"She's Inside Me. She's Inside Everyone": Female Agency and the Monstrous Mother in Resident Evil Biohazard and Village

This chapter examines monstrous femininity in Resident Evil VII: Biohazard and Resident Evil VIII: Village, which depict an array of female archetypes—particularly monstrous mothers and unnatural births. Game representations of monstrous femininity, as in other media, revolve around how fears about femininity manifest in media, how feminine identities reflect, subvert, and resist domesticity. These representations are experienced, explored, and internalized by players who must comb the gamespace for resources, weapons, clues, and collectibles at the same time they navigate enemies and environmental challenges to unravel the story. Gameplay and environmental storytelling interwoven with cutscenes offer potentially transformative engagements with the monstrous mother, although, in the end, the games may be interpreted to undermine their own progress.