Resident Evil 7: Biohazard has been a long time coming. It’s been over four years since Resident Evil 6, but it’s been a lot longer than that since fans of the series were truly satisfied.
With Biohazard, developer Capcom has claimed it is a return to the series’ survival horror roots, but are the claims accurate? Pre-release impressions have been positive, but until now, we had little idea of how the final product would shape up.
With the game’s January 24 release date nearly upon us, reviews have begun to emerge. You can read the GameSpot’s Resident Evil 7 review here, or take a look at a wider critical view on GameSpot’s sister site Metacritic. Or, check out a quick roundup of critic opinions below.
For more on Resident Evil 7, read our huge, in-depth Resident Evil 7 interview series here.
- Game: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Developer: Capcom
- Platform: PS4, Xbox One, PC
- Release: January 24
- Price: US$60 / £50 / AU$90
GameSpot — 8/10
“By the end of the campaign, I was ready for the game to be over, but that’s okay. RE7 ends just as it starts to outstay its welcome, and after the fact, I felt like I’d survived a truly harrowing journey. The boss fights may be slightly inconsistent and certain sections might drag after a while, but RE7 is still a remarkable success. It has a clear vision and executes it with impressive patience and precision. By returning to horror, Resident Evil has once again become something special.” — Scott Butterworth [Full review]
IGN — 7.7/10
“Resident Evil 7 grounds itself in elements that made the original great while still indulging in a risky new shift in style that both helps and hurts the beloved formula in equal measure. But it’s also the closest a numbered sequel has come to recapturing Resident Evil’s slow, but thrilling and atmospheric adventure game roots in a while–a welcome return that I truly hope to see more of in the future.” — Chloi Rad [Full review]
Eurogamer — No score
“At heart [Resident Evil 7 is] a fairly pedestrian species of bogeyman–a series of peekaboo jolts and serviceable gun battles strewn across a sumptuous, cohesive environment, constructed with no shortage of craft but not a whole lot of real imagination. Those doors may unnerve at first glance, but once you’ve acclimatised to Resident Evil 7’s tactics, it seldom gives you much reason to be afraid of what lurks beyond.” — Edwin Evans-Thirlwell [Full review]
Polygon — 9/10
“I would have been pleasantly surprised with much less than Resident Evil 7 brings to bear. I would have settled for, been excited for ‘not bad.’ But the Resident Evil series has thrived for over 20 years now in part because of a willingness to change the franchise, to mutate with the times. Resident Evil 7’s changes–especially the shift to first-person–may be off-putting to some. But it’s an evolution that fits perfectly into the world and source material Capcom has created. It’s hard to know if Resident Evil 7 will stand the test of time as much as classics like the original, or Resident Evil 4. Taken on its own, however, it’s an excellent game that pushes the series in worthy new directions.” — Philip Kollar [Full review]
PC Gamer — 90/100
“Resident Evil 7 is a confident attempt at reinvention. But it’s the way it channels the older games, particularly the first, that really makes it great. It takes an industrial pressure washer to the series, blasting off years of accumulated filth and grime. And you’re left with a lean, polished survival horror that borrows from its legacy, but isn’t afraid to look to modern horror games for inspiration too. It loses something in the final act, and a few of the boss battles feel like a hangover from the bad old days, but otherwise this is comfortably the best Resident Evil in years.” — Andy Kelly [Full review]