Resident Evil Village VR, we tried the terrifying demo for PlayStation 5
Resident Evil Village VR
We knew it. We knew that Capcom would have chosen that scene to show Resident Evil Village VR. The virtual reality version of the horror game was undoubtedly the main attraction of the Tokyo Game Show 2022, especially as it was the first opportunity for the press present at the fair to try out PlayStation VR2.Those who wanted to secure a chance to try out the Resident Evil Village VR demo were lined up an hour earlier than the start of the show, running straight to the Capcom booth as soon as the doors opened. We were one of them too, but the out of breath you hear is not because of the run (ok, it's also for the run), but because of the short and breathtaking experience with the game.
The demo
The Resident Evil Village VR demo had infinite bullets to allow you to freely try the shooting system The Resident Evil Village VR demo opens, predictably, outside the Dimitrescu Castle. It could not be otherwise, given that the imposing architecture of the manor and its interiors, sumptuous and rich in detail, represent a breathtaking scenario to be explored in virtual reality. If in the original game the castle already looked huge, with a viewer over your head the feeling is stunned, and you feel tiny as you pass under an archway or look for the top of the tallest tower.Inside the situation does not change: PlayStation VR2 allows a level of detail and clarity that we have rarely seen with other viewers on the market, and so it happened to linger in every room and every corridor, looking at the details of each painting hung on the wall or each goblet on a coffee table. Entering the main hall, looking around and climbing the opulent stairways is a strange feeling: almost as if we were visiting that place for the first time.
Resident Evil Village VR. Dimitrescu Castle is even more impressive in virtual reality. However, we have already visited that place and as we begin to remember what would happen next, we feel a strange tingling in the head. A real tingle, followed by the buzzing of insects. It wasn't imagination: the PlayStation VR2 viewer began to vibrate first lightly around the head, then more insistently, as a swarm of insects begins to envelop our faces and then transform into the figure of a hooded woman. Indeed, they are two. When Lady Dimitrescu's daughters throw us upside down and drag us through the corridors of the castle, the feeling is anything but pleasant. The eyes see our body lying on the ground and dragged by the legs, but the body reminds us that we are standing in the middle of a video game fair. The viewer vibrates wildly to simulate Ethan's head hitting the floor continuously. Fortunately, the discomfort lasts a few seconds, but when they let us go we find ourselves in front of Lady Dimitrescu in all her handsome size.
The scene with Lady Dimitrescu is undoubtedly the most impressive in the Resident Evil Village VR demo Trust me, if the hostess intimidated you before, in virtual reality it is as impressive as ever. We had already experienced that same scene, we knew how it would unfold, yet this first encounter in VR created a mixture of uneasiness and embarrassment. In the way this giant being brings his face close to ours, he grabs our hand and sucks the blood from the wound. With a viewer on the head this sequence is so engaging and believable that it almost seems to have been specifically designed to be enjoyed in this way. Throughout the adventure there will be other impressive scenes, settings and characters, but this specific moment is the perfect calling card to show Resident Evil Village in VR.
Still shaken by the encounter, we heal the wound with a medicinal liquid. The left controller begins to throb slightly to indicate shock to the hand, while armed with a gun and knife we look for an exit from the castle. In line with other action games in VR, the controls are based on a few intuitive movements: with the right hand (but left-handers can reverse) you hold the gun or reach the knife placed on the left forearm, while the other hand grabs the magazines and reloads the gun. For those who have never played a VR shooter it will take a few tries before they learn how to empty the magazine, replace it and reload, but after a while it becomes a fluid and natural movement.
Resident Evil Village VR will allow to hold a firearm in each hand. The tracking of the viewer and controllers almost always works well, although there have been a couple of cases where the hands would move on their own for a few moments; in one even the camera had become misaligned with Ethan's body, facing one way while we were facing the other. Justifiable considering that we are talking about a non-definitive version of the game on hardware that will surely receive some other refinement before launching next year.
The demo has been modified a bit compared to the original game, in order to drive through specific rooms and corridors, but above all so that the player can use infinite bullets (which will change in the final game anyway). In the few fights, aiming and shooting gave a lot of satisfaction: the controllers are precise, light, and after a while you forget to hold them. While we couldn't find a second weapon during the short time available, Capcom has already confirmed that it will be possible to wield two guns at the same time and use each hand to aim more than one enemy at a time. We made a little more effort in throwing the knife, also thanks to the fact that the controllers do not have analog triggers on the sides, but two simple buttons: it is probably all a matter of habit, but it seemed less natural to grasp and hold. objects in hand for an extended period.
It is not known what other changes the final version of Resident Evil Village VR will introduce, but the TGS 2022 demo gave us an idea of how much those same settings and situations already faced in the original game may seem unprecedented and even more engaging with a viewer in the head. From this point of view Resident Evil 7 was already an excellent transposition, but the visual quality of PlayStation VR2, the most advanced controllers and the use of haptic feedback leave little doubt that Village VR will already be a conversion of another level.
