The Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo is a demo of Resident Evil Village. It was announced during the Resident Evil Showcase (April 2021).
Availability[]
Initial release[]
The demo has three periods, the first and second are for PS4/PS5, while the third is for all platforms it's available on.[1]
- PS4/PS5: Village Demo (30 minutes)
- April 17, 2021 5:00 PM (PDT) to April 18 2021 1:00 AM (PDT)
- PS4/PS5: Castle Demo (30 minutes)
- April 24, 2021 5:00 PM (PDT) to April 25 2021 1:00 AM (PDT)
- PS4/PS5/Xbox One/Xbox Series X/Steam/Stadia: Village & Castle Multiplatform Demo (60 minutes)
- May 1, 2021 5:00 PM (PDT) to May 9 2021 5:00 PM (PDT)
On April 26, it was announced that the multiplatform demo would be open for a week rather than 24 hours as it was originally planned.[2] The 60 minute timer would still be present during that version however.
Redistribution[]
As part of the Happy Biohazard 25th Halloween campaign, the demo was distributed across all platforms allowing all players to access the Village and Castle again with the same 1-hour restriction.
Content[]
Plot (Village)[]
After his daughter Rosemary Winters was kidnaped by Chris Redfield, Ethan Winters finds himself in a strange snowy desolated village. Soon after wandering for a while, he comes across an old woman and expresses his concern for her safety, the old woman then asks if he was the "child's father", he is surprised to learn that his daughter is somewhere in the village, the woman tells him she is in great danger. She tells him that when Miranda brought her to the village, all of them have fallen into darkness. Just then, the bell rang from Castle Dimitrescu and the woman left telling him that it heralds dangers and that "they" are coming, she locks the door behind and walks away laughing hysterically. Ethan explores the village to look for clues and items needed to get into the castle. Eventually, he comes across two villagers survivors who are taking a shelter in a nearby house, Elena and her father Leonardo, they are initially distrust of Ethan but he reassures them that he is here to help. Ethan asks if there are any survivors to which Elena answers that they are all taking shelter at Luiza's House and that no one is letting them in. The Lycans start to lurk nearby and Ethan asks if Leonardo can walk, Elena exclaims that he was cut by one of them. Ethan then sets off to open the front gate, he manages to do so, letting both of them inside and locking the gate.
When no one at the door is answering, Ethan bangs on it asking if anyone is inside but no one answers and Elena tells him that maybe they will open to a familiar voice. She bangs on it only to meet a highly cautious shotgun wielding Iulian, who tells her to stop attracting the monsters, he is hesitant to let the trio in until Luiza tells him that these people are their friends and they are allowed to go inside the house. Ethan turns to a picture book which depicts various other locations within the village. Luiza then guides him to the house, meeting other survivors, a drunken angry man named Anton, a crying woman named Roxana and a heavily injured man. Ethan asks if this is all that remains from the village and Anton angrily responds that there is no one left, remarking the injured man as a worthless invalid, Roxana as a "stupid, wailing bitch" and chastising Luiza that she drags Leonardo and Ethan like it's nothing and that everyone out there has been ripped in half, Luiza responds that her house has been protecting her family for generations and that she reassures him that all are welcome and safe in there. When Ethan asks what is going on around the village, she tells him that they were once a quiet devout village but then the monsters came and attacked them. Elena asks where is Luiza's husband to which she answers that he went outside to get help, she then asks them to pray for his safety, they all join hands and pray.
Afterwards, Ethan tells them that there was an old woman near the graveyard, Leonardo remarks the old woman as crazy as a "bag of rats" but Luiza hoped that it protected her as it had protected them. Suddenly Leonardo started to roar in pain and strikes his hatchet at Luiza, killing her instantly. He then kills Anton, stabs the crutched man in the throat with the machete, and kills Roxana by biting her in the jugular veins. Ethan grabs Elena and the two make a run for it. Leonardo then pounces on Ethan and prepares to kill him until Elena shoots him with the shotgun, she is instantly remorseful, Ethan tells her that he wasn't her father anymore and the two run to the garage and lock the door behind them. Ethan then finds the truck's key along with a screwdriver hidden in the keyring, he uses the truck to ram through the house and open a way for them to escape. The pair then climb through the attic and Ethan points that the window is the way out but Elena asks what will they do after they get out since the village is still full of monsters and that they can't fight them, Ethan reassures her that they will find a safehouse to put her in until he can find Rose and that he is sure that Rose is in the castle, Elena remarks that place is nothing but blood and death. Leonardo then climbs through the attic much to her surprise, he calls out her name in pain, Elena quickly runs to him when the wooden plank collapses, separating the two. Ethan tries to tell her to grab his hand but Elena tells him to go and save his daughter, the planks supporting the two villagers eventually gave out, sending the crazed Leonardo and Elena to the fiery depths below. Ethan angrily leaves the burning house through the window, using the screwdriver he manages to obtain another crest. He steps outside only to witness Miranda killing Iulian, he then encounters the old woman from before who happily stated that death has visited them all. He manages to open the stone door leading to the Castle using the two crests.
