As many others so clearly did, I eagerly jumped online to download the Resident Evil Village demo after its announcement at the Resident Evil Showcase. After finishing this 15-minute taster of things to come, I’m sold on this new destination more than I ever was.
First up, the Maiden demo, as it’s called, is not a demo of Resident Evil Village itself, but exists in its world. It does take place in the grand house featured in the trailers and gameplay shown for Village, however. A home owned by that now-infamously tall vampiric lady.
Capcom says this demo is meant to be a showcase of what the game looks and plays like on PS5, as well as setting the tone and atmosphere for the full Village experience. It’s fair to say Maiden does a splendid job on both counts.
The player character, who is seemingly the titular Maiden, awakens in the dungeon of the sprawling castle/mansion, and finds a note stuffed into the wall, offering semi-coded clues on how to escape. After leaving her cell, she has to explore the rest of the dungeon in search of the tools needed to ascend to the main house.
In these early areas, it’s a little harder to tell just how much of an improvement this is visually over Resident Evil VII. The darkness doesn’t reveal too much, but the audio work is impressive enough to unnerve, as footsteps echo, chains rattle lightly, and eventually, something thumps persistently against a makeshift barricade, daring me to creep past to the only viable exit.
Heading into a slightly more illuminated cellar, Maiden’s impressive lighting starts to show its chops. The dull glow and flicker of candlelight show just enough of the increasingly disturbing sights. A dinner table with questionable looking bowls of soup placed on it is one of the first real nods to Village’s vampire-inspired story. Then, a fun early trick the demo plays was making me think there’s a blood trail to something, but when I followed it, it’s just a leaking wine barrel. Later, it becomes clear that my first guess was all too correct. Someone’s got a very particular taste in claret.
I finally found a way into the main house and this is where the demo really looks stunning. There’s more than a little of the original Resident Evil’s Spencer Mansion to the areas you get to explore here. Gold-rimmed wall decals, regal-looking paintings, a twisting wooden staircase, a grand fireplace. There’s a sense of nobility and grandeur to this place, but the snickering laughter I hear echoing around me is a good reminder that this is also a very dangerous place to be wandering around.
Whilst rooting around for a way to escape the sinister laughter, I come across a room with an open, yet barred, window. It gives a small glimpse at the wintry outside world, and a better sense of how much more there is to this building. It’s a devilish tease because I really want to go out there and explore, but the door is locked, and requires a special key.
So in grand Resident Evil tradition, it’s off to search for some unrelated curios that will unlock another room, and eventually, give me the key I need to head out into the more welcoming embrace of the snow blown outdoors.
The demo provides no means of defending yourself, which makes the walk back down to the locked door unnerving because I know something is going to happen. Beyond the glimpse of a person’s shadow, door’s closing ahead of me, the aforementioned laughter, and an ominous clomping of feet in the hall above me, I’ve still yet to see anyone else here. So it’s ever-so-slightly dread-inducing when a woman says ‘I’m watching you’ in a singsong tone as I get halfway down the stairs.
Then things get bad. A swarm of flies moves in front of the doorway to the room I need to get into, and transforms into a young-looking vampiric woman. A not all that successful evasion later, I flee into the room, head for the locked door, unlock it and barely get sight of the outside before an impossibly large figure blocks my view and walks through the door, grabbing me. Needless to say, it doesn’t go well for me, and the demo reaches its end. I’m left wanting more.
The smart thing about this standalone teaser is that it will undoubtedly form a connection to Village, but it’s unlikely to spoil anything about the game. What it did do is sell me on this setup even more. It leaves just enough to the imagination, whilst happily confirming that Village will lean heavily into the vampire stuff with a twist of Resident Evil’s usual sinister experimentation gone wrong.
I think Resident Evil Village might turn out alright, you know.
The Maiden demo is out now on PS5.
Resident Evil Village is out May 7, 2021 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Series X/S, and PC.
source https://bloody-disgusting.com/video-games/3649232/resident-evil-village-maiden-demo/
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