Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a 2017 survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. The ninth main installment in the Resident Evil series, the player controls Ethan Winters as he searches for his long-missing wife in a derelict plantation occupied by an infected family, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. Resident Evil 7 diverges from the more action-oriented Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, returning to the franchise's survival horror roots, emphasizing exploration. It is the first main Resident Evil game to use a first-person view.

Resident Evil 7 is the first full-length game to use Capcom's in-house RE Engine. The development was led by Koshi Nakanishi, director of Resident Evil: Revelations. A year prior to its announcement at E3 2016, it was presented as a virtual reality demo called Kitchen. The team took inspiration from the 1981 film The Evil Dead, scaled back the game to one location, and used a first-person perspective to immerse players. Two downloadable content scenarios were released, Not a Hero and End of Zoe.

Resident Evil 7 was released in January 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, followed by a cloud version for the Nintendo Switch in May 2018 in Japan and December 2022 worldwide, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S versions in June 2022, iOS, iPadOS and macOS versions in July 2024, and an upcoming Nintendo Switch 2 version scheduled for February 2026. It also supports the PlayStation VR headset. The game received generally favorable reviews and was considered a return to form for the series; critics praised Capcom's new RE Engine, gameplay, puzzles, atmosphere, story, and virtual reality option, but the boss battles, limited enemy variety, and the slower pace of the final chapter drew some criticism. As of June 30, 2025, the game has sold 15.4 million units, making it the 2nd best-selling game in the franchise. It was nominated for several end-of-year accolades. A sequel, Resident Evil Village, was released on May 7, 2021.

Gameplay

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a survival horror game viewed from the first-person – the second game in the series and the first main line game to use such a perspective. The player controls new protagonist Ethan Winters as he explores the Baker family's abandoned rural estate in Dulvey, Louisiana, to try and save his wife Mia. Ethan can freely rotate the camera around to view his surroundings, move in any direction, alternate between walking and sprinting to cover more ground, and interact with his surroundings to find helpful items such as weapons, ammunition, and healing items. New commands include guarding, allowing Ethan to block attacks to reduce damage, and crouching, which lets him fit through confined spaces or use stealth to evade enemies.

Throughout the game, Ethan confronts various members of the Baker family, as well as humanoid fungal creatures called "Molded", that will attack and attempt to kill him on sight. While Ethan is a civilian with relatively little combat experience, he is nonetheless able to find and use various weapons from around the estate, from melee weapons like pocket knives and chainsaws, to stronger firearms such as handguns, shotguns, and a makeshift flamethrower. Ethan can shoot down the hip or focus through the scope, and move while shooting, but firearms are less powerful than those from previous action-oriented titles – enemies are tougher, can sidestep and block to avoid taking damage, and will not stay down forever, emphasizing use of stealth and fleeing encounters when necessary. Damage taken is shown by the amount of blood visible on-screen, and by a codex on Ethan's wrist shown while navigating the inventory. Items such as herbs and first aid solution can be used to heal.

Ethan has eight inventory slots (plus four slots connected to the D-pad which he can assign weapons to) but can obtain more space by finding backpacks. Safe rooms scattered throughout the game, which enemies cannot enter, provide item boxes, where Ethan can store excess items to retrieve them later, and tape recorders used to save the player's progress. Items can be examined in the inventory, which may reveal a hidden purpose or detail, discarded, or combined with others to produce key items or craft consumables like first aid solution, ammo, and psychostimulants which show the location of uncollected items for a short time. Exploration is key in the game, as puzzles scattered around the estate must be solved to open up routes, obtain key items, and advance the story, some of which may require specific items to complete. Ethan can also find VHS tapes around the estate and place them in VCRs to play through a short section as the character filming – while optional, these tapes provide insight into the story and can reveal puzzle solutions, and is similar in concept to the "Zapping System" from Resident Evil 2.

The player can also choose one of three difficulty settings: Normal (the default), Easy, and Madhouse (unlocked after beating the game). These affect the strength of enemies, abundance of items, and how often the game autosaves – Madhouse also requires Ethan to use a cassette tape in order to save at a tape recorder. Various bonus items unlocked by beating the game in a specific time limit or difficulty, for example, can also be added to the item boxes for all subsequent runs, such as infinite-ammo weapons or special items that grant buffs – e.g. glasses that provide a permanent psychostimulant effect, shoes that raise Ethan's speed, etc. The PS4 version is playable in virtual reality via PlayStation VR.

Plot

In 2017, systems engineer Ethan Winters is drawn to a derelict plantation in Dulvey, Louisiana, by an email from his wife Mia, who has been missing for the past three years. Exploring a seemingly abandoned house, Ethan finds Mia imprisoned in the basement. During their escape, Mia suddenly becomes extremely violent and attacks Ethan, forcing him to kill her. After receiving a call from a woman named Zoe offering assistance, Ethan is attacked again by a revived Mia, cutting his left hand off, and then subdued by Jack Baker, patriarch of the Baker family. He is then dragged to another house where Zoe sews his hand back on. Ethan is held captive by Jack, his wife Marguerite, their son Lucas, and an elderly wheelchair-using woman. Although Ethan escapes his captors, he is repeatedly confronted by Jack, who demonstrates the ability to regenerate from fatal wounds and dismemberment.

Zoe again contacts Ethan, revealing she is the Bakers' daughter. Zoe informs Ethan that she, her family, and Mia are all infected with the same ailment, but can be cured with a special serum. Ethan makes his way to an old house to retrieve the serum ingredients, where he manages to kill Marguerite. After recovering the ingredients, Ethan experiences visions of an unknown young girl. Lucas captures Zoe and Mia before Ethan's return, and forces him to navigate a booby-trapped barn to find them. Ethan outwits Lucas, causing him to flee, and frees Zoe and Mia. Zoe then develops two serum doses, but Jack, now heavily mutated, attacks Ethan, who uses one dose to permanently kill him. Ethan must then choose to cure either Mia or Zoe. Choosing Zoe leaves Mia heartbroken, despite Ethan's promise to send help. As he and Zoe escape on a boat, Zoe reveals that the Bakers were infected after Mia arrived with a young girl named Eveline when the wreck of a tanker ship washed ashore. To prevent their escape, Eveline kills Zoe, and Ethan is knocked from the boat by a creature. If Ethan chooses Mia, Zoe gives a bitter farewell to him and Mia. As he and Mia escape on a boat, they come across the crashed tanker where they are attacked by the creature and knocked from the boat.

Following either choice, Mia ends up on the wrecked ship and searches for Ethan while experiencing visions of Eveline, who refers to Mia as her mother. Eventually, Mia's memory is restored, revealing that she was a covert operative for an unnamed corporation that developed Eveline as a bioweapon. Mia and another agent were to escort Eveline as she was being transported aboard the tanker when Eveline escaped containment and grounded the ship. She then infected Mia in an effort to force her to be her mother. After finding Ethan, Mia gives him a vial of Eveline's genetic material. If Ethan cured Zoe, Mia succumbs to Eveline's control and attacks Ethan, forcing him to permanently kill her. If Ethan cured Mia, she resists her control long enough to seal Ethan out of the ship to save him.