#beginning hour

( INFECTED ) ENDING resident evil 7 : the beginning hour, 2016.

Some Resident Evil screenshots I took throughout the month.

Go tell Aunt Rhody that everybody’s dead...

Graphics: Unfortunately I had to play on the absolute lowest settings, given my current setup. But I've seen plenty of high-quality footage from other playthroughs, where the graphics are clearly impressive. With a whole new engine, it's a nice breath of fresh air to finally see some original models and animations. The cut-and-paste formula that carried on throughout RE4, RE5, and RE6 was becoming glaringly obvious. The only minor critiques I have applies to most other FPS titles as well: Repetitive décor. You lose a bit of immersion when you see the same painting repeated 10 times throughout a house, or at least I do. Also they used a lot of default handwriting fonts on some of the files, which was a bit immersion breaking. Segoe Print, or something similar I believe. Soundtrack: The few tracks that played worked well. Chase music was tense, the save room was eerily calming, heroic music was catchy. The ambience and sound effects were even better, constantly making you question if something was around the corner or not. If anything, the sound design may have been the creepiest part of the game for me, personally. Inventory: Getting back limited space and item boxes was a welcomed return. I didn't have much difficulty balancing my supplies, and actually ended up with quite a big load of ammo by end-game. I also appreciated that there wasn't a ridiculous amount of weaponry, they kept it in about the same vein as the original Resident Evil. The heaviest firepower you get is a grenade launcher, and then a machine gun towards the end. Key items and puzzles were another great thing to see again. Creative, enough to make you think a little, but nothing overly difficult. I actually wish there were some that were a bit more challenging, maybe on Madhouse difficulty? On normal, I didn't really get stumped on anything for more than a few seconds. Though, managing to dodge an instant-death puzzle was a bit of luck on my part if I'm going to be honest! Controls: Movement and aiming can feel a bit sluggish at times, but there's at least plenty of options to alter the controls and sensitivity to fit your preferences. I'm not sure how it functions on console, but the PC version is very versatile. Selecting items to use as a key can be a little janky at times, but it adds a bit of suspense when you're trying to click the right key as a monster chases you. Extra Content: As of now, I think the only extra content would be the pre-order exclusive Madhouse difficulty, and 5 paid DLC packs are planned for the coming weeks. I'm not sure what the DLC will entail, but I think it's kinda shitty to release it as paid content in such a short time after the game's release. That tells me it's already more or less done, and they're just selling it for the sake of wringing more cash out of people. This is likely content that would've been a mere unlockable in past games, so that's a bit of a slap in the face on Capcom's part. Survival Horror: While the game definitely takes a big return to horror, I stand by my opinion that they went with a much more cliché style of horror. The original Resident Evil games weren't constantly in-your-face with macabre imagery such as blood & guts, creepy dolls, maggots, etc. At least not until RE4, and you don't wanna get me started on that. The original games were subtle and cinematic in their horror presentation. RE7 panders extremely hard to the YouTube generation of horror, where they want people screaming on facecam as they do a Let's Play. There are quite a few gimmicky moments that are clearly intended for VR as well. That's not to say the game isn't creepy, or that it's necessarily bad, but it's a very different type of feeling than the classic Resident Evil games. Inb4 the complaints about fans never being happy... I am very glad this game isn't an action-packed fuckfest like RE6 was, but that doesn't make it immune to critique, criticism, and opinion. I just feel the style of horror in RE7 was very tryhard and pandering, a bit too much for my personal taste at times. The Story: Maybe the biggest criticism I have is: Why is this game called Resident Evil? While I've complained in the past about RE4 being too big a departure from the story, RE7 takes the cake on this matter. I'd say that quite literally 99% of this game is unrelated to the franchise in any way, shape, or form. Aside from a few inconsequential references and a random "twist" at the end, you wouldn't know this was a Resident Evil game if you went in without a title. Well, I suppose I know why, and that would be it's a popular brand name. It's just a shame they weren't bold enough to make a new horror IP, and instead keep attaching irrelevant stories to a once focused franchise. But Resident Evil aside, is the story good as a stand-alone title? It was okay, the first two hours or so were pretty damn interesting. But eventually it relied on many predictable cliches, such as selective amnesia. Without being too explicit on spoilers, the story is basically a combination of the original Silent Hill and a famous episode of the Twilight Zone called "It's a Good Life". I'm not really exaggerating when I say the plot is practically identical to these two stories. All they really do is replace "paranormal" with "science" and there you go. But I will say over all, it was entertaining enough. Just not the most original game out there, so it was a little tough to get invested at times. Also, the protagonist seems kinda... off. Maybe that's just me, though. Conclusion: Over all, I'd say it was a solid enough game. It was entertaining, kinda creepy, and felt satisfying to play. I just don't agree with some of the business tactics, lack of originality, and missed the classic Resident Evil feel. Agree? Disagree? Go ahead and tell me what you think!

The demo for RE7 tho……..I didn’t care for it. Not sure I’ll be getting the game when it comes out. Which is a bit of a shocker, as I own all the games (sometimes multiple copies) and all the (not very good) movies. Something about RE7, at least the demo makes it seem more like a shitty hack em, slash em horror movie/game than a Resident Evil game.

How did anyone find out all the weird, obscure stuff you had to do to trigger events?