Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village are the two newest games in Capcom’s popular horror franchise. They both feature Ethan Winters as the new hapless protagonist, as well as Chris Redfield as a side character. Both games steer away from traditional zombies and take the series in a new direction, story-wise.
Here we’ll compare both games in four separate categories and see which one comes out on top.
Story
Both RE7 and Resident Evil Village feature the same main protagonist, Ethan Winters. In RE7, he went to the Baker estate in search of his wife Mia, who he believed was dead, and quickly found himself in the clutches of the Baker family. The game moves the Resident Evil canon in interesting and unexpected ways, with Chris’ cameo at the end being one of the biggest surprises.
It also brought back that old-school RE feeling of taking control of your average everyman who didn’t know what was going on — a far cry from playing as characters like Leon or Chris today, who both feel like super soldiers at this point. The story humanized the Bakers in surprising ways, and it was self-contained too, so even newcomers would be able to enjoy it for what it is.
Resident Evil Village suffers in that it’s a direct sequel to 7, and tries to set up too many things at once. It’s clear that Capcom has plans for the story post-Village, and not only that, but Village also definitely stumbles in the final act as it tries to cram too many things into the story at once.
Overall, the setting itself is also weaker than 7 and the European village just doesn’t exude that same kind of horror that the swampy Louisiana Baker estate did.
Winner: Resident Evil 7, by a pretty large margin.
