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The successful release of Resident Evil Village earlier this year seems to have brought to a close the saga of Ethan Winters. While Resident Evil 9 may yet center around the Winters family, it’s unlikely that Ethan will be involved, despite Village’s post-credits scene. However, until the release of Resident Evil 9, fans may still be tempted to go back and replay Ethan Winters’ story, with the weaponry and knowledge accrued from their first playthrough.
Completing the story of a Resident Evil game on master difficulty ordinarily rewards the player with an overpowered weapon to make future playthroughs less frustrating. In the case of Resident Evil Village, players were rewarded with a rocket pistol with optional unlimited ammo. But despite sounding like a powerful weapon, Village’s rocket pistol doesn’t exactly live up to the unlockable weapons of past Resident Evil games. While it may prove useful in future playthroughs of Resident Evil Village, the rocket pistol ultimately feels weak and underwhelming.
Resident Evil Village’s Rocket Pistol
Resident Evil Village’s rocket pistol is the player’s reward for beating the game on the hardest difficulty. Upon completing the game on the hardest difficulty, it can be purchased for 1500 Lei from the Duke, and infinite ammo costs an additional 100,000 CP in the extra content shop. As the name suggests, the rocket pistol fires out rounds that explode on contact, killing or stunning enemies. It is designed to make future playthroughs of Resident Evil Village less stressful, and more of a casual experience. However, as rewards for beating a Resident Evil game go, the rocket pistol is fairly underwhelming.
For a reward that’s so difficult to get, the Rocket Pistol is not very satisfying to use. It is useful to an extent, as it can stun larger enemies and knock them off their stride, so it’s worth carrying around for those hair-raising moments. Still, while it does a good job dispatching of Resident Evil Village's Lycans, which are the bulk of the enemies the player will face, the player will need to expend a lot of rounds to kill larger enemies. This isn’t exactly a problem as the rocket pistol comes with optional unlimited ammo, but it doesn’t feel like a good replacement for the infinite ammo rocket launcher available in previous games.
The Best Weapons in Resident Evil
Other Resident Evil titles have given the player much stronger weapons as rewards. A good example of this is the Albert-01R handgun in Resident Evil 7, which is a three-round pistol unlocked by beating the game on any difficulty. Unlike the rocket pistol from Village, it feels incredibly weighty, and when fired it actually sounds like a rocket going off. The rocket pistol in comparison sounds like a silenced weapon out of a James Bond film. This holds its own novelty, but it leaves the player feeling underequipped when facing some of the tougher enemies from Resident Evil Village.
Perhaps one of the best rewards for beating any Resident Evil game can be found in the infinite minigun from Resident Evil 2. The infinite minigun may be pushing the envelope a bit, as it can make a playthrough of Resident Evil 2 overly easy. However, to unlock this weapon, the player needs to earn an S+ rank for Claire’s story on the hardest difficulty. As a result, by this point, the player will have experienced all there is to experience in Resident Evil 2. The minigun unlock is more about getting revenge on the enemies that have tormented the player throughout the majority of their original playthrough. It’s the perfect example of how the player should be rewarded for their time investment, something that is not seen with Resident Evil Village's secret weapon.
Resident Evil Village is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.