resident-evil-4 — Image courtesy Capcom

‘Resident Evil 4’ PSVR 2 Mode is Coming as Free DLC, Now in Development

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Feb 22, 2023

Resident Evil 4 is getting a remake for PS5 soon, and although Capcom didn’t state it was bringing full PSVR 2 support when it was announced back in June, the developer now says its VR mode is in the works right now, and it will be offered as free DLC to the flatscreen game on PS5.

Update (February 22, 2023): The Japanese language Capcom Twitter announced that the Resident Evil 4 remake team has now started development on its PSVR 2 mode.

It’s not clear when it will launch, however the studio further confirmed that the “VR mode,” which presumably means we’ll be playing the full game on PSVR 2, will be a free DLC to the flatscreen game on PS5. This comes as contrast to the announcement in June of “VR content,” which left some room for doubt. The original article follows below:

Original Article (June 3rd, 2022): It’s a marked departure from the full-throated PSVR support announcement for Resident Evil 7 Biohazard when it was first unveiled at E3 2016, which lets you play the game start to finish in VR.

This makes it a bit unclear as to what “PSVR 2 content” really means, as it could either suggest full support, or ‘experience-style’ bonus material, which would frankly be a bit of a letdown.

Image courtesy Capcom

After all, Resident Evil 4 is already playable in VR via Meta Quest 2, although there are some key differences to note. The version for Quest 2 wasn’t a remake as such, but rather an uprezzed port of the original game, while the PS5 version is slated to be a ground-up remake ostensibly in the same vein of Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020).

Microsoft is Launching Automatic Quest 3 Pairing on Windows 11 PCs in December

It seems dubious that all the VR-specific work Armature Studio put into the Quest 2 version will necessarily translate since we’re essentially dealing with an entirely different point of departure in terms of development. What’s more, Capcom had no issue announcing that Resident Evil Village is coming to PSVR 2 with full motion controls.

This could point to two likely scenarios: Capcom is playing coy and will announce that its “PSVR 2 content” allows you to play the full game, either at launch or at some point afterwards, or we’re really actually just getting a PSVR 2 flavored experience. Either way, we’re hoping to find out before the game’s March 24th, 2023 launch date.

Check out the game’s PS5 announcement trailer below:

Andrew Jakobs

Hopefully coming to PCVR as well.
- ApocalypseShadow
  
  Possibly. But then there’s RE7. Modders will have to work double time to make these games into PC VR that will be just native releases on PS VR 2.
  - Tommy
    
    but will still look better on a RTX 3090 than the RTX 2070 Super comparable GPU in the PS5 :)
    - ApocalypseShadow
      
      Possibly. But then, PS VR 2 will have controller and headset features PC doesn’t have. You’re going to have to rely on Modders again just to get that working.
      
      Thing is, PC really has no big developers making games. It will only start getting big games BECAUSE of Sony. Without Sony, PC would be a barren wasteland waiting on Modders to port something into VR. That’s how important PC VR is. No big developers. Relying on Quest games upscaled onto RTX 3090s. And not everyone has that graphics card for it to matter.
      
      You can thank Sony for their second, real push into VR. And not just an experiment like the first.
      - Tommy
        
        Yeah man, I was getting worried that Sony would drop VR support after PSVR. They are truly going to be the only ones pushing high end VR games. I just hope I’ll be able to use the PSVR2 with PC. I would love to use one headset for everything.
      - pasfish111
        
        I thank Sony for showing all the Meta Fanboys again how VR Gaming has to look in 2023!
        But I would be good for AAA VR Gaming in general, if Sony would release its VR Modes for games like Villages and RE 4 Remake (both are on Steam as well!) also for PC.
    - polysix
      
      Good luck finding a PC HMD with OLED *AND* FOEVATED Rendering to actually deliver *IN VR* the same quality of PSVR2.
      
      I’ve got PCVR (and an RTX3080) so I know what I’m talking about. The game itself can of course look ‘better’ on PC with higher res, better textures, more ray tracing, even more polys if your GPU can handle it but to deliver that to VR without foveated rendering is where quality will take a dive (unlike on PSVR2 where it can retain the full quality). Also OLED > LCD esp for RE games… then there’s HDR too. All of the recent PC HMDS are shitty LCD with grey blacks and no HDR. No thanks.
      
