could it if had more? Definitely, I felt the game was too short but I still enjoyed the game
I'd like to give my 2 cents on this matter but I haven't played 7 yet. I'll get to it when the game is at a price I feel comfortable paying but till then I'll just watch it on YouTube.
Final thoughts.
Great experience to play especially in VR. As a mainline Resident Evil game this didn't live up to the previous entries. Ethan sucks as a main chracter plain and simple. The only interesting characters were the family and that wasn't enough considering all but Lucas are dead now.
Wish there were more enemies other than the molded.
The DLC and extra game modes was very bland.. Honestly they could have done SO much more with the nightmare DLC for example.. Why not include a coop partner and different locations to play on?
Sometimes I feel like the fans have better and more creative ideas than the dev team. Why not make a spin on the agent hunt from RE6? Where a player can join someone elses game as a molded trying to kill Ethan. That would be PERRFFFECT..
Great experience to play especially in VR. As a mainline Resident Evil game this didn't live up to the previous entries. Ethan sucks as a main chracter plain and simple. The only interesting characters were the family and that wasn't enough considering all but Lucas are dead now.
Wish there were more enemies other than the molded.
The DLC and extra game modes was very bland.. Honestly they could have done SO much more with the nightmare DLC for example.. Why not include a coop partner and different locations to play on?
Sometimes I feel like the fans have better and more creative ideas than the dev team. Why not make a spin on the agent hunt from RE6? Where a player can join someone elses game as a molded trying to kill Ethan. That would be PERRFFFECT..
I am really late to this thread but I figured I'd drop my thoughts in here. Even if they are pretty similar to a decent amount of other posts.
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For some context, when RE7 was revealed I was honestly pretty livid and wanted nothing to do with it. I wasn't a fan of the shift to first person but in addition to that I just didn't get heavy RE vibes like I do from literally every other RE title that I've played to date. Over time and as more was revealed it grew on me until I was actually excited for release and got the deluxe version that came with the season pass at launch.
Things started incredibly well. The prologue (at least for the first playthrough), VHS tapes, and overall stretch up until you enter the Funhouse was absolutely amazing. The Baker's residence was a great, if not slightly too simplistic return to the gameplay loop and level design that we haven't really seen since RE0 released. Exploring the residence while trying to avoid any unnecessary encounters was by far the peak of my experience with this game. The two best boss battles in the game are in this section as well. I'm inclined to say that if the game kept up this quality consistently it would be my favorite RE game since REmake.
Unfortunately (and as seen to a lesser extent in 4 and 5), that is just not the case. The game progressively gets worse from section to section until by the end I was just glad it was over. The funhouse was where the wheels started to come off a bit. It was fairly interesting the first time but more than anything I found myself wondering why I felt like I was playing a Saw video game instead of RE (this happened in Silent Hill: Homecoming too lmao). The section is topped off with probably one of the worst combat encounters in the game with 1 or even 2 of the fat molded. I'm not a huge fan of the molded to begin with (more on this later) but the fat ones (in addition to the crawling ones) are definitely the worst. I'm not sure how common this was for others but the fat molded had really bad collision detection with their vomit in which it would sometimes clip through objects I'd be crouching behind (this happened to me in Ethan Must Die once to top things off..), even once a door. I honestly found the combat less than stellar as a whole so it was a pain to have not one, but two forced encounters with these enemies as it is. This section ends with the most obvious A/B ending split choice I've ever seen and is a severe disappointment coming from some of the earlier games and their ending requirements.
Moving on, my first playthrough with the ship was a mild improvement from the barn/funhouse. My fatigue with the molded which had been there from nearly the start really started to worsen around this point but the atmosphere made up for it a bit. I think most of the excitement/enjoyment here came from the switch of player character and the vastly different location. Once you know the path and realize how linear/quick this section can go the appeal quickly fades. The VHS tape found here is also the longest in the game and it would've been nice to be able to skip it since I started to dread it after my second playthrough.
