'Resident Evil 7' was the most attention-grabbing game of 2017
There was no game more gripping, more intense, or more environmentally compelling in 2017 than Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
With Resident Evil 7, Capcom took its 21-year-old series and gave it new life in first-person, dialing back on the grandiose scope that has hung over the most recent entries in the series and focusing on what the series did best in its earliest iterations: Horror.
And Resident Evil 7 does horror so well. The game follows Ethan Winters as he searches for his wife Mia in Louisiana, and from the moment he steps onto the derelict Baker family property, the game dives deep into terrifying territory and never resurfaces until the credits roll.
The horrors that unfold are immediate and ubiquitous, from the disarray of the house that everyone thought was abandoned, the violent, masochistic drive of Jack, Marguerite, and Lucas Baker, and the ever-present feeling that at any second, around any corner, behind any door, a disturbing scene or encounter could be lying in wait, tempting you to turn around and give up completely.
But Ethan cannot leave, and Resident Evil 7 keeps teasing the mind with little breadcrumbs, with the hope that the rooms, hallways, floors, and ancillary buildings ahead will offer the slightest respite from the terror of the Bakers and monsters lurking in the dark.
That hope gets crushed over and over. Early on, Mia turns on Ethan and cuts his hand off, possessed by whatever madness has entered the house. A police officer investigating the house gets gruesomely killed before he can assist Ethan with escaping. After killing one Baker family member, it quickly becomes clear that the Bakers don't stay dead and will come back stronger and more furious than before.
The Baker family is unpredictable, possessed by something that drives them into violent madness, apparent from Ethan's very first encounter with them. That unpredictability, knowing they could show up at any time, persists throughout the entire game, keeping you on edge the whole time.
After clearing an area and becoming comfortable and familiar with it, there's always a chance that a Baker or other enemies could appear when Ethan revisits, making the only true safe spaces the save rooms smattered throughout the game.
Resident Evil 7's environment is relentless in its design, especially in how it's lit. The game uses sparse lighting throughout, forcing you to focus harder on every surface and down every hallway, making sure that you don't miss an silently stalking enemy or a helpful healing herb or collection of ammunition.
There's so little light in the game that each glowing lightbulb becomes a little haven against the darkness, because the darkness is so horrible.
In the Baker household, there's a basement that's almost completely devoid of light, which forces Ethan to use his flashlight, adding another dimension of jumpiness as the light and shadows dance around the disgusting scenery with every step and turn.
At times, areas are drowned in light, sometimes with the bulb glaring directly in Ethan's line of sight akin to a light seen in an interrogation. It can be disorienting, intimidating, and make you feel like you're stuck in the spotlight for all enemies to see.
It all adds to the underlying story behind the Bakers and their forsaken land, which at the beginning is completely shrouded in mystery.
Through environmental clues, brief phone calls with a fourth member of the Baker family, playable VHS tapes from the past, and scraps of paper left laying around, the picture becomes clearer. And the more clear it becomes, the more terrifying it gets as Ethan learns the true threat bubbling underneath and within everything.
Reality twists and new revelations keep coming as Ethan explores every derelict nook and disgusting corner of the property (and a little bit beyond), up to the climax that ends the game with an exceptional resolution.
Resident Evil 7 never lets up, never loses momentum, and never stops demanding every ounce of your attention. It's a kind of horror that seeps in and grabs hold, gripping on tight and dragging you forward, and it's executed expertly.
Topics Gaming PlayStation Xbox