      My old DK2/CV1/Vive had more immersion than the latest PC HMDs due to the jet black OLED screens.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        But the PSVR2 still has a cable and that destroys every immersion.
      - ViRGiN
        
        still better than PCVR so cope
      - LMAO
        
        Again, ignorant troll alert!
      - ViRGiN
        
        Cope you troll
      - LMAO
        
        Ignorant troll alert!
      - ViRGiN
        
        no-life alarm!
      - NotMikeD
        
        Yes but only if you spin in place like a ballerina. Outside of “XXV Winter Olympic Figure Staking Challenge ’26” I’m not sure how seriously I should be taking this problem.
      - Andrew Jakobs
        
        Even with the kiwi pulleysystem I always felt the cable tugging, and that’s something i just hated.
      - mirak
        
        That’s why I stick to the Vive Pro Eye.
        I also have the Vive at my parents house and play sometime when I am in vacation there, and it’s not like I am not bothering playing because quality wouldn’t be good enough anymore.
        It’s like first time I tried the Vive, tracking is perfect, and resolution is immersive enough, plus it’s OLED, and it has the best wireless.
        As long as you don’t need to read text it’s good enough to have fun.
    - nope name
      
      Actually it won’t look better on pc, the psvr2 performs better cause it has native eye tracking which means it has foveated rendering and can render everything where you look picture perfect.
      - Tommy
        
        It will look as good as a PC with a 3090ti using the eye tracking. Without it, it’s only comparable to a RTX 2070 Super. If you have a newer GPU than a 3090ti, it will absolutely look better on PC.
        With that said, I have been using my PSVR2 and I am throughly impressed. It does look fantastic minus the slight mura and fresnel lenses. I really would have preferred them to use pancake lenses.
      - nope name
        
        But then you would have worse blacks. The mura is the only downside for me too.
        
        Also I have a powerful rig with a 7900xtx, so I can compare the 2 vr systems. Pc doesn’t really have a performance advantage. Maybe if you don’t run steamVR on top
      - Tommy
        
        Completely agree about the black levels. Can’t beat OLED for that. It comes with a couple cons but is definitely my preferred type of display.
- Gonzax
  
  I wouldn’t hold my breath for that, sadly.
- ViRGiN
  
  Buahahahahhahah
  
  Cope harder.
  - LMAO
    
    Troll alert!
  - Cless
    
    You do realize that the exact same game is already on PC… right?
    Its not such a big leap of faith to think once a couple months pass, that they might release it for PCVR as well.
    - ViRGiN
      
      Oh, like the Resident Evil 7 which was said to have one year exclusivity for PSVR?
      “First announced in 2016, RE7 is scheduled for release on January 24, 2017, the VR mode will remain exclusive until January 2018”
      It’s been 5 years, there is still a chance for desperate PCVRians
      - Cless
        
        My dude, if there is money to be made, they will do it.
        Its as easy as that, and what CAPCOM will look at when deciding if putting in the money to develop and port it.
        
        What I’m saying is, that its not a big leap of faith to think that it will happen, especially now that the API for PSVR2 is way closer to PCVR than before, especially compared to the frankenstein that OG PSVR was.
      - ViRGiN
        
        > if there is money to be made
        Nobody but a handful of most popular PCVR games are making money.
        
        Hoping for a PCVR point after years of proving how obsolete PCVR market is, this is nothing but desperates dream.
      - Cless
        
        I though it was quite obvious from my comment that there is no money to be made on a free VR DLC port.
        
        >Nobody but a handful of most popular PCVR games are making money.
        If that were the case (which it isn’t)… Who gives a damn? You don’t need to be making more money than the top VR games, you need to be making more than you put in, which isn’t that hard with a properly budgeted and managed game.
        
        So, if someone wants to pay for the port, it will happen. The point of my argument is, that its way cheaper than it used to be, so maybe CAPCOM itself will be interested. If not for the money, maybe to try and get a small piece of the market if they plan on make their next game have VR from the beginning.
      - ViRGiN
        
        > I though it was quite obvious from my comment that there is no money to be made on a free VR DLC port.
        I took it as an obvious paid product, which only would anger PCVRians that still hang out. Why would they pay for a console VR port, when praydog mods are free?
        
        Big studios aren’t chasing every single dollar. They are entering the business expecting certain returns, not just getting 5% that isn’t even guaranteed within PCVR where piracy is the norm, since games aren’t really worth buying. I think this right here explains those mysterious ‘millions’ of PCVR users, while essentially never crossing the between 5000-10000 concurrent users PCVR has seen for ages now. I guess pirates make up for majority! And no, playing offline isn’t really common. Very few go out of their own to switch to offline mode, or really do not have access to internet slow enough to connect to steam services.
        