Finally onto the mines. I used to think I dreaded the island in 4 or the ship and similar sections in 5 but hoo boy this one might just take the cake in tragic ending segments for me. The linearity of the ship returns but is included with almost a gauntlet of combat topped off with a second fat molded encounter. There was also this really weird section of lab rooms where there were multiple files that dumped huge story info all at once which felt highly out of place and as a notable example of going against showing not telling. Things finally top off with an underwhelming on the rails boss and 2 endings that might as well have been 1 due to the small change.
I used to play around and hyperbolically say that it felt like Capcom put all of their time/effort into the beginning sections of 4 and 5 (mainly the village-castle and village-swamp, respectively) but it almost feels like that's actually the case here? For all of the talk of "oooooooh, we're going back to the series roots! horror all the way" and other nonsense we had pre-release the game sure doesn't seem to follow through with that overall? If that's what they wanted to do, that's great and I was all for it but I'm tired of half measures with this series. I had a similar complaint with Revelations and Revelations 2. Don't try to meet in the middle of action and horror and give me a middling release when you could commit to one or the other and deliver a fantastic experience. As someone who likes both action and horror RE, maybe I'm more forgiving but I can't believe all of those fans who were like "THIS IS THE REAL RE!!!" or "I haven't played a RE game in years but this is bringing me back" haven't expressed their displeasure. After the first 1/3 of the game it really doesn't feel like it was what they were selling to them? Maybe it's just because talk of RE7 has overall been relatively quiet after release passed, I don't know.
I'm hopping around a lot but I just want to talk about the DLC and amount of content because this actually might be the most unforgivable flaw with 7 for me. As a series fan I've come to expect a game that I can get hundreds of hours out of with a mainline RE game. Whether it's through side game content like Mercenaries/Raid mode, or even just highly replayable main campaigns, the series has never let me down until 7. I bought the deluxe edition/season pass thinking I'd be really busy with RE7 and all of its content and the DLC would be an added bonus, as it turns out there's not all that much to base game RE7. Yeah, there's unlocks for the campaign and difficulty levels but that's always been a series mainstay. Coming from RE4 and especially 5 and 6, 7 feels extremely light on content. As someone who almost never buys games at release for $60, I was left feeling particularly burned. "Well at least the DLC is coming" so I thought and I held out for it to release (which was extremely fast for that matter...) only for it to turn out to be less than stellar material that felt like it was cut from the main release. I get that DLC is a thing that pretty much every publisher does now but I would like to see someone try to tell me that if RE7 released as recently as even 6 or 5, that something like Nightmare or even the little side episodes would not be extra content for the game. The Nightmare mode had the makings to be 7's equivalent of Raid/Mercs but when you add in the whopping 5-6 enemy variations, single location, and generally less great combat (combared to 4-6) it gets old fast. Ethan Must Die was interesting for a bit but it loses appeal when either you finish it once or you cave in and give up.
One of my favorite things about the RE series (at least most of it) is my ability to pick a random title and play it at genuinely any time almost. This applies to 1/REmake, 0, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The replay value for those is so much higher than 7 between the campaigns and side modes. With the lack of substantial side content and the issues I have with the main campaign on top of this, I've not returned to RE7 since I got the platinum trophy within the first 2 weeks of release. This speaks more for my views/feelings of 7 more than anything to be honest.
I know we have 2 more DLCs coming but with 1 being an expansion of story elements that are... ugly to say the least, I don't have high hopes. It's all feeling too little, too late for me at this point. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though and I'll obviously be playing them both anyway.
Going to wrap this up now because I've rambled enough (I just have a lot to say about the RE series lmao). Overall RE7 is both worse and better than I expected, sadly the elements that it's worse in are the ones that have great importance to me as a RE fan. I'm concerned for REmake 2 (due to the content and possibility of DLC gouging) and the overall future of the series (from a plot standpoint) even moreso than I was after the backlash to 6. The lore was just not cutting it for me overall and everything felt inconsequential. I saw mentioning of 4 being similar in this regard earlier in the thread as if it makes a difference but like I agree that 4 was mostly inconsequential but we're talking about 7. RE4 is on the lower end of my series ranking but at least it has more consistent gameplay and replay value/content to back it up for me. I can't say the same for 7 in its current state. I'm at the point where if the plot develops onwards from here with the ~twist at the end not being a fakeout (especially after there being nothing pointing to this in Vendetta) I'm probably done being severely invested in the series from a plot standpoint other than REmake 2.
