TL:DR
• Story: Continues where the previous game left off. Both crazy and intriguing.
• Graphics: Very good. A big improvement over RE:7 - Biohazard.
• Gameplay: Similar to RE:7 - Biohazard, but way more action.
• Audio: The sound design makes it 100% scarier!
• Performance/Bugs: Ran almost flawlessly on my system, with minor glitches.
• Price-Quality: A little on the short side, but still worth the full price (£49.99 at purchase).
• Final Verdict: 8/10 - A brilliant successor, but the scattered story and a few glitches drags the score down.

PC SETUP:
• GPU: MSI RTX 2070 SUPER
• CPU: RYZEN 7 3700X
• RAM: 16GB DDR4 @ 3200MHZ
• MOBO: ROG STRIX B450 - F GAMING


RE:8 - Village takes place three years after the events of RE:7 - Biohazard.
We are still playing as Ethan Winters who has been living with his wife Mia and newborn daughter Rose (Rosemary). Out of nowhere, Chris Redfield and his team murder Mia and kidnaps both Ethan and his baby daughter, who are both separately brought to a silent village located somewhere in Europe.

The village is overlooked by four different "mutant lords", each owning their own strongholds within the village:

• Lady Alcina Dimitrescu (the internet's favourite "Tall Lady") a vampire-like woman, resides with her three daughters at Castle Dimitrescu.
• Karl Heisenberg oversees werewolf-like creatures called "Lycans" from a massive steel factory.
• Salvatore Moreau is described as a "Merman" and is located in a reservoir in close proximity to the village.
• Donna Beneviento pulls the strings (pun intended) from the "House Beneviento" mansion and controls a puppet named Angie.

All houses respond to a leader figure called "Mother Miranda", who is the ruler of the village and mentioned as a "presence worshipped by the villagers."


If you have played RE:7 - Biohazard, this will look like the same game (it has plenty of borrowed assets as one could expect) but with a fresh coat of paint. Things look much better in this game. Character models have been updated, the lighting has been enhanced to make darkness even darker and really make use of the light sources.
Up close certain objects can look a little outdated, which is an issue with the engine, but I feel like the developers have made the best looking game they can with what they had.

Overall, I don't think you'll be disappointed.


I hate to sound like a broken record, but if you have played RE:7 - Biohazard you will feel right at home. It uses pretty much the same systems as the previous game.
You still have a "briefcase" inventory, which you have to play Tetris with during your adventure to fit your weapons and items. The game also features a travelling merchant and even animal hunting, which offers a fresh take on the "upgrade" system.
One very welcome difference is the increased amount of enemies. Compared to the previous game (which only had around 5 enemy types) this game offers a lot more "diversity", even when the enemies are of a similar type. I would say it has over a dozen different enemies, at least.

I have seen plenty of people/reviews that are claiming that this game isn't as scary as the previous one, but I think they are oversimplifying it. Instead of getting haunted by something like the Baker family, you will instead spend your time facing multiple different entities, in their own themed areas. It's less of a "haunted house" and more of a "Haunted Theme Park". So yes, the game isn't as intimate as the previous one, but it's still very scary and even a little more hectic as a result.


I don't have too much to say about this part.
The little music you come across is nice and mystical, which really sets the tone. But where the audio really shines, is the weapon sounds, the enemy sounds and the ambient noises. It makes the game 100% scarier!


I had the game maxed out (with Raytracing off!) and consistently had a smooth framerate.
The only issue I had was during a scene (which involved a swarm of insects) where the framerate went down to an unpleasant, almost stuttering level. But other than that it ran flawlessly.

In terms of bugs, I'm happy to say that there were very few and the ones that were there were minor.
A few flickering textures, some moving objects seemed to move at 30fps and I came across ONE enemy which got stuck in a wall.


I "only" spent 12 hours completing the story and most of the side activities, which isn't very long .
However, I had a lot of fun during my hours and the game encourages you to replay it at higher difficulties with additional weapons as a reward.

Not to mention that there will be most likely be DLC like the previous game, which further increases that value.

Overall, I'd say that the £49.99 price tag is worth it.


This is an excellent sequel to RE:7 - Biohazard.
While the story got a little crazy/scattered at times, the overall experience and "universal plotline" made it a game to remember. If you are a fan of the Resident Evil franchise and want to know what's next for the Winters family, you won't be disappointed.



My score: 8/10.



Thank you for reading my review.
If you liked it, please feel free to give it a thumbs up and leave a comment if you have some feedback or something nice to say.

// Vic