When I wrote about my experiences with the PlayStation VR prototypes last year, I was pretty excited about how much of the experience could be transferred to other games. But I was also really apprehensive about totally embracing the medium – namely how it’ll be usable with more traditional games. I also lamented the lack of opportunity I had to experience the Kitchen demo – months before I even knew it was a prototype of sorts for Resident Evil 7.
The Resident Evil 7 demo was similarly an amazing experience but I couldn’t help but be incredulous when it came to how much the demo was an indicator of how the final game will play. It was a scary affair and one that I probably won’t forget right up until the point that I boot the final version when it releases in January. The change in pace and tone is remarkably different from Resident Evil 6, but I couldn’t shake the feeling that the VR support for the game was totally tacked on. After spending some time with the game in the VR space, I’m not only fully convinced, I truly don’t want to play the game any other way on my first time through.
On a recent visit to EB Expo I was fortunate enough to try both the Kitchen demo as well as the full “Lantern” demo of Resident Evil 7. I started with Kitchen, and I must have had lofty expectations as I came away feeling slightly disappointed. Don’t get me wrong – the situation itself was a frightening one – but coming off of playing the Resident Evil 7 demo it was hard to pretend I didn’t know what was coming. Kitchen was a great experience that really sold the passive experience of VR – I physically winced when the woman in the demo stabbed me in the leg – but it just was a bit too passive for my liking.
From the moment I jumped into the headset I was both tense and excited. My first order of business was to see if I could notice the visuals being noticeably downgraded to accommodate VR. I’ll be blunt – it’s obvious. The text is clearly not rendering at as full a resolution as if playing without VR, but was still readable. But as soon as that locale loaded everything I cared about in terms of resolution and framerate went straight out the window. Resident Evil 7 is a lo-fi looking game that’s meant to look like it was filmed on a long obsolete format – so the difference between VR and non-VR resolutions is almost negligible as soon as you start playing.
The star of the demo is without a doubt Marguerite Baker, the matriach of the mysterious Baker family. In this demo we play as Mia, a young girl, who is running from Marguerite, a deranged old woman carrying a lantern. While playing the game normally I would usually have to crouch behind cover to hide from her and then stand back up to check if the coast is clear. With VR, I am not only able to do that but I can also peek around the corner of cover or peek through slats in the wooden walls to get a look at Marguerite and plan my course of action. It’s an amazing yet simple way to complement traditional controls.