I know this sounded really negative but I'd still probably give 7 a 6/10, which isn't a bad rating for me since I tend to use the full scale unlike some critics who seem to have more of a 7-10 scale. RE is my favorite series (with Silent Hill and Tomb Raider) so it's much easier for me to highly critical of these games because I know what they can be when they are at their best and it's always good to expect the best of things.
Also since I've already dropped so many hot takes in this post, here's a tentative series ranking as of this post:
REmake > RE2 > RE3 > RE1 > Outbreak (1 and 2) > RE5 > RE4 > RE0 > RE6 > CVX > 7 > Rev2 > Rev1
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For some context, when RE7 was revealed I was honestly pretty livid and wanted nothing to do with it. I wasn't a fan of the shift to first person but in addition to that I just didn't get heavy RE vibes like I do from literally every other RE title that I've played to date. Over time and as more was revealed it grew on me until I was actually excited for release and got the deluxe version that came with the season pass at launch.
Things started incredibly well. The prologue (at least for the first playthrough), VHS tapes, and overall stretch up until you enter the Funhouse was absolutely amazing. The Baker's residence was a great, if not slightly too simplistic return to the gameplay loop and level design that we haven't really seen since RE0 released. Exploring the residence while trying to avoid any unnecessary encounters was by far the peak of my experience with this game. The two best boss battles in the game are in this section as well. I'm inclined to say that if the game kept up this quality consistently it would be my favorite RE game since REmake.
Unfortunately (and as seen to a lesser extent in 4 and 5), that is just not the case. The game progressively gets worse from section to section until by the end I was just glad it was over. The funhouse was where the wheels started to come off a bit. It was fairly interesting the first time but more than anything I found myself wondering why I felt like I was playing a Saw video game instead of RE (this happened in Silent Hill: Homecoming too lmao). The section is topped off with probably one of the worst combat encounters in the game with 1 or even 2 of the fat molded. I'm not a huge fan of the molded to begin with (more on this later) but the fat ones (in addition to the crawling ones) are definitely the worst. I'm not sure how common this was for others but the fat molded had really bad collision detection with their vomit in which it would sometimes clip through objects I'd be crouching behind (this happened to me in Ethan Must Die once to top things off..), even once a door. I honestly found the combat less than stellar as a whole so it was a pain to have not one, but two forced encounters with these enemies as it is. This section ends with the most obvious A/B ending split choice I've ever seen and is a severe disappointment coming from some of the earlier games and their ending requirements.
Moving on, my first playthrough with the ship was a mild improvement from the barn/funhouse. My fatigue with the molded which had been there from nearly the start really started to worsen around this point but the atmosphere made up for it a bit. I think most of the excitement/enjoyment here came from the switch of player character and the vastly different location. Once you know the path and realize how linear/quick this section can go the appeal quickly fades. The VHS tape found here is also the longest in the game and it would've been nice to be able to skip it since I started to dread it after my second playthrough.
Finally onto the mines. I used to think I dreaded the island in 4 or the ship and similar sections in 5 but hoo boy this one might just take the cake in tragic ending segments for me. The linearity of the ship returns but is included with almost a gauntlet of combat topped off with a second fat molded encounter. There was also this really weird section of lab rooms where there were multiple files that dumped huge story info all at once which felt highly out of place and as a notable example of going against showing not telling. Things finally top off with an underwhelming on the rails boss and 2 endings that might as well have been 1 due to the small change.
