Warning - This article delves deep into some of the main plot points of Resident Evil: Village and its Shadows of Rose DLC.
Though Resident Evil: Village is still technically a survival horror video game, it is overall less interested in scaring players than its predecessor, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. While the scares are still there, Resident Evil: Village is a more combat-focused experience that lets players fight multiple foes with a wide array of weapons. When mild-mannered Ethan Winters receives training from walking tank Chris Redfield, he's bound to learn some overpowered tricks of his own.
Most of the Resident Evil: Village experience is combat-oriented save for one particular scenario: that of Donna Beneviento and her House Beneviento. Unlike the rest of the game, the House Beneviento segment takes away all the players' equipment and forces them to solve a series of puzzles while the local horrors chase after them. This creates an experience unlike any other and stands out as the scariest part of Resident Evil: Village. Capcom knows this and was wise enough to bring back House Beneviento in its new Shadows of Rose DLC - complete with all-new scares.
A Big Bouncing Baby
The most noteworthy scares players experience in House Beneviento during the main campaign come from the large baby found in the house's basement level. A large deformed fetus, the House Benevieto baby is a personification of Ethan Winters' fears that his daughter, Rosemary, won't grow up like a normal human being. The baby stalks Ethan throughout the House Beneviento basement as he tries to restore power to the house and escape via the elevator.
Since Donna Beneviento took Ethan's weapons, players have no other option than to run away from the giant baby. Ethan already is a poor runner when compared to other Resident Evil protagonists, but this segment is made even more difficult in the dark. Players not only have to be wary of the baby's location, but they have to make a mental map of the area to navigate the play space efficiently. If Ethan does get captured, the baby picks him up and swallows him whole - an act that is just as disgusting as it is disturbing in first-person.
Mommy's Home
Ten years later, Ethan's daughter, Rosemary, happens upon a piece of the Megamycete that terrorized the European village Ethan once visited. Tormented by others because of her powers, Rosemary seeks to get rid of them by entering the Realm of Consciousness - a mind space that twists reality based on its inhabitants. Rose eventually falls into a deeper stratum of the realm and finds herself inside the basement of a twisted version of House Beneviento. Just like Ethan, Rose is mysteriously relieved of her weapons and is forced to escape the basement. But while Ethan's biggest problem was a giant deformed fetus, Rosemary's demons are more human-sized and wooden.
Mannequins shaped like Rose's mother, Mia, are initially found in strange places around the House Beneviento basement. These include the middle of the hallway leading to the workshop and behind the doors of the workshop itself. The real horror begins once Rose is tasked with retrieving a fuse for the breaker box. Clues left on the walls of the basement tell Rose that she shouldn't take her eyes off the mannequins lest she die. A single mannequin follows Rose as she makes her way to the location of the fuse, forcing players to walk backwards toward their goal while keeping their eyes on the mannequin. The mannequin's loud, rapid footsteps when it is off-screen are compounded by its stuttered walking animations once it comes back into view.
Too Many Mothers Make For One Sad Child
This only gets worse once players obtain the fuse and need to go back to the elevator. Players' expectations are subverted as they pass through the kitchen and bump into another Mia-looking mannequin. The game then begins adding more mannequins that players must keep track of as they make their way back to the elevator. By the time they reach their goal they will have 4 mannequins on their tail, making for some of the scariest, most tense moments in the entire game.
By slowly adding gameplay elements that players must keep track of, Capcom has created an experience that feels natural as it does scary. Players first have to deal with one mannequin and keep a mental note of where they are going - a task that is made easier for those who know the layout of the basement (the Fuse Map item found in the breaker box also helps with this). Once the fuse is obtained, players have to keep track of where the other mannequins spawn and remember their locations as they fall in line with the rest of the group. It's easily the most harrowing part of Shadows of Rose and one that feels wholly earned.
Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion is available for PC, PS4, PS5, Switch Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
