Game Review: Resident Evil Village: Winters’ Expansion DLC (Xbox Series X)

New Resident Evil: Village content has been long anticipated. Especially when the main game’s stinger scene ended implying that Rose, the now grown up daughter of Ethan and Mia Winters, might become the focal point of the story going forward.

That was pretty much confirmed with the announcement and subsequent release of the Winter’s Expansion DLC. New content that includes a third-person mode, allowing you to play through the main campaign from a ‘classic’ perspective. As well as new characters (Chris Redfield, Lady Dimitrescu and Karl Heisenburg) and maps for The Mercenaries mode.

Most importantly though, the expansion includes a brand-new story in the form of Shadows of Rose. Where players step into the shoes of Rose Winters as she attempts to rid herself of the mold affliction that has cost her so much throughout her life.

Yes, the story is one of those stories. Someone who wants rid of powers, is forced to use those powers on their journey and eventually learns to embrace them. To call it uninspired is an understatement and aside from serving as a bridge between the main game and the ‘stinger’ scene, there’s little of note here. We don’t learn anything new about Rose, aside from a tough upbringing that made her a social pariah. She’s the main character, one whose face we actually see, and she is still such a blank slate come the end of the DLC.

We learn so little about her, it’s startling. She was bullied growing up? Wow. How deep. Even callbacks to the main story of Village (and even before) pass by uneventfully as they don’t feel important. She’s not important, highlighted by a returning character, one who most will see coming from a mile away.

If that wasn’t a big enough issue, almost every location is reused from the main game and even the end boss is the exact same. The layouts, enemy types and challenges are different but it’s disappointing to not see something truly fresh here.

Gameplay will be completely familiar to Village fans as you explore, kill, run and solve minor puzzles to progress. Guns and ammo are in short supply so fight or flight decisions are essential and in one section, that is probably the DLC’s best part, you’ll have to incorporate a bit of stealth. A segment that is set in Donna’s house and also removes all your weapons for maximum frights. Put it this way, it’s no giant baby-monster but the moving-mannequin segment is genuinely unnerving.

The major gameplay difference is Rose’s abilities, which get enhanced as the story unfolds. Abilities that allow you to slow, stun and eventually kill enemies. Limited in use, picking the right time to unleash them requires some strategy. Thanks to the limited ammo available, you will find yourself quite reliant on them.

Shadows of Rose offers around two hours of gameplay with little in the way of replay value. The story is disappointingly shallow, the gameplay mostly unchanged, the locations are recycled, it all culminates with a terrible final boss fight and the exact same stinger scene as featured at the end of the main game. If you want more Resident Evil: Village content than this will suffice but be prepared to be wholly underwhelmed by the experience.