Resident Evil 7: Biohazard - End of Zoe Review (PS4 / PSVR)

You’ve got to love it when developers conclude their post-release plans with something bonkers like Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’s bizarre End of Zoe. As the title implies, this extra episode is designed to plug the final plot hole in Capcom’s survival horror story: just what happened to Zoe Baker after she went all anime and turned to crystal like that lass from Final Fantasy XIII?

Turns out she was saved by her Uncle Joe, a character we don’t even remember being mentioned in the main game. But who cares, because he’s here to bring a bit of cheese to the title’s final chapter. We must admit, we didn’t know anything about this content prior to playing it, so learning that it’s a first-person brawler kinda blew our mind.

The gameplay still centres around scavenging and exploration, but combat leans into melee rather than firearms. Essentially you brawl with the Molded from the main campaign, using a combination of blocks and punch combos to knock their monstrous teeth out. It’s utterly barmy, and while the DLC keeps a straight face throughout, that only serves to make it funnier.

The level design’s unashamedly linear, and there’s not much in the way of variety really. But it’s so dumb that it doesn’t really matter, and to be fair the combat’s actually quite fun. There are some optional stealth segments, and new crafting materials allow you to forge spears to bring down crocodiles, but this is mostly about punching monsters in the face.

And y’know what, we weren’t expecting it, but as a send-off for a fantastic reboot, we’re really satisfied with it. We suppose the beauty of Resident Evil 7’s post-release support has been its ability to surprise, and this succeeds perfectly in that regard, delivering a silly slice of additional content that’s perhaps a little overpriced but still worth your time.