This copy of the game was purchased via a third party site for 30 dollars. This review contains gameplay-related spoilers.

This has to be the most pathetic attempt at a classic Resident Evil I've ever seen. When it was first announced and revealed to have VR support, I feared that that aspect would heavily influence how the game played and my worries were not unfounded. The most obvious change was moving from a third person camera to first person but that's the least of this game's problems.

Do you remember the first Resident Evil? Whether it was the original or a remake, there was a brief cutscene at the beginning, but then after that you immediately started playing the game proper. In 7, you watch a brief cutscene, then you walk down a linear path for several minutes and find a VHS tape, which then leads to another sequence where you simply walk forward and wait for things to happen (there's even an invisible wall you run into if you don't wait for the game to tell you when it's okay to keep going).

This whole tape sequence might as well have been a cutscene as the only point to viewing it is to see a character pull a switch needed to continue down the linear path. This was clearly meant to be an experience for the VR players but that means nothing to anyone who is playing the game normally (only the PS4 version has VR support). You then continue down the linear path and solve a "puzzle"(you unlock a door with an item that's in the same room) and then some more cutscenes happen and you continue to simply walk forward. Finally, after some more cutscenes and quick time events which are basically a tutorial for the combat, you get another major cutscene and then the damn game finally starts for real. This is after about 30 minutes of minimal interaction with the player. There are a total of 4 VHS tapes in the game that consist of:

1. A walking simulator.
2. A segment where you have no weapons and have to avoid an enemy while going down a linear path like SOMA or else it’s game over.
3. A sequence that is entirely finding things to put in things.
4. A sequence where you actually get to fight enemies and basically play like you do in the normal game(think of Ada’s sequences in RE2 except this one goes on for much too long).

Each of these tapes has you playing as a side character. The first three are skippable but contain information needed to get further through the game so they’re necessary evils during your first time. That info is not randomized however, so there’s zero reason to view the first three tapes after your first playthrough (you get an achievement for beating it in under 4 hours). I suppose this is a blessing as these were among my least favorites parts but it just feels like terrible game design.

After the dinner cutscene the game becomes noticeably less linear, but the classic RE game elements are barely there. Item boxes are present but you won't need them that often (there's an achievement for using them less than 4 times during the whole game). Ammo is initially scarce but becomes increasingly available to the point where it breaks the game (I had 6 weapons and almost 1000 units of ammo on me when I reached the final area and was mowing enemies down effortlessly). The iconic typewriters are nowhere to be found and the cassette players that replace them allow for unlimited saves. If that weren't enough, the game also automatically saves at numerous points outside the save rooms and even allows you to resume the game from them even if you quit out of it (As one user has commented, playing on Madhouse difficulty apparently removes the autosaves and forces you to collect cassette tapes for limited saves. That's a moot point howevever, as you have to beat the game once to unlock that difficulty. It'd be like having to beat RE3 on easy before unlocking hard). Like the old games, keys have to be found to further unlock certain rooms in an area and backtracking to previous areas occurs but less and less as the game goes on. The game also won’t throw the keys away for you once they’re useless like in classic RE games. That has to be done manually. Green herbs can be found and mixed with chemicals to strengthen their healing. Elements from the newer RE games include items that upgrade your maximum health and how quickly you can reload. These can be found or purchased with ancient coins you find laying around.


Puzzles in this game are practically non-existent. They almost entirely consist of finding a thing to put in a thing. And I’m not including keys. Some of them even have a child’s drawing or a note lying nearby that just straight up tells you the answer in case you were too stupid to figure it out on your own. Outside of those, the files in the game are mainly flavor text.
Combat in this game is laughable. You would think with a first person camera and precision aiming it would be more intricate like RE 4-6 but shooting enemies in the head or body is generally all that’s needed. While the designs for the molded aren’t the worst, they’re still rather bland and their 3 variants are the only regular enemies in the game aside from some mostly harmless bugs. The normal molded can easily be blocked and dispatched with a few bullets to the head or even the knife if necessary, the quick ones go down easily with any firepower you’ve acquired by the time you encounter them, and the fat ones are slow damage sponges that don’t appear often enough to even matter.

The Bakers are far less threatening than I was expecting. Jack only chases you around the house a couple of times and is easily eluded and can be put down with a few bullets to the head even if he corners you. His first boss battle is pretty basic and contains one of the stupidest sequences in Resident Evil history (and that’s saying something). Round 2, he takes only a little damage before starting up the second phase of the boss battle and the game then hands you a weapon with unlimited ammo that can be used for the remainder of it(cause that makes for a great challenge). His third and last boss encounter is arguably the best one in the game as it actually requires some fairly precise aiming and bears the closest resemblance to a classic RE boss fight(although even that ends with a scripted quick time event). Marguerite hangs out in a single room and is made trivial with a weapon you find in her area. After that you have another easy boss encounter with her and then one final battle in another area that is the only other boss fight in the game that isn’t piss easy.

The final boss (and I use that term very loosely) is a bigger slap to the face of RE fans than the entirety of Resident Evil 6. Since the game had given me so much ammo at this point, I was expecting it to be tough. Instead, I slowly walked forward while occasionally blocking its attacks until I got close enough to do a quick time event. After that, phase 2 started and I shot it handful of times which then triggered phase 3. Once again, I just shot it a few times and then another scripted sequence played out and some random guy hands me a pistol which I then used to shoot the final boss dead(remember that awesome part in the original Resident Evil where Brad Vickers tossed you a ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ pistol to kill the tyrant? Me neither!).

I wish I was making this up. After all that item management and planning, I used up maybe a tenth of my ammo and killed the final boss effortlessly. Cut to a vague ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ ending that’s basically Capcom saying, “Look! This game’s canon!”.

Capcom, please never make another Resident Evil game again. Remake 2 and 3 maybe (Or don’t. I don’t really give a ♥♥♥♥ anymore). Between Operation Raccoon City, 6, Umbrella Corps and this, I’m tired of seeing the series be sodomized.