Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a 2017 survival horror game created and published by Capcom. It is the seventh main game in the Resident Evil series and follows Ethan Winters as he searches for his missing wife in a run-down plantation occupied by an infected family. Players solve puzzles and fight enemies while exploring the environment. Unlike earlier games like Resident Evil 5 and 6, which focus more on action, Resident Evil 7 returns to the series' original survival horror style, emphasizing exploration. This is the first main Resident Evil game to use a first-person perspective.
Resident Evil 7 is the first full-length game to use Capcom's RE Engine, a technology developed by the company. The game was directed by Koshi Nakanishi, who also led the development of Resident Evil: Revelations. Before its official release in 2017, the game was shown as a virtual reality demo called Kitchen at E3 2016. The team drew inspiration from movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Evil Dead (1981), and Saw (2004). They focused the game on one location and used a first-person view to create an immersive experience. Two extra game scenarios, Not a Hero and End of Zoe, were later released.
Resident Evil 7 was first released in January 2017 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. A cloud version for Nintendo Switch was released in Japan in May 2018 and worldwide in December 2022. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S came out in June 2022. The game was later released for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS in July 2024, and a Nintendo Switch 2 version is planned for February 2026. It also supports the PlayStation VR headset. The game received mostly positive reviews, with praise for its new RE Engine, gameplay, puzzles, atmosphere, and story. However, some critics noted that the boss battles, limited enemy types, and slower pacing in the final chapter were less successful. As of June 30, 2025, the game has sold 15.4 million copies, making it the second best-selling game in the Resident Evil series. It was nominated for several end-of-year awards. A sequel, Resident Evil Village, was released on May 7, 2021.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is a survival horror game played from the player’s point of view. It is the second game in the series and the first main game to use this perspective. The player controls Ethan Winters, who enters the abandoned house of the Baker family in Dulvey, Louisiana, to rescue his wife, Mia. The player can turn the camera to see the environment, move in any direction, walk or run quickly, and interact with objects to find items like weapons, bullets, and healing supplies. New actions include guarding, which blocks attacks to reduce damage, and crouching, which helps Ethan move through tight spaces or hide from enemies.
Throughout the game, Ethan faces members of the Baker family and dangerous creatures called "Molded," who attack him. Though Ethan is not a trained fighter, he can find weapons such as knives, chainsaws, and guns like pistols, shotguns, and a homemade flamethrower. He can aim with the gun’s sights or shoot while moving, but weapons are weaker than in earlier games. Enemies are stronger, can dodge attacks, and will not stay defeated, so stealth and avoiding fights are important. Blood on the screen and a display on Ethan’s wrist show how much damage he has taken. Items like herbs and first aid kits can heal him.
Ethan has eight inventory slots (plus four more connected to the D-pad) to carry items. He can find backpacks to increase storage space. Safe rooms in the game, where enemies cannot enter, have item boxes to store extra supplies and tape recorders to save progress. Items in the inventory can be examined for hidden details, discarded, or combined to create key items or useful supplies like first aid, bullets, and psychostimulants, which temporarily reveal the locations of hidden items. Exploring the house is important because puzzles must be solved to unlock paths, find keys, and advance the story. Some puzzles require specific items to complete. Ethan can also find VHS tapes and play them in VCRs to view short scenes from the perspective of other characters. These scenes, while optional, help explain the story and solve puzzles, similar to a feature in Resident Evil 2.
Players can choose from three difficulty levels: Normal (default), Easy, or Madhouse (unlocked after completing the game). These settings affect enemy strength, item availability, and how often the game saves progress. In Madhouse mode, Ethan must use a cassette tape to save at a recorder. Completing the game under certain conditions unlocks bonus items, such as weapons with unlimited ammo or special items that improve Ethan’s abilities, like glasses that give a permanent boost or shoes that increase his speed. The PS4 version supports virtual reality through PlayStation VR.
Plot
In 2017, systems engineer Ethan Winters receives an email from his wife, Mia, who has been missing for three years. The email leads him to a run-down plantation in Dulvey, Louisiana. Inside the house, Ethan finds Mia trapped in the basement. During their escape, Mia suddenly attacks Ethan, forcing him to kill her. Later, Ethan is contacted by a woman named Zoe, who offers help. Ethan is attacked again by a revived Mia, who cuts off his left hand. Jack Baker, the leader of the Baker family, subdues Ethan and takes him to another house, where Zoe sews his hand back on. Ethan is then held captive by Jack, his wife Marguerite, their son Lucas, and an elderly woman who uses a wheelchair. Though Ethan escapes, Jack repeatedly attacks him, showing the ability to heal from severe injuries.
