Return to Bannerlord

I picked up Bannerlord when it first released in Early Access back in April 2020. You can read my initial impressions of the game here. Spin on a couple of years and I decided to return to Bannerlord to see how the game has improved since. The first thing that struck me was how very little appeared, at least on the surface, to have changed.

Everything was pretty much exactly how I remembered it and there didn’t seem to be anything that stood out as significant new features, mechanics or content. This wasn’t a great surprise, however, because Bannerlord was already fairly feature complete at its initial release.

The issues Bannerlord had at release were primarily technical in nature – many people reporting crashes or save corruptions. I didn’t experience these issues myself, but I did encounter a lot of bugs, most notably during sieges – troops getting stuck on scenery and terrain. Siege equipment that wasn’t functional. Terrible path finding for troops on walls as dozens of your soldiers would walk to their deaths off a narrow ledge.

The performance during sieges was also pretty terrible, often descending into a choppy mess when large numbers of troops clashed in the narrow spaces of a city or castle. In addition to the crashes, bugs and performance issues, Bannerlord was also lacking in a lot of small, quality of life type features revolving around the game UI.

So I guess the question is, has Bannerlord – which is still in Early Access – fixed and improved upon all of these issues? After putting another 30 or so hours into the game, I’d say the answer is a pretty solid yes. I’ve had no crashes in my time with the game. The performance is excellent, even during larger battles.

Sieges, at least from what I’ve played, are now entirely fixed and functional. And, although it’s hard to recall exactly what was and wasn’t a part of the UI before, it does seem like a lot of little quality of life improvements have been made.

And honestly, it’s hard to see why the game remains in Early Access at this point. Bannerlord is, as far as all the core content and features go, pretty much done, and all the bugs and technical issues appear to have been ironed out. If you’ve been waiting for the right time to jump in and try Bannerlord, then I’d be pretty happy recommending it in its current state, even though it still hasn’t officially released.

There really is nothing else quite like it – the combination of third / first person combat, real time strategy, world map politics / war strategy and RPG character systems all set in a ‘realistic’ fantasy world. Realistic as in – no magic or monsters.

It’s a game that’s easy to sink a lot of time into, with multiple cultures and Kingdoms to support or destroy. I’ve had a lot of fun returning to the game and I’m sure I’ll put a lot more hours into it going forward.

Now Playing: Scarlet Nexus

Scarlet Nexus is a third person action-RPG set in a bleak (kind of?) future where monsters known as ‘Others’ roam the ruins between cities and teenagers with psionic abilities are recruited (or drafted?) into a military style organisation to fight them. And this is the first real problem I have with Scarlet Nexus – how muddled the setting is.

Because it is pretty bleak – everything outside of a couple of cities is in ruin and even the cities aren’t entirely safe as Others can materialise inside to snatch up poor civilians and eat their brains. Despite this, everyone in the cities seems remarkably cheery even though their world is on the brink of collapse and they’re fighting a war they can’t win. Oh, and everyone in the city is under constant surveillance for their ‘protection’.

The teenagers recruited (or rather, drafted – it’s not entirely clear if you can refuse your ‘recruitment’) into the OSF to fight the Others are force fed drugs to prevent them ageing because as they age, their psionic abilities decline. They’re also used to test experimental technology that can f**k with their brains and make them go mad.

This all sounds horribly dystopian and bleak, right? Not that there’s anything wrong with that – the idea of a society forced to take drastic measures and turn children into soldiers in order to survive is fine . . . if the game actually felt like it addressed or reflected that reality through its story or gameplay.

But Scarlet Nexus doesn’t really do that. It’s just so . . . anime. It’s so f**king casual about what should be some pretty dark and serious themes. All the characters are like walking anime stereotypes and whilst all this horrible and dark shit is going on they all still bounce around in a cheery manner, squealing with delight over a piece of f**king cake or something.

If the game was intended to be satirical – like these kids are conditioned to accept this horrible reality they live in, in which they exist only to be exploited until they die horribly in combat – then it might kind of work. But it doesn’t, because Scarlet Nexus doesn’t really bother exploring its own setting or the ethical implications of how the OSF operates.

The game does, at times, stumble towards a more introspective look at the society and the world these characters inhabit, but it’s like the game doesn’t want to commit to that and immediately jumps back to a silly cut scene of anime characters doing silly anime things.

