Written by Anthony L. Cuaycong
Title: Resident Evil Village – Winters' Expansion
Developer: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Publisher: CAPCOM Co., Ltd.
Genre: Action, Horror
Price: $19.99
Who isn't a big fan of Resident Evil Village? While longtime gamers still prefer the classic survival horror tank controls formula of the older Resident Evil titles, the release of Resident Evil Village was able to bring the newer generation of button mashers to appreciate the franchise. The game was a nice blend of action and adventure, and it managed to mix the ridiculous set pieces of the more recent offerings in the series with the creepier, more mysterious aspects of its predecessors.
It comes as no surprise, then, that the Winters' Expansion, Resident Evil Village's newest downloadable content, exhibits more of its strengths and gives gamers exactly what they want. It brings to the table the story of Ethan's daughter, three mercenary characters to play with, and the ability to enjoy the main campaign in third-person mode. And honestly? These are all great.
Let's start with the actual story DLC, Shadows of Rose. Clocking in at around three to four hours of playtime, it's a short but enjoyable romp. Highlighting Rose's own personal experiences serves as an excuse for Resident Evil Village to do a retread of familiar locales and set pieces from the main game. This is where the true strength of the DLC lies. Shadows of Rose feels like a dark, twisted little fairytale to enjoy, rehashing the best parts of the main campaign by taking you through the familiar confines of Castle Dimitrescu and House Beneviento, and twisting them into something familiar, but different. The enemies you face are creepy and threatening and nothing like what you'd expect, and the DLC is no stranger to the gory body horror creepiness that the base game had. You'll feel chased and pressured in every area you go into, and the DLC is not shy at thrusting you into dangerous situations with tons of enemies to fight off.
Thankfully, you are not defenseless. Your options are limited, but the few guns you have on hand are still useful at bringing your foes down. If they get too close to you, you can buy yourself some time by stunning them using Rose's burgeoning powers, or even just running past them if you feel you can slip away. You don't have the arsenal available in the main game of Resident Evil Village to fall back on, but this new little mechanic gives you an extra means of defense that also changes up how you can approach your fights. You'll be balancing your ammunition with your power usage, giving you the leeway to run and fight as needed.
And as for the story? It's a neat little tale to enjoy. Resident Evil Village's story was a bit silly at times, but this little mini-campaign is designed to strike at the heart. Its narrative puts to rest the Winters Family arc, and serves as a satisfying conclusion to the Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village arcs.
If that's not enough for you, the Winters' expansion does have a bit more stuff to offer in the form of new mercenary mode characters to enjoy, with their own unique game styles to boot. Chris Redfield is initially unlocked from the start, and he uses his campaign arsenal during his mercenaries mode gameplay. He has reliable guns to shoot his enemies with, a decent little pocket knife to use, and a laser pointer that can do tremendous amounts of damage once its explosive payload has been dropped. For more long-term fans, he also has his iconic fists, letting him pummel foes to death with his bare hands.
Apart from him, two main campaign bosses are also unlockable once you've scored enough points. The first is Karl Heisenberg, who can not only use his hammer to bring his foes down with its large, sweeping aoe attacks; he also has access to magnetic powers. He can throw scrap to puncture an enemy's skull, or sawblades to chop them in half, and even bring to battle his Soldat Jet soldiers to explode on enemies. The second is Lady D herself. Using her powerful claws, she can combo her foes down and slice them to bits, or summon her daughters to help her in combat and provide backup. She tosses chairs and summons flies, and can even chokeslam any unwary foe that crosses her path.
These three new characters provide a wealth of replay value to what was originally a very simple side mode. Unlocking them does take some effort, requiring certain ranks in all stages before you can access them, but it's a nice reason to go back and finally hit those higher ranks. While the mercenaries mode still isn't particularly engaging long term, it's one that finally gives you a reason to replay them and do well.
The Winters' expansion likewise features a third person mode to play with during the main campaign. While nothing much has changed in the campaign structure, this third-person perspective actually makes for a big change in pacing, giving you more peripheral vision, and changing how you move because of this unique vantage point. Cutscenes are still primarily in first person, but the game's third- person mode gives some nice little advantages that the classic view didn't have, and it's a nice excuse to replay the main campaign.
All in all, the Winters' Expansion proves to be a fairly enjoyable offering. Capcom has given Resident Evil Village fans a fun little story DLC to play with, and new reasons to go back and enjoy its other modes. It's a no brainer for anyone who enjoyed the base game, and while it's not essential to the core experience, it adds more than enough to be worth considering.
THE GOOD
- Enjoyable retread of the base game, with its best parts fully emphasized
- Tons of new and familiar content to enjoy
- Wraps up the connected stories of the last two releases in the series nicely and neatly
THE BAD
- Doesn't add new content to the base game's campaign
- Much of the content in the DLC relies on wanting to replay old content
- Might disappoint fans who are expecting a full-fledged story expansion
RATING: 8.5/10
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