Resident Evil VII: Biohazard Review

Resident Evil VII: Biohazard is a smart re-imagining of a franchise that far too often has rested on its laurels in recent years. Replacing camp acting and comic-book villains with slow-burn malicious antagonists and swapping out hordes of the undead for a more intimate threat, the change of pace was at first strange for this long-time fan, but ultimately very welcome. Despite the obvious changes, the game is still at its core a Resident Evil game, and while it doesn’t always gel together for a flawless experience, it doesn’t stop it from being the most effectively scary game in the series for a very long time.

Survival is the focus of this survival horror. At no point during the game did I ever feel overpowered or like I had too many choices of weapon; quite the opposite. The old system of inventory management adds more to the tension while never being so imbalanced that it’s frustrating. I was constantly trying to combine items and create new ones using the games simple and clever crafting system so that I would have room for other herbs or ammo that I may find lying around.

Resident Evil VII is so successful not because of its known gameplay tropes laid out by its action-packed history, rather its ability to strip everything back to its bare minimum to create a truly nerve-racking setting, where every dark doorway, every stairwell and every ominous corridor could contain something frightening. Even as some of the enemies become more obvious, the manner in which they appear is still often surprising, meaning you never truly feel safe, with plenty of visual tricks and smart use of sound effects always keeping you on your toes.

Pacing is deliberately slow, even when sprinting, so that you’re forced to take in everything around you. This is perfectly understandable, but forces combat to be sometimes a little bit lethargic. Even when running from one of your stalking foes, they easily catch up with you and grab you, while other enemies that you encounter later in the game are able to literally leap at you and sometimes move towards you at twice the speed. This leaves you very vulnerable, which you could argue is the whole point, but it often irritated me that I couldn’t move quickly. I mean, if someone was chasing me down trying to kill me, I’d like to think I’d move a bit faster than I was allowed to here.

That all being said, the combat in Resident Evil VII is still incredibly satisfying when you do encounter one of the more disposable foes. Blasting a shotgun to the head and watching it pop and ooze is just great, as is lighting them on fire with the flame-thrower and seeing them burn. I do wish there was more variety in the enemies themselves, but they still provide quite a challenge when they are in groups, backing you into a corner and having you make snap-decisions about the very small amounts of ammo you have in your arsenal. Should I use the bullets I have? Do I just use my knife? Should I run instead? These questions constantly keep you questioning your tactics.

A huge draw-card for Resident Evil VII is the fact that, if you wish, the entire game can be played using the PlayStation VR. This heightens things in only a way virtual reality can; there’s nothing quite like hearing a noise to the left of you and slowly forcing yourself to physically turn your head. The jump scares work better and the feeling of dread is ridiculously intense; I found myself genuinely yelling and reacting to my surroundings in a way that I haven’t experienced with horror before. It had me, truly, anxious about continuing my journey.