Resident Evil Village has so far done a good job addressing a number of recent complaints leveled against the Resident Evil franchise. Resident Evil Village has managed this by doing away with its over-reliance on classic horror tropes such as jump scares, and providing a balanced action-horror experience close to that which can be found in Resident Evil 4. Overall, the launch of Village has been a successful one, with the game managing to rack up quite a lot of interest. This success may be due in large part to one of Resident Evil Village's hidden strengths.
In an evolving gaming landscape that is seeing more and more 20+ hour narratives pushed to the masses, Resident Evil stands as one of the few series prioritizing narrative cohesion over game length. The length of Resident Evil Village is greater than that of Resident Evil 7 but doesn't compare with the longest entries in the series, with many reviewers completing the game in 10-12 hours or even less. This is relatively short by modern standards, but despite Resident Evil’s subversion of the new norm of ever-expanding game sizes, it succeeds in providing a fulfilling and weighty narrative, which is in large part down to its reluctance to conform.
Village's Main Story Length
It's becoming increasingly common to be overwhelmed by the sheer volume of content in big-budget releases. Most recently, STALKER 2's length was revealed to widespread shock among the gaming community. At this point, managing to find the time to complete games can be difficult, and with many AAA games coming with their own unique combat system, it is becoming equally challenging to jump back into a game having not played it in a while. Complexity, massive open-worlds, and seemingly unending storylines are being marketed as the future of gaming, but there's still room for shorter, more linear experiences.
Each hour of Resident Evil Village is chocked full of puzzles, tense enemy encounters, not so subtle hints that Lady Dimitrescu is a vampire, and of course, a great deal of suspense. Resident Evil Village is perfect for fans of action-horror. While lengthy games offer great value for money, this perfection would not have been achieved without the game's short run-time and linear levels. When traversing through the world of Resident Evil Village, the player almost stumbles into story beats. At some points in the game, the player is practically funneled into the next section by a hair-raising chase sequence. There's so much content packed into every stage of the game that it's near impossible to be stumped for Ethan Winters' next move.
What To Do Outside Of Village's Main Story
While the actual story may be short by modern standards, for completionists, there's a lot of fun to be had. From looking up guides on how to 100% the game, to finding out how to unlock Resident Evil Village's hidden secrets, the player has a plethora of opportunities to add an extra element of challenge. Indeed, the player can approach RE Village at their own pace, leaving the true length of the game up to the eye of the beholder. Once the player has finished the main story, there is even more content to crack into with two unlockable game modes and an online mode set to release this summer.
Upon completing the main story, the player unlocks Mercenaries Mode for Village, along with New Game Plus. New Game Plus allows the player to restart the main story with every item and upgrade they attained in their first playthrough, offering a great opportunity to play the game through on a higher difficulty setting. Mercenaries Mode, on the other hand, challenges the player to blast their way through levels under a time limit, but in return, they're afforded a vast arsenal of weapons and ammo.
For fans of multiplayer, RE:Verse will be launching in Summer 2021. In RE:Verse, fans can battle it out in 5-minute deathmatches or 4-6 person survival-horror revenge matches. While RE:Verse is technically a standalone game, a download code is included with every purchase of the game.
Resident Evil Village is out now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.