Resident Evil Village

I know I picked Bloodborne as my Halloween game. But the Winters’ Expansion for Resident Evil Village came out Friday. How can Resident Evil not be played during Halloween? Besides, I have been super curious about the story addition in the expansion – Shadows of Rose.

All I’m going to say about Shadows of Rose is if you enjoyed Resident Evil Village, it’s a great addition to the story. You play as Rose, and explore familiar yet different areas from Village and take on new enemies. Short version – it’s more Resident Evil. It won’t convert anyone that doesn’t enjoy the games but expands the Winters’ story for fans.

Any more than that would be an actual disservice to fans of the game. While the story for Resident Evil is rarely deep, the twists introduced in Shadows of Rose are best experienced yourself.

I had concerns when Capcom was stopping any gameplay preview shots before release. For a game I enjoy, I try not to go into a game with foreknowledge of what is happening. But that little piece of media control had me thinking of Cyberpunk 2077’s initial launch. My consolation was that I already enjoyed Resident Evil Village, so how bad could it be?

Shadows of Rose isn’t perfect. Some gameplay gripes from Resident Evil Village are still present. It’s also short – I completed my first run of Shadows on Rose on Standard difficulty in three and a half hours. But as the story centrepiece for the Winters’ Expansion, I would have paid the AUD$30 for the story DLC alone.

I will talk more about my thoughts in a couple of weeks. Right now, I want to let people that are interested jump in and experience Rose’s story for themselves.

This brings me to the other parts of the Winter’s Expansion. Third-person mode is now selectable in Resident Evil Village. If you were hoping for this, it’s finally here. After playing Resident Evil 7 Biohazard in PSVR, I was enjoying the change to a first-person view. The only part of this addition that excites me is that players have the choice to play the way they want.

And then, there are the new levels and characters in The Mercenaries Mode.

I was excited to play as Lady Dimitrescu and Heisenberg. I also thought this would be the incentive I was missing to jump back in. My only obstacle to Resident Evil Village’s Platinum is in The Mercenaries mode. I need to finish all the levels with an S rank – so basically, play horde mode well!

The only issue here is I need to unlock the new characters. I did get to play as Chris Redfield, which was fine. The problem is when you were hoping to jump in and play as Resident Evil Bosses and the game so ‘No’ it’s a letdown. If there was a factor of the Winter’s Expansion that took the shine off, this was it.

I can guarantee I will play Shadows of Rose at least one more time. If I am honest, more like two or three more times. Resident Evil Village is a fun game, and it’s rare that I don’t finish a Resident Evil game on a Hardcore Speedrun.

But with all the amazing games coming out over the next 12 weeks, I don’t know if I will have the incentive to grind away at The Mercenaries. This does make me a little sad, but what a great position to be in!

Monday night, I was in the mood to play something that wasn’t Sparks of Hope. I wanted to play something I could sink my teeth into, but not Bloodborne as I had to wake up super early Tuesday. So I decided to revisit Resident Evil Village and The Mercenaries Mode.

I wanted to investigate what was required to unlock Lady Dimitrescu and Heisenberg. So worst case a bit of quick with Village, best case I grind towards an unlock. It’s not often that playing Resident Evil doesn’t feel like a win to me.

The first thing I noticed was Chris Redfield was available to play in Mercenaries mode. Apparently, I missed this update to Resident Evil Village. So I jumped in as Chris Redfield. Punching werewolves and plugging away with my handgun was a lot of fun!

I quickly made a lot of headway with Chris and enjoyed playing through the new levels. It took only a few runs to get back into the swing, and I was finishing levels with A rankings first try. Playing as Chris with his upgradable handgun and his Onslaught power isn’t ‘Easy’ mode as such. What is Onslaught? It’s Resident Evil Villages’ version of a Super, and explains how Chris can punch boulders! 😋

Playing as Chris Redfield does gel a lot more with traditional shooter gameplay though. Destiny players for example will be right at home with Chris. Those Mercenaries’ scores should soar if you were having trouble as Ethan!

What did hurt is on my last run of the night, I managed to unlock both Lady Dimistrescu and Heisenberg. Not how I wanted to end the night, but this is why I was playing Resident Evil instead of Bloodborne. The idea was I could finish a run on Village and shut down the PS5. It was with reluctance I shut down the PS5.

Thursday night though, different story. I jumped in and gave both characters a run. One thing they have in common is both are melee fighters. Lady Dimistrescu has her claws, and Heisenberg has his amazing hammer. More on that in a bit.

Carving up with the L1 and R1 buttons as Lady Dimistrescu was fun. My favourite weapon with her though? The Ornate Dresser. Remember in the original Resident Evil Village trailers when she was on the phone talking about Ethan? At the end of the call, the dresser she was sitting at was thrown across the room in anger. Well, in Mercenaries, the Dresser is a weapon with a cooldown!

I have started making great headway with Heisenberg though. You can use his magnetic powers to summon scrap metal or sawblades and fire them for distance projectiles. This works, but takes time – not ideal if you want to chain combos. His primary weapon is his hammer, and it can deal some great damage.

Here is a tip though – The first purchase from the Duke should be the power to swing the hammer faster. You will need it! But once you are in the game, hitting enemies builds an electrical charge within the hammer. Holding down R1 raises the hammer and brings it down with a crowd-clearing mega-hit.

Playing as Heisenberg does feel easier with that amazing hammer, there are catches. He doesn’t have healing items, so you need to be on your game, especially on the Hard levels. You will be bought down by the Village enemies quickly if you make mistakes, so don’t think you can cruise now.

Also, I have left another couple of surprises hidden in all this for you to discover on your own. If like me you wished Mercenaries in Village was more like other Resident Evil versions (4 FTW!), that is now here. The Winters’ Expansion adds the ‘full’ experience back to Village.

So the Winters’ Expansion satisfied me with the story DLC and made Mercenaries fun again. The only trophy I had left to Platinum Resident Evil Village was an S rank in ALL Mercenaries levels. With the new characters and styles now available, there is a good chance I will try for this trophy again!