Resident Evil 7: Gold Edition Review

The time has come to see what happened in the aftermath of the Baker family incident. Redfield has returned in an Umbrella Corp helicopter. It would seem that there are more mysteries and questions than there are answers.

Resident Evil 7: Gold Edition was released for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on the 12th of December. “What makes this different to the Deluxe Edition?” I’ve heard many say. The difference between the Deluxe and Gold Editions is that whereas the Deluxe Edition merely includes the Season Pass, the Gold Edition includes all the DLCs on the disc itself, instead of needing to download the content. Everything is ready on the disc, all you need to do is play. There has been a patch released for the game, for reasons unknown, but after thoroughly playing through all the DLC, I can firmly say that Gold Edition is solidly built. Now for the breakdown of the new DLC and how it fared.

Umbrella Returns

In the “Not A Hero” DLC, Chris Redfield makes a return, and we play as him for the duration of the story. The story takes place immediately after the events of the Monster Eveline boss fight. After rescuing Ethan in an Umbrella Helicopter, Chris heads out to find and apprehend the black sheep of the Baker family, Lucas, who is hiding in the mines. During the course of the game you find out that Lucas has been communicating with an organisation called “The Connections”. It would seem that Umbrella had nothing to do with this new E-type infection (or maybe that’s what they want you to think.) When you open Chris’s inventory, you will find two documents, one states the objectives of the missions, and another states the “reformation” of Umbrella, so to speak. Umbrella, or Blue Umbrella, now wants to make up for it’s past mistakes, and has rebranded itself and reformed into a PMC. What concerned me is that the assets were handed over to former members of the original company. Were these people members before the company became corrupt, or during the time of its heinous crimes? I guess we’ll find out. Regardless, Chris has a distaste for Umbrella, and even goes as far to say “The BSAA may be convinced, but it will still take some time for me to accept working for Umbrella.” The operator you this conversation with is surprisingly understanding, making you wonder if she was part of the “former” Umbrella or if she’s also been sent from the BSAA.

Without further digression, and the tone being set for the game DLC, Lucas tricks Chris by hiding in an Umbrella soldier suit, and places an explosive cuff around Chris’s wrist, warning him that if he continues to chase him, he will blow Chris up, and demonstrates by blowing the head off of an injured teammate. Chris, being Chris, ignores this warning and pursues Lucas. After a series of puzzles, and managing to get rid of the explosive on your wrist you find a way into the Laboratory where Lucas is, finding out more about the crime syndicate called “The Connections” and how Lucas is connected to them. You are tasked with preventing Lucas from uploading data on the results of the Type-E Infection to this crime syndicate. You fight new types of Molded called “Fumers” who are only killable after being shot with Anti-Regenerative bullets. This can be a nuisance, as the ammo is relatively scarce, so you need to use the ammo wisely, especially when facing off with a massive Fat Fumer. Here’s a tip, shoot it once, and then use standard bullets and grenades. The special bullets merely prevents the Fumers from being able to instantly regenerate all it’s health. Make sure you have at least 2 Anti-Regen bullets for later, you are going to need it! After an “altercation” with Lucas, you successfully stop the upload, leaving the mine for Umbrella’s Technical Teams to take care of the rest.

Saving Zoe

Sometime during and after the events of Not A Hero, and following the path of where Ethan chooses to cure Mia instead of Zoe, we see Zoe wandering in the swamp, being tormented by Eveline. After fainting, Umbrella soldiers find her body and discovers that she is still alive, albeit unconscious, but is covered in a white substance and in desperate need of the cure. Joe Baker, Zoe’s uncle, walks in on this scene and ambushes the soldiers, assuming the worst of the situation. He later learns from one of the soldiers he has tied up that they have come to help. Being reluctant to believe him, Joe goes out to a location that the soldier gives him where an extraction team is waiting with the cure. This is where things get fun. Joe is a survivalist, and pretty much uses his fists for everything. The gameplay mechanics take a complete different turn here; Your fists are your best friends. You learn how to use combos and take down Molded with nothing more than raw strength. This was a scary thought at first, but I ended up really enjoying this. Joe is very resilient, being able to take more hits when blocking and dealing decent damage with his fists. After finding the extraction team, now dead, you take the cure and attempt to administer it to Zoe. After finding that is didn’t work, the Umbrella soldier reassures Joe that the cure will only take full effect with a full vial. The vial you used was unfortunately less than halfway full. After being told that the soldier will take us to their basecamp, the soldier gets attacked by an unknown Molded, allowing Joe to take Zoe and escape their current location with a speedboat, leaving the unidentified Molded to stand and watch.

You eventually find a walled off area and manage to find a cabin where you are able to leave Zoe in safety. The walled off area is the Umbrella basecamp, but you find that a majority of it has been destroyed and is crawling with Molded. After dispatching them with Melee Onslaughts and Sneak attacks, you are confronted by the unidentified Molded, known as the Swamp Man. After a duel, Joe emerges victorious, temporarily, heads off to find the cure in a desolate ship. Finally, you find the cure, a full vial, but the Swamp Man returns for another round. Being able to rip off the Swamp Man’s head this time, you return to Zoe to attempt to cure her, but the Swamp Man returns and steals Zoe and you take off after them in pursuit. I’ll leave the rest of the story out, but what I will say is that this DLC was brilliant. After finishing the game on Normal, you unlock the Joe Must Die difficulty, an homage to the “Ethan Must Die” DLC, I assume, and with a similar difficulty level. Traps, intensely strong monsters, but you’re able to save with Casette Tapes. It is doable, and quite satisfying when you finally beat it. The mechanics in this DLC was a lot of fun, and a welcome addition to this game.

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Conclusion

I think I’ve said a lot already in the above paragraphs, but if you haven’t played the game yet, you need to. The atmosphere is tense and the story is brilliant, with impressive graphics and sounds. Not A Hero still felt different, despite you playing as Chris with some decent weaponry. You still need to manage your ammo properly, though the level of scariness is less than in the original game. The challange was still enjoyable. End of Zoe, being what I assume as the canon ending for Resident Evil 7, was even more so an impressive addition to the story. Hopefully we’ll get to see more of Joe and Zoe, though let us hope that Capcom doesn’t go mad with the Action aspect again in the series. Not A Hero came close to being that, and after the raging success of RE7, they don’t want the series to go downhill again. I’m curious to see where the series goes from here. Both Not A Hero and End of Zoe is VR Compatible and is loads of fun to play in VR, so if you’re able, don’t hesitate! You can buy it from BTGames for R735.00 on both PS4 and Xbox One, and R645.00 on Steam. You’re in for a scaringly good time, no matter what DLC you play, be it the Daughters backstory, the messed up game of Blackjack in 21, or even the new DLCs.