Zoe reveals she is the Bakers’ daughter and explains that Mia, Zoe, and the Bakers are infected with a disease that can be cured with a special serum. Ethan retrieves the ingredients for the serum from an old house, where he kills Marguerite. He later sees visions of a young girl. Lucas captures Zoe and Mia before Ethan returns, forcing Ethan to navigate a dangerous barn to find them. Ethan outsmarts Lucas, frees Zoe and Mia, and Zoe prepares two doses of the serum. Jack, now mutated, attacks Ethan, who uses one dose to kill him. Ethan must choose to cure either Mia or Zoe. If he cures Zoe, Mia is left heartbroken. If he cures Mia, Zoe says goodbye. As they escape on a boat, Zoe reveals that the Bakers became infected after Mia arrived with a girl named Eveline, who was on a wrecked tanker. Eveline kills Zoe and knocks Ethan from the boat. If Ethan chose Mia, Zoe says goodbye, and Mia and Ethan escape on a boat, only to be attacked by a creature near the wrecked tanker.
After the escape, Mia finds Ethan on the wrecked ship and experiences visions of Eveline, who calls Mia her mother. Mia’s memory returns, revealing she was a secret agent for a corporation that created Eveline as a bioweapon. Eveline escaped from the tanker, infected Mia, and forced her to act as her mother. If Ethan cured Zoe, Mia is controlled by Eveline and attacks Ethan, who kills her. If Ethan cured Mia, she resists Eveline’s control long enough to save Ethan.
Ethan later discovers a hidden laboratory in an abandoned salt mine. There, he learns Eveline is a weapon made from living organisms that infects people with a mold that controls their minds, causes mutations, and gives them healing abilities. Eveline wanted a family and infected Mia and the Bakers to lure Ethan to their home. Lucas was immune to Eveline’s control in exchange for observing her. Using lab equipment and Eveline’s genetic material, Ethan creates a toxin to kill her. He fights through tunnels to the Baker house, where Eveline attacks him with hallucinations. Ethan overcomes them, injects Eveline with the toxin, and kills her. A military squad, led by Chris Redfield, rescues Ethan by helicopter. If Ethan did not cure Mia, he throws his phone containing her final message into the helicopter. If Mia was cured, she is found alive on the helicopter, which bears a logo similar to the Umbrella Corporation.
In the Banned Footage DLC, Clancy Jarvis, a cameraman from a web series called Sewer Gators, is kidnapped by Jack Baker in 2017. Clancy survives a night in a processing area and later faces Jack and infected creatures called Molded. Marguerite tries to convert Clancy by feeding him infected food, but Clancy escapes by stabbing her. Lucas captures Clancy and forces him to play a deadly game with another man, Hoffman, who is later killed by a buzzsaw. Lucas eventually kills Clancy in a trap.
In the Daughters scenario, a tropical storm causes a ship, the SS Annabelle, to disappear off the coast of Louisiana. Jack brings an unconscious girl named Eveline to the house. Eveline disappears after a power outage, and Marguerite becomes violent. Jack tries to drown Marguerite, but Zoe witnesses him and flees. Marguerite gives Zoe car keys and tells her to leave. If the player completed optional tasks earlier, they can escape to a camper van.
Development
The game took inspiration from movies like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974), The Evil Dead (1981), and Saw (2004). Developers decided to make the game take place in one location and use a first-person perspective to help players feel more immersed and return to the survival horror style of earlier games. This decision followed criticism of Resident Evil 6, which focused more on action than horror. Development began in February 2014. Producer Masachika Kawata said the main character would be completely new, not like Chris from Resident Evil 5 or Leon S. Kennedy from Resident Evil 6. The game uses a special game engine called the RE Engine, which includes tools for creating virtual reality (VR) experiences. The choice to use a first-person perspective was made before VR was considered. VR development started in October 2015, with a separate team working on it. VR required more detailed textures and accurate object sizes, replacing older, simpler designs.
One year before the game was announced, Capcom showed a VR demo called KI7CHEN at E3 2015. This demo used the same engine as Resident Evil 7. While Resident Evil 7 had been in development for a long time, KI7CHEN helped test how well the RE Engine and its VR features would be received. The KI7CHEN logo had a "T" shaped like a "7," hinting at its connection to Resident Evil 7, but this detail was not widely noticed. Capcom’s 2015 Integrated Report stated that the Resident Evil team focused on creating VR experiences, including a new VR engine and games for the eighth generation of consoles.
The game was directed by Koshi Nakanishi, who previously worked on Resident Evil: Revelations. His team had about 120 members. For the first time in the series, the narrative designer was a Westerner named Richard Pearsey, who had worked on F.E.A.R. and Spec Ops: The Line. At the time of the game’s reveal, development was about 65% complete. Some creature models in Resident Evil 7 were first made from real meat by makeup artists, then scanned using photogrammetry. This technology helped create many game assets but caused challenges in modeling Louisiana’s setting due to the high cost of equipment, requiring manual modeling instead.
