Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose - Winters' Expansion Reviews
When we look back at Resident Evil Village, The Winters’ Expansion probably won’t be considered an essential part of it for either story or gameplay reasons. Its story is short and the third-person mode takes out some of the scares. At least Mercenaries mode gets more Lady Dimitrescu!
An uninspired retread of Resident Evil Village's best moments, which squanders the opportunity to experiment or provide a hint about the franchise's future.
To dive deeper would reveal important story beats, none of which stand out as being a major highlight, but I enjoyed learning more about Rose, revisiting locations from Village with a new perspective (both literally and figuratively), and getting more context on her role in the universe. Considering her potential importance in the future, I assume Shadows of Rose will be an experience worth having played, but I wouldn’t go quite as far as calling it required reading. For something more abstract and focused on horror within the world of Resident Evil, Shadows of Rose is worth exploring.
Shadows of Rose isn’t a spectacular DLC, and it doesn’t necessarily do or say anything meaningful. It feels like a B-tier horror film, which isn’t out of place for Resident Evil, though its sometimes self-serious tone can become tiring, especially after two whole games in the decidedly grim saga of the Winters family. Those invested in their narrative will find something to chew on, and the addition of the third-person perspective makes returning to the base game an exciting possibility. But it doesn’t do anything to further the narrative. Much like Rose herself, it feels less like a stepping stone in the franchise — a gentle nudge toward more plot points that will potentially remain unresolved for years to come.
New additions to The Mercenaries make the Winters' Expansion for Resident Evil Village worthwhile, but Shadows of Rose is a fleeting slice of forgettable story DLC.
At $19.99, the Resident Evil: Village Winters’ Expansion DLC is worth it for the new Mercenaries content alone. Shadows of Rose is a decent story and worth playing through for fans, and the third-person camera in the base game gives an extra little bump of replayability. But, overall, Resident Evil 7 had better direction with its DLC, and there were more pressing stories to be told than Rose’s romp through familiar territory.
Solid and definitely have an audience. There could be some hard-to-ignore faults, but the experience is fun.
As a package, the Winters' Expansion is a necessary addition to any Resident Evil fan. The added content for Mercenaries is just the temptation needed for new players to take on the mode's challenges (or a reward for those that already have), and Rose's story is a perfect conclusion to the Ethan Winters saga. Personally I can take or leave the third person mode, but it's a nice inclusion nonetheless. I'm certainly intrigued by the prospect of where the series will go next and would heartily recommend a return to the Village as a necessary destination whilst you wait for the Resident Evil 4 Remake.
The expansion of the Winters is an interesting addition, although it pales in comparison to what Capcom did with Resident Evil 7. It includes much less content, less varied and surprising. And it's a shame, because Capcom had enough to take from to tell new stories or focus on other characters, starting with Lady Dimitrescu.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
What stole the show is Shadows of Rose. An emotional, heartbreaking story that doesn't let up and is one of the better DLC we have received for any Resident Evil title.
Resident Evil Village: Winters Expansion offers new ways to play the original, and Shadows of Rose is pretty good, but is quite short and didn't leave me satisfied by the time the credits rolled.
The Winters' Expansion for Resident Evil Village is a must-buy for fans of the base game, with plenty of scares and classic Resident Evil gameplay.
The Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion is a nice bundle of story and gameplay content that managed to engage and entertain me despite being a short-lived experience.
Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose provides yet another compelling excuse to return to the gorgeous locations from the base game. With a tangible sense of heart and meaningful character development, this campaign expansion establishes Rose as a standout figure in the world of Resident Evil. This delicate story of growth and self-identification is viciously contrasted by psychological horror visuals that will unquestionably haunt players for quite some time.
Shadows of Rose is a shorter, worse version of Resident Evil Village. It’s so committed to recreating a micro-version of Village and following it beat-for-beat that it even copies its major flaws. It concludes in the same location with the same info-dump of lore that quickly wraps up all the loose threads. It ends with the same boss fight (somehow even clunkier and more frustrating this time), and unbelievably, also ends with the exact same cutscene. The scene where Rose visits her father’s grave at the end of Village isn’t the start of Shadows of Rose - it’s the end of it. There’s no new context that makes this scene more meaningful, and in fact, that weird line where the driver calls her Eveline is an even more bizarre thing to say after these events. Capcom is quickly running out of Resident Evil games to remake, and this expansion didn’t give me a lot of hope for the future.
Those of you who have played through and appreciated Resident Evil Village can definitely cough up the just over 200 crowns that Capcom's latest DLC requests in exchange. Just be aware that the experience is very much the same as the main game. Story-wise, it mostly feels like an unnecessary epilogue. But it's still fun!
Review in Swedish | Read full review
If Resident Evil Village is the beautiful conclusion of Ethan Winters' story, the Shadows of Rose DLC closes the show of the whole family brilliantly. Reconnecting with the fear and helplessness felt during the first hours of the license, this curtain drop on a journey started in 2017 suffers only a few flats not spoiling the experience. The adventures of the young Winters are engaging, even if sometimes a little cliché, and we almost come to regret the end of some areas as they have freaked out our little heart.
Review in French | Read full review
Third-person camera mode and new The Mercenaries content is something you would have expected to get from a big free update. Sadly both of those features are locked behind Winters' Expansion pack which also goes with Shadow of Rose - a new story-campaign that is shorter, modest and generally worse than everything else Resident Evil Village has to offer.
Review in Russian | Read full review
The Winters' Expansion ties up some loose ends, and allows you to revisit the game 16 years later. It's a short but fun romp back into the village. The Mercenaries addition is also really fun. The third person view is a little much, but if you want to find out what happened at the end of Resident Evil Village, this will surely fulfill your desires. Is Rose the future of Resident Evil? I'm here for it.
Shadow of Rose is a neat package with a solid campaign as well as new features for the original game. At $20 this is a solid pick-up. It was great revisiting the main game and the new content really fleshes out Rose’s role in this whole universe.