So I ended up binge playing the RE2 and RE3 remkes all the way through and then went back to RE7. And just recently I finished RE7, and…

Holy crap, that was good. That was an experience. I went in basically totally blind as to what to expect (beyond being captured by a crazy backwoods family and then chased by a big guy with an axe), and I think I highly recommend doing the same if possible because the protagonist Ethan Winters is similarly clueless and there are a lot of layers to peel back on a very horrific metaphorical onion.

So yeah, because of that I feel like I shouldn’t actually get into any details except that the game gets my highest stamp of approval. This was well put together by a team that wanted to excel at their goal, and their goal was to scare the crap out of us while also telling a very compelling story. The visuals are realistic, the character modeling excellent and the acting is good enough to keep you well immersed in the unfolding insanity. And oh, the gore! Not a game for the faint of heart, this one. It is downright brutal, but held back just enough that it’s also hard to desensitize yourself. And although the first-person mode is a departure from the rest of the series, you definitely can’t beat it for horror purposes, especially if you pair it with some surround sound headphones so you can spin in paranoid fear at the slightest weird sound behind you. Sometimes that paranoia might save your life.

The creepies are crawly and the boss battles are excellently done, particularly in the beginning where brute force won’t get you far compared to awareness of your surroundings. Sometimes the particular subgenre will switch up on you as well and you’ll have to adapt to and survive a new kind of crazy.

RE7 fits neatly into the lore while being its own thing, and what a moody, scary, fantastic thing it is. If you like horror games and you haven’t done so yet you need to play it, period.

Or perhaps I should say: JOIN US. ACCEPT HER GIFT.