Resident Evil Village2021

It's great seeing Ethan Winters' story continue. He's not one of my favorite RE protagonists, but we can all agree he's an incredible dad. Location and atmosphere-wise, this is my favorite RE entry. It shares that same vibe as my favorite, RE4, a village (it's literally in the name lol), dark and isolated in the woods with no one around to help. Village takes it further with the snow, and I love that dark, snowy forest feeling so much. And just like RE4, there's also a castle to explore, which was such a great callback and one of my favorite areas in the whole game. The locations in general gave me a bit of a FromSoftware vibe at times, though I don't know if anyone else picks up on that haha The game also pulls a lot of the best elements from other RE titles: the RE4 inventory system, the shop mechanic, even a short Mr. X-style chase from RE2. It's brief and doesn't hit quite the same feeling as Mr. X, but overall the game feels built from many of the best parts from the series. The balance between action and puzzles is great too, something Capcom is generally really good at, though I always want more puzzles since I love that side of horror games especially. The Lords (guess that's the best way to describe the antagonists) are also really well done, cool designs and well-built-up throughout the game. I also just really loved the story of this Resident Evil in general. Definitely recommend this game, even if I'd have liked a few more straight-up horror moments. If you love RE4, you'll love this too. Also cool that you get the choice between first and third person. And then there's Bela, she's such a baddie, honestly reason enough for me to play this game haha