Everything you need to know about Resident Evil Village: Trailers, release date and more
Resident Evil is back – the runaway success of Resident Evil 7 as a bit of a gameplay reboot for the series has seen Capcom working feverishly on a sequel, while the intervening years have let us sink our teeth into accomplished remakes.
Now we know the eighth game in the series is coming soon, and there are plenty of details to dig into based on the trailers and information we’ve seen so far. Keep reading to find out everything you need to know about the next Resident Evil game.
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Resident Evil Village Maiden demo and release date
Thanks to a recent showcase, we’ve got plenty of details about Resident Evil Village, including a firm release date of May 7th, 2021, so there’s not too long to go until we can get our hands on the game.
Even better, if you’re lucky enough to have secured a PS5 you’ll be able to access a demo of the game right now, called Maiden. It’s a short, combat-free slice of mood-setting, really, and a way to get a sense of the game’s visual identity and audio.
The PlayStation 5 Maiden demo is now live! Don’t forget, a multiplatform demo is coming this spring!
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) January 21, 2021
We really recommend playing Maiden – it’s a great visual showcase, and only takes about 20 minutes to get through, serving as a nice introduction to the setting and a couple of characters from the full game.
Later this year we’ll get a full demo for all platforms, apparently, which will be a better way to get a sense for how it actually plays with a bit more interactivity.
Resident Evil Village platforms
Speaking of platforms, the recent showcase also confirmed what you’ll be able to play Resident Evil Village on – and it’s the full roster as you might expect. PlayStation 5 and PS4 are joined by Xbox Series X, S and Xbox One consoles, meaning it’s a cross-gen game at launch, which hadn’t actually been confirmed up until now.
The game will also come to Steam on launch day, making it available to PC players as well.
Resident Evil Village story
The story in Resident Evil Village looks to pick up fairly directly from that of Resident Evil 7, and again features Ethan Winters as the player character, after his terrifying escape at the end of the last game. This time around, he’s off to a remote setting in Romania, where he’ll try to rescue his kidnapped daughter, seemingly abducted by series stalwart Chris Redfield. Exactly why that’s happened is something we’re sure the game will delve into.
In Romania, there’ll be two main settings – the creepy village from the game’s title, and the castle that looms over it. That castle belongs to the gargantuan, vampiric-looking Alcina Dimitrescu and her demonic daughters, who look like they should be the main antagonists of the game. They’re suitably terrifying, but there are plenty of other nasties to avoid and occasionally shoot at when your bravery returns.
In fact, eagle-eyed fans on Reddit recently spotted that the Collector’s Edition of the game includes a cloth map which reveals a rough layout for the game world, including a few interesting-sounding locations like Heisenberg’s Factory and Moreau’s Reservoir. The image is low-res for now so you can’t make out too much, but it looks a lot like we’ll be exploring this layout.
The “big-house” setting is another return to the tropes that have seen Resident Evil hit its series heights, including the castle in Resident Evil 4 and the first half of Resident Evil 7, so we’re definitely looking forward to exploring it bit by bit, doubtless solving more than a few ornate puzzles along the way.
How tall is the vampire lady in Resident Evil 8 Village?
We know it’s the question you actually want answered – you can be honest with us! Alcina Dimitrescu has made quite a splash since her unveiling, and her spectacular height has been at the centre of plenty of speculation and memes.
Now, the actual Resident Evil team has stepped into clear up some important details, as you can see in the Tweet below.
Your love for Lady Dimitrescu is loud and clear.
Here’s a message from our RE Village art director Tomonori Takano, along with a very curious fact you may have wondered about: pic.twitter.com/Lj4m5pN2dJ
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) February 2, 2021
That’s right – her official height, including hat and heels as any sane person would, is a staggering 2.9 metres or 9’6″. That’s one tall vampire lady, eh? We’ll leave you to dig further into the burgeoning fan speculation about Lady Dimitrescu on your own time.
Resident Evil Village gameplay
In terms of actual gameplay, the glimpses we’ve seen across a few trailers seem to indicate that Village is very much looking to build on Resident Evil 7’s template – the first-person perspective returns, along with a dark and moody atmosphere, and there are more than enough signs that we’ll have plenty of puzzles to work out under pressure, too.
It looks like the game’s two main locations might have fairly different vibes to them, with the village looking a bit more open and involving the outdoors, snowy as it is, while the castle looks enormous and possibly labyrinthine. From the trailers, there are also sure to be a few bosses to contend with, from hulking giants to those pesky daughters and Alcina Dimitescu herself, so we can’t wait to see how those play out.
Also returning are a Tetris-style inventory system to keep you juggling things around to fit your items in, and a huge, fat merchant to let you buy supplies, another pair of features that will speak to long-term fans of the series in particular.
Interestingly, a recent leak suggests that the game might also have a unique game mode that randomises enemies and items in each run, and turns the difficulty up to crazy levels. It sounds like a real challenge for those who want to replay the story with totally different mechanics forced onto them.
(2/2) an expansive difficulty mode in the game. I don’t know the full details/final result of the mode, I feel they may talk about it before release, but I’m aware it makes the game more open, randomizes enemy & item placement, & scaled to be extremely difficult.
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) April 10, 2021
We’ll have to see if this makes it into the full game, but we hope so – anything that encourages replayability is a good thing, in our eyes.
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