A franchise damaged, an industry that has moved on, Resident Evil was lost. Capcom seemingly didn't know what to do, but the first hints came from the strangest of places, a VR tech demo. Capcom decided to ditch the action games and get back to the horror roots while creating a brand new engine and focus on VR. The Kitchen demo simply hinted at things to come, it wasn't until 2016 E3 that the first trailer hit. I was in a theater watching the Sony conference, the trailer showing shots in first person of a creepy house, an amazing song, and horrifying Texas Chainsaw like atmosphere. No one had a damn clue what it was until the VII flashes and Resident Evil comes on screen, the theater went NUTS. Crazy part is there was a demo! I had to get home!

If you weren't there it's hard to describe the discourse around RE7 and it's absolutely silly looking back at it now. First off the demo… wtf! They released the demo in chunks, basically what we got the first time was some demo you cannot complete… who does that. Why is there a finger?!? What does it do?! PT had popularized this style of game so I and many others thought the demo hid some wild secrets, it did not. We just had to wait MONTHS to actually finish it. Besides making people lose their mind over a finger, the demo made a bunch of people believe that RE7 had NO GUNS. This went on and on and on until the next trailer showed a damn gun and the demo was updated to have a gun.

The switch to first person also caused the fandom to collectively lose their mind. I admit I was one of those, RE is a third person franchise, I don't care much for first person so I was a bit upset. But there was a reason for the first person and it was because this game was going to be in VR. Now I am a huge VR fan, around 2016 I had an oculus rift and was enjoying the first VR gaming experiences, the idea of a RE game in VR was captivating. There was a problem though, VR was exclusive to PS VR something I didn't feel worth buying. So I did not play RE7 in VR till a few years later.

To top off all the controversy, none of the classic heroes or even the classic story seemed to be present. Was this a full reboot? No, they promised it was not but it was still shocking to see something so detached from the franchise mythos.  Even with all that drama surrounding the launch of RE7 there was no denying it felt different, modern, with the times in a way the last few did not. Clearly taking inspiration from the current horror favorites of the time, RE7 was going to show everyone they can do that style better, take the crown back as the premier horror game franchise and damn it they did it.

We can all argue about the game itself, it isn't my favorite RE game, it has its issues but man was it important, was it special. It made RE scary again. It made the general gaming industry take notice again. It pushed VR more than any game had done at the time. It was welcoming to newcomers and was an amazing return to form for franchise vets. RE7 joins RE4 as milestone game and moment for the franchise, another successful reimagining that has lead to what I feel is the greatest era for RE.

I think what makes RE7 work so well is its absolutely incredible atmosphere. This is easily the scariest RE game of all time, the setting, visuals, sound design, all of it works perfectly together. From the opening moments mimicking Evil Dead to a crazy family hunting you down Texas Chainsaw like, this game clearly had a tonal identity. In VR all that was enhanced even more, I can only imagine what it must have been like to experience this game for the first time in VR, must have been mindblowing.

Replaying the game I am reminded of what works and didn't for me. For one the return to classic gameplay was a huge plus. Give me item boxes, give me limited inventory and items. It felt so good to be back to navigating creepy hallways, solving puzzles and avoiding monsters. While the formula was there it was off just a bit.

Let's start with Jack, a new stalker enemy, first since Nemesis. My issue with him is the game expects you to hide, so many popular horror games of that time were hide and seek games and I hate hide and seek games. So this game expects you to cower behind furniture and avoid Jack. Yes you can down him but at a heavy cost that's not worth it. He's also a bit more scripted than say Mr. X, appearing at specific points. But what really hurts is that for a segment of the game he is the only threat in the house. Sure the basement is filled with molded but out in the upper floors it's either him or nothing at all. That's not really RE like…

Let's talk about the molded, I think some of the worst RE enemies. They don't react to shots well, they are visually bland and all enemies are just some form of black blob thing. They are a lot like the abyss monsters on Revelations (Nakanishi the director of both games) but maybe worse.

After the house you go to the boathouse and once again get chased by a stalker, this time you can't even get close or it's over. Once again a full segment with no real monsters but a single stalker that is heavily scripted. The puzzles and atmosphere is fine, for a first play it's pretty scary but on replays it's simply learning a pattern and going through the motions. People generally say RE7 starts off great and gets worse… if all you care about is atmosphere and scares maybe. It's not until after those two segments when molded begin to populate the world and finally you fight… like in all RE games.

I loved the Lucas segment, again it sucks on replays cause it's just something you learn to do once, no way to really change it. The barn fight was brilliant, traps all over, big new monster, exciting section that's how you do a setpiece. From there you get to the ship which I feel is easily the most classic RE section of the game. Here is a maze like area with a bunch of locked doors where you have to run around halls filled with monsters and survive as you find your way out. Yes it's visually boring, yes it becomes too action heavy as the game gives you an abundance of ammo and switches characters on you. If you do the video you also do it twice which is a bad idea. But still this segment is what RE is all about, to me just highlights how 7 is almost there but not quite. The rest of the game is an action game, without any of the fun of a final lab.

This game feels like a collection of different events. Each section feels different from the last in gameplay and style. While the game has a uniform atmosphere, the gameplay does not. It's also very short, which is fine, plenty of short games in this franchise but it is noticeable.  I feel like Village embraced the sort of amusement park game design and did it better, 7 acts like it's one big scary game but it's a lot like village with wild gameplay swings.

I will say the boss battles are fantastic. Jack's boss battle in the slaughter room feels like something out of MGS, with multiple ways to trick him and use the chainsaw against him. Marguerite I think might be an all time great RE boss, again feels almost MGS like as she stalks you around the cabin. I loved fighting all of them and they are highlights for sure. All except the final boss which sucked, the Lucas's fight in Not a Hero to me is the true final boss.

Story wise it's interesting from a what is going on and disconnected view of the series. I like the slow reveal of what the new virus is, Eveline makes for a compelling threat. Ethan though… I don't get it, why make him so bland and what's with hiding his face. The whole be an avatar for the player thing is so dumb, he clearly has a personality, it's actually a fun one, he is as sarcastic and has one liners like Leon but it just never reaches Leon level cause they decided to do the dumb hide the character thing. The Bakers true story is actually emotional which is nice to see, overall it's a very good story for a RE game.

RE7 I think has the best collection of DLC and extras of the series. The banned footage games and scenarios are all fun and interesting. Not a Hero is a quality expansion that lets you get that action fix starring fake Chris (I will never accept that face, wtf was that). End of Zoe is a fun and ridiculous campaign. There is so much to do, so many cool concepts that flesh out the game, very well done.

I may sound down on the game but the whole experience is better than the sum of its parts. That atmosphere, those graphics, that lighting, the tone all work so perfectly together that I couldn't be helped be super immersed even if it's pretty standard RE stuff. I can totally see why this might be someone's favorite RE game and why it might be a hated RE game. What matters is that when this franchise needed to find itself this game came and gave us hope, gave the series direction and I will forever appreciate it for that.

My rankings so far

RE4

RE2

RECV

REmake

RE5

RE1

RE3

RE7

Rev 2

RE0

Rev 1

RE6

Gaiden