Resident Evil Village has continued the franchise's first-person return to form beginning with 2017's Resident Evil 7. Ethan Winters once again had to brave terrifying atrocities and unspeakable evils, as he navigated a nightmarish European village and castle. The narrative has twists and turns, while also tying itself into the larger mythos of Resident Evil as a whole, resulting in one of the most engaging entries in the series to date.
While the new title is unmistakably a Resident Evil game, with its item management, brain bending puzzles, and hint of campiness in the dialogue, there were elements that deviate from the traditional formula. The bulk of the game follows the usual principles found in any series entry, with a strong balance between navigation, gunplay and gripping suspense. However, one particular section in Resident Evil Village drifted into Silent Hill territory in terms of tone and atmosphere.
It is important to note, that in order to properly explain this comparison, the remainder of the article will heavily dive into specific story beats in Resident Evil Village. Be warned that the following will contain Spoilers for Resident Evil Village, so if any readers have yet to finish the game, feel free to do so and then return afterwards.
The Beneviento House in Resident Evil Village
The opening hours of Resident Evil Village are highly reminiscent of Resident Evil 4, in terms of the emphasis on escalating tension and action-packed pacing. Resident Evil 7 took more cues from the original PS1 title, tasking the player with exploring a sort of "haunted house" location, with the lingering feeling of always being watched. It's a more subtle but unnerving approach, with a consistent sense of dread. Resident Evil Village on the other hand is a thrill, with the pace never letting up and the player never able to let their guard down, just in case something around the corner will attempt to rip them in half (which is basically the case 99% of the time in this game).
However, about a quarter of the way through the game after defeating Lady Dimitrescu and encountering the Duke once more, Resident Evil Village opens up. The player is granted an option to choose which of the Four Lords to tackle next, and whenever they choose to travel to House Beneviento, the game suddenly shifts gears for a very different experience.
The trek to this location has a haunting ambience similar to the Lost Woods in Breath of the Wild, only with a much more sinister vibe to it all. Ethan begins seeing hallucinations of his wife Mia, as the game casts doubt on what is real and what isn't, creating a very different sense of anxiety compared to the more physical threats put forward so far.
As House Beneviento looms in the distance under a raging waterfall, there is the general notion that not everything is quite as it seems. The player explores the small house, discovering it is quite empty inside. The calm, absolute silence within the area causes a sense that something will go wrong at any moment, yet it never does... that is until the player ultimately ends up travelling to the basement of House Beneviento. It is here that Ethan's weapons and items are removed, and he must rely on his cunning and wits to survive in the most psychological and arguably terrifying segment in the entire experience.
The P.T/Resident Evil Village Comparison
In 2014, Hideo Kojima's P.T. was the closest hint for players to see what a modern, more gritty interpretation of the Silent Hill series would be like. The entire game was confined to a claustrophobic and dimly lit series of hallways. Each turn of the corner a heart attack waiting to happen, and every new supernatural occurrence adding a palpable new layer of fear to the game. P.T. seemed to suggest that, going forward, Silent Hills would have placed extra emphasis on the "survival'" in the term "survival horror." Stripping away all weapons and the means of defending one-self, the game would solely be a test of bravery and mind games for the player.
Compared to this particular segment in Resident Evil Village, the similarities become abundantly clear. Ethan cannot fight back, the location is cramped and dark, and here are where some of the strangest events in the entire game occur. As the player progresses in this section, Mia's voice can be heard over a radio, unexplainable objects on display reflect Ethan's own life, and visual metaphors that seem to represent trauma also appear.
All of these inclusions scream the atmosphere of Silent Hill, a series which prides itself on delivering horror that in some way connects to the protagonist in a disturbing, cerebral fashion. This is no more evident in Resident Evil Village than in the now infamous moment when a giant, freakish baby stalks Ethan through the many hallways, mirroring the haunting cries of the fetus that is found in a sink in the P.T. demo.
From the Ganados in Resident Evil 4, to the Baker family in Resident Evil 7, the series horror stems from physical threats as opposed to psychological. However, this one section in the latest game has much more in common with the fellow horror franchise Silent Hill in terms of how scares and suspense are delivered to the player. If the persistent rumors of a new Silent Hill game prove to be true in the end, then Resident Evil Village may have provided gamers with a taste of what's to come from a proper next gen return to that franchise.
Resident Evil Village is available now for PC, PS4, PS5, Stadia, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.