Welcome to the family…
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the latest in the survival horror series, but this sets itself apart from the main cast like Leon S Kennedy and Jill Valentine, but puts you in the boots of a guy called Ethan who has tracked down his missing wife Mia to an abandoned house in Louisiana. Upon arriving however, it becomes clear that all isn’t good…the house is far from abandoned, but is occupied by the Baker family…who just scream of “Texas Chainsaw”…
You will notice the huge difference in the game thanks to the switch to first-person, plus the opening section gives you nothing to fight back with. The family consists of crazy, impossible-to-kill Jack Baker who chases you through the house, his wife Marguerite who will creep around with a lantern that gives her a power to hurl wasps/hornets at you, while there’s also two others and a creepy old woman in a wheelchair who doesn’t attack you, but does end up getting around the house randomly to just creep you out, she doesn’t even talk…but damn, she creepy!
After a while, you’ll begin to see that this is classic Resident Evil. You find weapons, ammo, herbs and save rooms around the house and other areas of the plantation. I won’t give away too much story-wise, but the Bakers are seriously messed up…as you will find out, especially if you find the VHS tapes that put you in the perspective of some of their victims.
Besides the Bakers, the other enemy you’ll come across are variants of monsters called Molded that are actually made of mould and can do some lethal damage in big numbers and take a lot of ammo to put down, so make sure you have plenty of bullets before taking them on.
The jump scares are constant throughout the entire game, you will feel claustrophobic and paranoid too. It’s definitely the scariest of the series since the original Resident Evil, something I thought had gone the way of the dinosaur after the change in direction set from Resi 4. But no, Resi is back to it’s roots in a very dramatic way and I like it.
I did my first playthrough in around 9 hours, but you can do it a lot quicker if you know where you are going. In fact, some crazy guy has completed it on the hardest difficulty using only a knife in just a few hours. But you do get nice bonuses for playing more than once, like infinite ammo if you finish it on Madhouse (the hardest difficulty)
Visually, it’s one strong game. The house and other areas are dirty, grotty, full of rot and looks disgusting…while the character models for the Bakers are amazingly disturbing, especially towards the end and the boss battles are immense. Voice-acting has always been cheesy in the Resi series, but RE7 changes this for a more serious tone and a more believable performance overall. The soundtrack is also intense and atmospheric, adding tension to an already tension-packed experience.
The Verdict
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is the entry we’ve been waiting for. It takes the series back to it’s roots, but from an entirely new perspective. It feels fresh, but familiar and has more jump scares than you can imagine. If you are brave enough to do it in PSVR, I bow to you amidst my cowardice. With more DLC on the way too, it’s not over yet for RE7 players and I cannot wait to see what’s on the way.