
The Resident Evil series loves to impress with demos — the pre-release drama surrounding Resident Evil 7: Biohazard's is perhaps the most famous example — and the upcoming Resident Evil Village is absolutely no different. Capcom has just dropped a taster of what's to come later this year onto the PlayStation Store, with the developer pitching it as a visual showcase more than anything else. It certainly looks the part, but the demo also reveals just a couple of the ways the main game plans to scare you senseless. While it'll all be over and done with inside 15 minutes, the Resident Evil Village Maiden demo looks and plays a lot sweeter than the maggot-infested kitchen utensils found inside this castle.
Playing as a nameless and faceless character (the Maiden demo is not a part of the actual game), your task is relatively simple on paper: escape your jail cell and exit the castle by any means necessary. A scrap of paper found straight away provides clues for progress, with gaps in the stone walls offering access to other areas. It won't be too long before you are out of the dungeon by way of a lockpick, but then the bumps in the dark without an obvious source will most likely have spooked you before the heavy doors give way.
Next up is a sort of dining room that disguises its exit as a fireplace, and then you're greeted by the magnificent entrance hall. With a fire burning and suits of armour dotted about the place, it could almost be seen as welcoming if it wasn't for the creepy whispers of Lady Dimitrescu making themselves known. Her cronies are on the loose, so you'll have to deploy a bit of stealth if you want to escape with your life. They do love to take a chunk out of your flesh, after all. And upon locating a glass eye and the courtyard key that should lead to victory, it's about time to wrap up the demo. That is until the gigantic woman herself bursts through the door and stabs you with her huge Wolverine-esque metal claws! A surprising reveal, that's for sure.
Again, you'll have this pre-release teaser wrapped up within a quarter of an hour, but it still provides a good basis for what to expect from Resident Evil Village. The game looks visually impressive as lighting creates a tense atmosphere both in the depths of the dungeon and at ground level in the entrance hall, which combined with haunting audio creates a bit of an assault on the senses. Controls feel very similar to that of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard too, meaning seasoned players should feel right at home alongside a familiar mechanics for interacting with objects. It'll be over in a flash, but the Resident Evil Village Maiden demo is well worth checking out if you have access to a PlayStation 5.
Have you gotten the chance to play the Resident Evil Village Maiden demo yet? Share your own thoughts and impressions in the comments below.
Comments (63)
Uh.... what is that glove she's using exactly?
One, two, Freddy’s coming for you...
Looks absolutely gorgeous. I was a little concerned about the first person but I don’t care anymore, I just want to play it.
Just played the demo. Felt a little too close to RE7 to be honest, which isn't bad at all, I was just expecting something new. The visuals and atmosphere are awesome as usual, Capcom's developers deserve awards for their work with RE Engine.
It was great took me 20 min first go and about 2 min second ,some of the textures and reflections need a little polish but other than that day one for me I think.
Man the setting got me, I didn't like re7 because of the house setting, but village looks great, reminded me of re4 setting. I'm gonna play this one 😃
Looks and plays great.
Not long to wait either.
Short but sweet...so the opposite of the Tall Lady then
@RenanKJ it’s a direct sequel to VII of course it’s going to play and feel like it.
@jmac1686 It's not really about feeling like it.
RE2 is a direct sequel to 1, yet it evolved the formula and brought new things to the table. Another example in a different series - Kingdom Hearts 2 is pretty much a direct sequel to Kingdom Hearts, but again it adds a lot to the "play and feel".
Don't get me wrong, I know RE Village is going to be great and innovate in many areas, and I'll get it day 1.
Just saying that this demo would feel at home as a demo to RE7 due to its gameplay IMO.
Just finished it. Pretty good. Less scary than I maybe hoped for, but still good fun. Also noticed some minor framerate hitches here and there.
The internet is soo thirsty for this woman.
@fR_eeBritney
I'm late to the party. You stole my comment. 😉
Well just played it was fantastic! Now I understand her long claws.
@RenanKJ
It's too bad that it wont have VR as an option, but it's not surprising since Sony probably paid Capcom to do it with RE7.
I'm happy so far with everything that i've seen aside from that part where you're battling those small werewolf-like creatures and that thing with the massive hammer.
The end bit of the demo makes me happy. Taking a nice little cue from Freddy Krueger i see
What happened to demos? With the higher priced games this gen surely they are more worthwhile than ever
Beautiful looking game! Capcom's Resident Evil game engine is a masterpiece!
@WaveWitch Just out of interest, what didn't you like about that bit? I noticed what looked like some bad collision detection at the start of that scene. The jostling of the 'crowd' looked very unatural and immersion breaking.
@Mpquikster there is a demo coming as well.
I’m pretty pleased RE8 is coming to ps4. It’s still virtually impossible to buy a Ps5 where I live, which I find quite absurd at this point.
