Resident Evil Village 'Castle' Demo Impressions - Your tall vampire lady is in another castle

Resident Evil Village‘s exclusive sneak peek on the PS4 and PS5 continues this week with another 30 minute demo, this time on the castle section of the game. If you’ve played The Maiden demo on the PS5 early this year, it actually pretty similar, except this time you’re on the clock, putting more agency in your actions, while working your way from the chambers to the dungeons. It certainly is another way to get hyped for the upcoming release, despite the questionable availability scheme implemented by Capcom.

resident evil village castle demo screenshot 3 — Remember when this wasn’t locked behind a puzzle wall?

This demo is significantly shorter due to it having fewer cutscenes compared to the “Village” demo last week, and much more linear corridors lessening walking speed. This makes it easier to backtrack across several rooms in just a few moments, allowing for multiple runs if you choose to do so. I was able to clear the whole thing in 15 minutes and change, plus two five-minute speed runs.

There are more combat sequences here, which is great for players looking to try out the combat system of the game. Additionally, the much anticipated chase sequence happens twice within this runtime, except it’s not Lady Dimitrescu, but one of her daughters. You also have some run-ins with some of the ghouls in the dungeon, so prepare yourself for quite the trip.

At the start of the game, another novel encounter will be the one with the Duke, the strange shopkeeper who takes the currency you pick up in your travels–Lei. Here, he could sell you supplies in the form of weapons, healing items, and crafting schematics. You could also strengthen your weapons and sell treasures picked up for Lei, which gives you a quick look at how integral upgrades will shape your gameplay experience.

resident evil village castle demo screenshot 5 — I thought this is a ladies only establishment, and why are you buying stuff that you can pick up yourself?

resident evil village castle demo screenshot 4 — I thought this is a ladies only establishment, and why are you buying stuff that you can pick up yourself?

As I went for multiple rounds in this iteration, one thing I noticed is that on the PS5, Capcom does make good use of the Dualsense controller. There is some adaptive trigger resistance when you fire your guns, be it your handgun or your shotgun. You can also feel your footsteps with the haptic feedback, which makes all your working around extra immersive. This looks promising, and I can’t wait to see how much of this translates to the whole gameplay experience in the final release.

There you have it, the two halves of the whole one hour demo for Resident Evil Village. In case you didn’t get to experience the demo for both Village and Castle, don’t worry! There will be one more demo scheduled on the following date and time: