Resident Evil Village is the cultural phenomenon that just keeps on giving. We convinced some of our beloved staff to play the scariest section of the game…
The way Resident Evil Village has entered the popular vernacular is surprising, to say the least. Works of horror — video games in particular — tend to find themselves dawdling around the outskirts of mainstream culture.
Despite this, Resident Evil Village has managed to break through, largely due to the internet’s powerful reaction to its larger than life characters (Lady Dimitrescu, Heisenberg, Chris Redfield) and terrifying set-pieces. It also probably hasn’t hurt that the horror has been slightly toned down, at least in comparison to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
So while I enjoyed the game a lot, it left me wondering about the future direction of the series. Call me a purist if you want, but if I’m playing a Resident Evil game I want to be left exhausted, shaking, and gasping for breath.
With this in mind, I concocted a plan to put Resident Evil Village to the test. Perhaps I was simply too desensitised on my first playthrough; I had been watching a fair amount of horror films in the lead-up to the game’s release.
So the test went like this: three members of the team at Happy Mag, all of whom had minimal experience with Resident Evil Village, were chosen as our subjects. I loaded up a save file from my playthrough that I thought would show the game at its evocative best, without requiring any prior experience playing the game.
The reactions are priceless. The tension sky-high. The results? A triumph!
I learned two things from this experiment: firstly, that I am indeed desensitised. And secondly, that Resident Evil Village has more than enough horror encased in its lean frame to scare the socks of horror aficionados and novices alike.
Although an unfortunate side-effect of my successful experiment has become apparent – gathering volunteers for my next reaction video will likely prove more difficult.
