Parting shot

Everyone in Resident Evil VII: Biohazard is just dying to meet you. Talk about a warm bloody welcome!

After fighting for your life against your long-absent wife and thinking it’s all over – twice – you’re given a scant moment to reflect.

Did she really just lop my hand off? Yeah, buddy. With a chainsaw? Uh-huh. After I hit her in the neck with an axe? Yeah, you got it.

As you stare at Mia Winters’ crumpled form, simultaneously wondering if she’s going to get back up again and if you can somehow take back the six or seven headshots that got you here, you’re in for a rude awakening. Before you can even catch your breath, someone grabs you from behind. Laying you out alongside Mia, this new assailant utters the iconic line: “Welcome to the family, son.”

Bookending a masterclass in spine-chilling opening acts, it’s a line so good they used it more than once. Regardless of whether it’s in the main game or one of the Beginning Hour demo’s various permutations, the meaning remains the same: things are about to go from very bad to so much worse.

Beyond the ‘home is where the Hell is’ framing, it’s clear there’s more bubbling below the Baker estate’s swampy surface (and we’re not just talking about Marguerite’s dodgy stew). From stumbling across extremely cursed VHS tapes and animal carcasses where they shouldn’t be to your confrontations with the undying inhabitants of the Baker estate, it’s clear this is a place where forgotten things and people cling together through a shared nightmare – and now you’re just the latest addition to the collection.