What you need to know
- Resident Evil 4 VR will launch "exclusively" on the Oculus Quest 2 on October 21, 2021, at 7am PT/10am ET.
- The port will follow the storyline of the classic game, except with first-person combat instead of third-person. It'll also have new VR-specific controls.
- Side content like Separate Ways and The Mercenaries won't appear in this port.
- U.S.-based Armature Studios developed the port with help from Oculus Studios.
Capcom has sold Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube, PS2, Wii, iOS, Android, PS3, Xbox 360, PS4, Xbox One, PC, and Nintendo Switch. And we'll see it again with revamped graphics and gameplay next year with the upcoming Resident Evil 4 remake. But no matter how many times you've experienced the story before, RE4 will play fundamentally differently when it launches on the Oculus Quest 2 on October 21.
Resident Evil 4 VR will play entirely in first-person, similar to the perspective we got in Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 7. Texas-based developer Armature Studios changed the physics of the world, so you now must manually pick up items, interact with puzzles, or reload weapons yourself.
You can now dual-wield weapons, something you couldn't do in past RE4 versions. And when managing your inventory, you'll drag weapons or items from the attaché case to slots that'll appear on your belt in-game, so you can grab different weapons without having to constantly re-enter the menu.
Assuming you have the VR legs to handle it, you'll move using the analog stick through the world. Otherwise, you can teleport to avoid motion sickness, or use roomscale mode if you have enough space.
Graphically, RE4 VR looks downgraded compared to recent HD ports. But Armature Studios reportedly had to convert the game to Unreal Engine 4, update 4,500 textures to work for VR, and then make the game work on a mobile headset like the Quest 2. Making it photorealistic would be too tall an order.
Speaking with an Oculus rep, we learned that "side content will not be in RE4 for Quest 2." We're disappointed to hear we won't be stepping into Ada Wong's heels for her Separate Ways campaign; but the game will be several dozen hours of content already, well more than you get with most of the best Oculus Quest 2 games.
Will you be saving Ashley for the umpteenth time? Or does the prospect of getting chainsawed in half in first person sound too frightening? Personally, we couldn't be more excited to see how the game plays in VR.
