Why House Beneviento in Resident Evil: Village is so good

Last Updated on: 16th May 2021, 10:52 am

SPOILER ALERT: Gonna be talking about a pretty significant part of the early game. You have been warned. We’re talking about House Beneviento in Resident Evil Village.

I don’t scare easily these days. When I was a child, almost everything scared me. The dark, loud sounds, tight spaces, Chicken Run (don’t ask); all of these things brought some sort of anxiety out of me. However, when I got older, I began to consume horror media at a decent clip. That meant everything from movies to, of course, video games. I stopped being so scared after a good while, and up until now, I haven’t felt all that afraid of any form of horror media.

Until recently that is.

Resident Evil: Village has you eventually enter one House Beneviento for some playtime after dealing with the infamous Lady Dimitrescu and her trio of vampire daughters. Upon seeing on the internet that’d be dealing with creepy dolls, I thought, “Alright, this shouldn’t be too bad. People say this bit is scary but it seems kinda lame.”

And indeed, the game up until this point hadn’t been all that scary. Maybe a bit tense here and there but nothing that actually made my blood run cold. That is until I got pulled into the nightmare that is House Beneviento.

House of Dolls

Let me just say that the lead-up to House Beneviento is pretty uneventful, as Resident Evil: Village up until this point has not been all that scary. It’s a fairly quiet walk where you just cross some snowy paths to a spooky-looking house. If you’re a horror aficionado, this won’t be all that intimidating for you, and that’s what makes what happens afterward so much more fucked up.

Because what makes this next section of the game so effective is how it manages to lull you into a false sense of security. You’re decked out with a bunch of weapons at this point and have just finished taking down Lady Dimitrescu and her daughters. So you’re riding that high of taking out the sexy vampire family and are probably ready to blast away the next monster with gusto. Shame you can’t kick open doors as you could in Resident Evil 4.

It’d be cool if you could just suplex whatever was in this house waiting for you.

Once you actually enter the house though, the entire vibe of the game up until this point starts to change subtly. Where Castle Dimitrescu was a gothic and bombastic affair, House Beneviento is much more of a slow burn (for the most part). There are creepy dolls all over the first floor of the house, and they all serve to really make you feel like you’re being watched. If you pay close attention to some notes that are lying around, you could potentially assume what’s going to happen soon in the house.

READ MORE: Should you play the classic Resident Evil games?

Really, that’s part of what makes this entire section work so damn well. Subtlety has never really been Resident Evil’s strong suit, so the fact that Village knocks it out of the park with this section is impressive. You’re not given all the answers right off of the bat, so you need to just assume things for the entire time until you hit the basement level of the house.

Don’t wanna go down there, no siree

The basement of House Beneviento is really where the slow burn of this section starts to pay off, as you are suddenly trapped downstairs and are stripped of all your items. Depowering the player is a choice that can be hit or miss for me personally, but I think that the way it’s done in this section is fine. Walking the stark-white, P.T-esque hallways makes for some uncomfortable stuff when you don’t have a weapon. You only feel that harder when you have to interact with the mannequin in the main room of the area.

You’re just looking at an inanimate object, and yet the deafening silence of the basement level only contributes to the discomfort that is just escalating the whole while. And escalate it does, as you solve some rudimentary puzzles that will continue to lull you into a false sense of security. All the while, the game is quietly putting its hands on the edge of the rug you’re standing on and is starting to pull once the lights go out.

It’s almost like you’re being set up for an elaborate prank and you think you’re in on the prank but in reality, you haven’t noticed the huge pan of cold water hanging over your head. Because there’s no way that you are prepared for what’s coming next. No amount of prior knowledge or prep from other pieces of horror media can even bring you close to prepared for the moment where you’ll feel your blood run cold.

Body horror is nothing new to the Resident Evil series, and it’s something that has shown up in many grotesque, tragic, and even hilarious forms throughout the series’ history. Nothing that has come before can even hope to touch the grotesque reveal of this area’s main threat.

Once you go down that dark hallway, you’ll never be the same ever again. You’ll develop a newfound appreciation for lockers and the ability to outrun the disgusting creature that is chasing you throughout the basement. And let me just say, bravo Capcom. Bravo for creating something so disturbing and terrifying that I had to stop playing for the night that I got to this part.

Gone, Daddy, Gone

Hearing the distorted sounds of a laughing child as you navigate the dark hallways of the basement of House Beneviento really puts into perspective the potential Resident Evil: Village had to be much, much scarier. This section doesn’t last very long, especially once you know exactly what to do and how to exploit the simple AI of the creature. But the first time through, holy shit, is it really fucking scary. I can tell you that the mixture of darkness and the distant sounds of a creepy monster stomping around added up to the most memorable thing about Village.

READ MORE: Resident Evil 4 VR announced for Quest 2

And once you overcome the horrors of the basement, you’re out for blood. You’re ready to take out whatever put you through that terrifying ordeal and make sure you get back some of your dignity. Resident Evil: Village really pays that sentiment off well, as House Beneviento is capped off with a chaotic chase throughout the top floor of the house. By the end of it, you’ll feel just as tired as Ethan is because there are still two more areas to complete before the end.

While Resident Evil: Village never reaches this level of pants-shitting terror ever again, the memory of House Beneviento will stick around with you until the end. It really goes to show that the team at Capcom knows what they’re doing when it comes to a true horror experience. If there’s something that I hope comes from the success of Village, it’s potentially new horror projects that aren’t necessarily tied to Resident Evil.

If given a similar budget and time, they can make some real harrowing shit, as evidenced by the mere existence of House Beneviento in the context of Resident Evil: Village. Maybe we’ll see something new someday, as I feel that the continued success of Resident Evil might compel Capcom to try something different in the future. Because they can definitely corner the market on people who own lots of brown pants if they just make a whole game like House Beneviento.

Just saying…