And that lack of commitment also applies to the story which initially seems like it will be about the nefarious activities of the city government (good, and fitting with the dystopian nature of the setting) as one of our two playable characters works to save her sister. But then the game shifts gears and introduces a time travel element – which is fine, and I was still pretty happy with the narrative progression as this point.

But then it shifts again and is also about a weird cult and people living on the Moon and the game just can’t quite decide what it wants to be about and at some point the Others stop really being an important threat and instead become just a tedious obstacle between one cut-scene to the next.

Scarlet Nexus is way too long. It pads its content to an irritating degree. First of all – ignore the side missions. They’re completely worthless in terms of objectives and rewards. There’s plenty to unlock but they’re nearly all fetch quests or ‘kill 2 of this enemy using a specific attack or under these specific conditions’ which often involves playing in a way that’s not ideal and is usually a chore to complete.

And then we have the main missions which initially have a pretty good pace to them, but as you approach the end of the game, the levels just turn into these ridiculously long, linear corridors with clearly signposted battle arenas and you just have to slog your way through until the end. The game doesn’t try to do anything interesting in terms of the enemy encounters or mechanics. It just throws more and more of the same bloody enemies at you.

Seriously, it gets f**king annoying, especially the last mission that involves running through several linear levels (all reused assets from all the previous mission locations) and fighting everything you’ve already fought several hundred times all over again. It doesn’t make the game more challenging, when you force me to fight the same big enemy type four times in a f**king row in the same f**king arena, it just pisses me off.

And this is pretty frustrating because the combat of Scarlet Nexus is actually really fun, but the game drags on so much and fights get so long that you end up wanting to skip over them as quickly as you can.

You have basic combo attacks that you can combine with a telekinetic ability, but you can also activate different powers based upon the unique powers of those characters within your party – add a fire or electrical charge to your attacks, gain the ability to teleport, turn invisible or move at rapid speed, for example.

You can activate more than one ability at a time (with the right skill point upgrades on the ‘brain map’) and combine them to devastating effect. You also build a combo meter which, when full, unlocks a ‘brain field’ effect which lets you inflict massive damage on all enemies for a limited time.

There’s a dodge and counter system in the game, and individual characters can jump in to perform special attacks based upon their ‘bond level’ – which you can increase by using them more in combat or by giving them ‘gifts’ between missions. There’s also a stylish finishing move called a ‘brain crush’ you can activate by eliminating an enemy’s armour – and it’s often easier to drain the armour and crush them, than to drain their health.

There’s weapons you can upgrade – although this system is pretty basic. The cosmetic customisation is fun, however. Between missions you’ll return to a safe house in which you can embark on ‘bond missions’ to get to know the characters, but these don’t really add much because they’re designed to be played even once you’ve finished the main story, so they don’t really touch upon current events.

They’re fine, if you just want to sit back and watch a lengthy cutscene of two characters slowly talking about flowers, and a few of them do involve a little combat, but they don’t really factor into the story at all and honestly, on my second run with the other character, I just skipped them all because I really couldn’t care because the charterers are so stereotypical and so bloody anime it hurts.

There’s two characters to play as in Scarlet Nexus – Kasane and Yuito. The idea is that each has access to a different party (so, different powers) and a different perspective on the story with unique locations and enemies. It’s a clever idea, but it’s also kind of bullshit.

Kasane and Yuito play exactly the same. They visit exactly the same locations. They fight – with the exception of one or two bosses – the same enemies. And towards the end of the game, the characters join up anyway, so you get exactly the same story and access to all of the powers either way.

The story isn’t complex enough that you’ll need to play as both to fully understand it – which is good – but it also means the gameplay, enemies and locations of both characters had to be different enough to make playing through the game as both worth your time. But they’re not so it isn’t. I did, but on my second run as Yuito I just skipped everything I could – side content, bond episodes, cut scenes. I didn’t miss out on anything new because there’s really nothing new to see, learn or fight. It’s just more padding.

I feel like they should have condensed the campaign into a single story and have you switch between Kasane and Yuito as you progress – that way you could really separate the locations and enemies between them. You’d have a tighter, more engaging experience and story.

Now, you might think I kind of hated my time with Scarlet Nexus but that’s really not the case at all. When I write so much about a game it’s not because I hate it or I think it’s bad – if I felt like that I really wouldn’t waste my time writing all of this – no, I write so much not because I hate it but because I’m incredibly frustrated by it.

