Gonna be honest with you guys — I don't care for the mercenaries mode. Just not my cup of tea. Thus, I'll only be sharing my thoughts on Shadows of Rose, a story-related piece of content, since the only other "content" in this expansion pass is a Third-Person mode for the base game. So, yeah... they sold us a fricking camera angle.

Anyway, Shadows of Rose.

I was put in quite a pickle by this piece of post-launch content. It still has the well-oiled Resident Evil Remake third-person action gameplay, mixing things up in the second half, relying more on sneaking past the horrors than killing them. Sure, most locations here are just copy-pasted from the base game, and the new enemies are a bit bland, but I didn't mind this too much. So, overall, I enjoyed the gameplay, the gimmicky powers of Rose, and even the boss battles.

Then why? Why I, a gameplay connoisseur first and foremost, slotted this into the not recommend pile? The answer was clear as day, but I didn't want to accept it — the plot. But, before I explain why, know that spoilers for both the base game and this expansion will be present.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991185523
So, if you're squeamish, now is the last chance to avert your gaze — I'm going full rant-commando on this one!

And let's start with something light — poor storytelling. The plot relies on that "I'm a freak because of my powers" trope as Rose is looking into ways of curing herself from the mold powers she inherited from Ethan. So, I already knew what to expect — Rose will come to accept her "ugly" self in the end. That's how this trope usually plays out unless there's an unexpected twist somewhere in the story. And oh, how I wish Capcom twisted my smug ass harder than Twister ever could. But, alas, they didn't, instead sticking to the predictable (and lazy) path.

But even if you stick to the predictable route, there needs to be a gradual change of heart in the main character to make it at least feel believable. Yeah, there's none of that here. Until the eleventh hour, Rose was still dead-set on getting rid of her powers (and did). But that was all undone in 10 seconds of dialogue in the last cutscene and final boss fight. She all cool with her mold powers now.

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991807486
Also, another crucial piece for this trope to work is an emotional connection between me and the main character's struggles caused by having those powers. And since one word is worth a thousand pictures, Capcom decided to tell me how sucky it is for Rose because of her powers in the intro with tons of dialogue. Now that's some poor quality storytelling right there.

However, this is all mild irritation at best. It was actually Shadows of Rose ruining the base game's ending that singlehandedly torpedoed my opinion pendulum so far into the red that there was no feasible way I was ever recommending this.

Somehow, Mother Miranda returned and is doing funky mold things, again. But that's not even the best part — her lazy out-of-nowhere resurrection basically wastes Ethan's whole story arc. It concluded perfectly, with him making the ultimate sacrifice for his family's sake. He went through so much, gave it his all, and got a happy ending... for his family, at least. But now... What was it all for? So this expansion can take a dump on his grave and make it meaningless? Oh, but that's fine — Rose is here! She'll do what her daddy did, this time it will be for realsies. Capcom, bruz... No. Of all the possible ways you could have introduced Rose to us, establishing her for future games, you chose to undermine the sacrifice and story arc of her dad, the protagonist of your last two games? Perhaps my IQ isn't high enough to understand your genius, eh Capcom?

And we may yet see more of Mother Miranda in the future, as she returns again, somehow, to help establish a new protagonist. After all, the dark side of the mold is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural, so anything is possible when lazy writing is involved.

Rant fin

https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995027990
All in all, when the credits rolled, so did my eyes. It's a weird feeling, having the plot impact my enjoyment this much, but I guess there's a first time for everything.

So, just like watching 2 Girls 1 Cup while eating a delicious gyros would sour the degustation of my lovely meal, no matter the ecstasy my taste buds feel, so too did the foul odour of the fat dump Capcom took on Ethan's story ruin my enjoyment of Shadows of Rose, no matter how much I enjoyed its gameplay.

All of you who made it this far are majestic sausages. And if you enjoyed this review, come, and consume more wisdom from the Gospel of Sv. Prolivije.

