With Village appears the next part of the main series of Resident Evil. While only a few trailers and information bits about Village could be found in the last few months, Capcom is now providing more and more information as well as real gameplay for the new game.
Quick Facts
Resident Evil 8 will be released on May 7, 2021. The pre-order phase should actually start with the announcement by the Resident Evil Showcase, but Village is currently not yet available.
Resident Evil 8 will be released for the PC, Playstation 5 and Xbox Series X, as well as Playstation 4 and Xbox One - at the same time on May 7, 2021.
Next-gen upgrades possible: Owners of a PS4 version can upgrade to the PS5 version free of charge. Owners of an Xbox One version get access to the version for Xbox Series X via Smart Delivery.
Resident Evil 8: Village is getting three other variants in addition to the standard version. The pre-order bonuses include a Mr. Raccoon Weapon Charm as well as a survival resource package, which will make the first hours of the game easier for you.
Deluxe Edition "Trauma Pack"
- Safe room music
- Mr. Everywhere figure
- Filter: Found Footage RE7
- Additional level of difficulty
- Save device
- Gun: Albert01 Chris
- The Tragedy of Ethan Winters
Collector's Edition
- Trauma Pack Upgrade Code
- Steelbook
- Poster with a map of the game world
- Artbook
- Box for all contents of the Collector's Edition
- Figure of Chris Redfield
Resident Evil Village & Resident Evil 7 Complete Bundle
- Contains the full versions of Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil 8
Storyline
Resident Evil Village takes place several years after the events of Part 7 and more or less follows on from the events of the predecessor. In what is now the eighth game in the main series, we slip into the role of Ethan Winters again. This takes us to the eponymous village of Resident Evil 8, as well as the castle from previous trailers, which towers above it.
We now also know why Ethan went to this expansive place: Ethan has a child with his wife Mia. But one evening their home is attacked by a group of masked soldiers led by Chris Redfield. Chris apparently murdered Mia and kidnapped Ethan's daughter, while the former hero of the Resident Evil series is presented to us as the villain.
Ethan is probably following Chris' heels and follows the trail of his daughter in the eponymous village of Resident Evil 8: Village. Because from the more recent story information about the game, we learn that the rulers of the castle are experimenting with biological weapons themselves and are targeting the Winters' child and Ethan himself.
It remains to be seen whether Chris will team up with these villains or Ethan will simply get caught between the fronts of two factions.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 8 again relies on an ego perspective and thus dispenses with a third-person view. In this respect, the eighth part of the main series is based more on Resident Evil 7 and less on other games such as the remakes of Resident Evil 2 and 3 or Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6.
Like most games and spin-offs in the Resident Evil series, Village once again relies on a mixture of fighting, puzzles, exploration, confrontations with bosses and resource management. Ethan knows how to defend himself with various firearms and can protect himself from attacks by his opponents with a block maneuver.
A similar game element already existed in Resident Evil 4, 5 or 6: When targeted hits, the opponents of Leon, Chris, Jake and Co. staggered, which made particularly devastating melee attacks possible. The fact that Village follows a similar principle in the first person perspective would mean a meaningful expansion of the combat system from Resident Evil 7.
Village's inventory system is based on that of Resident Evil 4. This means that Ethan has a kind of suitcase in which he stows weapons, healing items, ammunition and the like. According to this, we not only have to be careful about our resources, but also play "suitcase tetris" in order to be able to lug around collected items with us.
In numerous parts of the Resident Evil series, we were always able to buy new weapons, upgrades and resources and thus arm the protagonist for the further way. In Village, the dealer system is celebrating its comeback, which enjoyed great popularity among fans of Resident Evil 4.
In Resident Evil 8 there is now a colossus of a man named The Duke around. This vendor will appear at various key points in the game to enable Ethan to purchase weapons, upgrade weapons, ammunition, healing items, or other resources.
I also suggest to check out the latest story trailer: