The wait is over as Resident Evil Village finally has its DLC.

But while there’s been a great deal of speculation as to what it might be about and how it might progress the story of Rose, leading us into Resident Evil 9, the turns this content takes tend to surprise and even disappoint.

How to Play

Once purchased, the content can be accessed from the main menu of the game under ‘Special’. Shadows of Rose has its own sub-menu.

We’d highly recommend completing Resident Evil Village first as there are heavy story spoilers within the content.

As you know, this content is centred around Rose Winters, Ethan’s daughter, and is set 19 years after the events of Village.

What you may not know is that the premise is centered around Rose wanting to get rid of the powers and abilities she’s inherited from her father. Rose is getting bullied at school, having a tough time making friends, and generally finding it very difficult to have any sort of normal life.

Fortunately for Rose, an opportunity arises, even if it’s an incredibly dangerous one. Her confident, V, tells her if she connects with a sample of the Megamycete, she can find a crystal within which will consume her powers and free her from them. Forever.

No doubt, the Winters family are not your ordinary folks and they’ve definitely been through a lot. Fortunately for them, then, this content does serve as the final chapter in the ‘Winters Story’. So maybe Rose will get her wish?

It’s not exactly a story that goes out with a bang, though. In fact, it often feels like I’m replaying Village again, but without the cool, tall Vampire Lady and her scary daughters, so borders on the anti-climatic.

That’s because the content revisits most of the key locations from the castle, its dungeons and surrounding area. There’s even sections which play out in a very similar way to Village. Basically, if you’re hoping for content like an End of Zoe, I’m afraid this isn’t it.

It’s not necessarily a bad thing, but considering you don’t start with Rose’s powers right away and, frankly, don’t get to see the full potential of them until right at the end, the core loop feels more familiar than you’d like or expect.

Mixed in with a handgun and shotgun, Rose can slow down her enemies with those powers and sneak past them. With the all-new white herb there to help you replenish your energy, It adds a slightly new dynamic to the game to blend experiences a little bit. Rose can also remove sludge and slime by purifying the area around her. And sometimes that’s needed in a pinch as enemies spawn from all around.

It’s different, but part of me wishes one of the late-game abilities was actually playable throughout the entire campaign as that would have also spiced things up quite nicely in closed-corridor situations.

The enemy variety is also surprisingly limited, with the same scary face suckers wandering around like zombies that take 4-5 shots to kill, and the basically immortal enemies which you can’t kill with your weapons so have to run from. They’re a real delight.

Still, we’re mostly here for the story and most of us have been eagerly anticipating what comes next following that cliffhanger at the end of Village. Problem is, you won’t be getting the answers you think or are probably hoping for.

Capcom are going to keep us waiting for Res 9, as they should, but we could have done with a little bit more than we’ve got.

I don’t feel like I learned all that much about the Rose character, which might surprise you for a 2-3 hour campaign told entirely from her perspective. No doubt, this has been done purposefully to keep the suspense going and speculation up, but somehow this DLC told me nothing definitive about her, beyond the fact she’s being bullied, doesn’t want her powers anymore and has a complicated relationship with her family.

The big stories in this content are the fact the Masked Duke is the one causing problems for Rose with his face eaters and there’s a mysterious ghost writer, affectionately known as Michael, who helps Rose through the dangers ahead.

As a story it doesn’t suffer from too much padding, gets to the point and tries to freshen things up with various mini-game like sections, and environmental changes. It just doesn’t really progress narratively past a certain point. And it also doesn’t help that I’d kind of cottoned onto the game’s big twist fairly early on, and I imagine most others will too.

Still, as a send-off for the Winters it is a nice enough piece that still builds expectation for Resident Evil 9 as much as Village did. I just hope we get to see more of Rose in the future and get to peel back some of the layers this content skirted over.

Though those blood-curdling screams from her death screens are going to live in my nightmares for weeks. Oh my…

Verdict

Shadows of Rose is a safe Resident Evil experience that may be exactly what you’re looking for but doesn’t really take too many risks and, at times, can feel like a replay of Village. It doesn’t go in too deep on the character or move the story on in a significant way but it is a nice enough send off for the Winters family and it continues to set the tone for the future of the franchise.

If you loved Village and are eager for every shred of Resident Evil story, this is a no brainer. I just hope we get to see more of Rose (and her powers) in the future

Pros

+ Some nice twists on Resident Evil gameplay with enemy slowdown and area purifying
+ A nice send off for the Winters family
+ Story doesn’t suffer from padding and paces well.

Cons

– At times, it feels like you’re just replaying Village
– Almost too safe piece of content
– Limited enemy variety
– Small number of powers, items, and weaponry make the experience feel a bit repetitive and frustrating on some sections