LogFAQs > #962132309

Nice to see Village #1, it was my second favorite game of last year, and excellent write-up even if I disagree with some points. I'm particularly torn about the level design aspect. On the one hand, I think the actual "Village" hub area level design is supreme and compelling, there's a ton of hidden nooks & crannies and exploring it all was one of the most rewarding aspects of the game.

I think the individual areas leave a lot to be desired though. They're too linear with little planning or thought involved in their exploration. Something that always compelled me about the older games was their puzzle box design; making you plan your route and hope no new or existing dangers impede your progress. Village recognizes this but fails to execute: any path looping in on each other is just a means to get back to where you need to go quicker. There's never any true compelling reason to go back somewhere. I get if you like action-horror better, this works to the game's favor, but for me it felt lame and diminished the horror. One thing I preferred in RE7 over Village was how tactile and immersive that game felt: everything was done realistically, pushing open doors, actually holding your flashlight, really crouching down in the nitty gritty and finding the most obscure hidden items, things to pick and examine and look at, feel like you're really in the world. I was surprised and disappointed Village pretty much did away with all of that.