Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose - Winters' Expansion Reviews
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.
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.
It suffers from clichéd situations, recycled environments, and overly-guided gameplay. That said, it's a fairly good DLC that wraps up some loose ends, provides closure, and introduces some interesting mechanics and monsters.
Resident Evil Village: Winter’s Expansion DLC offers plenty for Resident Evil fans to enjoy, from a short new story and more Mercenaries content, to a new way to experience the main story. Nothing here is without its flaws, but the overall experience is passable enough to enjoy.
Resident Evil has existed in many forms, a shifting organism that's frequently morphed into unique renditions of horror. While Shadows of Rose had an uphill battle attempting to recreate any of these styles in such a shortened runtime, even judged by these adjusted standards, it largely fails at drawing on the series' history or charting a new path. It has one particularly terrifying stretch and a couple of nice additions for die-hard Village fans, but it is largely a disappointment.
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
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.
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!
Winters‘ Expansion is decent enough for a few hours of fun, but it's not worth full price unless you live and breath Resident Evil.
Review in Slovak | Read full review
Resident Evil Village Winters' Expansion adds some more content to the game. But it's mostly all rehashed and overpriced.
The Winters' Expansion is a worthwhile distraction for fans of Resident Evil Village and will deliver a couple of fun hours, but if you feel satisfied with the main campaign of the game already you won't necessarily need to return for this one.
Shadows of Rose is a safe Resident Evil experience that may be exactly what you’re looking for but doesn’t really take too many risks and, at times, can feel like a replay of Village. It doesn’t go in too deep on the character or move the story on significantly but it is a nice enough send off for the Winters family and it continues to set the tone for the future of the franchise. If you loved Village and are eager for every shred of Resident Evil story, this is a no brainer. I just hope we get to see more of Rose (and her powers) in the future
The Winters’ Expansion feels like a victory lap for this era of Resident Evil. It closes the story with a smaller and more personal end to Winters’ storyline. Going through the same locations as the base game may feel cheap, but just enough has changed to justify it and the inclusion of third-person and expanded mercenaries means that there’s plenty of stuff to do here.
The Winters Expansion has brought an interesting content addition to Resident Evil Village. The story expansion is modest, with few really interesting new features due to the attempt to make Rose replicate her father's journey in the same scenarios as the main game. The third-person mode gives a new approach to the gameplay, but for creative decisions it chooses to keep the first-person perspective in the story segments. The Mercenaries: Additional Orders mode was the winner with content that yields good hours of gameplay.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
I wasn’t expecting much out of this expansion but we did get a few lore details that further expand what we know of the Megamycete and the villain using it plus more Village gameplay with a character that we might see more of later in the series. That’s a great thing.
The Shadows of Rose DLC is a decent conclusion to the Winters family saga. Since you can finish this expansion in around 3 hours, Capcom packed the experience full of fresh puzzles, tight corridors and monsters that want to eat your face. Quite literally. Rose’s ability to freeze multiple enemies at once and counter their attacks is balanced very well. Making for some tense encounters and puzzle-solving moments where you need to freeze specific objects on the move. However, Rose’s story is quickly over before it ever gets off the ground, and the recycling of several assets and locations from Resident Evil Village may turn off some players. But for the low price this DLC is going for, it still may be worth checking out.
The Winters' Expansion doesn't add content to Resident Evil Village so much as it seasons it. There's some fun to be had here, but as a whole, it's a little insubstantial.
Rose is a fascinating character that deserves her own, full-blown sequel, but for now Shadows of Rose is a worthwhile adventure for those looking for a little more from an already brilliant Resident Evil tale.
The Winters’ Expansion for Resident Evil Village breathes new life into an already top-notch survival horror ride with a strong story DLC, but other improvements for replayability don’t exactly push the game to its full potential.
Resident Evil Village: Winters' Expansion never feels like an essential, must-play addition to the RE universe, but those who enjoyed the base game will still find plenty to like here.