Gonna be honest with you guys — [b]I don't care for the mercenaries mode.[/b] Just not my cup of tea. Thus, I'll only be sharing my thoughts on [i]Shadows of Rose[/i], a story-related piece of content, since the only other [i]"content"[/i] in this expansion pass is a Third-Person mode for the base game. So, yeah... they sold us a fricking camera angle. Anyway, [i]Shadows of Rose.[/i] I was put in quite a pickle by this piece of post-launch content. It still has the well-oiled [i]Resident Evil Remake[/i] third-person action gameplay, mixing things up in the second half, relying more on sneaking past the horrors than killing them. Sure, most locations here are just copy-pasted from the base game, and the new enemies are a bit bland, but I didn't mind this too much. So, overall, [b]I enjoyed the gameplay[/b], the gimmicky powers of Rose, and even the boss battles. Then why? Why I, [b]a gameplay connoisseur first and foremost[/b], slotted this into the not recommend pile? The answer was clear as day, but I didn't want to accept it — [b]the plot.[/b] But, before I explain why, [b]know that spoilers for both the base game and this expansion will be present.[/b] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991185523 So, if you're squeamish, now is the last chance to avert your gaze — [b]I'm going full rant-commando on this one![/b] [h3][b]It's not cool to disrespect your elders[/b][/h3] And let's start with something light — [b]poor storytelling.[/b] The plot relies on that [i]"I'm a freak because of my powers"[/i] trope as Rose is looking into ways of curing herself from the mold powers she inherited from Ethan. So, I already knew what to expect — [b]Rose will come to accept her "ugly" self in the end.[/b] That's how this trope usually plays out unless there's an unexpected twist somewhere in the story. And oh, how I wish [i]Capcom[/i] twisted my smug ass harder than Twister ever could. But, alas, they didn't, instead sticking to the predictable (and lazy) path. But even if you stick to the predictable route, there needs to be a gradual change of heart in the main character to make it at least feel believable. Yeah, there's none of that here. Until the eleventh hour, Rose was still dead-set on getting rid of her powers (and did). But that was all undone in 10 seconds of dialogue in the last cutscene and final boss fight. She all cool with her mold powers now. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991807486 Also, another crucial piece for this trope to work is an emotional connection between me and the main character's struggles caused by having those powers. And since one word is worth a thousand pictures, [i]Capcom[/i] decided to tell me how sucky it is for Rose because of her powers in the intro with tons of dialogue. Now that's some [strike]poor[/strike] quality storytelling right there. However, this is all mild irritation at best. It was actually [i]Shadows of Rose[/i] ruining the base game's ending that singlehandedly torpedoed my opinion pendulum so far into the red that there was no feasible way I was ever recommending this. [b]Somehow, Mother Miranda returned[/b] and is doing funky mold things, again. But that's not even the [i]best[/i] part — [b]her lazy out-of-nowhere resurrection basically wastes Ethan's whole story arc.[/b] It concluded perfectly, with him making the ultimate sacrifice for his family's sake. He went through so much, gave it his all, and got a happy ending... for his family, at least. But now... What was it all for? So this expansion can take a dump on his grave and make it meaningless? Oh, but that's fine — Rose is here! She'll do what her daddy did, [b]this time it will be for realsies.[/b] [i]Capcom[/i], bruz... No. Of all the possible ways you could have introduced Rose to us, establishing her for future games, you chose to undermine the sacrifice and story arc of her dad, the protagonist of your last two games? Perhaps my IQ isn't high enough to understand your genius, eh [i]Capcom[/i]? And we may yet see more of Mother Miranda in the future, as she returns again, [b]somehow[/b], to help establish a new protagonist. After all, the dark side of the mold is a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural, so anything is possible when lazy writing is involved. Rant [i]fin[/i] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2995027990 All in all, [b]when the credits rolled, so did my eyes.[/b] It's a weird feeling, having the plot impact my enjoyment this much, but I guess there's a first time for everything. So, just like watching [i]2 Girls 1 Cup[/i] while eating a delicious gyros would sour the degustation of my lovely meal, no matter the ecstasy my taste buds feel, so too did the foul odour of the fat dump [i]Capcom[/i] took on Ethan's story ruin my enjoyment of [i]Shadows of Rose[/i], no matter how much I enjoyed its gameplay. [i]All of you who made it this far are majestic sausages. And if you enjoyed this review, come, and consume more wisdom from the [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/40407656]Gospel of Sv. Prolivije.