Highlights

  • Resident Evil's focus on gameplay shines through despite shaky narrative explanations throughout the series.
  • Mini-games like 21 in Resident Evil 7 offer a unique and dark twist that could be expanded on creatively.
  • The franchise could benefit from integrating more mini-games like 21 into base games for a fulfilling gameplay experience, enhancing its core strength.

Resident Evil’s gameplay has always taken a front seat in terms of what players rally around while narrative quirks and inconsistencies are typically accepted. Resident Evil 4 is all the evidence anyone needs of this notion being true since its explanation for transitioning from Raccoon City being nuked and Umbrella being a massive threat is shaky at best, legitimately boiling down to stock prices plummeting for the pharmaceutical company. Such details make it difficult to reason with logic in Resident Evil, even science-fiction logic, but thankfully its gameplay is always where attention is drawn to instead.

Resident Evil has always had a toe in survival horror waters regardless of how action-oriented its installments would become. Interestingly, the franchise’s biggest diversions from traditional survival horror gameplay wouldn’t be part of any base game content but rather in the latest entries’ DLCs and supplementary multiplayer spin-offs, Resistance and RE:Verse. Not all of these were received well, but Resident Evil 7’s Banned Footage Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 alone came packaged with a ton of content and 21 offered a unique mini-game deserving of a spiritual successor or revisit somehow.

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Resident Evil Deserves More Creepy, Gory Mini-Games

21 will be familiar enough to anyone who knows the casino card game blackjack. Where Resident Evil 7’s 21 differs is in its torturous Saw inspirations with characters Clancy Jarvis and Hoffman strapped into finger guillotines.

Unlike Saw, however, there’s no personal catharsis or retribution to be earned by playing Lucas Baker’s sadistic game. Anyone who was annoyed by Lucas as an antagonist who’s generally revolting and always in Ethan Winters’ face may be perturbed by having to hear him again, but his unrelenting cruelty makes for a depraved take on blackjack with severe consequences and lethally high stakes.

Having a dedicated and recurring mini-game like The Witcher ’s Gwent, Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth ’s Queen’s Blood, or Horizon Forbidden West ’s Machine Strike in Resident Evil might not be feasible considering what the survival horror series’ gameplay traditionally revolves around and yet 21 is a wonderful example of how such a mini-game can still be adapted extraordinarily into its horror-centric atmosphere.

Indeed, it’s the murderous and macabre nature of Resident Evil 7’s 21 that makes it memorable with Hoffman’s head concealed and fingers frequently lopped on both ends of the table. This horror approach to a popular card game could apply to nearly any mini-game Resident Evil wants, opening the door to roguelikes, deck-builders, and more if the franchise ever chose to explore additional mini-games like 21.

Resident Evil Mini-Games are a Natural Next Step in the Franchise

Resident Evil Village and the Resident Evil 4 remake exhumed the fan-favorite arcade mode Mercenaries, which actually demonstrates how skilled players are in their respective games’ gunplay. But it would be incredible to see the authentic gameplay of 21 in another Resident Evil title, perhaps even drawing influence from roguelike deck-builders such as Inscryption or Balatro.

Doing so would probably take a lot of investment, though, and require players to be able to hop back onto it frequently. Of course, other mini-games could be added as their own Resident Evil DLCs like 21 was, but having them integrated into a base game would also be fulfilling beyond 21’s relatively short duration as a DLC entry. Moreover, there are rumors that Resident Evil 9 will feature an open world.

If so, a recurring mini-game involving collectible items or a deck-building element would be excellent to see as long as it makes sense within the ninth installment’s landscape and can be immersive without overstaying its welcome. Having the protagonist continuously hooked up to a finger guillotine to play blackjack obviously wouldn’t be engaging, for example, but a puzzle-based mini-game the protagonist completes alone or a mini-game against friendly NPCs may be entertaining nonetheless if it could iterate on what makes 21 special in its own gruesome and challenging way.