I used to play around and hyperbolically say that it felt like Capcom put all of their time/effort into the beginning sections of 4 and 5 (mainly the village-castle and village-swamp, respectively) but it almost feels like that's actually the case here? For all of the talk of "oooooooh, we're going back to the series roots! horror all the way" and other nonsense we had pre-release the game sure doesn't seem to follow through with that overall? If that's what they wanted to do, that's great and I was all for it but I'm tired of half measures with this series. I had a similar complaint with Revelations and Revelations 2. Don't try to meet in the middle of action and horror and give me a middling release when you could commit to one or the other and deliver a fantastic experience. As someone who likes both action and horror RE, maybe I'm more forgiving but I can't believe all of those fans who were like "THIS IS THE REAL RE!!!" or "I haven't played a RE game in years but this is bringing me back" haven't expressed their displeasure. After the first 1/3 of the game it really doesn't feel like it was what they were selling to them? Maybe it's just because talk of RE7 has overall been relatively quiet after release passed, I don't know.
I'm hopping around a lot but I just want to talk about the DLC and amount of content because this actually might be the most unforgivable flaw with 7 for me. As a series fan I've come to expect a game that I can get hundreds of hours out of with a mainline RE game. Whether it's through side game content like Mercenaries/Raid mode, or even just highly replayable main campaigns, the series has never let me down until 7. I bought the deluxe edition/season pass thinking I'd be really busy with RE7 and all of its content and the DLC would be an added bonus, as it turns out there's not all that much to base game RE7. Yeah, there's unlocks for the campaign and difficulty levels but that's always been a series mainstay. Coming from RE4 and especially 5 and 6, 7 feels extremely light on content. As someone who almost never buys games at release for $60, I was left feeling particularly burned. "Well at least the DLC is coming" so I thought and I held out for it to release (which was extremely fast for that matter...) only for it to turn out to be less than stellar material that felt like it was cut from the main release. I get that DLC is a thing that pretty much every publisher does now but I would like to see someone try to tell me that if RE7 released as recently as even 6 or 5, that something like Nightmare or even the little side episodes would not be extra content for the game. The Nightmare mode had the makings to be 7's equivalent of Raid/Mercs but when you add in the whopping 5-6 enemy variations, single location, and generally less great combat (combared to 4-6) it gets old fast. Ethan Must Die was interesting for a bit but it loses appeal when either you finish it once or you cave in and give up.
One of my favorite things about the RE series (at least most of it) is my ability to pick a random title and play it at genuinely any time almost. This applies to 1/REmake, 0, 2, 3, 4, and 5. The replay value for those is so much higher than 7 between the campaigns and side modes. With the lack of substantial side content and the issues I have with the main campaign on top of this, I've not returned to RE7 since I got the platinum trophy within the first 2 weeks of release. This speaks more for my views/feelings of 7 more than anything to be honest.
I know we have 2 more DLCs coming but with 1 being an expansion of story elements that are... ugly to say the least, I don't have high hopes. It's all feeling too little, too late for me at this point. I'd be happy to be proven wrong though and I'll obviously be playing them both anyway.
Going to wrap this up now because I've rambled enough (I just have a lot to say about the RE series lmao). Overall RE7 is both worse and better than I expected, sadly the elements that it's worse in are the ones that have great importance to me as a RE fan. I'm concerned for REmake 2 (due to the content and possibility of DLC gouging) and the overall future of the series (from a plot standpoint) even moreso than I was after the backlash to 6. The lore was just not cutting it for me overall and everything felt inconsequential. I saw mentioning of 4 being similar in this regard earlier in the thread as if it makes a difference but like I agree that 4 was mostly inconsequential but we're talking about 7. RE4 is on the lower end of my series ranking but at least it has more consistent gameplay and replay value/content to back it up for me. I can't say the same for 7 in its current state. I'm at the point where if the plot develops onwards from here with the ~twist at the end not being a fakeout (especially after there being nothing pointing to this in Vendetta) I'm probably done being severely invested in the series from a plot standpoint other than REmake 2.
I know this sounded really negative but I'd still probably give 7 a 6/10, which isn't a bad rating for me since I tend to use the full scale unlike some critics who seem to have more of a 7-10 scale. RE is my favorite series (with Silent Hill and Tomb Raider) so it's much easier for me to highly critical of these games because I know what they can be when they are at their best and it's always good to expect the best of things.
