After a long and varied history, covering multiple spin-offs and changes in tone, "Resident Evil" has returned to its roots. Rather, Capcom decided to give the fans what they missed in the previous installments of this game. When the trailer for "Resident Evil 7" premiered last summer, I was ecstatic. I thought this new chapter was the ticket that could satisfy my missing itch for a great horror game. Flash forward to late January and it did not disappoint.
The influences of "Resident Evil 7" are as diverse as the horror genre itself. It combines slasher films, zombie outbreaks, body horror, and death traps in a satisfying package. The best way to describe it, would be a mix of "The Shining", "The Evil Dead", "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and "Saw." In the utmost sense, you are powerless in the game. You have to avoid Jack, the father of the Baker family, for the beginning of the game. Even when you are able to get a gun, you have limited ammo, causing you to decide whether to run away or face the enemy head on.
The story revolves around Ethan Winters, a man who travels to Louisiana to find his wife, Mia--who went missing three years ago. While there, he gets kidnapped by the Baker family, a clan of cannibalistic inhuman beings with regenerative abilities. Each person of the family occupies a different area of the property. Jack patrols the Main House; Margarite, the mother, patrols the Old House on the bayou with her swarm of bugs; Lucas, the son, has his own personal testing area. To say the least, Ethan goes through everything to escape the house. In other words, he suffers the same fate Ash did in "Evil Dead II."
It would not be a "Resident Evil" game without zombies. The molded, which are not the typical "zombie"--it takes a good amount of ammo to put one down, but fewer for a headshot. Your best option for escape is to take out the legs and run around them.
I was genuinely surprised by how good "Resident Evil 7" was. I enjoyed the first-person perspective, but it cannot replace the third-person over-the-shoulder I know and love. Also, you have limited storage space for items, causing you to choose between health and ammo on the run. The weapons are not wimpy, nor overpowerful. I loved all the boss fights. However, the ending felt a bit rushed and the story did not quite wrap up neatly.
Overall, I would highly recommend this game. The environments are creepy and detailed, the combat is pretty nice but not too polished, and the AI enemies are better than the xenomorph in "Alien: Isolation". I could write about this for days, but this is a must-have game for horror fans, or those disatisfied with modern horror films.
