Resident Evil 8 Village VR Mode Review

I played on: PSVR2
I paid: Free DLC on PS5
Available on: PSVR2 via PS5
Notes: N/A

Resident Evil Village VR is a total VR conversion for the phenomenal RE8 for free if you already have the base game on PS5. I expected this to be like the VR mode add-on for Resident Evil 7. I got a more involved and immersive experience that bested even Resident Evil 4 VR on Quest 2.

If you’ve played RE8, you will know what to expect when jumping into this VR experience. You play as Ethan Winters trying to rescue his daughter from a crazed village under the thumb of their religious cult leader. This VR mode includes the entire base game and a bonus shooting range to test your aim. The challenges found within the non-VR version of RE8 are absent here. The only challenges are the hidden goats of warding to destroy. This is a little disappointing as you’re now unable to upgrade your weapons to have unlimited ammo like you can in the base game. Still, this is a small consolation for the VR gameplay. Unfortunately, the DLC, Shadows of Rose, is not included in the VR mode, but this is very generous for a free update.

The quality of the VR here is honestly outstanding. Similar to games like The Walking Dead Saints & Sinners and Resident Evil 4 VR, you reload your guns by ejecting the clip and physically placing the new clip into the weapon before cocking it. Your knife is similarly drawn from a sheath attached to your left arm, while your pipe bombs, mines and flashlight are kept within Ethan’s iconic jacket. This makes the entire game feel very immersive. Adding to this high level of immersion are the cutscenes, which mostly avoid the disappointment of RE4 VR’s cutscenes. Many VR games rely on showing cutscenes in a window projected in front of you. Most cutscenes in RE8 VR are fully immersive VR cinematics where you lose control of Ethan’s limbs but can look around freely. While losing control of your body when you enter a scripted interaction is a little jarring, it beats the complete immersion-breaking effect of suddenly watching a film on a screen. Sadly, these VR cinematics only account for around about 90% of the cutscenes. Any moments that don’t occur from a first-person perspective are shown on a screen in front of you. This is disappointing but still a massive improvement from the last two Resident Evil VR games.

Ultimately, this is a top-tier VR game. Sure, it suffers from the odd cutscenes that occur on screens rather than in full VR, missing challenges, a missing reward store, and the odd janky vehicle section. But the innervation on show here is outstanding. The gunplay is spectacular, the graphics are amazing, and the immersion is the best in the series. I hope we continue seeing more fully immersive VR cinematics in the upcoming Resident Evil 4 Remake VR mode. If you own PSVR2, then this a must-play game.

Recommendation Rating: 8 out of 10.