Also since I've already dropped so many hot takes in this post, here's a tentative series ranking as of this post:
REmake > RE2 > RE3 > RE1 > Outbreak (1 and 2) > RE5 > RE4 > RE0 > RE6 > CVX > 7 > Rev2 > Rev1
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Yep, this happened to me a lot too, and similarly to your experience, it happened in Ethan Must Die when I crouched behind the table in the basement. In general, even if the vomit didn't hit me, it was just generally frustrating to see the vomit actually coming through a wall or a door. It just looked silly.
But yeah, I agree with pretty much everything you said in your post, but in particular I strongly agree with what you said about the lab and the massive information dump, and also what you said about the DLC. I'm also used to getting hours out of the campaigns and Mercenaries/Raid Mode (except with RE6 but that was purely because I didn't like it), so I'm definitely with you in that one.
A great game in my opinion. The new camera (first person view) "scared me" when I started to play, but after a while I didn't even bother anymore.
Im just happy that Capcom returned the franchise (or at least just this game) to it's roots: the survival horror.
Im just happy that Capcom returned the franchise (or at least just this game) to it's roots: the survival horror.
Resident Evil 7, for me, was ok. It isn't my favorite nor is it my least favorite in the linear series.
Pros:
I like the switch to first person, as I'm a big fan of Doom and really enjoy first person survival shooters. However, I feel like having the option to switch to third person wouldn't hurt, as people like my husband do enjoy Resident Evil but he despises first person shooters.
I liked the return to older game play mechanics (smaller inventories encouraging better resource management, thoughtful crafting, save boxes and even the tape players used to save).
I can't say that I was crazy about many of the characters in the game, but I'm very intrigued by Lucas in general, far moreso than any other character (sadly).
Cons:
I'm all for stealth, but I feel like RE7 was a little liberal with it's usage, because (correct me if I'm wrong because my memory is bad, especially now lol) I don't recall any other RE game being stealth heavy. Yes, I know we aren't military or whatever anymore but... okay, so when I played The Last of Us it was really cool because you kind of went into it knowing that being stealthy was generally a much better idea than trying to kill everything guns blazing, so to speak. And The Last of Us made it work because the game really justified the usage of stealth and made it really entertaining. With an RE game we've kinda been programmed to blast our way through the game with previous installments. Stealth is not a bad thing in games, but it was just so much NOT like any other RE game that it just seemed out of place I guess.
Lack of interesting/sympathetic characters; like I said above, I really didn't have any interest in any of the characters besides Lucas and he wasn't even the main character so as far as I'm concerned that was kind of a fail in character development in general.
Lack of enemy types. We pretty much just have bosses and molded. Bosses were not difficult once you learn the proper strategies and were (rightfully) few and far between, leaving the rest of the game to be played shooting the same old enemy over and over again, providing a pretty dull combat experience to be honest. The first person format would've been an excellent platform to introduce monsters that actually scared me from earlier games, like the licker for example. But nope. Just molded.
The environments were kind of boring as well. The mansion (RE1), the Raccoon PD, the underground labs, these places are iconic and fun to explore and look at all the intricacies whereas the mansion in RE 7 just didn't do it for me. I also thought some of the mechanics were a little out there (line up a shadow to open a door? Ok...). And don't get me started with that ship. So much rage. Moving on.
Am I the only one that didn't like Aunt Rhody? lol.
Random thought: I really didn't think I disliked so much about RE7 until I wrote this little blurb lol. I tend to gauge my interest levels in trophies: If I don't really like the game, I'll play through it once and be done with it. If it's okay, I'll generally get the main trophies but not bother with DLCs (I like me platinums), and if it's very good, I will grind through that game mercilessly until I get all the trophies and still continue to play (FFXV for example). I got the platinum for RE7 but didn't bother with DLCs because I hate the idea of paying extra for more content, generally speaking, and that birthday party DLC kinda killed it for me.
