In the dark and twisted world of the villains in horror games, of the powerful evil characters who pull the strings from the shadows until they eventually make their grand appearance, there is one very special category that usually stands out, that of the evil masterminds who share a strong and unhealthy attachment to the past of their families. Whether their ancestors were glorious or not, most of the times does not matter, as what these complex personalities do is to appear as living representations of their illustrious past, something that, however, rarely - if not at all - gives justice to their noble past. The environments in which these people live, corrupted both literally and metaphorically, are characterized by the presence of gothic and Victorian-era elements which further support the pomposity of their owners and, occasionally, their sadistic tendencies.
The now iconic Spencer Mansion in the very first Resident Evil and its subsequent remakes is one such memorable case. The vast, intimidating villa, with its hidden passages, secret corridors, locked rooms, secluded gardens and spooky basements, is a most characteristic example of an environment that essentially stars in the story where it appears, as the lead characters, Chris and Jill, find themselves trapped inside the house almost as soon as the game begins, with no obvious way out as the area just outside the main entrance is guarded by bloodthirsty dogs. All other exits seem to be locked and getting out requires a long and suspenseful search for keys, mutli-functional objects and puzzle solving, as well as battling dangerous enemies that roam the mansion's grounds. Everything in the villa is vintagey, including its decoration, furniture and other items, but its most creepy feature is the absence of any other human beings, except for our protagonists.
Somewhere in the twisting corridors of a nearly separate wing, there is a vitraux portrait of a girl who once used to live in that place. This was not many years ago, but the vitraux depicts a woman dressed like she comes from a very distant era, alluring to a nostalgic - significant for the house's once human inhabitants - Victorian style, something that matches the overall atmosphere of the mansion and reaches the limits of tragedy when it is revealed that Lisa, the beautiful girl of the portrait, now wanders around the countryside outside the villa in the form of a terrifying, mutated creature.
Locked in his vast, mazey castle, Ramón Salazar of the original Resident Evil 4 is a sad remnant of his aristocratic and once distinguished family, contemplating the glory of his ancestors while doing very little to live up to their example. The whole area where the castle is located, together with the village close to it and several other installations, seems to be lost in time altogether: the houses look like they belong to at least half a century back and there are farming systems that are made of defunct materials; but it is in the castle grounds where the whole "lost-in-time" eery feeling is intensified, as the heavy, rich decoration comes to contrast with the corruption that runs in all its halls, creating a chilling, unsettling atmosphere.
Salazar himself likes to dress like a gentleman of centuries back, although his whole attitude is not gentlemanly at all. Just like his residence, his appearance as well is a huge guise, like an attempt to make the other people, whom he basically hates, see him like he would have liked to be: an esteemed aristocrat with an illustrious past and an even more impressive present. Instead, he is a caricature of all this, something that is mostly intensified by his nasty demeanor, his innate sadism and the fact that he never felt accepted by his family.
This last element was not so evident in the original game, but it is of major importance in the recent remake, where Salazar is presented as much more cruel and sadistic, also carrying a stigma which, apparently, he was never able to get over: it is hinted that he may have been his mother's illegitimate son, if you take notice of certain things that he yells out during Leon's final battle with him, and the fact that there are a few portraits in the castle that may be confusing as to who exactly all these ancestors were and what their relationship to Ramón might have been. Setting aside the tragic aspect of this, as a fact it also relates to stories of the Victorian era, about illegitimate children and lost families.
Equally his revamped castle in the remake features extravagant objects and overwhelming decoration, always inspired by a past where Gothic and Victorian elements were prominent. Notably all the portraits that can be seen on the walls are of people that belonged to past eras; and all the paintings depict dark and gloomy landscapes, and even disturbing, morbid scenes with a strong gothic element as well.
Alfred Ashford of Resident Evil: Code Veronica has some things in common with Ramón Salazar, albeit he is much more dangerous because, thanks to his rank as an army officer, he can additionally handle weapons excellently. Alfred appears dressed in an old-fashioned army uniform with a red jacket adorned with medals and white pants; we can't know for sure if the medals are his or belonged to his ancestors, but it is obvious that he too, just like Ramón, is a delusional, paranoid man who refuses to connect to reality as it is, something that has an explanation, since he may have always been marginally insane, but he completely lost his mind after the "death" of his beloved twin sister, Alexia.
