Resident Evil Village Winters’ Expansion DLC Feels More Like Classic RE (Hands-on Preview)

Soon Resident Evil fans will get their hands on the Winters’ Expansion DLC for Resident Evil Village, and I’ve tried my hand at a demo of the Shadows of Rose story content.

The DLC places you in the role of Ethan Winters’ daughter Rose several years after the events of Village. She’s all grown up, and she’s trying to get rid of the powers she inherited.

Unfortunately, in order to do that she has to brave what appears to be a strange dimension based on Castle Dimitrescu, albeit its devilishly charming owner is nowhere to be seen, and we’re to contend with the Duke armed with a horde of face-eating hunters instead.

Of course, the third-person mode is the biggest difference compared to the base game. It gives you a wider field of vision which is certainly handy considering that your main task (at least in the demo I tested) is to escape and avoid having your face literally sucked by the Duke’s minions.

Incidentally, if you happen to be caught, the scene is absolutely terrifying and very, very disturbing.

More obstacles in your way are extremely dangerous puddles of animated goo on the floors blocking your path (which will both slow you down and kill you if you linger more than a few seconds), and the mold, concentrations of which appear to spawn said goo.

At the beginning of the level I played, the Duke sicks his hunters on you, and you have to run for your life, avoiding the goo and finding a path to progress.

This is made more challenging by the fact that Rose “runs” very slowly, which is appropriate to what you would expect from the series. That being said, your face-eating enemies don’t appear to have eyes and they’re certainly not as skilled as hunters as you would expect, so evading them is fairly effortless if you don’t panic.

That’s the point, though, as the developers designed some of the areas and encounters, I believe, with the clear intent of making you panic. If you keep your cool, you should be fine.

You’ll soon be provided with a handgun and the ability to craft (bullets included), but the gun is definitely ineffective against your enemies, which are nasty bullet sponges. This means that shooting them is surprisingly a last resort, with the option to leg it being preferable on most occasions.

The level is fairly linear, with areas that are progressively unlocked via finding items and navigation puzzles. There’s also a mysterious entity that guides Rose by writing in a shiny golden script on various surfaces, providing aid and suggestions, and contributing to the eerie atmosphere that pervades the story.

That entity is the one that helps her unlock the first application of her powers, which allows her to destroy mold clusters, in turn opening more routes within the manor. Unfortunately, that’s where my demo time ended.

The third-person camera, the way you unlock new routes through the level, the ineffectiveness of shooting your enemies, and the slow pace of Rose’s movement certainly made the DLC feel closer to classic Resident Evil gameplay-wise, while retaining the strong emphasis on supernatural storytelling from Village.

While the window I had on the DLC’s content was very limited, I have a feeling that it has the potential to be highly enjoyable for veteran fans of the series. We’ll see how that feeling stands the test once the full releases, but so far, so good.

The Resident Evil Village Winters’ Expansion DLC including the Shadows of Rose content and the third-person camera mode will release on Oct. 28, 2022, for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC via Steam.