An evil abode (aka Resident evil 8) the most anticipated game for the PS5. I’m excited about it even thinking of buying a PS5, just to make sure I can run the game at full tilt. (And I had skipped the PS5.) But I’m starting to worry about how big the game will be.
We live in a moment where backlash can happen because fans have high expectations regarding the length of a game. And while that makes sense to me – the economy is not good, every dollar needs to stretch – I hope Resident Evil Village does not succumb to that pressure.
Maybe there’s a world where Resident Evil 8 could be long and big. Capcom could, of course, take a strong blow with a big story. But to recap The Big Lebowski, those are my worries, dude.
Resident Evil Village run time
I’ve been thinking about the possible runtime of Resident Evil 8 for a few weeks. I really like Resident Evil 7, partly for its tight edit. Then, last Tuesday, told Peter Fabiano, producer and founder of Global Production at Capcom PlayStation official magazine that RE8 “is much more than what players experienced in Resident Evil VII: Biohazard.”
Some fans were excited by this news, as you can see in comments to a Reddit post about the news (though the post also covers lack of loading times and 3D audio support). Redditor u / ClappinCheeks120 he replied with a simple “Hell ya,” u / Abellewis31 shouted “Amen!” and u / Mastrownge called “This is the way.”
Responses on Twitter, however, seem to agree with my position, @ExpSevDavis asked “Try not to bloom unnecessarily. The packaging and the story will be an issue,” @DejinerettSkomm tweeted “I don’t know about that, TV. I feel like a lot of times, the quality of a RE game is almost proportional to its length,” and @pitto said “Imho 7. was perfect. Try to stop games from going over it.… Focus on quality and don’t be fooled about length.”
The Resident Evil 3 Remake of 2020 was great, but it got it criticism for the short run time. The site How far to hit measuring the main story of RE3 at six hours, which made some fans feel unchanged.
I don’t want Resident Evil Village to go the other way for many reasons, and one of them was its star: Lady Dimitrescu. For those unaware, Lady D is a 9’6 “vampire who has stolen the show so far. People are so fond of her that Capcom himself sent out a tweet acknowledging the impetus.
Your love for Lady Dimitrescu is high and clear. 👒Here’s message is from our RE Village art director Tomonori Takano, along with a very strange fact you’ve thought about: pic.twitter.com/Lj4m5pN2dJFebruary 2, 2021
But if Resident Evil 8 is too long, I worry we’ll learn too much about Lady Dimitrescu. Lots of sci-fi, horror and fantasy stories tell us too much about their mysterious characters, delivering unnecessary backstory and explanations.
Why Resident Evil Village should be short
How Long To Beat clocks Resident Evil 7 at around nine hours for the main story, and 22 hours for finishers. This makes sense for an awesome title, where you are on a roller-coaster suspense. Imagine how a Netflix season rarely surpasses the reception. Similarly, every scene in Resident Evil 7 feels essential, without a moment of filling.
In the world of blockbuster video games, RE7 is on the short side. God of War 2018 (21 hours for main story and 51 hours for finishers) and The Last of Us Part 2 (24 hours for main story, 40 hours for finishers) are more typical. While both games are great, it’s not a horrible game (TLOU2 doesn’t have awesome sections, but it’s half-drama), and the horror is incredibly difficult to maintain.
Plus, it’s easy to see how the shortest time of Resident Evil 7 translates into less to build the developers. This will allow them to focus on the game instead of expanding it.
The boss fights in Resident Evil 7, like the first undead fight in the prelude and the chain-saw duel in the pit, are pretty much the perfect set pieces. And since I’m not particularly good at those fights, I’ve spent a lot of time looking at every element of what’s going on. Game design is at its best.
Even the Molded baddies, the Venom-looking villains, were designed with extreme care. When I first came across one, I had controversial feelings. At first, I wanted to erase it from being there, while hoping that no more was lying around the corner (they were). Then I thought, “damn, those things are cool. I wish there were more.”
The case for residential malpractice
If we’re lucky, Fabiano mentions the scale of Resident Evil 8, not the time it takes to complete. And if the game is longer, it may only be a few more hours.
If I were more optimistic about game development, I would believe that the powers that Capcom would have would grow the size of their development team for such a task, or give them more time to finish the game. We don’t know, as details about the production cycle are not widely published in the game world (until something goes wrong, as with Cyberpunk 2077).
The early products we saw for Resident Evil 8, including the “Maiden” demo, suggest that this game will live up to the quality of what’s ahead. I just hope Resident Evil Village is the Game of the Year contestant it seems to be so far.