Resident Evil Village's Shadows of Rose gets back to the series' third-person roots

The last two installments in the Resident Evil series (outside of remakes, remasters, and VR ports) took the series from its third-person roots and mixed things up by offering a first-person experience. Now, with the upcoming launch of the Resident Evil Village Gold Edition, fans who have been craving the third-person mode that Capcom announced earlier this year will finally get what they've been waiting for along with the game’s first DLC, The Winters’ Expansion. I was fortunate enough to get some hands-on time with a build of The Winters’ Expansion’s Shadows of Rose content ahead of its October 28 launch.

Shadows of Rose takes place several years after the events of Village. Players will take on the role of Ethan Winters' daughter, Rose. She is searching for a way to rid herself of her powers and has entered the Megamycete’s realm of consciousness in order to do so. This means that the world you’ll be exploring is more of a manifestation than a physical location. Along the way, Rose will be guided by a mysterious light that communicates by writing on walls and can manifest items here and there to help her on her quest.

Right off the bat, the Shadows of Rose content feels like classic Resident Evil. I wandered through the metaphysical manion with a taught sense of dread that anything could hop out from around the corner and try to devour me. And it even happened a few times as I did my best to avoid the Face Eaters littered around the mansion as well as giant puddles of goo that seemed to be alive and reminded of the ectoplasm from Ghostbusters 2. Avoiding Face Eaters and sometimes having to take one down with a pistol gave me flashbacks to playing the recent Resident Evil 2 remake.

Along with the traditional RE items like guns and green herbs, players will have a chance to use Rose’s powers. The only power I was able to unlock during my brief demo was the ability to break down fungal spores that stood in my way of accessing areas or various items, but it would seem that Rose will unlock more powers as the story progresses.

As with any good RE title, there were plenty of puzzles to figure out and areas to progressively unlock using various items. We’re talking classic stuff like finding item A to unlock area B so you can grab items C, D, and E to get access to the next area or item. Navigating through the Megamycete’s realm of consciousness controller-wise also felt a lot smoother than many of my classic RE experiences of the past. Button layouts have always been a roadblock for my personal enjoyment of many games in the series, so it was great to pick up a controller and have everything feel intuitive right off the bat.

While I’m a bit of a scaredy cat when it comes to horror games, the Resident Evil series has always had a special place in my heart and while I was intrigued by the last two games’ pivot to first-person perspectives, it felt good to get back to some classic third-person gaming with an old school RE vibe. Fans of Resident Evil Village will get a chance to experience all The Winters’ Expansion content, which includes the Shadows of Rose content along with The Mercenaries Additional Orders DLC, the Re:Verse multiplayer mode, as well as Third-Person Mode for the original Village content on October 28 for the Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4&5, and PC.

Blake Morse

Events Coordinator

Blake has been writing and making videos about pop-culture and games for over 10 years now. Although he'd probably prefer you thought of him as a musician and listened to his band, www.cartoonviolencemusic.com. If you see him on the street, buy him a taco or something. Follow him on twitter @ProfRobot