Resident Evil 7 established a new benchmark in the survival series for sheer bloody terror, especially if you dared play it in VR and put yourself in the same grotty spaces as the degenerate cast.

Village (effectively RE8 by another name) swings the pendulum back towards previous instalments’ fondness for action, thereby dissipating a measure of the tension the franchise made its cornerstone at the beginning.

That’s not to say Village doesn’t have its horrific moments. But with much of the game taking place in well-lit rooms and outside locations, you’re more scared by what you can see than what you can’t. As any horror fan knows, the latter is the real test of nerves.

Village sends RE7 protagonist Ethan Winters to a medieval community in central Europe in search of his lost baby daughter, pitting him against four monstrous villains – and hordes of werewolves. Luckily for Ethan, copious amounts of weaponry are at his disposal and while he faces swarms of enemies, only the typical scarcity of ammo stops Village from turning into a turkey shoot.

Yet the scene-setting is immaculate, the locations such as the gothic castle filled with ornate design and the villainous characters deliciously outrageous with their camp speechifying. Too little is made of internet sensation Lady Dimitrescu, the mysteriously tall woman in the reveal trailer who turns out to have four equally deadly daughters. She’s the first boss to fall to your guns and she’s missed for the rest of the game.

Village retains enough surprises for ardent fans to sustain its 12-hour running time. You’ll have fun, maybe be left a little breathless. But truly scared? Nah.