'Resident Evil Village' is the f*cked up fairytale of your dreams

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Resident Evil Village is a fairytale. A fucked up fairytale, but a fairytale nonetheless.

The new survival game from Capcom continues the story started by the horror franchise's soft reboot Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. But instead of taking players back to that swampy nightmare of toxic mosquitoes and Texas Chainsaw Massacre homage, Village transports hero Ethan Winters, wife Mia, and infant daughter Rose to a foreboding village somewhere in snowy Europe.

Fresh hell awaits in the gothic landscape, of course; but neither you nor Ethan will see it coming.

A sprawling adventure through a fantastical, fright-filled world unlike any other in the franchise.

The brilliant narrative, which subverted my expectations from start to finish, begins in the Winters’ home. They've just moved to wherever this is (no one really says), and Mia is reading a super creepy book — wouldn’t you know it, a fairytale — to Rose. "It’s a local tale," she says; and it's all about blood-thirsty monsters and a baby girl. Hmmm...

At first, the fairytale intro seems like a pleasant reward for having gone to all the trouble of saving Mia in RE7, assuming you got that ending. Not to mention, it's an emotionally grounded way of reacquainting players with Ethan and RE's pivot to the first-person perspective. (Carrying Rose up to bed is your first task and, reader, it made me feel like a dad.)

But once the game’s first major cutscene triggers, Village begins to reveal itself for what it truly is: a standout horror experience that pulls its vicious, hard-to-shake scare style from the dramatic tropes of fairytales and folklore. RE8, we soon learn, is bigger than making it through one scary mansion, police station, or even city. Rather, it's a sprawling fantasy adventure through a bizarre, fright-filled world unlike any other in the series — totally untethered by any unspoken "rules" of the franchise.

Through gnarled tree branches and bloody snow, Ethan eventually emerges into the titular village. I won't get into the "why" here, but in classic video game fashion: Our hero is looking for his kid.

The village's people are old-fashioned with a predilection for occult shrines, naturally. But as with any good fairytale, the discovery of what is happening in this fantastical realm and why is up to our hero to discover. Players are challenged with searching the hamlet, which is crawling with monsters and victims, for clues. You'll solve puzzles, manage your inventory, and kill zombies like always.

You'll start to get comfortable with the map and the enemies. Then everything will go to shit anyway.

As with every RE game, you'll start to get comfortable with the map and the enemies and then everything will go to shit anyway. Village makes that experience of going from a bad situation into actual hell especially jarring. That's in part because the types of horror inspirations it seems to draw on are so different than those of past games.

If RE7, for example, can be likened to Cabin Fever, Saw, or The Hills Have Eyes, then Village bears the influences of Hans Christian Andersen, Bram Stoker, and Mary Shelley. In heightening centuries-old fantasy stories for a 2021 horror game, RE8 made me feel as defenseless as a child — pitting me against the monsters not even the test of time has been able to defeat. Fighting back almost felt foolish; like I was a little kid up against adult forces I could never beat.

A central plot line I won't spoil here ties it all back to RE's complex lore, but this is the closest the sci-fi horror series has come to exploring magical concepts, and the game is fresher and more engaging for it.

Turning from the clichés we've come to expect in horror films to the archetypes of fairytale, RE8 put me off-balance from the very beginning. Where I braced for jump scares, I was met with haunting storybook images. And then, just to fuck with me, RE8 would switch tactics and do the jump scare I had anticipated when I was least expecting it. Suffice to say, all the bravery I thought I'd gained by making it through RE7's Baker Mansion in 2017 didn't save me from RE8.

Surrounding the village are four additional arenas: a castle, a mansion, a lake house, and a factory. Predictably, you play through each one by one, but less easy to anticipate are the horrors lurking inside. In each terrifying setting, players meet new characters and creatures, all taking their respective fairytale paradigms to the scariest possible extremes.

There's Lady Dimitrescu (aka the internet's beloved "Tall Vampire Lady") and her three witchy daughters, of course. But there are plenty of other Village villains you'll be up against. Their respective worlds are narratively complex and aesthetically stunning; their motives are varied and, at least by fairytale standards, believable; and their fighting styles never failed to startle me.

I won't say anything more specific lest I risk your chance at being scared shitless. But RE8's cast of characters is one of its greatest assets. Where so many horror projects seem to toss tropes together without considering their relationship to one another, RE8 achieves an interconnectedness that makes it feel as if the whole world — not just one boss — is out for you.

Luckily, in the face of all these foes, Village Ethan is better positioned to fight back than RE7 Ethan ever was. Thanks to The Duke, a cheery merchant who pops up in spots throughout the game to regularly taunt and only sometimes help you, your weapon options are more readily customizable.

They each come with an array of complimentary tortures that will test your mettle.

You're still responsible for collecting herbs and chem fluid to make medicine, and you'll need to find treasures to pay The Duke for the weapons and any upgrades you want. Plus, he only carries a limited amount of ammo, meaning crafting is still very much a necessity.

But with a save point and a friendly-ish face available, The Duke's shop is a solid base from which to adventure — one you're going to need considering just how overwhelming this game can get. While RE8's enemies are (mostly) siloed to their own parts of the game, they each come with an array of complementary tortures that will test your mettle. Some enemies you'll hide from; others you'll run from; and then there are those you just have to fight. Along the way, extra zombies will spawn in fields and streets, creating even more work for poor Ethan.

Not without its flaws, however, Village sometimes buckles under the weight of that far-reaching ambition. With labyrinthine levels where you're practically guaranteed to get lost for inordinately large chunks of time and enemies that don't always behave how they're supposed to, the game occasionally exposes elements of its execution that need work. It's never a particularly big deal, but in a game so totally engrossing, missteps stick out — and the physical puzzles of Village do get wonky.

Playing on the game's easiest "casual" mode, I was struck by how often the monsters I fought would get stuck to walls. Sure, I appreciated the advantage; but I'm not entirely sure that's what was intended. Later, I was frustrated by a puzzle involving two swinging lamps that needed to collide — of this, I was absolutely certain — and for whatever reason, refused to make contact. Aimlessly yeeting Ethan into them eventually worked.

It's certainly a more polished endeavor than RE7, no doubt due in part to the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 that were released by Capcom in the interim. But, as with most games, parts of this otherwise exquisite story will bother you by simply not being up to snuff.

Still, by the time you reach RE8's final act, those shabbier elements will be well in the rearview. I wrapped up my first marathon playthrough in a little over 11 hours — stopping for what I'll estimate was a moderate amount of optional treasure hunting — and still found myself eager to go back.

"Chronicles of Nightmarnia," "Ethan in Wonderland," "Tall Vampire Lady and the Seven Bosses" (there's more bosses to fight than that but you get the joke); whatever you want to nickname it, Resident Evil Village puts a fairytale spin on the horror franchise I thought I'd figured out.

Resident Evil Village is out May 7 for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Steam and Stadia.

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