mishmash

Village was originally released about 18 months ago. Recently a macOS version has come out and as I play all the games on mishmash with a Mac Studio, it’s a natural choice. This is one of the highest profile releases for macOS in a while and currently this port is exclusive to the App Store at a reasonable price.

I’m out of touch with the Resident Evil series and haven’t played RE7, which is directly related. At the risk of angering the hardcore RE fans, frankly I’m not bothered about the over arching story that much. I treat these games like blockbuster films. I want it to feel good and be easy enough to follow. If the story is actually good, that’s a bonus. Normally with these big convoluted series the stories end up kinda jank and ridiculous. There was a recap of RE7, something something toxic mold umbrella in a texas chainsaw house. Now I’ve had my baby nicked. Save baby.

Jumping straight in. RE Village feels great. The early part of the game is very cinematic. Establishing the quaint snow covered village and the quartet of big bads with an unnatural interest in you and your baby. Wandering around the castle in the first section of the game is genuinely scary. There is a lot of focus on avoiding the demonic owners, like the super tall lady wearing a wide brim hat in all the promos, until the appropriate time to kill them. After making it through the spooky house bit the game widens up into a more familiar hub of sectioned off levels/set pieces. It also increases the amount of action bit by bit.

The balance between action and survival suits me fine. There’s little I like more than creeping down a dank dungeon and finding small clusters of lumbering undead to take down, and there are plenty of areas like that. Fast moving lycan monsters play a big role and switch up the pace. Teasing them out as they charge me and trying to headshot them with a rifle was more than tense and didn’t always go to plan. Enemies often move erratically and twitchy, making it harder to hit them. At first I was skeptical about using mines until I kept encountering big speedy bullet sponge mini-bosses that require a more explosive approach. The bosses have been good fun.

I went with a controller because I’ve still got a sore hand and it hurts more to use the mouse. In the interests of healing I’ll take the hit in aim accuracy. Although I tend to think RE games are primarily sold on consoles and so a controller is factored into design. The tougher aiming has heightened the difficulty a little. I’m playing on normal difficulty and for a large part of the game I thought I could easily go one higher. Item management is important but I’ve rarely felt too constrained. That is until I reached the Stronghold, which I think is the last quadrant before the big finale. It drained most of my ammo and I’m now about to go into a boss fight with the leftovers. That’s where I am in the game. Going harder for a second playthrough, knowing what to expect, is probably doable.

A couple of criticisms because it’s law to rip into AAA at any opportunity. In terms of game design the merchant is superfluous and feels too gamified. As much as I like the merchant’s look and character, there is nothing that it achieves that couldn’t be implemented through pick ups. Having the merchant show up in random places like the castle and the dam and wherever else is convenient takes away from the survival atmosphere and keeps reminding you it’s just a game. And the story is already gamey with it’s collect four things structure and quite OTT. The massive contrivance that this village has cut itself off from society and appears to be frozen in time since about 1930 looks more to do with wanting an old timey aesthetic than caring about a plausible story. Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if it all turned out to be a mold induced fever dream.

As for my actual expectations of the ending. Skip this paragraph to avoid a spoiler of the most shocking moment in the first half of the game. Or maybe second most if you’re soft. The moment when Ethan gets his hand chopped off and then reattaches it by pouring a little medicine on top must be telegraphing that Ethan and baby Rose are infected with something weird. Meds rarely make sense in games but that would be a touch too far. So I’m expecting the final info dump to be something quite overwrought.

Another negative about the macOS version. To play Village you must be signed into your Apple ID and have iCloud turned on. That kind of practice triggers my sus behaviour senses. And I’m tired of Apple trying to hook me on their cloud services. On a related note, one evening this week my internet went down unexpectedly for half an hour. I decided to play a game and of course the Steam and GOG launchers would not load. I didn’t try Village, so who knows. Thankfully GOG automatically creates an app icon to easily load games independently, so I fired up some Prodeus. Score 1 for GOG.

Performance has been great for me. I’m using the M1 Max chip and have had zero problems with most settings on high and a variable frame rate. I’m quite easy to please with graphics but it would be hard to say it looks anything other than excellent. I have noticed one or two hard edges in places and some of the finer hair textures can reflect light oddly but these are very minor things and possibly sortable in the settings. If you’re a Mac user and want some useful tech info for settings I’m gonna direct you to MrMacRight’s informative video on youtube.

For anyone that skipped to the end here, it’s a good game. Well worth playing. A balance of genuinely scary moments, running away from terrifying creatures, and faster gunplay sequences using a solid mix of weapons. That I’m thinking about a second playthrough already is a good sign.