The Village in RE4 best level in gaming history?

Is the Village the greatest level of all times?

  • Yes it's all true

    Votes: 20 13.7%

  • No this is false

    Votes: 116 79.5%

  • Other (specify)

    Votes: 10 6.8%
  • Total voters
    146
GigaBowser

GigaBowser

Banned
Yes, it's all true my freinds. Nothing will ever be as adrenaline pumping as running into the house with the chainsaw man and all the villagers coming after you. Peak gaming.

ys9nwsmhi2e61.png


RE4-Thumbnail.jpg





Is there anything else that can possibly top it?
 
COD4:MW stealth mission
God of War 3 opening
Spec Ops: The Line the White Phosphorus mission
Vanilla Word of Warcraft starting human zone until you reach Stormwind for the first time (if you can call this a level)
MGS1 opening mission, Meryl and Wolf mission and also MGS4 furnace level
 
It has perfect execution of the scene's intent realised thru gameplay systems first while cut scene/scripted events being secondary help shaping it into seamless flow of good content n gameplay happening on screen at all times

It is a statement on a power of RE Engine n organisational structure of Capcom internal studios they have being building for the last 20 years.

But asking if something is the best thing ever is still pointless clickbait
 
Last edited:
Damigos said:
COD4:MW stealth mission
God of War 3 opening
Spec Ops: The Line the White Phosphorus mission
Vanilla Word of Warcraft starting human zone until you reach Stormwind for the first time (if you can call this a level)
MGS1 opening mission, Meryl and Wolf mission and also MGS4 furnace level
Click to expand...
I like you.
 
It's a very cool section, not sure about best level design tho, it's not nearly intricate enough.

It didn't wowed me like let's say, the mechanical villa in dish2.
 
Too subjective a question, and the definition of best level is also too loose, too many factors to consider.

The re4 village is a cool area though
 
I wouldn't say best in gaming without thinking twice, but if you look at it as a vertical slice it's insane.

If that was the vertical slice they did for it, then they'd know instantly that they have lighning in a bottle, and then they can go from there. Part of me imagines development was like that but it could also be the last thing they did.

As for the new one, only played it on the demo, felt more like a culmination/insane vertical slice, but I obviously haven't played enough, nor tplayed the final version to voice an opinion about that.
 
First play through of Bloodborne on my PS5 two months ago and it has to be Yharnam.
Nothing else comes close.
 
Peach's Castle:

c5449fb30a0b29bcd099e9a4fd59d01c.png


While not a "level" in the traditional sense, Id say its one of the best areas in a video game, ever.

Braid, World 1:

maxresdefault.jpg


If you know, you know, and if you don't, you really should play Braid.

Sonic Adventure 2, City Escape:

latest


"Rolling around at the speed of sound..."
 
Damigos said:
COD4:MW stealth mission
God of War 3 opening
Spec Ops: The Line the White Phosphorus mission
Vanilla Word of Warcraft starting human zone until you reach Stormwind for the first time (if you can call this a level)
MGS1 opening mission, Meryl and Wolf mission and also MGS4 furnace level
Click to expand...
I always loved the opening "level" in mgs2. Those rain effects still hold up today...

38RydCW.jpg
 
Yes, it's definitely a mood setter for the game and a great "this ain't your pappy's Resident Evil" set-piece.
 
I think what makes it kind of unique is that on your first play through the requirement to beat it are unknown. Are you supposed to escape the village? Kill all the enemies? Find some special area? Also your knowledge of enemy capabilities (or your own) is very limited at that point and they can do things that you aren't necessarily expecting, they can climb through windows, break down barricades, climb onto roofs, the chainsaw guy can one shot gruesomely kill you.
It kind if takes you out of that mode of gaming where you are thinking about it in a gamey type of way, and has you actually just trying to survive, constantly on the back foot.
It actively rewards treating it as a 'real' situation and punishes you for treating it like a game.
 