Pros:
I like the switch to first person, as I'm a big fan of Doom and really enjoy first person survival shooters. However, I feel like having the option to switch to third person wouldn't hurt, as people like my husband do enjoy Resident Evil but he despises first person shooters.
I liked the return to older game play mechanics (smaller inventories encouraging better resource management, thoughtful crafting, save boxes and even the tape players used to save).
I can't say that I was crazy about many of the characters in the game, but I'm very intrigued by Lucas in general, far moreso than any other character (sadly).
Cons:
I'm all for stealth, but I feel like RE7 was a little liberal with it's usage, because (correct me if I'm wrong because my memory is bad, especially now lol) I don't recall any other RE game being stealth heavy. Yes, I know we aren't military or whatever anymore but... okay, so when I played The Last of Us it was really cool because you kind of went into it knowing that being stealthy was generally a much better idea than trying to kill everything guns blazing, so to speak. And The Last of Us made it work because the game really justified the usage of stealth and made it really entertaining. With an RE game we've kinda been programmed to blast our way through the game with previous installments. Stealth is not a bad thing in games, but it was just so much NOT like any other RE game that it just seemed out of place I guess.
Lack of interesting/sympathetic characters; like I said above, I really didn't have any interest in any of the characters besides Lucas and he wasn't even the main character so as far as I'm concerned that was kind of a fail in character development in general.
Lack of enemy types. We pretty much just have bosses and molded. Bosses were not difficult once you learn the proper strategies and were (rightfully) few and far between, leaving the rest of the game to be played shooting the same old enemy over and over again, providing a pretty dull combat experience to be honest. The first person format would've been an excellent platform to introduce monsters that actually scared me from earlier games, like the licker for example. But nope. Just molded.
The environments were kind of boring as well. The mansion (RE1), the Raccoon PD, the underground labs, these places are iconic and fun to explore and look at all the intricacies whereas the mansion in RE 7 just didn't do it for me. I also thought some of the mechanics were a little out there (line up a shadow to open a door? Ok...). And don't get me started with that ship. So much rage. Moving on.
Am I the only one that didn't like Aunt Rhody? lol.
Random thought: I really didn't think I disliked so much about RE7 until I wrote this little blurb lol. I tend to gauge my interest levels in trophies: If I don't really like the game, I'll play through it once and be done with it. If it's okay, I'll generally get the main trophies but not bother with DLCs (I like me platinums), and if it's very good, I will grind through that game mercilessly until I get all the trophies and still continue to play (FFXV for example). I got the platinum for RE7 but didn't bother with DLCs because I hate the idea of paying extra for more content, generally speaking, and that birthday party DLC kinda killed it for me.
This is my first video on the game. It is so-so.
A later rant video, where I felt so stressed out.
The new version of YouTube is annoying. I cannot find my videos, so I have to keep restoring the previous version.
A later rant video, where I felt so stressed out.
The new version of YouTube is annoying. I cannot find my videos, so I have to keep restoring the previous version.
My only real issues with it are:
Length: needed to be longer.
Enemies: not enough variety.
Replay: Not enough items carry over, I want unlocked weapons on my next play through.
All that said, I think people complain about this game waaaaay too much because it was really good.
Length: needed to be longer.
Enemies: not enough variety.
Replay: Not enough items carry over, I want unlocked weapons on my next play through.
All that said, I think people complain about this game waaaaay too much because it was really good.
KevinStriker
"Quite an experience to live in fear, isn't it?"
The positives definitely outweigh the negatives, especially with regards to RE7's level design on a first playthrough, it brilliantly guides you with just enough variables to keep things interesting for next time.
I'm relatively new to the series, so I don't want to step on anyone's toes in here, but...
Wasn't RE7 exactly what the series needed? A soft reboot that reignited widespread interest in Resident Evil among both casual players and gaming journalists. Don't get me wrong but I always got the feeling that the RE series lost its touch with survival horror after RE4 and became more action-oriented and bland. The brand is doing better than ever before and everything points to the RE2 remake being a huge financial success, plus the whole gaming world is hyped for the 8th main installment.
