Sony’s PlayStation VR 2 has been receiving positive feedback following its release in February, including one reviewer who described Resident Evil 7 as “an essential experience on PSVR, and Resident Evil Village VR on PSVR2.”
Another described it as “easily one of the best launch titles for Sony’s new state-of-the-art headset, and one everyone should have in their collection.”
Resident Evil Village’s VR Mode was launched as part of the PlayStation VR2’s lineup. As noted by experts at UploadVR, it was an outstanding and immersive horror shooter that perfectly suited Sony’s new headset.
Following the release, developer Capcom added The Mercenaries — a well-known arcade minigame mode — to Village. It also released the Winters’ Expansion, which featured a brief but engaging DLC story expansion called Shadows of Rose, set after the main campaign.
Capcom’s director discusses challenges, innovations in VR design
When questioned about the possibility of future Resident Evil entries supporting VR, Capcom’s director of Resident Evil Village VR Mode, Kazuhiro Takahara, remained secretive. He said he couldn’t comment on the company’s plans, but the development teams continuously seek new challenges.
Similarly, he revealed no intentions to introduce the Mercenaries mode or Shadows of Rose DLC content from Village to PSVR 2. Nonetheless, he did acknowledge that a “very large majority” of PSVR 2 users had tested Village’s VR Mode since its launch.
“I can’t share exact numbers, but I have heard that a very large majority of PS VR2 owners have played Resident Evil Village in VR,” he told UploadVR.
Even though analysts have noted that the game’s design prioritizes the flatscreen experience, it still provides an immersive VR experience that includes distinctive features to address the difficulties and subtleties associated with virtual reality.
The studio recognized that one of the differences between the VR and console versions of the game was the control system. While console players can easily switch between weapons and manage items using physical buttons, this is harder with the limited buttons on the Sense controllers of the PSVR 2.
In addition to discussing the game’s VR mode success, Takahara mentioned that the team faced a significant challenge in designing the control scheme for firearms in VR.
They aimed to maintain the Resident Evil series’ realistic portrayal of weapons while ensuring that the system was not overly complex and did not compromise the exciting gameplay.
“We put a lot of trial and error into getting the feeling right and making it seem like you were handling a real firearm while also having the inputs be intuitive and unobtrusive,” Takahara explained.
“That goes for aspects outside of control mechanics as well. One of the biggest challenges was to implement features like haptic feedback and extra sound effects to make everything as ideal as possible.”
VR-specific technology to enhance performance on PSVR 2
Takahara revealed that the team utilized PSVR 2’s eye-tracked foveated rendering technology to enhance the game’s performance and other VR-specific optimizations. This allowed the game to run smoothly at 60 frames per second and be reprojected up to 120Hz in the headset.
He maintains that the Resident Evil series is well-suited for VR for two primary reasons. Firstly, the realistic environments and scenery effectively convey fear, a unique characteristic of the series and complements the immersive VR experience.
According to Takahara, this sense of elaborateness in the series is well-suited for virtual reality. Village is now the third mainline game or remake in the Resident Evil series that is playable in VR. The fourth one – the PSVR 2 content of Resident Evil 4 Remake – is currently in development.
