Verdict
Resident Evil Village’s Switch 2 port is nothing short of a masterclass, showcasing what the hardware is capable of, while giving you the chance to experience another great RE game.
It's a big day for Resident Evil fans, as not one, not two, but three games are launching on the Nintendo Switch 2 today. One of them is the brand-new entry to the franchise, Requiem, while the other two are native ports of Resident Evil 7 and Village. If you ask me, there's never a bad time to revisit the Baker family in Louisiana or take a leisurely stroll in a remote village in Europe.
As a lifelong Resi fan, I'm truly eating good at the moment, especially after Capcom graced me with access to the new Resident Evil game, which I gave a 9/10 in my Resident Evil Requiem review. As if that wasn't enough, the team also gave me a copy of Village on the Switch 2, so I can let all of you lovely folks know whether or not the horror game is worth buying again, or even for the first time if you've somehow missed it since its release in May 2021.
Being almost five years old means that even if you've not played the game yet, you more than likely know what happens, so I'm not going to do a big review on the game itself. Still, I'll take the opportunity to gush about one of the best Resident Evil games briefly.
So, Village sees you take control of Ethan Winters once more, following on from the events that took place in Resident Evil 7, except this time, Ethan is trying to save his daughter, not his wife. The story is genuinely enjoyable, introducing new Resident Evil Village characters who would go on to become fan favorites among the community, namely Lady Dimitrescu, with whom I certainly have an unhealthy obsession. I even felt a bit giddy going back through the castle and being thrown through the floor once more.
Admittedly, even five years later, I still have qualms about the quality of certain parts of the game. What I mean by that is Dimtrescu's Castle and Beneviento's Manor are excellent, but as you get into the late-game, the locations, like Heisenberg's factory, don't have the same spark, which is disappointing after the impressive heights the early areas reach. Yes, you might say I'm biased as a Lady D lover, but I despise that damn doll, so you can't say I'm lavishing praise on the manor out of love.
Okay, moving on to the performance of Resident Evil Village on Nintendo Switch 2. In a word, it's fantastic. Much like Requiem, it shows exactly what Nintendo's hardware is capable of, offering a smooth experience in both docked and handheld mode. I didn't have any bugs or issues, such as a drop in frame rates, to speak of. My time with the game so far is just as good graphically and performance-wise as it was on the PS5.
The first time I emerged from the woods in 2021 to see the castle set against a snowy landscape, its beauty blew me away, and the Switch 2 port captures that feeling, too. I wasn't expecting it to be on the same level as the PlayStation 5, but it was, and perhaps that's what made it so easy for the NS2 version to evoke the same reaction in me.
Thanks to running well in handheld mode, too, the Nintendo Switch 2 is one of the best ways to experience Village, since you can take it with you on the go. I've run through the castle, appreciated the sights, survived the horrors of the Beneviento Manor (if you know, you know), and am now gearing up to do some fishing, meaning I'm a good portion of the way through.
Overall, Resident Evil Village on Switch 2 is a perfect port; it looks and runs as it should, finally offering Nintendo players an optimal way to enjoy the game after the release of those questionable cloud versions in 2022. Plus, it's the Gold Edition that you get on Switch 2, giving you access to the very good Shadows of Rose DLC, third-person gameplay, various in-game items to help on your adventure, and more content for the Mercenaries mode.