Just finished the game and expected to see some good discussion, but it's mostly people having a "Who can be the edgiest" competition. If you don't like a game, don't like it. It doesn't mean everyone that does is a clown, shill, or anything else. And thinking you're objectively right or even talking as if your opinion is more valid than anyone else's is childish.
I knew nothing aside from one teaser and a tiny bit of footage I stopped at the beginning of.
Grace's side was good fun, and I was able to separate the odd gameplay mechanics and considerations like blood crafting from the rest of the game.
Leon's side of the game was strange in that it was played serious with the odd quip at first, but then it went full blown bonkers for a while before settling back down for the most part.
I go into RE games thinking about their place in the wider lore, so I perhaps got more out of it than some. From that perspective, it was interesting. The Connections' involvement was nice, and the game goes out of its way (even if it's mostly in files) to put a more solid timeline on paper. Seeing HCF and Tricell crates was nice, and from that side of things it picked up some loose threads from previous games. The refinement of BOWs was nice, although I have to say the last boss was underwhelming. In that regard Capcom picked up on RE3's design which I'm not a fan of, and the only saving grace was Leon being able to parry the giant tentacle swings. T-501 was a much better boss, and really had the "If RE4 Leon had a second chance at RE2" idea behind it.
In general it felt like the game set out to pick up the series history in more ways than just RC and the RPD. Hunk coming back was a big surprise, and when he went for the neck break I had to pause the game and laugh. Loved it. Although it was a strange fight, because he got me once then the 2nd try I did it hitless.
I did pick up the Girl's claw, but I didn't follow it through. Will have to do it on another playthrough.
I think for my next playthrough I'm going to clean up bits I missed, like the 1 remaining file, Raccoon statues, try some bits I didn't before (like killing the chef and Chunk), and if I'm lucky some other challenges like <4 hour will take care of themselves.
One thought I had towards the end is that it feels like the whole game is somewhat designed to ease us into Code Veronica's Remake, at least with the character switching. For good or bad, if nothing else it tells me they're not afraid to keep that mechanic in.
Oh, and Tofu. The first time I saw something, then when I actually saw him I popped. Great little easter egg. I did try to shoot him in his multiple spawn points in the hope of some sort of reward, but no luck.
I don't have too many criticisms just yet, but I'm sure as I play more a few more bits will sink in over time. For now, off the top of my head:
There were some annoying deaths where I didn't have a chance, and they were mostly related to machine gun zombies. You can be dead before you know what's happening and it's not something that at all feels fair.
There were however a couple things I expected to see but didn't. As the RC portion played out I expected to see a little more in the way of 3R locations, but aside from a tiny bit of subway there wasn't much to speak of.
What was more disappointing, though, was the price list mentioning a new model Nemesis for sale. I was part expecting, part hoping for an improved Nemesis model that was closer to OG Nemesis, but obviously what we got was a secret Nemesis in Gideon that went straight into the final boss that I've already spoken about.
Technical stuff:
The game runs incredibly well on my 7700/9070XT PC. Running native 1440p all high settings (lens distortion/CA/motion blur off) at a locked 120fps on Linux (aside from very rare occasions). No RT option for me yet, probably because of Linux. I might try it if I can get RT to enable but I'm not fussed. The game already looks great, I'm not sure the fps hit will be worth it even if I use FSR3.1 > 4 and FG. We'll see, I guess.
The non-modded FOV is awful. How they thought that zoomed in was a good idea is beyond me. Obviously it's much more tolerable on a TV even then it's overkill. Luckily the community already have mods that run on top of REFramework to adjust FOV for 3rd and 1st person with quick toggles and without breaking cutscenes and other special views.
No film grain toggle is such on obvious regression that it almost has to be related to image quality and upscaling. Either way I used a mod to disable that, too.
