Resident Evil 7 Banned Footage Vol. 2 Impressions
Capcom’s post-launch support for Resident Evil 7 has been very interesting to watch unfold. The DLC that fans are most interested in, and the one that’ll explain the game’s shocking twist ending, is set to arrive for free this Spring. That nice gesture means that the game’s Season Pass has been comprised of two collections of pretty random bite-sized pieces of Resident Evil content (with a third DLC pack set to be detailed at a later date).
Banned Footage Vol. 2 is now available (for either $14.99 individually, or as part of the aforementioned Season Pass), and it’s a lot like the first batch where it contains three separate modes. This time the scares are found in a prequel scene starring Zoe called Daughters, another torture scene for poor Clancy (he really does have the worst luck, huh?), and a pretty goofy mode that celebrates the birthday of Daddy. Each of the three modes feels distinctly different from each other, and once again introduce some brand new ideas that weren’t in the main game.
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“Not only is it hurt by the short length, there’s also no real revelations to be had here from a story perspective.”
The banned footage that I was most excited to check out was Daughters, as it serves as a prequel to the main game. Without getting into spoilers, it’s pretty interesting getting to see how the Baker family was before the events of the game unfold. This mode pretty much plays like the main game, although Zoe is only armed with a lighter when events start to occur. There’s some solid scares packed in, but the big disappointment with Daughters is that it only lasts about 15 minutes. Not only is it hurt by the short length, there’s also no real revelations to be had here from a story perspective. It’s enjoyable while it lasts, but it’s a very brief glimpse at what could’ve been a really special piece of DLC.
The best part of Banned Footage Vol. 2 is 21, which stars Clancy as he’s forced to play a sadistic version of blackjack against another person captured by the Baker family. These scenes are tense, as losing a hand results in the loss of Clancy’s fingers. After fingers are lost, it eventually moves onto electric shocks until there’s only one person left. This scene would be right at home as part of a Saw film, and I loved every second of it.
What really makes 21 shine is how terrific a job that Capcom did with designing the card game. Instead of playing regular blackjack, there are now additional cards that can be used to enforce certain conditions (such as raising the bet or removing a card from the other player), and the deck only contains 11 cards with values ranging from 1-11. This allows the player to essentially count cards, and use that strategy to their advantage. There’s also a pretty great story scene when beating the mode for the first time, and a survival mode unlocks after it’s completed so people can go back to this twisted version of blackjack all they want. This is easily my favorite DLC so far for the game, as it’s even better than the great Bedroom puzzle from Banned Footage Vol. 1.
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“The best part of Banned Footage Vol. 2 is 21, which stars Clancy as he’s forced to play a sadistic version of blackjack against another person captured by the Baker family.”
The final mode is called Jack’s 55th Birthday, and it’s really not worth playing besides getting to see Jack in a pretty wacky outfit. This is yet another spin on throwing you in the house with a bunch of Molded enemies, as the player has to collect food and bring it back to Jack for his party. As someone who didn’t love the combat portions of Resident Evil 7, this really did nothing for me. I love the goofy imagery of the mode, but this feels like the definition of a filler addition. It does have online leaderboards, but I can’t imagine trying to beat my friends’ scores in this.
As Resident Evil 7’s Banned Footage DLC comes to an end, I have a lot of mixed feelings about the six very different modes. I think it’s incredibly gutsy of Capcom to go in such a bold direction with the DLC, as every mode does offer something that wasn’t in the core game. It’s just unfortunate that too often it goes away from what actually worked in the full game. As it stands, I can only really recommend two of the modes, which are unfortunately split between $25 worth of DLC. Diehard fans will certainly get some fun out of Banned Footage Vol. 2, but it doesn’t manage to really recapture the brilliance of the main game besides a few bright spots.