Resident Evil: Village’s Shadow of Rose is not Capcom’s best DLC release

It’s safe to say that we, as Resident Evil fans, loved Resident Evil: Village and not just because of Lady Dimitrescu. Sure, she had cleavage that would make Elvira cry, but the game as a whole was incredible, even after mommy *cough* I mean Lady Dimitrescu was gone at the beginning of the game. With the upcoming March release of the Resident Evil 4 remake, fans were more than ready for the Winters expansion for Village. The verdict on the DLC tends to sway between positive and negative. You didn’t ask for it but here’s my opinion on Shadow of Rose, the Resident Evil 8 DLC.

In Shadow of Rose, the DLC takes place between the events of Village and the very end of the game with Rose in the cemetery. The DLC fills in a portion of that gap which was pretty cool. Rose is a teenager with extraordinary abilities who just wants to be normal. She hates her powers and she is relentlessly bullied for the things the mold does. While she hasn’t been made into a B.S.A.A. superweapon, she is far from normal.

One day, she finds out there is a crystal that connects with the megamycete that could remove her powers and make her a normal teenage girl. She will still probably get relentlessly bullied but that will be for normal things. This crystal absorbs the memories of anyone or anything that dies around it. Because Rose has a special connection to the mold (aka she’s mostly mold), she can connect with the memories and find a way to remove the powers she has.

When she finds herself inside the crystal fragment sorting through a couple of locations from the main game, she must survive long enough to find what she is looking for. Thankfully, she has a friend that keeps helping her through the experience, guiding her and helping her survive. Who is this guardian angel? Well, I guessed immediately and I don’t have some exceptional level of perception. Regardless, it did make me feel the feels.

Shadow of Rose recycles maps and locations that we recognize for the most part with some new locations thrown in. The first part of the DLC is fairly boring and finds Rose navigating the maze that is the Dimitrescu castle. Unfortunately, our favorite woman is nowhere to be found. Thankfully, halfway through we do switch to Donna Beneviento’s home on the cliff. This is where the DLC gets real creepy and feels more like a DLC. There are creepy mannequins, killer dolls and new places to see. There are parts that will make you hold your breath and bite your nails but until then, it’s just a little boring. Even Rose’s fun supernatural abilities can’t make up for its shortcomings.

The graphics for some reason just don’t feel as good as the main game, which blows my mind. Most of Shadow of Rose is recycled locations and character models, so it should look and feel just as amazing as the main game but something just felt off. The whole DLC felt very short and rushed but the end boss is harder than any boss players encountered in the main game. Even fighting Mother Miranda at the end of Village was nowhere near as difficult as the end game of the DLC.

The end of Shadow of Rose did get me a bit teary, even though I saw it coming. I think Resident Evil 7: Biohazard spoiled me. The DLC content for that game was outstanding. The End of Zoe was one of the coolest DLC releases and I still talk about it to this day. Hell, even the Resident Evil 2 modes were difficult but were well-received.

I really wanted to like Shadow of Rose and I did like parts of it but it definitely wasn’t the best that Capcom had to offer. Now, the remake of Resident Evil 4 is a different story. I am so excited for that game that I could spit. I loved what they did with Leon S. Kennedy and I am excited to see what they do to progress his story in a fresh, new way.