Resident Evil Village Maiden Demo (PS5) Impressions

With Capcom announcing the release date of the highly anticipated Resident Evil Village, May 7th is going to be an exciting day, not only for next-gen consoles but last-gen consoles as well. While players wait to explore the Gothic castles and surrounding areas, a PlayStation 5 exclusive demo titled Maiden was released about an hour after the showcase. I'd love to take you all on a little tour of the experience as it stands. 

To start off, this demo looks absolutely stunning. Capcom has stated this is a stand-alone demo that does not connect to the game, even at the end of the demo it shows a screen thanking players for enjoying their Visual Showcase. That right there is likely why this is a PlayStation 5 exclusive and not available on other platforms. With a mix of the 4k HDR and ray tracing, they wanted to show people that this game looks good. I think if we were to see what this looks like on PS4 it would have to be something else entirely.

Maiden starts out and right off the bat you know this is Resident Evil. There’s this mix of archaic torture devices and everything looks so….wet? It doesn't waste time and you get a sense of dread immediately. Through similar steps like the Kitchen demo used for Resident Evil 7, you find the bolt cutters to find a lockpick to get out of the catacombs/dungeon area you start in. Once you escape into the main area of the demo, you really get a good idea of just how gorgeous this game looks with the clean white walls, which feel weird in a Resident Evil setting, and the gold accents on the walls. This area shows off that Resident Evil now has ray tracing and it is beautiful.

There is a little puzzle in Maiden involving opening up this door, that sure looks like a door you would find in Resident Evil, that you need an eye for. While you are searching the area for this eye, there is a cloaked figure that you catch out of the corner of your eye every once in a while that is incredibly foreboding. Once you get the eyeball, that leads to a key for the front door and you then get an up-close look at that figure. It is none other than the locust lady seen in the trailer, she gives you a good scare, and then it's time to go hide. One thing that really impressed me is the up-close sections where she is literally grabbing you and biting your neck. These scenes look amazing, especially when she dissolves into what looks like a million locusts and speeds her way across a room to catch you.

Once you escape and work your way around her, you open up the front door, and then you are presented with everyone's new favorite lady, Alcina Dimitrescu (aka Vampire Lady, aka Mrs. X, aka Tall Lady) and right away you get the sense that she is going to be a terrifying force to face once Village comes out. 

That's really the end of this experience, she grabs you, kills you, and it's a fade to black.

Who we’re calling “Locust Lady” is terrifying.

Considering this demo, I think it is definitely more fitting to call it a Visual Showcase because damn it looks amazing. Looking over the screenshots really doesn't do it justice, but it also raises some concerns for me. On the other platforms, obviously there won’t be ray tracing for most of them, I really want to know how this game looks and, more importantly, how it runs on the older generation of hardware because there is no way something that good looking is going to look good on a base PS4 or Xbox One. 

Does Maiden make me more excited for Village? Absolutely. I mean it really does handle just like RE7 does and even though you only get a few fleeting moments with lady locust she is incredibly creepy. Before you actually meet her you can hear her whisper "I'm watching you" followed by some really creepy laughing; it sent shivers down my spine. The real star of the show was meeting Lady Dimitrescu and I loved it. You get about three seconds with her and it's all I needed to be ready to spend ten or more hours with her in Village. 

If you get a chance, watch a quick let's play of the demo. It's incredible and not much of a demo but like Capcom said for a Visual Showcase you won't be disappointed. It's the first time we got to set foot in this world and I'm ready for more.

To access this PS5 demo, simply search for Maiden in the Playstation Store or use this direct link. More information about Resident Evil Village can be found on the official website. Screenshots were captured through native PS5 features.

More PS5 coverage can be found in my initial impressions of the console around launch as well as my review of Astro’s Playroom, a delightful romp through PlayStation history.