The combat is super fun and it lets you combine your powers and abilities in cool, stylish and clever ways. The Others are these weird, creepy creatures that all have unique and interesting designs. I did like a lot of the characters, despite them being so painfully anime. The world and story is pretty intriguing, even if the game is totally muddled when it comes to both.

Scarlet Nexus is a game that’s packed full of good ideas and it gets a lot right, but it also squanders a lot of the potential packed into its setting, story and mechanics. It’s the kind of game crying out for a more refined and focused sequel. I really did enjoy my time with the game and it’s a game I’d recommend picking up on sale if you enjoy action-RPGs.

7/10

Project Zomboid: First Impressions

This isn’t the first time I’ve played Project Zomboid. My first experience with the game was when I downloaded an early demo in . . . 2011? Was it really that long ago? Spin on several years and Project Zomboid is still going strong – in fact, it’s more popular now than it’s ever been, largely thanks to a recent multiplayer update. After watching some videos of the new build and seeing the game go on sale (before an opportunistic price hike – and hey, who can blame them?) I decided to finally pick it up myself.

There’s a tutorial to play but there’s a lot it doesn’t teach you. You’ll learn the basics of movement, interaction and combat, but the rest you’ll have to figure out on your own through trial and error or beginner guide videos. Don’t expect to start your first game and survive for very long at all. It took me a dozen restarts before I finally felt I had a decent grasp of the game and how everything works and even now, 20 hours in, there’s still occasions I have to pause and google something.

I’d also recommend not starting on the default modes but rather, set up your own custom sandbox. The sandbox tool is great because it lets you almost totally customise your experience making the game as easy or as punishing as you like in so many different ways. Right now, I’m playing a more ‘easy’ version of Project Zomboid with weaker zombies, no respawning zombies and no infections. It’s enabled me to enjoy and learn the game at a more relaxed pace.

There is no real ‘goal’ in Project Zomboid beyond survival. This is a game where you really have to set your own goals. There’s a single, massive map to explore with thousands of zombies to kill. There’s no NPC characters (at least not yet) so unless you play in the new MP, you’re going to be very much alone.

Combat is one of the most tricky things to learn as it can be pretty fiddly until you get the hang of it – that’s why turning off infections is recommended until you do because it’s so easy to get bitten or scratched. This is very much a survival sim so that means any wound needs to be properly treated – ideally with disinfectant and sterilised bandages, but some ripped clothing will do in a pinch to prevent blood loss.

Your character needs rest, food and water to stay healthy. You’ll also need to learn various skills such as farming, carpentry and mechanics if you want to survive long term. The water and power will eventually be shut off (although how and when will depend on your sandbox settings) and you’ll need to plan and prepare accordingly.

How you play is really up to you. You can go mobile – travelling the map, scavenging supplies, never staying in one place for very long. Or you can choose to fortify a particular location, hoarding supplies to prepare for the winter. Right now, that’s what I’m focusing on, but I’m also spending a lot of time clearing out zombies from my local area and transporting the bodies to some mass ‘graves’ I’ve set up.

It’s kind of silly that I’m spending so many hours just disposing of zombie bodies so that the streets are free of them but that’s a perfect example of how easy it is to lose countless hours playing Project Zomboid doing the most futile and ultimately pointless tasks. It’s a great time sink, if nothing else.

There’s still a lot about Project Zomboid I’ve not yet learnt or explored – crafting, farming, vehicle mechanics etc. I don’t know for how long I’ll keep playing. I wonder if it might be a game where it’s much more fun at the start when you’re just trying to survive but once you’re ‘secure’ there’s not really much more to do.

But like I said, this is a game where it’s important to set your own goals. No game has to last forever. Achieve what you want and then start over in a new spawn location with a new objective and more challenging sandbox settings.

Overall, I’m quite enjoying my time with Project Zomboid and I’ve not even tried the MP yet. I don’t know if I’ll do a full review or not because I don’t know for how long it will hold my attention. In a week or so, I might have grown bored of it and moved on. Or maybe I’ll have sunk another 20 hours into it. It’s that kind of game.

Now Playing: Total War: Warhammer 3

With 60 hours clocked and 3 campaigns completed, I figured it was time to knock out my review of Total War: Warhammer 3. If you’ve read my First Impressions post you’ll know that my initial reaction to the game was rather mixed, primarily due to the core campaign mechanics. There’s a lot that’s pretty fantastic about WH3 – the visuals, animations, music, battle maps, faction variety and impressive level of release day content.