Last edited:
poppabk said:
I think what makes it kind of unique is that on your first play through the requirement to beat it are unknown. Are you supposed to escape the village? Kill all the enemies? Find some special area? Also your knowledge of enemy capabilities (or your own) is very limited at that point and they can do things that you aren't necessarily expecting, they can climb through windows, break down barricades, climb onto roofs, the chainsaw guy can one shot gruesomely kill you.
It kind if takes you out of that mode of gaming where you are thinking about it in a gamey type of way, and has you actually just trying to survive, constantly on the back foot.
It actively rewards treating it as a 'real' situation and punishes you for treating it like a game.
Click to expand...

It must be one of the most creative subversions of expectations in all of game design.

Genuine out of the box thinking.
 
the first level of many classic 8bit and 16bit games are way above the village of RE4.

because the devs back then basically explained the whole game to you purely through leveldesign.

the first level in SMB placed blocks and enemies in a way that you have a high chance of accidentally learning all the mechanics.

the first level of MegaMan X teaches you every single game mechanic, including wall sliding, wall jumping, shooting and enemy weakpoints simply through leveldesign and enemy design.

or a more recent example that was heavily influenced by all these games is Shovel Knight and its DLCs, where once again, all game mechanics of the game are teached to you purely through leveldesign, even in the more complex character DLCs like Plague Knight's DLC
 
Last edited:
Only took the first post lol

Sorry OP but your slow walkin' hayseeds have nothing on classic Super Mario Bros.

Im also not a big Sonic fan, but Emerald Coast was sublime.

Also the prehistoric section in the original Tomb Raider.

Also the stage in Medal of Honor where you're undercover. I fucking loved that stage.
 
01011001 said:
the first level of many classic 8bit and 16bit games are way above the village of RE4.

because the devs back then basically explained the whole game to you purely through leveldesign.

the first level in SMB placed blocks and enemies in a way that you have a high chance of accidentally learning all the mechanics.

the first level of MegaMan X teaches you every single game mechanic, including wall sliding, wall jumping, shooting and enemy weakpoints simply through leveldesign and enemy design.

or a more recent example that was heavily influenced by all these games is Shovel Knight and its DLCs, where once again, all game mechanics of the game are teached to you purely through leveldesign, even in the more complex character DLCs like Plague Knight's DLC
Click to expand...

I'm not sure really. When you're working in a completely new medium I reckon the matter of needing to explain things to your users probably arises fairly naturally. It doesn't seem to take that much ingenuity to see that this new thing may have to be explained.

To completely upset expectations in an already mature medium, though, seems to involve really extreme creativity.

Things like RE4 are real first principles design. I think you could only come up with that by looking at exactly what tools you have and exactly what inputs the user will have and just testing those boundaries to destruction.
 
Playing it first time, it throws you off because you are so outnumbered and then all of a sudden the bell rings. Definately ballsy and memorable intro. I would say another game that did an amazing intro was Silent Hill 1. You get attacked by 2 monsters, got nothing to fight with or go anywhere and you die.....poof, it was just a dream!

EDIT:

 
Last edited:
Werewolf Jones said:
Village was more iconic in the original. Remake throws so many bodies at you it feels like you're actually fighting the full fucking village.
Click to expand...
Do you feel that this was a tech limitation?

I'm mainly asking because even the concept art of the original version of 4 showed a lot of enemies.
 
Spaceman292 said:
That's exactly what's happening in the village
Click to expand...

it does but isn't as perfect as Mega Man X's intro level for example.

and a lot of the work is done before you arrive at the village during your walk through the forest and in the first house.

so the village does introduce some mechanics to the player, in a very good way too, but it's not the part of the game that actually teaches you how to play.
that is doubly true in the remake, which stopped trying to naturally teach you mechanics completely.

if we only use the original RE4, not the remake, and we include the part before arriving at the village, then you have a point.

but only the village, and you have already passed the part that teaches you the majority of it.
and in the remake it's completely disqualified imo.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

Best lines in gaming?
2 3 4
156
1K
Baemono replied
  • Poll
The Best Year in Gaming?
Opinion  2
81
1K
PurePlatinum replied
  • Poll
RE4 on the Wii
36
553
Killer8 replied
Post the best dog in a video game
2 3 4
165
1K
saintjules replied
Best Gaming combo
2
54
162
Humdinger replied
Top Bottom