Then, in January 2017, Capcom did something brilliant and terrifying: they threw the action heroes out, locked us in a rotting plantation house in Louisiana, and handed us a shaky VHS tape.

The game is split into two halves: the "Horror House" (first 5-6 hours) and the "Action Ship" (last 2 hours). The second half is weaker. It leans back into action, gives you a machine gun, and loses some of that intimate dread. But the first half alone is a masterpiece.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard is not just a good Resident Evil game. It’s a great horror game. It successfully rebooted a dying franchise by looking backward (to RE1’s mansion) and forward (to P.T. and Outlast ).