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Alfred lives in a lush vintage mansion which, in spite of its undeniable charm, is quite cold and eery, due to the gothic-like decoration which sometimes reaches the limits of grotesque and kitsch. There is too much gold all around, as well as huge, intimidating statues that mostly have negative or unpleasant connotations. Like Ramón's castle, the Ashford Mansion as well is a maze of twisting staircases, hidden passages, secret doors, lethal traps, complete with a well-concealed path to a secluded private manor, the Ashford palace, which used to be the residence of Alfred's family. Both villas share the same eery atmosphere, which makes wandering in their grounds a living nightmare.
When Alexia eventually wakes from her slumber and makes her appearance, we see her dressed in a luxurious but very vintage fashion, with a long purple dress, white silk gloves that go over her elbows and exquisite, precious jewellery, evoking the image of ladies in century-old portraits as well as heroines of Victorian novels and Romantic poetry.
Notably, as can be seen in the screenshot above, the family portrait behind her depicts the patriarch of the family, Alexander Ashford, Alexia herself and Alfred. All three are again dressed in a vintage fashion, and the overall style of the portrait is following guidelines of family portraits of the past.
James Marcus, the twisted scientist from Resident Evil Zero who experimented on his students in the most appalling ways, appears as a young man with long hair who is wearing a long, white gown, pretty similar to those worn by men in the distant past. Albeit operating in the mid-60ties mostly, Marcus has a fascination with the old times, something that is also evident from several objects found in his lab. It is notable that details on his outfit, specifically the shape of the collar, resembles leeches, which were part of his experiments before he became the terrifying Queen Leech himself.
Much less creepy in appearance, but quite unsettling as a personality, Donna Beneviento from Resident Evil: Village walks around dressed exactly like a mourning Victorian lady, a look that is preserved also in the huge portrait that decorates one of the walls of her old-fashioned residence. The house itself has several vintage objects, and even mechanisms that are not particularly modern (like the elevator leading to the basement the technology of which is rather old), but you could say that is more or less a typical village house which has not modernized itself enough yet. Donna herself, however, as a presence and appearance, is the exact incarnation of the gothic and Victorian affinities of horror games, maybe more than any other villain similar to her.
In the same spirit, the coach that the Duke can be seen driving near the end of the game, transporting Ethan to the altar to fight against Miranda and save Rose, looks eerily like a Victorian hearse, complete with its black horse and the lanterns to light the way in the darkness.
Taking place almost entirely inside an insane man's mind, The Evil Within is comprised of images that are mixtures of past and present, of memories and a distorted reality, and as such its environments defy any normal perception of how they truly are, if they even exist for real. Once trapped in Ruvik's twisted game, Sebastian constantly finds himself, scene after scene, in places that do not make sense, as they seem to be lost in time and space. Starting with the village where all the houses are old, derelict and deserted, including the narrow spaces with the vintage mirrors that work as passages back to the safe haven, nearly all the areas that Sebastian has to cross are a tangle of elements that could never co-exist in real time.
As the story approaches its tragic revelation, the environments become more and more unsettling and confusing, as Ruvik's memories get mixed with the memories of his victims, creating a nightmarish and nauseatic space where everything is messed up and which offers no obvious way out. Old buildings, vintage installations, objects from the past, all thrown together in places that seem to carry a significance for the people involved, yet all this is too blurred to even make sense.
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In the heart of all this, Ruvik's family mansion finally comes to the foreground, appearing as a compelling villa with both gothic and Victorian elements which of course come together with the unavoidable atmosphere of fear and disturbing mystery. Drowned in fog, in the center of a rotting garden, Ruvik's home turns out to be the beginning and the end of his life's tragedy.
But most of all, The Evil Within's Gothic and Victorian affinity is shown in the characters themselves: after Sebastian solves one of the phrenology puzzles in the secret room behind the fireplace in the bedroom of Ruvik's parents and gets back out in the room itself, he has a vision of Ruvik standing over the dead bodies of his mother and his father, whom he had just killed with his own hands. Both his parents are dressed in a fashion going centuries back.
And like in Donna Beneviento's case, the Victoriano family showcases all its Gothic and Victorian gloominess in the portrait that depicts its four members, dressed like they come straight out of a novel by Wilkie Collins or Charles Dickens.
