I played on: PS4
I paid: £24.99 (Season Pass)
Available on: PS4, Xbox One, PC
Notes: This review will cover all content found in both Banned Footage Vol.1 and 2. There will be minor spoilers for the main Resident Evil 7 story in this review.
The Banned Footage DLC includes quite a few smaller experiences and is itself a type of DLC anthology. In the first volume, you have Nightmare, Bedroom and the bonus mission Ethan Must Die. Included in the second volume you have 21, Daughters and the extra mission Jacks 55th Birthday.
Nightmare along with 21 may be the modes with the most replay value to them. If you’ve played any of Call of Duty’s Zombie modes then you have a pretty basic idea of what to expect with Nightmare. While playing as Clancy, the cameraman from the opening hour demo you have to survive 5 waves of moulded trapped in the Baker family’s basement. You’re able to turn on compactors that will slowly build up scrap that you can use at the workbench to obtain health items, weapons and ammo. There is also a number of traps around that you can set up with scrap as well. Extra items and traps will be unlocked as you play and achieve higher scores. 21, on the other hand, is a game of Blackjack between Clancy and Hoffman and each round the loser will lose a finger. During the first mode, you have to make it through 3 rounds with the odds becoming more dangerous each time. If you manage to finish this mode alive then you will unlock survivor mode. During this, you have to beat 5 opponents without losing all 5 fingers. Both 21 and Nightmare are simple but fun modes that offer up something for when you want to enter the world of Resident Evil 7 without putting hours into the main game or the more story driven DLC.
Daughters may be my personal favourite part of this DLC pack as it involves both Zoe Baker and the main house from the Baker’s estate. This is a prequel to Resident Evil 7 and starts with the Baker family having dinner during a nasty storm. Jack finds Eveline while checking out the washed up ship and brings her back to the house. Of course, as seen in the original game this leads to the Baker family being corrupted and controlled by Eveline. While playing as Zoe you must find a way to escape the main house without being caught by Jack or Marguerite. My biggest complaint with Daughters is how short it is. There are two endings which offer replay value but after you know what you’re doing it can be finished in around 10 minutes. This short length causes everything to feel rushed. Jack and Marguerite go from their normal friendly selves to the insane psychopaths we see in the main game in a matter of minutes. I feel like this should have been slower with Zoe gradually seeing them become more defensive and violent around Eveline. That’s not to say it’s bad by any means as it took me around an hour first time to figure out how to escape. I also loved being able to see the Bakers as the normal caring family they were before we find them in the main story. It makes their characters just that little more tragic.
Bedroom finds us once again playing as Clancy. This takes place directly after the demo with Clancy caught by Marguerite and cuffed to a bed. Your objective is simple, escape the room alive. The puzzles are not simple and really tested me. In fact, first time through I tried every possible combination to a lock before figuring out that a book you find can be opened backwards to reveal the code. I don’t want to give away too much because trying to figure these puzzles out is amazing fun. They are not the only challenge however as Marguerite will come back into the room every so often. During this time you have to put everything back how it was so, she doesn’t become aware that you’ve moved from the bed. This mode is great and I can imagine even more fun in VR. The biggest problem here is simply replay value as once you know the answers to the puzzles it’s less fun to play which is a shame.
Lastly, we have the two extra modes, Jack’s 55th Birthday and Ethan must Die. Jack’s 55th Birthday is great silly fun. Jack can be found in a central room and you have to explore fighting molded all wearing funny hats while looking for food. It’s possible to combine certain foods into dishes Jack will enjoy more. The stage ends when Jack is finally satisfied so if you want to get a high score and unlock more rewards combining foods is a necessity. Now, Ethan must Die, is my least favourite part of this DLC. All you have to do is enter the main house, find the greenhouse key and then go there and kill Marguerite. Problem is 1 hit will kill you and as there are no saves, checkpoints and the items are all random. It's insanely difficult meaning you will die over and over and over. Now I understand that for people who enjoy playing Dark Souls as the weakest class, blindfolded with every other finger removed this may be fun but that’s not me. I found this mode annoying and I tried to finish it but just rage quit a few times before giving up. It’s really not for me and it’s stupidly hard difficulty just lead to me starting to hate a game I love. This makes it awful in my opinion, feel free to disagree, I’m not saying you’re wrong but this is my review.
Overall this DLC is not as good as both the main game or the free DLC Not a Hero. Most of the mini-games are fun enough. I loved learning more about Clancy and the Bakers, despite quite a few plot details not really lining up with information from the base game. Jack’s 55th Birthday added a little silliness to this very dark and gruesome game. Although I didn’t enjoy Ethan must Die I know there will be those out there who will love it’s ridiculously hard challenge. A fun collection of smaller adventures and worth the money.
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