Wasn't RE7 exactly what the series needed? A soft reboot that reignited widespread interest in Resident Evil among both casual players and gaming journalists. Don't get me wrong but I always got the feeling that the RE series lost its touch with survival horror after RE4 and became more action-oriented and bland. The brand is doing better than ever before and everything points to the RE2 remake being a huge financial success, plus the whole gaming world is hyped for the 8th main installment.
I actually have to disagree with this. Yes this has made Resident Evil more accessible to casual players and gaming journalists, but those people often aren't RE fans. Capcom made RE7 to appeal to the masses, rather than sticking to what the fanbase knows and loves - though, I've stopped being surprised by that. They made RE7 first person purely to fit the VR gimmick (and yes, I see VR as a gimmick). This was seized by streamers as an opportunity to be scared on camera, because it's cool to be scared these days. They also made it like any standard horror movie, just with a virus thrown in.
The thing that annoyed me as an RE fan was mostly that they got rid of the characters that we know and love (yes we had 'Redfield' but he definitely wasn't the Chris we all know and love). For a long time I've been wanting a return to horror, which they did, but why do they always have to fix one thing to break more? The whole thing just felt entirely disconnected to anything else we've had in the series, and I feel like 'Redfield' was a cheap way to try and make this game relevant to the overall plot.
The reasoning they gave for the abrupt changes in pretty much everything were flimsy at best, too. To justify the first person, they made Ethan bland and boring as hell so that the player could experience the game as if they themselves were playing. That's not what I want from a main series entry of Resident Evil; I want to be told a story because I am experiencing the horror myself purely by playing it, but of course, this would appeal to someone who doesn't really know the series as they can just slot right in and go. The characters in 7 overall were really bland, downright annoying or very stereotypical too, and the story was pretty much wrapped up after all the DLC was done. To me, this game is essentially a standalone; it doesn't add anything to the overall plot of the series, and if you took it out you wouldn't be missing anything because there's barely any connection to previous games. They got rid of the main characters because they were too invincible and superhero-like, but then Ethan handles the situation like a pro and nothing fazes him. We barely get any reaction from him at all. I mentioned in my previous post on the first page of this thread how they could possibly have made this about the characters. It really wouldn't have been that difficult to make a cohesive story that added to the series and carried on with themes from previous games.
This leads nicely onto my next point. I think after Revelations 2 there was a real opportunity to continue Natalia's story, and also to carry forward the general vibe and atmosphere from Revelations 2 as a game. Revelations 2 was definitely a step in the right direction as far as tone and style for me, and a lot of RE fans really enjoyed that game. I guess I got my hopes up that Capcom would build on that success and realise that the fans enjoyed what was produced with Revelations 2, which further added to my disappointment when Resident Evil 7 was entirely different to anything we've seen before in canon Resident Evil. I don't know if Revelations 2 was made by a different team, but I feel like someone needs to take the lead and be the visionary for the series, so that it has a more cohesive feel across the entire series.
I'm going to stop rambling and summarise now. I'm not saying that I didn't enjoy RE7 as a game in and of itself, because I did. It was just heavily disappointing for a main entry Resident Evil game to me, and was pretty forgettable. Instead of feeling like a soft reboot, this game actually felt like more of a spin-off for me. That would actually have been preferable and I could have forgiven the way it was because it wasn't a main series entry. Yes, it's re-ignited general interest in Resident Evil and the brand is doing better than before, but the promotion of the brand and profits have been put first over the series itself, which is an issue to me.
I've not really seen much hype for RE8 anywhere, to be honest. To me it seems like nobody is talking about the eighth instalment, because as you said, there's a ton of hype for RE2 right now (and rightly so - fans have been asking for this for a very long time and it's looking great so far to me). I'm glad I have RE2 REmake to look forward to, because with the exception of Revelations 2, it seems like such a long time since I've played an RE game I've enjoyed as an entry into the Resident Evil series (RE6 and 7 were both disappointing to me). Let's hope that REmake 2 lives up to the hype!