Plot (Castle)[]
Ethan manages to reach Castle Dimitrescu but he now finds himself in a room with a fireplace, he manages to leave the room using a hidden crawlspace and on the way grabs the Maroon Eye. After traversing through areas of the castle, he comes across The Duke, who he is surprised to see him inside the castle, The Duke then gives information on where to find Rose, he suggests that Lady Alcina Dimitrescu is keeping Rose in her private chambers somewhere in the castle, Ethan then sets off to reach the area. Exploring through the castle, he manages to open a door using the key item but is then ambushed by the sadist daughter Cassandra, he manages to cut her off by falling and reaching the wine cellar. Traversing through the area, he notices Alcina getting a bottle of wine and leaving the room without noticing Ethan's present. He reaches down to the torture chamber, where he fights off several mutated ghouls, who were presumably former servants of the castle. Ethan reaches another part of the area where he was attacked by the oldest daughter Bela, he tries to run away but is eventually caught by her.
Gameplay[]
The demo has two sections, one for the Village and another for the Castle. There are three difficulties, Casual, Standard and Hardcore.
Players have a time limit similar to the RESIDENT EVIL 2 1-Shot Demo. During the two PS4/PS5 periods, a 30-minute timer is given, while the multiplatform version allows for 60 minutes of play time instead. In either case, players are able to select "Continue" or replay the demo infinitely so long as there is time left, once the 30 or 60 minutes have passed, the demo becomes unplayable.[1] The time cannot be paused in any way in-game unless the player leaves to the main menu, as such, it is advised for players to change their settings in the options menu before starting the demo.
After the demo is beaten, the Resident Evil Village - 4th Trailer will play. Players can use the Photo Mode during the demo, though the timer will not stop while doing so.
The demo had achievements, but only in the Steam version – all of them are related to the time spent playing:
Patches[]
The following are the patch notes based on the PS4's "Update History" menu:
- Version 1.01
- Bug fixes
Promotions[]
Multiple promotions took place to market the demo. A Twitter campaign would giveaway 3 bath towels of Alcina Dimitrescu and 100 clear files with a key visual of the game, these rewards were given via a lottery system to Japanese players who tweeted their experiences with the demo, only one item would be given to each winner.[3]
The second promotion was a collaboration between Capcom and select Japanese content creators who uploaded gameplay of the demo on their respective YouTube channels. These videos were specifically sponsored by Capcom Japan and a special website was created so the videos could be watched by the Japanese community.[4] One of these content creators included Eiko Kano who was previously present during the Resident Evil Village segment of the Tokyo Game Show 2020.
The third promotion was a giveaway done via multiple western influencers. Capcom supplied them with codes that would giveaway three PlayStation Network avatars per code, the first wave gave codes for avatars of Bela, Cassandra and Daniela while the second wave gave codes for avatars of Ethan Winters, Mia Winters and Rosemary Winters
Two trailers were released to promote the demo, they were both uploaded by the PlayStation YouTube channel: Resident Evil Village – Demo Trailer, Resident Evil Village - "Castle" Demo Trailer feat. GIVĒON. The latter includes a collaboration between Capcom and GIVĒON.
Gallery[]
Images[]
Videos[]
External links[]
- Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo on PS4 | Official PlayStation™Store US
- Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo on PS5 | Official PlayStation™Store US
- Get Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo - Microsoft Store
- Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo on Steam.
- PLAY THE DEMO - Resident Evil Village
Sources[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Resident Evil Village Gameplay Demo | CAPCOM
- ↑ Resident Evil on Twitter: "We've heard your feedback and are extending the availability period for the final 60-minute multi-platform #REVillage demo. The original 24-hour window starting 5PM PDT May 1 (1AM BST May 2) has been increased by a week, and now ends at the same times on May 9 PDT (May 10 BST)." / Twitter
- ↑ 『BIOHAZARD VILLAGE Gameplay Demo』配信記念キャンペーン | BIOHAZARD PORTAL | CAPCOM
- ↑ バイオハザード ヴィレッジ | CAPCOM
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