There's a file in "Village" called "The Tragedy of Ethan Winters," meant to catch readers up on his story up until the beginning of the game. Despite being partially butchered in Louisiana while going through hell to save his wife in "Resident Evil 7," Ethan doesn't ever really learn anything. That's just as true in "Village," even as the eighth title gives him more life -- in the form of less muted reactions -- than ever before. He has no character arc. My growing affectation for him aside, Ethan Winters isn't likely to enter the pantheon of great video game characters.

As audience surrogate and everyman, Ethan Winters is not an interesting or wise character. But "Village" eventually turns him into a sympathetic one, painting him as a hapless, entangled victim. By the end of the game, Ethan Winters is no longer the dogged, serious and scared hero of "Biohazard." Unlike the lonely "Biohazard," "Village" ends with a muddy conspiracy and muddier motivations, and at a scale we haven't seen since the loud, ridiculous "Resident Evil 6," all the way back in 2012.