Resident Evil Village is a special game – following up on Resident Evil 7’s successful reinvention of the Resident Evil franchise as a first person experienced refocusing on the series’ survival horror roots, Village delivered a similarly smartly designed experience that not only delivered yet more chilling horror, but also cranked things up a notch on the action front and took players to a more expanded and open setting than RE7’s spectacularly claustrophobic Baker residence.
Now, five years on from its original release, the developer has brought Resident Evil Village over to the Nintendo Switch 2, to go along with the Switch 2 release of Resident Evil 7 and Requiem, and unsurprisingly, the game hasn’t lost any of its charm. Village’s Switch 2 port is an impressive one that does justice to the excellent game that it is.
“When Ethan awakens, he finds himself in a village of shadows of nightmares, where he will have to take on everything from werewolf-like lycans and vampiric monstrosities to zombies and much more.”
Resident Evil Village, the eighth mainline entry in the long-running horror series, is set a handful of years after the events of RE7. Ethan, Mia, and their infant daughter Rose now live under BSAA’s protective custody in a remote village in Eastern Europe, and though the Winters are trying to put their past behind them and start fresh, understandably, the horrors that they witnessed and experienced in the Baker residence still cling on like a corruption.
In the game’s opening moments, things get disastrously and abruptly worse when a squad of soldiers led by none other than Chris Redfield breaks into the Winters’ home, executes Mia in front of Ethan, kidnaps Rose, and knocks out Ethan and takes him captive. When Ethan awakens, he finds himself in a village of shadows of nightmares, where he will have to take on everything from werewolf-like lycans and vampiric monstrosities to zombies and much more.
Resident Evil Village’s story is far from perfect, as even its staunchest fans will tell you, but to its credit, it remains consistently enjoyable. I won’t be getting into spoilers here, but some late-game narrative reveals retroactively hurt several elements of the plot (especially where Chris is concerned), but by and large, there’s a lot to like here. Village boasts plenty of strong characters (some of the villains and the Duke being particular highlights), has plenty of ties to the larger Resident Evil story that veteran fans will find fascinating, and of course, serves as a satisfying conclusion to the Winters storyline, especially with how it recontextualizes a lot of Resident Evil 7 with some of its reveals.
“Of course, where Village truly shines is not with its storytelling, but with its gameplay and design.”
Of course, where Village truly shines is not with its storytelling, but with its gameplay and design. As opposed to the pure and unrelenting horror of Resident Evil 7, Village dials things slightly back with the scares, while cranking things up a notch where the action is concerned. Of course, when the game is trying to be frightening – which it often is – it does so very effectively, but a large share of the experience is also focused on intense, grueling action that clearly takes heavy cues from Resident Evil 5. Thankfully, Village is excellent at both, and also maintains a great balance between its horror and action sides for the majority of the experience.
Add to that impressive enemy variety (and design), excellent boss fights, and spectacular encounter design, and what you get is a game that knows how to keep you on the edge of your seat in more ways than one.
Of particular note are RE8’s level design strengths, and how well they encourage exploration. Not only is the titular village itself a great hub location that remains a joy to explore throughout the experience, other sections of the game also stand out. Castle Dimitrescu is obviously a particular highlight, and though I know that the late-game Heisenberg’s Factory is a bit divisive among fans, I personally happen to absolutely love it (though the haunted dollhouse does seem like a bit of a drag on playthroughs, to be fair). Regardless, it’s fair to say that on no few occasions, Village exhibits top-notch level design that is multilayered, interconnected, and engaging and rewarding to explore in all the ways that you would want from a Resident Evil title.
The action is also expanded on through meaningful, well thought out progression mechanics. The aforementioned Duke serves as a Merchant that Ethan routinely purchases weapons, resources, and upgrades from, while you can also scour your surroundings for different treasures that can also be sold, further encouraging players to properly explore.
Each upgrade or purchase you make feels valuable, not least because of the tight economy, and Village manages to maintain a strong sense of satisfying progression for the majority of the experience. There’s also items to find around the village, allowing further progression. That, of course, makes exploring every nook and cranny of the village and the areas in its vicinity consistently rewarding, with plenty of optional quests, rewards, secrets, and more to be found.
There’s also plenty for players to dive into outside of the meaty 10-12 hour campaign. For starters, there are plenty of unlocks, like the Village of Shadows difficulty, while players can also dive into the Mercenaries mode, which is an absolute blast and boasts surprising replay value. Meanwhile, this being a Gold Edition re-release, on the Nintendo Switch 2, Resident Evil Village also comes with its post-launch expansion, Shadows of Rose, which focuses on Ethan’s daughter Rose several years after the base game’s events.
Shadows of Rose is quite experimental, and more than a bit clunky at times, but though it doesn’t match up to Village’s quality, it is still mostly worth the roughly three hours it demands from players. Meanwhile, the game also offers players the option to play the RE Village base game from a third person perspective- though I personally would not recommend it. Though it’s great that the developer chose to release a free third person mode for Village for those who might wish to play it that way, it’s no secret that the mode is more than a clunky, and definitely not the best way to play the game- which isn’t surprising, given that the game was designed entirely around first person.
“Visually, Resident Evil Village is, in no uncertain terms, a beast. That much was true when the game launched in 2021, and it is still very much true today.”
Visually, Resident Evil Village is, in no uncertain terms, a beast. That much was true when the game launched in 2021, and it is still very much true today. Of course, you shouldn’t go into its Switch 2 port expecting it to look as good as, say, the PS5 version, but though it’s a little rougher around the edges, it is still an absolute looker.
The game does admittedly suffer from some slight performance issues on the Switch 2, however- though it maintains a solid 60 FPS in most of the indoor environments, when you’re in an outdoor location (like the main village itself) or in particularly hectic and busy combat situations with a lot of enemies and explosives involved, you will start to notice some frame rate dips. Thankfully, they’re not major drops, and the game still remains perfectly playable even at the worst of times, but the action isn’t as smooth as it is on other platforms.
Ethan Winters’ final chapter (so far) is one of Resident Evil’s highlights, especially in recent years, and a must-play for Switch 2 owners who enjoy good survival horror and thrilling action.
This game was reviewed on the Nintendo Switch 2.