The new siege system – whilst needing a few tweaks – is a welcome change. I agree that there needs to be less minor settlement battles, but a simple fix would be that these battles only occur at settlement level 2 or 3, otherwise a field battle is fought outside the settlement. Another easy tweak would be tower / barricade points being one-use only, stopping the player or AI from continually rebuilding them mid-fight.

There are some technical / bug / performance issues that also need to be addressed, but there’s nothing here that I felt seriously harmed my experience. I spoke in my FI post about returning to the Warhammer series from Three Kingdoms and how, in some ways, it felt like a step back. But I’d say that feeling isn’t as strong now I’ve readjusted to the way the campaign in Warhammer plays. That said, I still find the hero spam to be a particularly annoying facet of this series.

The real big problem with Warhammer 3 is the way the core campaign plays out. I’m certainly not opposed to smaller scale, objective focused campaigns. I liked the Vortex campaign in Warhammer 2 because it offered an alternative, more focused way of playing compared to the full sandbox experience of the Mortal Empires combined campaign. And I’m totally okay with Warhammer 3 doing something similar – offering a shorter, more focused narrative driven campaign that offers an alternative to the as yet untitled and unreleased mega-campaign that combines the maps and races of Warhammer 1, 2 & 3. The problem is, the core campaign of Warhammer 3 just isn’t very fun – at least not in its current state.

I’ve completed the campaign 3 times – as Kislev, Khorne and Cathay. Every campaign followed a similar pattern – an enjoyable start, followed by a tedious slog when the portals begin to open, followed by an irritating finish as I just want the campaign to end. Khorne, due to their faction mechanics, was probably the campaign that annoyed me the least. Kislev was an absolute nightmare of a grind and Cathay . . . well, Cathay was just kind of boring.

I’m not talking boring as in how the faction plays – because I love how each of the factions I’ve played work in the campaign in terms of mechanics and units. No, I’m talking about how each faction is faced with managing the core campaign. Kislev is mostly surrounded by hostile factions, constantly facing attacks so it’s not easy having to keep your best army and faction leader out of the fight either in the portal race, or resting in a city to remove negative traits before the next round begins.

Khorne, thanks to their increased movement mechanics makes getting through the portal realms pretty fast – but you’re still stuck waiting around for the traits to be removed which is even more annoying for a faction that relies heavily on momentum. And then we have Cathay which, once you’ve secured your initial province, is fairly easy to confederate the others around you giving you a safe and secure position where you’re not really in any danger. As a result, you just sit back and play the portal race because there’s not really any reason to expand – but this is also kind of dull.

Because despite the fantastic faction variety in terms of mechanics and units, every faction has to play the portal race exactly the same way – a race in which the less territory you hold, the easier it is because you have less portals to deal with continually spawning chaos armies and heroes and spreading corruption. A race in which if you don’t get into a realm before the AI, you’ll likely get kicked out and have wasted your time when they claim the soul before you.

A race in which your faction leader will be afflicted with multiple negative traits once they exit the chaos realms, forcing them to remain in a city for several turns waiting for the traits to be randomly removed. And by the time they are, the next round of portals will soon be ready to open so you have to do it all again.

The general concept of the campaign – entering the 4, unique chaos realms to retrieve the souls and fighting survival battles is something I actually like. The problem is, it’s way too punishing and restrictive towards the player. The good news is that, like the issue with the siege rework, it can be improved with just a few simple changes.

The first is that the negative chaos realm traits need to go – they’re completely pointless. Just get rid of them entirely. The second is that the chaos portals shouldn’t do more than spread a little corruption – no spawning heroes or armies. Right now, you have to keep several heroes strategically positioned throughout your territory so they can play whack-a-mole every time the portal event begins.

It’s annoying and tedious and it means that even if you’re trying to ignore the portal race and focusing instead on territorial conquest, you can’t ignore it entirely – and the more territory you take, the situation only gets worse.

If we really must race the AI, then don’t let us get kicked out if they claim a soul before us – it means we have to sit around and rush into the realm we need on the first turn the portals open or we’ll risk missing out. Let us enter when we’re ready, at our own pace. In fact, why not remove the AI from the portal race entirely? Just let the player engage with it when and if they want to. That’s obviously a bigger change, but probably the best one they can make. It would also make more sense from a narrative perspective.