        RE4 for Quest was literally developed on PCs, with huge chunk of testing done through PCVR itself. Making that a PCVR game would be “1 click” and yet it never happened. RE7 PCVR is not happening, and there is no need to get hopefull.
      - Cless
        
        >>Big studios aren’t chasing every single dollar.
        True, but that’s why the free DLC wouldn’t make sense unless they have a plan to make further products in that line. Giving current PC fans the “VR” version for free for a taste, to entice them to buy the next thing. If that isn’t the case, I highly doubt it would have been done.
        
        >>RE4 for Quest was literally developed on PCs, with huge chunk of testing done through PCVR itself. Making that a PCVR game would be “1 click” and yet it never happened.
        Trust me, it never is that easy, not even close. It would still take a team of people to make the build and test it on hardware.
        There is always the route of Sony just telling them “Hey, if its a full exclusive, we will pay for more”, which is understandable and done for other stuff too. That doesn’t mean that down the line, that doesn’t become a thing.
        
        It didn’t make sense to put God of War on PC, until it did, same applies for all those exclusives that Sony ported. Same exact thing applies to any VR game they might have paid for. Which I highly suspect they did in this case.
      - ViRGiN
        
        Flat market operates on different set of rules, consumer base numbers makes all the difference alone.
        You are absolutetly right, RE4 PCVR will absolutetly arrive at some point in the future, but I doubt it will happen in the next 7 years unless a miracle happens, and suddenly everyone is buying a headset and uses it with gaming PC.
      - Cless
        
        Oh yeah, you are right there. Unless someone puts money in to make it happen that’s not happening anytime soon.
Christian Schildwaechter

I’d assume they will make the whole game playable in VR, and the “PSVR2 content” label is mostly due to VR not being part of the initial 2004 GameCube version design for obvious reasons. Compared to it RE8 development started around mid 2016, with RE7 featuring PSVR support being released in early 2017. RE7 development had started in 2014 with some prototypes going back further, basically parallel to Oculus DK1/DK2 lacking any type of hand tracking, so VR in RE7 still feels patched in and relies on a gamepad.

The RE8 designers had the benefit of hand tracking already being established, knowledge of the matching PSVR2 hardware and Sony’s push towards hybrid games that account for both pancake and VR versions gameplay. Meaning it is very likely that RE8 VR will provide a profoundly more “native” VR feel than RE7 or RE4 ever could without significantly altering the established gameplay. So they may simply be cautious to label both RE8 and the RE4 remake similarly as PSVR2 games, as the first was “designed for” and the second only “adapted for” VR.

Besides this reasoning why they are labeled differently, I’d expect Sony to want the RE4 remake to be fully playable on PSVR2 simply for the sake of showing off how much more powerful the PS5 is compared to Quest 2 (3/4 …). We still have a serious lack of AAA titles on (mobile) VR, and RE4 pretty much became the poster child to prove running titles from a well known AAA gaming franchise is possible on Quest 2, even if it relies on 2011 remastered graphics of a 2004 game and still has to compromise a lot. RE4 was a clever move by Meta, stealing some thunder from the exclusive PSVR RE7 mode as the better VR experience.

Pretty sure Sony wants that crown back, not only stomping on the Quest RE4 port (in more than one way) with PSVR2 RE8, but also by allowing people to fully experience RE4 but with 2022 graphics on a GPU with twelve times the performance of the Quest 2. Once the PSVR2 is released, comparisons with the Quest 2 will be inevitable, incl. why one should buy a peripheral to an already expensive game console when you can get a fully self contained mobile VR HMD for a similar price. Being able to play through the same game on both platforms would provide for a very simple and convincing showcase, which wouldn’t work if they only added some partial VR content. 2016 AAA Rise of the Tomb Raider has “VR support”, but only for exploring Croft manor, and nobody considers it an AAA VR game, it is basically just another VR tech demo.
Gonzax

It doesn’t sound like the full game, more like an extra mode. Hopefully Praydog will work his magic again and give us another awesome mod for us to enjoy full VR.
- Peter vasseur
  
  It’s probably more like how re7 was on psvr, they used a controller. Where re8 is more like a built for vr game.
peter vasseur

