Resident Evil Village Gameplay Details: An RE 4 Spiritual Successor

We got our best look at Resident Evil Village — or Resident Evil 8 if you prefer — today during Capcom’s livestream reveal event. Here is a breakdown of all the new features, gameplay, and story elements we learned from the nearly 30-minute event.When the rumors began to go around that Resident Evil Village would be more supernatural, featuring enemies like werewolves, vampires (including a popular tall woman we now know is named Lady Dimitrescu), and witches, the internet became abuzz. Those rumors were confirmed during the official Resident Evil Village reveal last year, but that was only scratched the surface.

It’s still first-person, but combat has evolved.

Resident Evil Village is a sequel to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Ethan Winters once again steps up to the main character role and he’s searching for a loved one, again. But this time it’s not his wife, but rather his kidnapped daughter.

As with Resident Evil 7, Village takes the first-person perspective once again, but Capcom producer Pete Fabiano says there are some new melee elements this time around.A big focus appears to be blocking and counters. During a fight against vampiric goons in a dungeon, Ethan can be seen blocking their attacks before kicking one in the chest. Ethan appears to have learned a few moves since the events of Resident Evil 7.

Resident Evil games now firmly seesaw between more action-heavy games and survival-heavy games, and Resident Evil Village is seemingly going for something more bombastic than in Resident Evil 7.

Melee attacks aside, enemies seem to attack in hordes now which should hopefully mean Ethan is loaded up with some extra firepower to take on the bigger numbers. So perhaps that’s an indication this entry will be a little more combat-heavy. Especially since the enemies are now bigger and more varied.

A spooky village, sound familiar?

The five-minute gameplay video reveals a variety of locations from the village itself, leading up to the castle interiors, to down below in what looks like catacombs or a dungeon.

But fans may recall this is not the first time Resident Evil took place in a spooky village and castle. I’ve been talking around it, but let’s face it, there are some serious similarities between Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4. Melee-enhanced combat, varied enemy hordes, a vaguely European village in the middle of nowhere? And the similarities don’t end there.

What are you buying, Stranger?

Ethan’s inventory system for Resident Evil Village gets an upgrade this time around in the form of a, that’s right, attache case. The same item management system from Resident Evil 4.

This time, Ethan can use the attache case to store weapons and items, but also craft new weapons or upgrades.

And helping Ethan with items is a merchant. He’s not the same one from Resident Evil 4, instead, he’s a new character called “The Duke.” You’ll be able to buy and sell weapons from the Duke, but I’m sure he’ll have more unique wares as the game progresses.

Despite the similarities to Resident Evil 4 in some very specific ways, Resident Evil Village is still a departure for the series into new territory. While Capcom has flirted with supernatural elements in the past, this is a full-blown supernatural horror utilizing classic gothic horror elements like werewolves and vampires.

And we’ll hopefully find out, even more, when Resident Evil Village is released on May 7. Check out the full release details here, including pre-order info that leaked earlier, info about a PS5-exclusive demo; as well as other news from today’s reveal from the RE:Verse multiplayer mode, to IGN’s full round-up.

Matt T.M. Kim is a reporter for IGN.