Resident Evil Village ‘Maiden’ Impressions – An RE Walking Sim

With the release of the Maiden demo of Resident Evil Village on PlayStation 5, I was looking forward to seeing a fully realized Resident Evil game on next-generation consoles. While there isn’t much in the way of story or gameplay in this demo, and it definitely isn’t as cryptic as the PT style demos we got before Resident Evil 7 Biohazard’s launch, there’s enough to say that Capcom knows what they are doing in terms of sound and environment.

https://youtu.be/pkRy0WqsfwA

The Maiden demo isn’t the most exciting piece of horror that I’ve seen from the RE team, but being labeled as “Visual Showcase” pretty much explains all there is to it. What we do get is a series of environments around a new mansion, which I’m sure we’ll see more of in upcoming demos or the full game.

The demo begins with you waking up in a cell with instructions provided that there’s a way out, but you’ll have to search for it. This leads to a bit of dungeon exploring as you search for the necessary items needed, which happen to be bolt cutters and a lockpick. The more interesting moments of the demo appear after when you can explore the new castle.

Throughout the demo, you get the sense that you are being watched. As you explore, the sound design demands that you use headphones to enjoy all that it has to offer. Small jump scares did surprise me, but everything is pretty straight forward here. You find items that are rather self-explanatory on who they are used, and you go from room to room.

The demo itself doesn’t have any level of difficulty, and you are required to do anything to survive. In fact, the ending is pretty abrupt with double scenes of enemy introductions.

What I got from the demo was that this mansion will be a beast to explore in the final game, and the characters I met are totally cannibals. There’s some kind of cult thing going on here with rituals and stuff, but honestly, I can’t wait to have a shotgun so that I can put these demons down.

While the demo itself is more of a walking simulator, we did get the first preview of a new mansion, and I’m excited to see more.

Resident Evil Village will launch on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, and PC on May 7, 2021.