Wow, that demo stands firmly with both feet in the last generation.
Haven’t managed to download the demo yet.
Can anyone tell me does it look like next gen graphics or has it been adapted for cross generation release?
@Hurblyburbly looks like next gen to me, aside from some minor iffy textures here and there as it's a demo
Just finished it. It certainly looks the part. Just feel like we were spoilt with the VR option for Resident Evil 7.
It feels like it’s missing a huge thing now.
I’m sure I’ll get it at some point, but it won’t be straight away unless a miracle happens and they announce VR is back.
@2cents you're half right 😉
I kid, I'm not part of the thirst brigade for that lady.
@Immortal_Barnet
Thanks. I’ll hopefully get to download it later but sounds promising.
Still not available in Germany....
I've never been a Resi fan (or a horror fan in general, for that matter), but this game looks intriguing to me thanks to its setting.
I recently played Gone Home and I really liked the feeling of exploring a real building, which is something I've always loved but I've found in very few games.
Does anyone in here know games set primarily in one building to explore? I can think of Resi 1, Gone Home, Luigi's Mansion and nothing else at the moment.
Edit: oh and Resi 7 of course. I've yet to try it out.
@Arnna yeah I know, capcom seem to be one of the few companies that continue this tradition so kudos to them, wish more would
@clvr
Control comes to mind, and oh, what a building!
@clvr What Remains of Edith Finch springs to mind.
I just played through the demo during my lunch on PS5. I hope the frame rate issues during camera rotation aren't as prominent in the full game. It made me feel a bit queasy. Overall it just felt like a confirmation that you can expect more of the same (in a good way). I really wish it had PSVR support though, it was a literal game changer for RE7.
As with RE7, it is nice that they went through the effort of making a gameplay demo representative of the game without giving you any spoilers from the full game. Though I'm thankful for any kind of demo these days, back in the PS1 era I would look forward to the new issues of Official PlayStation Magazine with the demo discs. Now you have to just gamble on new games (which is a hefty gamble at £70 rrp). Reviews don't offer much insight, I don't like 70% of the games the new generation do. God I wish Charlie Brooker was still a games journalist, he's a grumpy old sod like me...
@Jimmer-jammer @LordSteev thanks to the both of you, I'll make sure to check them out!
Have a good one 😃
Nice that the demo is cool.
If only people had the consoles to play it....
@RenanKJ More RE7 is definitely a good thing in my book, my favourite Resi game in the series.
So the game's coming out for PS4 and PS5 but the demo's PS5 only?
@feral1975 they said a PS4 demo will be coming soon
@clvr
As much as i'm looking forward to RE8, it just doesn't look scary at all. The generic sounding witch cackling that echoed through out the mansion in the new trailer and overall look of the characters seem a little too hollywood and pristine.
I mean really, none of those witches look frightening at least in their current form(although the tall one is definitely interesting and stands out), but the same can be said for every single creature they've showed off thus far.
Either way, it doesn't have to be scary. i'm absolutely loving the new mansion interior, and what it's shooting for thematically speaking. It's beautiful, sure, but you can also tell capcom is playing it relatively safe this time around in terms of gameplay. RE8 will have haptic feedback & Adaptive trigger support, even more interaction with the environments, better visuals etc but it doesn't seem like it's reinventing the wheel or allowing the series to progress even further. but that's ok maybe...We got two remakes of 2&3 which were similar to one another, and now we have RE7&8. If anything, i'm just bumbed that VR support wont be a thing.
VR Mode, with FOV set to 'none' with smooth turning enabled was a GAME changer. i couldn't even go back to playing it on the TV after experiencing 4+ hours of it in VR. Even though VR is more taxing and requires more energy, but man when it's good it is mind Blowing....
Not including it in RE8 is a pretty big blow.
@PossibLeigh
It wasn't just the collision detection, those small werewolves looked rough and unfinished...It's like they were pealed out of some early PS4 game that has absolutely nothing to do with RE. Plus, their animations kind of suck.
I dont know, the outdoor areas are nowhere near as impressive as the interior of the new mansion/castle either.
That tall which looks great though, as does the new merchant and nearly every other character in the game.
@Logonogo
Cool, cheers.
It was more like a graphics demo. A pretty good one. Reminded me of the tech demo presentation for the Unreal Engine 5. It was quite short.. Well, it goes like the old say "Always leave them wanting more"
The RE:Engine is very impressive. I realise it’s not rendering an open world or anything but IMO the graphical fidelity and details are second to none in RE7/2/3.
@WaveWitch I'll admit, something in that scene definitely looked half finished, but I'll need to go back and watch it again to form a detailed opinion like yours. It seems that they are trying to give the impression the game is finished (or near enough), but they actually do still have work to do.
