Resident Evil VII.I.AGE

[Neon Ignition]

I'm going to make no secret of the fact I'm over that title now. At first it was a nice little play but the kind of thing you'd do once in a trailer as the rest of the word fades out to leave the VIII. Now it just looks naff. Still, last night saw the release of the games demo on PS5. Weighing in at a slight 3GB+ the demo uses one of the games environments to provide a unique scenario that won't be part of the final game making it relatively free of spoilers. Taking little time to install I made a late night play of it.




I dialled the movement sensitivity up a little as I recalled RE7 being a tad cumbersome, here you have little to contend with as you are unarmed so only able to move around. There are two main noteworthy elements to this demo that clocks a slight 15 minutes at best in length. The first is visuals, it's yet another showcase for the RE Engine with the dingey corridors and shiny décor looking absolutely lovely looking, it's a showcase of a game for sure but unequivocally once for current gen machines not the new next-gen consoles. It's very clearly a PS4/XBO title even if it is very pretty but it means it runs smoothly too. The second aspect is the gameplay, I enjoyed RE7 but it's the one RE in the series that I've never felt a compulsion to revisit, this is a tad the same even though it's new because (especially of you own a PC) FPHorror's are ten a penny and while the execution is stronger in these efforts there's just something a bit tiresome about them, I enjoyed the REmakes much more so returning to this form of Resi that is effective but borders on not even feeling like a Resi game is weird. This demo doesn't really give you a strong sense of the gameplay as it's more focused on visuals, puzzles still seem like the dated RE type stuff we're used to and despite the online fuss about the giant lady she came across to me beyond goofy. It's an interesting demo and doesn't feel like the full game experience can be tasted by playing it, but to compare it to the demo Capcom launched for RE7 this is easily the less effective of the two.

[Golgo]

DLC announced: Resident Evil Secr8 La8.

Anyway I think it looks great. Love the return to the OTT campy characters, especially The Duke.

[chopemon]

I liked RE7 a bit but wasn't a huge fan of the scripted set piece nature of some of it so I wasn't sold on this. The new gameplay trailer has totally changed my mind. Having more fodder enemies and seemingly wider environments like Resi 4 makes me think the focus is on more regular systemic combat rather than a few scripted enemies. And there's a cool looking merchant and the Resi 4 inventory system. Very much looking forward to this now.

[Cassius_Smoke]

Just downloaded the demo. I'll try it tonight. It needs darkness and headphones.
Had no idea the demo was coming so its a nice surprise.

[Zaki]

Couldn't find anything on Resident Evil 7 I AGE on the internet.

[Adam]

It's about 20 minutes long so I'm not sure it's even worth turning the lights off for, but it's a nice teaser. I love the RE engine, everything looks great on it and performs well too. I want more now

[Zaki]

60fps?

[Adam]

ya, 60fps with drops in one of the larger areas.

[Tobal]

Didn't finish Re7 myself, like others really didn't like not knowing if i'm in a fight to escape or a fight, fight and gave up shorty after the garage boss fight. This feels like more of the same, and doesn't look much better from what i remember of 7 either, so felt disappointed by the graphics, specially in the dungeon area felt 100% like last gen game. Took about 10/15 minutes to finish.

[dazza_cole]

The best thing about the demo is the sound, this really shines with the pulse headset.

[BIG EDD]

The best thing about the demo is the sound, this really shines with the pulse headset.

I didn't try the pulse headphones but I will now on the demo

[Atticus]

Just played through. Loved the setting but got to agree that the highlight is the sound through the pulse ‘phones. Really effective.

[wakka]

Seemed very much like more of the same, which I'm completely fine with. The first two thirds of RE7 were, I thought, a brilliant reinvention of the Resi format. The whole boat section was just lame padding though. I did read that RE7 was produced very much on the cheap by AAA standards, so I assume that was why. Hopefully this will have some more cash behind it and be more consistent throughout.

Although it's 'officially' a PS5 game, it's very much last gen in terms of visuals. Which is a little disappointing but typical for year 1 of a new format nowadays I guess.

[Neon Ignition]

I'm curious how much retooling has been done, if the old rumours are correct that this was a spin-off retooled to become RE8 whilst the real RE8 project fell behind and will now be RE9 it could also hint as to why this feels a bit different than RE7 but that's not new in RE anyway so might make no difference also.

[wakka]

I'm curious how much retooling has been done, if the old rumours are correct that this was a spin-off retooled to become RE8 whilst the real RE8 project fell behind and will now be RE9 it could also hint as to why this feels a bit different than RE7 but that's not new in RE anyway so might make no difference also.

Yeah, I remember reading this, but some cursory Googling doesn't turn up a whole lot. Has there been any indication of what form RE9 might take?