According to Jun Takeuchi, Capcom’s leaders initially wanted Resident Evil 7: Biohazard to include online multiplayer and microtransactions. This idea put pressure on the team until Takeuchi joined the project and removed those plans.
The game’s music was composed by Akiyuki Morimoto, Miwako Chinone, and Satoshi Hori, with help from Cris Velasco and Brian D’Oliveira. The theme song was an arrangement of the traditional American folk song “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” written by Michael A. Levine and performed by Jordan Reyne. Levine’s stepdaughter, Mariana Barreto, was originally chosen to sing but ended up doing background vocals. The song went through about 20 versions before being finalized. A soundtrack was released digitally by Sumthing Else Music Works on January 24, the same day as the game.
Release and marketing
In October 2016, Capcom released a 10-part video series titled The World of Resident Evil 7, showing parts of the game. In November 2016, a cross-save feature was confirmed, allowing players to save progress on both Windows and Xbox One. If purchased through the Windows Store or digitally on Xbox One, the game could be played on both platforms via the Xbox Play Anywhere program. This made it the first third-party game to join the program.
Capcom’s marketing team worked with iam8bit to create an escape room called Resident Evil Escape Room Experience. Groups of six players were led through rooms by Umbrella Corporation employees. The event took place in a gallery space in Echo Park, Los Angeles, and a similar event was held in London when the game was released.
A GameStop-exclusive Collector’s Edition included an eight-inch model of the Baker mansion, which functioned as a music box playing the main theme of “Go Tell Aunt Rhody,” a mannequin-shaped USB drive inside a VHS tape box, a SteelBook case for the game, a lithograph of the Baker family, and a note. The UK version added the Survival Pack: Action Set DLC, a 20th anniversary artbook, and a seven-inch replica of the mansion but did not include the music box. U.S. pre-orders on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One included a code for Resident Evil: Retribution. A 4D candle with the scent of the Baker House was made to enhance the VR experience. The Gold Edition, released on December 12, 2017, included previously released DLC and the End of Zoe DLC.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One in North America, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand on January 24, 2017, and in Japan on January 26. For the first 12 months, the VR format was exclusive to PlayStation VR. Over 4.7 million players worldwide have played the game, with more than 750,000 using VR. The PC version used anti-piracy software called Denuvo, which was hacked within five days of release. A cloud version for Nintendo Switch, titled Biohazard 7: Resident Evil Cloud Version, was released in Japan on May 24, 2018. Players could access the first 15 minutes for free and purchase a 180-day pass for unlimited play. This version was released globally on December 16, 2022.
Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were announced on March 2, 2022, and released on June 13, 2022, alongside upgrades for Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 3 (2020). These versions included visual improvements like ray-tracing and high-framerate modes. The PlayStation 5 version also supported haptic feedback and adaptive triggers. Players with PlayStation 4 or Xbox One versions could upgrade for free, and a free patch for the Windows version was released at the same time.
Versions for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS were released on July 2, 2024. The game is also available on iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max, iPad, and Mac. A Nintendo Switch 2 version was released on February 27, 2026, alongside Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil Requiem.
Shortly after the game’s reveal, a playable teaser called Resident Evil 7 Teaser: Beginning Hour was released on the PlayStation Store. The demo takes place in a run-down house where the unnamed male player must escape. Based on the player’s choices, the teaser has three possible outcomes. Capcom later confirmed the teaser was a standalone experience, not part of the full game, which includes more varied environments and combat mechanics. By July 2016, the demo had been downloaded over 2 million times. An update called the “Twilight Version” was released on September 15, 2016, adding new rooms and items. A trailer was also released with this update. Another update, the “Midnight Version,” was released on December 3, 2016, unlocking more areas, items, and a puzzle tied to the Twilight Version. The demo was released for Xbox One on December 9 and for PC on December 19.
A playable demo called Lantern was made available for attendees at Gamescom 2016 as part of the first Resident Evil 7 story trailer. The demo uses found footage and first-person storytelling to follow a young woman named Mia hiding from an old lady named Marguerite Baker, who was first mentioned in Beginning Hour.
Resident Evil 7 includes several DLC packs. Pre-order packs included the Recovery Set, Handgun Set, Shotgun Set, Action Set, Chem Fluid Set, and Burner Set. Each pack added an Item Box with related items, such as herbs and first aid supplies for the Recovery Set or gunpowder and handgun ammo for the Handgun Set.
The first DLC pack, Banned Footage, includes bonus modes where the player controls Clancy Jarvis, a camera operator abducted by the Bakers. Vol. 1, released on January 31, 2017, included scenarios like “Nightmare,” a survival mode, and “Ethan Must Die,” a difficult challenge. Vol. 2, released on February 14, 2017, added scenarios like “21” and “Daughters,” along with a joke mode called “Jack’s 55th Birthday.”