Okay, I don’t want to drag this on any longer than I have to. Between this review and my FI post I think I’ve made it pretty clear what I think the main problem of WH3 is and how I feel about it. But let’s not forget that, aside from this problem, everything else WH3 does is pretty damn fantastic. I honestly can’t wait for the mega-campaign to be released so I’ll be able to play with these new factions in a pure sandbox experience.

Because the races, their mechanics and their units are all pretty great. And I think that once the mega-campaign is released and a few (inevitable) patches roll out to fix any initial issues, this Warhammer trilogy really will go down as one of the best strategy games of all time. But we’re not there yet, and there’s clearly a lot more work to do.

So I guess the question is – would I recommend WH3 in its current state? If you’re a fan of the previous games but you didn’t like the Vortex campaign at all then I’d say no – wait for the mega-campaign. If you’re like me and you did like the Vortex campaign for the smaller, more focused experience it offered then, even in its current state, I’d say the core campaign is worth picking up and playing.

I just hope CA can roll out some updates over the next few months that change the way the campaign works along the lines I’ve suggested here. Because like I said, the concept isn’t bad, it’s just the execution that needs work. Overall, WH3 is a solid and impressive release with an unfortunately big problem in the form of a campaign system that’s just not very fun in its current state. I am still having some fun with the game despite that problem, but not as much fun as I’d like.

7/10

Cyberpunk 2077: Update 1.5

Cyberpunk 2077 was my GOTY 2021 which I guess might be a controversial pick for some but for me, 2077 delivered exactly the kind of game I wanted. Despite its many flaws and technical issues, the core story, characters, quests and gameplay were superb. I completed the game twice following its release, including an all-content run, clocking over 170 hours of play.

I wrote in my GOTY post that – ‘There’s still so much potential in Cyberpunk 2077, but even if the promised patches, updates and DLC don’t deliver on that potential, 2077 will still be one of the best games I’ve played in recent years. With fantastic visuals, a stunning world, great gameplay and a compelling story and characters, it’s a game that, despite its poor release and numerous little flaws, is still pretty damn special.’

And now, here we are with Update 1.5, the first major patch for 2077 released alongside the next-gen console upgrade. The question is, does this patch begin to deliver upon that potential? Is it worth jumping back in for? And if you’ve not played Cyberpunk yet, is now the time?

My answers to those questions would be sort of, probably not and yes. This patch does improve many areas of the game that needed work, although there’s clearly still a lot more work to do. But I wouldn’t say there’s enough stuff here for a player like me, who has already exhausted the existing content, to jump back in – especially not when Warhammer 3 releases tomorrow (at the time of writing). But if you’re a new player, then now is a great time to pick up the game and experience the world, story and characters of Cyberpunk for yourself.

So what’s actually in this update? There’s been a pretty extensive overhaul of player perks and a rebalance of the game economy, although I’d have to play a new game to really test these out. NPC behaviour has been improved in the sense that they don’t all duck and cover in unison, but now actually scatter and run and sometimes even fight back. Civilian drivers now also react in ways that help the world feel more alive.

A lot of the improvements in this patch may not seem particularly significant but they do stack in such a way that does begin – and I stress begin – to improve the weakest aspect of 2077 – the open world. In terms of new content, the best thing is the inclusion of new apartments to purchase throughout the city. It’s neat, but not really exciting enough for a new run.

I think this is probably the last big update we’ll see for 2077 prior to the first major expansion – assuming it doesn’t get cancelled. I’m sure there will be several minor patches and content updates along the way, but I just don’t see myself going back to 2077 until there’s more new – and substantial – content to get stuck into. I’m also thinking I might prefer to wait and play it on a new PC – when GPU prices finally come down . . . if they ever come down. This patch certainly hasn’t helped with performance on my system and I’d say it actually runs a little worse.

Overall, my opinion on 2077 still hasn’t changed. It’s a fantastic game that deserves to be played and it would be a shame if the developers eventually decide to give up on it. There’s still so many stories to explore in Night City. But for now, I’ll continue to wait and hope.

Now Playing: Resident Evil Village

Resident Evil Village is set about 3 years after the events of Resident Evil 7. Once again, we’re playing as Ethan, this time searching not only for his wife, Mia, but for their daughter, Rose. Rose has been taken by the nefarious Mother Miranda to the titular Village and it’s up to Ethan to rescue her. Honestly, the story of Village is just a load of nonsense but this is Resident Evil so I really shouldn’t be surprised.

