GAME NEWS : Since its announcement, the Winters’ Expansion for Resident Evil Village Gold Edition has seemed like a really creepy addition to the whole package. We receive a new campaign in Shadows of Rose, new characters and levels in The Mercenaries, and a Third-Person Mode we may use in the base game. When I don’t believe the Winters’ Expansion is a flawless addition to Resident Evil Village, it adds much more to the overall experience than any flaws I saw while playing it lately.
Substitute any other flower name for the rose
The brand-new Shadows of Rose mini-campaign is the major draw of this DLC pack. This side quest occurs around 16 years after the events of the main game. Rosemary Winters, the daughter of Ethan, prefers to go by “Rose” when referring to herself. She’s an outcast at school and in society because of the abilities she received during her time in Resident Evil Village. To eliminate her abilities, she eagerly accepts a proposal from one of Chris Redfield’s operatives.
Unfortunately, getting rid of her abilities requires working with a sample of the mold bioweapon Megamycete, which was responsible for the disasters in Resident Evil 7 and Village. Apparently, solving her problem will need tracking down the Purifying Crystal described in a specific villain’s study. To find out all the Megamycete knows about the Crystal, one would have to engage with it and sift through its memory database, which is why the notes are only partially comprehensive.
Suddenly, Rose is sucked into the Megamycete’s memories, which include the Village, Castle Dimitrescu, and other terrifying locations. Not only does Rose encounter several copies of herself, but she and her duplicates soon find themselves at the mercy of a new breed of frightening monsters headed by a familiar visage.
These beings’ humanoid appearance belies a very frightening trait. When they find Rose or one of her duplicates, they will drain their life force until they are dead. Then, they will swarm over the victim and pull them into active pools of Megamycete ooze. Seeing this menace in action made them one of the most unsettling Resident Evil creatures I’ve ever encountered, since it leaves a physical impact on victims by leaving their face hideous and disfigured.
Even more unsettling developments are ahead. To put it bluntly, Rose isn’t very robust. Chris is responsible for her little education so far. While this does provide Rose the ability to use whatever weaponry she comes across, players will discover that Rose has a very hard time acquiring her targets and is quite awkward while firing her weapons. However, she makes up for it by learning to harness her abilities.
She can temporarily immobilize and stun many foes with a single blast of energy. As an added defense, she may unleash a full charge of her power to escape an oncoming assault. The problem is that Rose’s power is finite, and the item needed to restore it is hard to come by until absolutely necessary.
The story’s plot also deviates into some rather out-there territory. Some of it is campy (because what Resident Evil game isn’t at least a little bit campy? ), but it also throws up some of the scariest interactions and scenarios I’ve seen in any Resident Evil game. And I don’t use that phrase casually. Even though I have played every game in the series since it began, including many of the finest survival horror games available outside of the RE franchise, Shadows of Rose managed to surprise and wow me on several occasions.
It’s not like you have to read a novel to finish Shadows of Rose. In around 5-6 hours (including some idle time), I was able to complete the campaign. In spite of this, there is one more negative I would warn some players about. As Rose attempts to flee from a spectral figure in the second act of the game, players will finally encounter him or her.
Without giving anything away, this ghost appears in a blinding white flash and then vanishes just as quickly. I didn’t feel at ease playing through it because of how severe it was. Those of you who suffer from epilepsy, please proceed with care here. Otherwise, it’s a tightly written, frightening, and rewarding inclusion that strengthens the plot as a whole.