If it’s not the full game who cares. Especially when re8 will be full game vr. Also make no sense to launch two re games For vr and twd at launch. So I still believe psvr2 is coming this yr. To all the alleged fools in the industry that think they know you don’t.
Geogaddi

Maybe it’s just the figurine viewer for VR. That would sure make a lot of VR enthusiasts happy! ;)
Christian Schildwaechter

It is unlikely that they will use any part of the Quest 2 RE4 port for a number of reasons. 2004 RE4 on GameCube used a predecessor to Capcom’s “MT Framework”, the game engine used for most of their PS3/Xbox 360 generation games. The Quest version is based on the 2011 remaster that used MT Framework, and wasn’t created by Capcom themselves, but outsourced to Armature Studio, which ported it to Unreal Engine. Most likely because MT Framework isn’t developed anymore, Capcom replaced it with RE Engine starting with RE7 (RE5/6 still used MT), so there simply was no Quest/VR support for MT Framework, forcing the engine switch. They reused the graphics assets from the HD remaster and ported/adapted the source code for UE plus the Oculus SDK.

The PSVR2 RE4 will not be a port, but a remake, which usually means they recreate the game mostly from scratch. As Capcom is creating the PSVR2 version themselves, they will most certainly use the RE Engine that PSVR2 RE8 is also build with, and recreate textures and models to make use of the new and much improved lighting and performance options. Not sure how much of the system itself they can or want to reuse, or if they will simply toss out all of the old source code.

This is of course a lot more effort than translating an existing version, but allows for better integration of newer tech and paradigms, which should be very beneficial when trying to make it playable in VR. Which also means it would be such a wasted opportunity to only make it partly available in VR, esp. when they have all the VR interaction mechanics already in the RE Engine thanks to RE8. We’ll have to wait for Capcom to clarify “PSVR 2 content”, which could be Capcom delaying full VR to not compete with RE8, or a reference to a different design, or something completely different like Meta having a two year exclusive right to offer the full RE4 in VR. Or just strange marketing speech.
- kool
  
  I hope we get the remake in VR idk what they’ll actually give us.
ViRGiN

Praydog cultists cried when they read the headline.
- Tommy
  
  Why would they cry? Show me another platform where you can already play RE2,3,7, and 8 in VR. Most likely, RE4 Remake will get modded too.
  - mirak
    
    You shut him up good.
ApocalypseShadow

Keeps getting better and better on PS VR 2. Higher quality, big games, standard features across all headsets and plug and play.
- kool
  
  Ill wait until tomorrow to see what sony shows. I want to see some big games down the road.
- ViRGiN
  
  I don’t think gamers were worried about Sony getting games. It was PCVR gamers worried about not getting those games on their PCVR and as a result, being uncapable of hoarding them on the same 20 year old account.
  
  Still, I’m waiting for triple the amount of high end games to be announced/released. As much as RE can be fun, it’s still not enough to buy console+headset and keep it.
  - LMAO
    
    Ignorant troll alert!
    - ViRGiN
      
      Small d ick energy stems from your comment
  - NotMikeD
    
    I think your “same 20 year old account” comment was intended to be some sort of swipe at Steam, but it really has the opposite effect; in a world where some are wary of digital content libraries, the fact that Steam has been operating and safeguarding our digital libraries for literal decades gives it a lot of credibility.
    
    It makes me personally feel a lot safer spending my dollars “hoarding” there than with Meta lately, who are actively shuttering some of its platform’s most popular games and cutting off compatility for core feature sets for its not-that-old legacy headsets with little warning.
Tommy

“Excellent” – Mr. Burns
MOT

Having played a bit of resident evil 8 in vr on psvr2 I can tell you it is fantastic. Personally I think its better than Alyx. This is of course subjective. Each gun in resi 8 has full individual reload mechanics that are different for each gun. The scopes on the weapons are fantastic.

The adaptive triggers mean that every weapon feels different to fire and the feedback from the controller adds massively to the immersion.

Opening your coat to remove items and storing all items on your body is brilliant. Nothing has been missed. Dual wielding and knife throwing is included. Popping the lid off the medicine to heal is also another great touch.

Graphically its stunning. The dark scenes in the game are pitch black on the oled display and sunlight is dazzling with the hdr it looks almost realistic.
- Tommy
  
  Looks like I’ll have to stop by Gamestop on the way home.
- Sven Viking
  
  Guess I should have bought it while it was on special.
pasfish111

Hope they will bring it also on the PC.