Like RE7, Village is a first person experience. And like 7, Village begins strongly but unfortunately loses its way towards the end. The village in Village acts like a central hub from which you will travel to four different haunted houses. That’s essentially what they are – haunted house rides each with a unique theme and boss.

The idea is that in order to rescue Rose from Miranda, Ethan first needs to take out the four Lords (bosses) of the village. Initially I thought I’d get to choose the order in which I tackled each boss but, no – you have to follow a very linear path through the game, taking each Lord in turn.

It’s kind of a shame because using the village as a hub and letting the player decide which Lord to tackle next would be another new twist on the RE formula – and it could have led to meaningful decisions for the player as each Lord could have unlocked different weapons, items or exploration tools and it would then be up to the player to prioritise what Lord to go for next.

But that’s not how the game works. Village is painfully linear. It really is like a haunted house ride – you just sit back and let the game carry you through. There’s always a singular track to follow and it always leads you from one key item to the next. The puzzle aspect that you might expect in RE is almost entirely absent.

Do you remember the Baker family from RE7? They were easily the best part of the game, injecting real personality into the experience and once Ethan had dealt with them, that’s when the game really lost its way. Village suffers from a very similar problem.

The first Lord you’ll face – Lady Dimitrescu AKA The Tall Lady – and her daughters are very similar to the Bakers in the way you interact with them as they taunt and hunt you. But their haunted house isn’t very long and within an hour or so (on a first run – you’ll probably clear it in 30 minutes on repeat play) you’ll be moving on to the next.

The good news is that the next Lord – Donna Beneviento – offers a very different haunted house experience, one without any combat and instead focuses more on tension, simple puzzle solving and horror. It’s great, but it’s also incredibly short – maybe 30 minutes for a first run. Like Dimitrescu and her daughters, Beneviento and her doll Angie are sadly underutilised.

Despite feeling like these Lords weren’t given the time or attention they deserved I was still enjoying Village a lot at this point and I was eager to see what the next two Lords – Moreau and Heisenberg – had to offer. But this, unfortunately, is where Village started to lose its way.

The Moreau section is just a bit crap, to be frank. Moreau turns into a giant fish monster and his haunted house just involves running from one floating platform to the next. You wait for him to pass, run across, then do it again. And finally we have Heisenberg who is probably the Lord given the most amount of development from a character point of view, but his haunted house is where Village shifts focus entirely into mediocre action schlock.

You’ll fight waves of idiotic lycans followed by cyborg type monsters in his factory. But like the other Lords and their haunted house rides, it’s like you’re stuck on a conveyor belt yourself just riding it along to the end. Village, at this point, becomes a first person shooter and not a very good one.

When you strap in to a vehicle armed with a machine gun, a rocket launcher and a chainsaw arm for the upcoming boss fight you know the game has totally lost the plot. To be fair, the RE games have always had their ‘silly’ elements but they’re not well integrated here at all.

And then we get to play as Chris – and his section really is just a crap first person shooter level in which you shoot waves and waves of stupid enemies. The game ends with a pretty lacklustre boss fight against Miranda herself, a character we’ve barely interacted with all game.

I probably sound like I really hated Village but I didn’t – I’m just frustrated by how much squandered potential I see here. Miranda should have been a more active presence throughout the game. The Lords should have had more screen time and more interactions with Ethan. The Village hub should have been more important and changed the way the player tackled the content.

I’m glad I played Village because I did, overall, enjoy the game, but I’m also glad I picked it up on sale – I finished my first run in 8 hours and my second in 4 (on Hardcore). It’s pretty short and that’s largely due to how linear the experience is. I’m sure you can argue that’s in line with other RE games but I guess I was looking for something a little different from Village. Something new.

Instead, I got a game that begins strongly but squanders its potential and descends into silly action schlock long before you reach the end. Overall, despite suffering similar problems, I’d say RE7 is the better game and that’s pretty disappointing because Village, as a sequel, should have identified and fixed those problems, not amplified them.

It’s also disappointing because Village had the potential to offer far more variety in terms of characters, locations and monsters than RE7 in addition to new gameplay twists. It just doesn’t fulfil that potential to any degree that I’d like.

6/10