On December 12, 2017, Capcom released five DLC packs for $0.49 each (or $1.49 for all five). Each pack included a special coin that gave in-game benefits, like increased damage or health. Purchasing any coin unlocked the “Madhouse” difficulty from the start. On December 14, 2017, Capcom released two post-game scenarios: Not A Hero, where players control Chris Redfield, and End of Zoe, where players control Joe Baker. End of Zoe was developed by Capcom, while Not A Hero
Reception
Because the game uses a first-person view, it has been compared to Konami's canceled Silent Hills game and its P.T. demo. Capcom said the game was being developed long before P.T. was revealed and that there were no rumors about hiring P.T. staff to work on Resident Evil 7. Shacknews noted that Beginning Hour had similarities to Sweet Home (1989), a Capcom horror game that inspired the original Resident Evil (1996). These similarities include a story about a film crew visiting an abandoned house, a mysterious female presence in the house, and a sad tale about a family that once lived there. Eurogamer found the survival horror elements in Lantern similar to Alien: Isolation. Resident Evil 7 was praised for being different from its earlier, controversial version, especially because it focused more on horror than action.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to Metacritic, a website that collects reviews.
Destructoid's Zack Furniss said the main success of Resident Evil 7 was its pacing, which was called "masterful." He said the story surprised him in a way he liked, combining horror and humor similar to The Evil Dead films. He praised the combat for creating lasting tension and noted that managing limited resources was well-received. Furniss called the boss fights "harrowing" and appreciated the game's surreal elements. He said playing the game with PlayStation VR made the experience more immersive, with unexpected jump scares. Ray Carsillo of EGMNow liked the game's atmosphere, which kept players anxious. He said the sound design added to the sense of fear, and the slow way the story unfolded was a major achievement. Like Furniss, Carsillo appreciated the pacing and said it made the game enjoyable for long play sessions. He said using the VR headset made the game even scarier.
Andrew Reiner of Game Informer praised the tense, unsettling, and bloody atmosphere of the game. He said exploring the Baker house was interesting and helped reveal more about the characters. Scott Butterworth of GameSpot liked the story and its consistent themes. He said the game used atmosphere instead of jump scares to create fear. He thought the Baker family and interactive VHS tapes were used well in the game. On PlayStation VR, Butterworth said the horror felt more realistic.
Leon Hurley of GamesRadar+ said the game's gore was used sparingly but effectively, and he enjoyed exploring the Baker house. He called the VR experience "terrifying" because of the atmosphere. Dan Ryckert of Giant Bomb said Resident Evil 7 brought back older elements of the series while offering a fresh story. He said the main villains were scary, and the first-person view was bold. He credited the VR headset with adding to the fear factor. Chloi Rad of IGN said the game's eerie tone came from the plantation setting, which she called one of the creepiest in the series. She said the Baker family made the game emotionally intense. Andy Kelly of PC Gamer said the game returned to the original Resident Evil's slow, atmospheric horror. He disagreed with Ryckert about the first-person view being bold, saying it felt like classic Resident Evil. He praised the game's sense of danger and said the VHS flashbacks were a favorite feature. Philip Kollar of Polygon said Resident Evil 7 was the best at making players feel scared since the first game.
Furniss said the final boss fight and ending were disappointing. He said the PlayStation VR had issues, like lower graphics affecting immersion. Carsillo disliked the inventory system because it limited space for important items. He also said the main character, Ethan Winters, had little development, which made the story inconsistent. Reiner agreed that the lack of character growth was a problem. Some players said the body movements required in VR were uncomfortable. Butterworth said the game lost excitement by the end because of repeated tasks and weaker enemies. He said the Xbox One version had worse visuals than other platforms. Hurley said a decision near the end of the game felt unnecessary. Rad said the game relied too much on clichés about rural America and said the puzzles were the weakest part. Kollar said the boss fights broke the suspense.
The game won the Gold Prize, User's Choice Prizes, and the PlayStation VR Special Award at the PlayStation Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Setting" in PC Gamer's 2017 Game of the Year Awards and won "Best VR Game" in Destructoid's 2017 Game of the Year Awards. It won the People's Choice Award for "Best VR Experience" and was a runner-up in IGN's Best of 2017 Awards. It was also nominated for "Best Xbox One Game," "Best PlayStation 4 Game," "Best Action/Adventure Game," and "Best Graphics."
Capcom predicted selling 4 million copies of the game by the end of March 2017. Days after its release, the game had sold over 2.5 million copies worldwide, and the demo had been downloaded more than 7.15 million times. The lower-than-expected sales affected Capcom's stock price, which dropped more than 3%.
Sequel
A sequel called Resident Evil Village was officially announced during the PlayStation 5 reveal event. The game was released on May 7, 2021. It takes place a few years after the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and uses the same first-person viewpoint to follow Ethan Winters.