Not sure if anyone else was s having issues playing this on PS5, but it gets to a point and crashes. I’ve tried playing 4 times and it just freezes. Never at the same spot. I’ve noticed if I rush, it freezes earlier in the demo. Unable to complete. The furthest I’ve gotten is the hallway. How much more is there?
I’m hoping it has replay value like PT did!
@WaveWitch yes very dissapointed to hear VR mode is not included. RE7 provided me with one of the most amazing gaming experiences in over 35 years of gaming. I think I read Sony paid capcom 5 million to make a VR mode in RE7.
Anyone else think the dungeon area looked liked an early PS4 game? But then when you exit the dungeon, it all of the sudden looks next-gen(ish)? Was that intentional??? Kind of cool, but also weird...
@YETi
I'm only 4+ hours in and my god....VR when done right is a revolution in gaming. Forget Mario 64, people need to experience Astro Bot: Rescue Mission. So far based on what i've experienced I'd say overall it's the holy grail....Then there's Ocean Decent from PSVR Worlds, Resident Evil 7, The Playroom, Moss, Vacation Simulator(A brilliant gem a lot of people seem to overlook) and a handful of others.
As for RE7, Just make sure to select 'none' for FOV in the display settings and turn on Smooth Turning and crouching, doing the former is extremely important. otherwise your vision will be more closed in because of the shadowy boarder surrounding your view. I had no idea about this, and it really degraded the VR experience until i turned it off.
But yup, I'm currently at the part where you drain some bath tub, find a puzzle piece and have to run from Jack. This takes place after the battle in the garage. I dread having to face off against margret baker and her extended spider like arms. But yeah, the absence of VR in RE8 is a humungo' blow. Maybe if Sony had their PSVR2 ready to go they would of threw money at Capcom to make an exclusive VR deal for PS5, but alas. looks like I'll be experiencing RE8 on a flat/2D 65" Rectangular screen/OLED. talk about a huge step back, even with the visual compromises like the low resolution, screen door effect, binocular boarder etc that plague the PSVR. But OLED also suffers from a lot more motion blur, which makes it a lot less alluring to go back to.
I know i'm rambling, but good lordy....after the time i spent playing RE7 in VR on my PS4 Pro, i then tried playing it on my TV. I just couldn't do it....Obviously, you no longer feel like you're pitted in that house. The immersion, visceral feeling, scare factor and atmosphere completely went down the gutter x1000.... I couldn't even be bothered to play it haha.
Heck, playing any video game on a TV in comparison VR has become pretty underwhelming for me at this point.
@Wolfie_Pie I also felt a little queasy playing this - I turned off the camera movement wobble in the options, and that helped quite a bit. Still, resolving the camera stuttering issues would of course be ideal.
@WaveWitch wow that is a reply! I completed RE7 several years ago on my ps4 pro and it was a fun but anxiety driven experience . It provided me with a gaming memory that I will never forget, atmospheric, bone chilling and just a plain bloody scary. I remember holding my hands over my face on two occasions in fear!! I remember a guy searching for me and I was hiding behind some boxes looking through some slats as he passed me by, I think I may have been holding my breath as well. I was thinking about buying the banned tapes vol 1,2 and booted up RE7 the other day, within minutes the hair on the back of my neck was standing up! I achieved Platinum on Astrobot VR and it's up there with Mario 64 (US Import) which I also bought on release all those years ago. I think I'll skip RE8 mainly because of no VR which is a massive omission.Enjoying Ironman at the moment.
@clvr I would highly recommend What Remains of Edith Fitch. Excellent exploring of an old house.
@Arnna thanks for the recommendation, I'll make sure to check it out! Have a good one 😃
@clvr no problem! You too
Found this half hour visual showcase more intriguing than a lot of full releases nowadays haha. RE: 7 is my 4th favorite in the series so here’s hoping they fix some of the issues I had with it 🤞
I thought the game was a bit too dark? I have a very good LG Oled and I also tweaked with the hdr settings but the overall darkness bothered me a bit.
Played through it just now and thought it was very atmospheric, with the house creaking around you. Quite impressed with how good it looked and sounds. Definitely one to keep an eye on for me!
Loved the demo, just the right mixture of uncertainty and creepiness. I pretty much explored every inch of the demo, gazing in awe at all of the beautiful artwork.
However I'm afraid I refuse to play RE7 or RE8 until they have remade 0-1, 4, and Code Veronica with the RE Engine.
@vapidwolf
its an early demo, a more detailed one will be released later in the year
@RenanKJ who cares if it's close to re7 village is continuing the story from 7 and this is just a demo not a full game
@vapidwolf it's demo not be full game didn't see mother wrong with the textures
@2cents well it is a demo not a full game for you expect a demo to be long?
@Taylorzombie some of them where low res ,like i said hopefully they can sort that out
@vapidwolf ok then
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