For most people Resident Evil is a series associated with fear and spoiled underwear, but for a long time I didn’t understand that. My first Resident Evil game was Resident Evil 4, and this horror action game has some spooky moments but was way more fun than spine chilling. By the time I went back to the older tank control games they were just a little too dated to be tense, so I resigned myself to being terrified by other series instead. Then Resident Evil 7 Biohazard came along, moved into first person, and was absolutely horrifying in all the right ways. It’s one of my favourite games full stop, and I was so excited to jump back into it on the Switch 2 after many many years.
In Resident Evil 7 you play as Ethan Winters, a seemingly regular guy whose girlfriend Mia went missing three years ago. After getting a somewhat suspicious message from her asking for help, Ethan runs away from his daily life to explore rural Louisiana and try to find her. It doesn’t take long for Mia to show her face, but now she’s infected with some sort of virus and turns into a violent monster pretty regularly. In the search for a cure you end up meeting the Baker family, and that’s when it all really kicks off.
The Bakers are your typical creepy redneck family, albeit ones with monstrous sci-fi nonsense powers. It’s this familial group that makes Biohazard special though, because they’re such intimidating and unpredictable figures. Jack is the father of the family, and is incredibly quick to anger and smash through walls to punish you for existing. Marguerite is a screaming nightmare of a mother, who also seems to be made of bugs. These characters will stalk and destroy you any chance they get, ensuring you absolutely never feel safe.
The first person perspective of the game really makes for some exceptionally memorable and visceral moments, like when Mia stabs a screwdriver through your hand to pin you to a wall in the first fifteen minutes. Even after playing through the game many times, there were loads of moments that caused me to swear out loud at the sheer brutality of it all. The opening of the game especially is almost painfully intense, and will probably be too much for some.
Once you’re let loose in the Baker house it’s back to the usual Resident Evil business. You’ll be exploring a whole load of slime filled fridges, and reading newspaper articles about all the people who went missing. More importantly though you’ll be finding items, be they wooden models you use to solve shadow puzzles or bullets and herbs you need to survive encounters with the Bakers or mould monsters.
The combat in Resident Evil 7 is fantastic, and has a bit of depth to it. You’ll find knives and guns you can use to defend yourself, and they feel fantastic to use from the first person perspective. You are also able to block attacks coming your way by just sort of raising your left arm, which doesn’t stop the pain entirely but reduces it a fair bit. Especially on harder difficulties you’ll really have to manage your ammo and healing items carefully, or you’ll end up face to face with Jack with no way to take him down.
There are plenty of different ways to ensure you’re prepared with everything you need to survive. You can for example craft bullets, first aid bottles and more by combining ingredients you find around the house. There are also antique coins you can spend at birdcages to get new super powerful guns and abilities. This makes searching every corner for secrets all the more rewarding, which will help you cope on any ultra hard replays you attempt.
As this is the gold edition of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, it also comes with all the DLC that released post launch. This is where a lot of the wackier side of Resident Evil is present, like in the score attack mode where you celebrate Jack’s birthday. There’s also a fantastic escape room chapter, where you’re trapped with Marguerite in a bedroom. Whenever she leaves to check on the house you need to rush to find the tools to escape, but when she comes back you’d better make sure you’ve replaced everything you moved. It’s such a cool concept, but not quite my favourite DLC offering.
That place in my heart belongs to 21, a game of blackjack where your life is on the line. This was originally a small section in the main game, but it was expanded with all sorts of ridiculous power cards, abilities and extra challenges for the DLC. It’s almost like the horror indie darling Buckshot Roulette, just with a bigger budget. I’ve pumped many hours into this over the years, and I did again on the Switch 2.
Not all of the bonus content is amazing though. There’s an epilogue where you play as Jack’s brother and punch a lot of alligators which is a bit naff. The worst of the bunch though will put you in control of the most boring protagonist in the franchise (sorry Chris Redfield fans) and is just all about the subpar action and barely worth playing. Obviously this is all bonus content that’s not essential, so it being little lacklustre isn’t the end of the world.
The only other thing worth complaining about in Resident Evil 7 Biohazard is the boat section towards the end of the game. It changes the vibe of the experience entirely, shifting entirely in an action direction and just doesn’t really land. It’s such a shame as until that point Resi 7 is probably the best game in the series, and I’d easily scored everything prior to that point a ten.
If you’ve played Resident Evil 7 before then you’re probably more interested in how it runs on the Switch 2 though. It’s pretty much flawless, with a steady 60fps framerate in almost all situations. The game looks gorgeous in handheld mode too, although admittedly the overall darkness might make it a touch harder to see in the daytime. I found it made the scary moments even more tense too, especially when playing tucked up in bed at midnight.
Resident Evil 7 Biohazard is still one of the greatest horror games ever made, and getting to play it on a handheld console was a dream come true for me. No horror antagonists have ever come close to scaring me as much as the Bakers, and so many moments in this game are just truly horrendous. The extra content is largely amazing too, making this the perfect package for horror fans who want to play through this masterpiece all over again or for the first time.
