I knew it was a stunt as quickly as I noticed it, and but it labored completely on me — Girl Dimitrescu in her eight-foot VR glory, towering over me as her vampiric daughters danced close by.
It’s the logical conclusion for Resident Evil Village’s legacy, which discovered fame partly due to its “very tall vampire girl,” and an amusing begin to the life cycle of the PlayStation VR 2. What higher technique to promote your high-end VR machine than to place gamers face-to-face with Girl D herself?
The demo was a part of Capcom’s Tokyo Recreation Present 2022 occasion — the identical one which was proven as a part of Sony’s PSVR 2. It dwells at size on the sport’s setting, which in so some ways resembles a lethal amusement park journey with its traps and slides.
However Girl Dimitrescu is the star.
She first leers down at you, taking a sip of your blood as she does, then hangs you on a pair of meat hooks for an additional disgusting VR sequence. All of the whereas she’s mainly proper in your face, continuously impressing upon you that she is certainly very, very tall. Humongous, even.
It’s made additional spectacular by the PSVR’s 4K OLED screens, that are among the many cleanest you’ll discover on any VR headset. IGN Tech Editor Bo Moore just lately took a deep dive into the PSVR 2, and it’s properly price a learn for anybody who desires to know the finer factors of the platform’s expertise. Suffice it to say that the PSVR 2 is an actual accomplishment on console and Resident Evil Village seems superb on it…
To some extent.
My head coming out of Ethan’s torso had a little bit of a macabre horror sensibility to it, nevertheless it additionally reveals how far VR nonetheless has to go along with bold motion video games like Resident Evil Village. Being a port, Resident Evil Village clearly has its limitations, and in any case there’s nonetheless time for extra sharpening. However as I uselessly flailed with my knife at a handful of undead foes, I felt as if I used to be in some methods nonetheless trapped in 2016 and that nothing had actually modified. The identical may very well be mentioned for the extreme movement illness imparted by the continual motion, which at one level pressured me to take a break to get well from the wave of nausea overtaking me.
In truth, the PSVR 2 stays an enigma to me. There’s little question that it’s an enormous improve over the unique PSVR, which in hindsight feels prefer it was jury-rigged out of spare components, however I’m nonetheless at a little bit of a loss as to who that is for. With some projecting a $500 value level, it’s apt to be too costly for informal gamers whereas additionally being a poor match for hobbyists who worth the flexibleness provided by different units. Girl Dimitrescu looming over you in 4K solely takes you thus far.
Resident Evil Village VR seems like a win for Capcom
Nonetheless, there’s no denying the attraction of Resident Evil Village in VR. Its predecessor was among the best VR experiences of the earlier technology, leveraging the expertise to dramatically improve its sense of horror, and Resident Evil Village is extra of the identical. As I walked previous a collection of charred corpses as much as Dimitrescu Fort, the primary thought that popped into my head was, “This was how Resident Evil Village was meant to be performed.”
The VR expertise moreover provides a number of gameplay upgrades over the unique launch, which ought to serve to refresh the expertise for individuals who have already defeated Girl Miranda and her lords. To wit, it’s now attainable to dual-wield weapons, which ought to lend fairly a bit extra utility to the common-or-garden knife (or you possibly can simply use a shotgun as a substitute – no matter floats your boat). The haptics within the PSVR 2’s Sense controllers are put to good use if you’re, for instance, prying your palms out of Girl Dimitrescu’s meat hooks or firing your pistol at an approaching Lycan. Even the headset itself can shake now.
However none of this compares to the pure excellence of the visuals, which might be present in every thing from the twisting hallways of the fort to the flowing and naturalistic motion of Girl D’s vampiric daughters. Using a method referred to as foveated rendering, it manages to retain a lot of the unique’s visible constancy by rendering areas in your peripheral imaginative and prescient in decrease high quality, reserving its energy for what’s proper in entrance of you. The outcomes are suitably spectacular Capcom is never talked about in the identical breath as different tech powerhouses, however the energy and adaptability of the RE Engine by no means fails to impress. Add in Capcom’s constantly spectacular artwork route and you’ve got a number of the best-looking video games on any platform.
At the same time as a sport that’s properly over a yr outdated now, Resident Evil Village does what it must do to promote gamers on the capabilities of the PSVR 2. It’s additionally an thrilling second for Resident Evil Village followers, who get to see their favourite collection return to an space by which it excels. Like many different Capcom franchises, Resident Evil has been on an actual tear currently, with Resident Evil 4 Remake figuring so as to add to that second when it’s launched this yr.
As for the PSVR 2, it’s an undeniably intriguing piece of {hardware} that brings all the advantages of room-scale VR to console. The place the unique PSVR felt like a cobbled collectively tangle of cords, the PSVR 2 is sleeker and way more refined, with the PS5’s superior haptics expertise including nonetheless extra to the sense of immersion as Girl Dimitrescu lifts you up like a ragdoll. Will it’s sufficient to make Sony’s newest entry into the VR area a hit? Backward compatibility with the unique PSVR actually would have helped its probabilities, however we’ll simply should see.
Both approach, Girl Dimitrescu finds her last type in Resident Evil Village. The PSVR 2 might not finish being a win for Sony, nevertheless it actually looks like a win for Capcom. We’ll know extra when each the PSVR 2 and Resident Evil Village launch in early 2023.
