The eighth mainline installment of the iconic survival horror franchise, Resident Evil Village, is poised as one of the year's biggest releases. Village is a direct sequel to RE7, featuring the same protagonist, point of view, and continued storyline. The close connection with the previous installment has left many wondering if Resident Evil Village will also support virtual reality, since RE7 was the series' first foray into the immersive tech space.
So far there has been no official word on Resident Evil Village's future plans for VR, but the launch version of the game will not support it. Many thought Resident Evil Village might come to PlayStation VR, since that was the exclusive VR platform RE7 was available on. However, a Resident Evil 4 VR port is on its way for the Oculus Quest 2, muddying the waters for further Resident Evil Village virtual reality speculation.
Resident Evil 7 was the first game in the Resident Evil series to support a first person perspective, and the transition to virtual reality was celebrated for the success it had in heightening the game's horror aspects. VR support for Resident Evil Village would offer the same opportunity, but Capcom hasn't made it explicitly clear whether or not the game will eventually get a VR patch.
Resident Evil Village Could Get Post-Release VR Support
Just because it hasn't been announced yet doesn't mean there are no plans to give the latest Resident Evil game VR support. This is purely speculation, but if Sony has another exclusivity deal up its sleeve, the company may waiting until the next iteration of PlayStation VR becomes available before announcing a Resident Evil Village VR version. New VR controllers for the PS5 were already revealed, but that is the extent of info given on the upcoming Sony VR platform. Resident Evil 7 was a big success for PSVR, and having exclusivity for a future VR-supported Resident Evil Village could be a system seller.
Resident Evil Village is already more visually impressive than its predecessor, especially when ray tracing is used on the new consoles and PC. Capcom could be waiting until VR is supported by the new hardware to bring Resident Evil Village into VR, that way fewer visual sacrifices would have to be made. Village is much larger than RE7 in terms of both gameplay and file size, so converting the entire game into a VR experience may be proving more difficult than the relatively small task of doing so for RE7. VR owners will just have to wait until Capcom makes any sort of statement on VR support for Resident Evil Village.