Yes, I see. It's hard for me to understand how long-time fans feel about RE7 whom have been playing the games constantly leading up to its release. After all, the action-oriented aspects of the later games happened gradually from 4-6, while the changes made in RE7 were very drastic and obvious.
From what I've seen most fans seem to praise Revelations 2 though. Not surprisingly, Revelations 2 was the very reason I started to get interested in the series.
However I still think the first person mode itself was the right decision in order to stay relevant in today's gaming world. Silent Hills (before it was cancelled) was also supposed to take the Silent Hill series into first person. The game itself might be better suited as a spin-off/side story, but if it wasn't a main installment perhaps it wouldn't have received such acclaim. In the end though I hope that the next main installment chooses to combine first person mode with third person mode. Perhaps they can have first person mode for interior levels, and third person for outdoor levels.
Not really... Interest in Resident Evil never dwindled. The sales can attest to that. Besides, appealing to the casual market was pretty much what tarnished the franchise to begin with.
Is it really? Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6 are still at the top of Capcom's list of best-sellers, and not just of the series either, but the whole company. Resident Evil 4 is still the highest rated game in the franchise. Sure, Resident Evil 7 made a splash, but it did so for "going back to its roots." But did it really? Fans certainly can't seem to agree. @Jen makes some very valid points that echo what many of us have already said in this thread, as well as many more Resident Evil fans outside of this forum.
As consumers and as fans, we shouldn't measure success with Capcom's financial gain and the critical reception of gaming journalists who aren't necessarily fans of the series, but are reviewing the game on its own merits. Most of us could agree, Resident Evil 7 is a solid game that was excellently crafted, but that doesn't really tell us much.
We're Resident Evil fans, and Capcom hasn't appealed to us in a long time. They've lost focus, and that's what has really been hurting this series. The only thing Resident Evil 7 has in common with the original games is genre, but much like RE4-RE6, it's still clear they're catering to a different audience.
I don't think keeping the third person perspective makes it irrelevant in gaming today, in the horror genre or otherwise. There are plenty of games that are third person in the horror genre that hold up, like The Last of Us and The Evil Within and The Evil Within 2. There are plenty of games that hold up as third person games outside horror too. In my opinion 7 was purely first person to cater to the gimmick of VR.
I can agree with this and honestly I haven't played 4, 5 or 6 yet. I saw an video essay on YouTube talking about Capcom's relationship to its fans, and apparently their idea was to have the main series appeal to a wider audience, while old fans were given spin-off games like Revelations 1 & 2. Am I correct? To me this sounds like how Square Enix are treating their Tomb Raider fans - the main series will continue to be crafted for a mainstream audience, and fans who miss the old Lara Croft will still be able to enjoy her in various spin-off games.
Yes, I've played those games too and I love them. They did include an option to play The Evil Within 2 in first person, and to me that definitely felt like a cheap gimmick.
RE7 seems to be the black sheep here.... I've watched playthroughs of it and I'm planning on playing it myself after I've completed the previous titles in the series.
I like it. I've read some comments here and elsewhere, that some people don't like it because it doesn't feel like a resident evil game and should be it's own ip.
I get that. But, for me, I like that it's far removed from the main lore in general.
Sometimes you just have to start a new. After resident evil 6's overblown scenario I was and still am glad they did something different. You still got your B. O. W's, but the game feels more dialed down and got that different feel to it. Like at first it feels more like a combination of evil dead, with a possessed Mia, some found footage horror and I'm not even a fan of that particular sub-genre. Then you have a bit of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw. A weird blend of different movies, but for me, It worked.
I get that. But, for me, I like that it's far removed from the main lore in general.
Sometimes you just have to start a new. After resident evil 6's overblown scenario I was and still am glad they did something different. You still got your B. O. W's, but the game feels more dialed down and got that different feel to it. Like at first it feels more like a combination of evil dead, with a possessed Mia, some found footage horror and I'm not even a fan of that particular sub-genre. Then you have a bit of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Saw. A weird blend of different movies, but for me, It worked.