Resident Evil 4 (VR)

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Resident Evil 4 in first person, with every reload in your own hands.

Platforms: VR
Price: Paid
Rated: Meta Quest store 4.7 of 5 from 13,127 ratings; Road to VR 8/10; Best VR/AR Game at The Game Awards 2021 (as stated on its store page)
Length: about 16 hours
Players: 1
Controls: Meta Quest 2, 3, 3S or Pro with Touch controllers; seated or standing, with comfort options for movement.
Made by: Armature Studio
Released: 2021

What frightens In VR you stand in a Spanish village as Leon Kennedy while crowds of parasite-infected villagers with pitchforks, axes and chainsaws come at you from every side, and you must load each magazine and pull each weapon from your body yourself.
Content: gore, violence, blood, strong language, jumpscares.

Resident Evil 4 for Meta Quest is the 2005 survival horror classic rebuilt for VR by Armature Studio. As agent Leon S. Kennedy you search a rural village for the president's kidnapped daughter, now in first person, aiming, reloading and swinging your knife with your own hands against villagers controlled by a cult.

About Resident Evil 4 (VR)

This version of Resident Evil 4 was made by Armature Studio and published by Oculus Studios for Meta Quest, and came out in October 2021. It takes Capcom's 2005 game and rebuilds it for virtual reality, with the original campaign remastered and played in first person instead of over Leon's shoulder. A free update later added The Mercenaries, a score-chasing mode with new challenges made for VR.

The story is the original's. Leon S. Kennedy is sent to a village in rural Europe to find the US president's daughter, who has been taken by a cult. The villagers are not what they seem: something controls them, and they come at strangers with pitchforks, sickles and dynamite.

VR changes how it feels more than what happens. Guns, grenades and the knife sit on your body, and you take them in hand, aim them yourself and reload by putting a new magazine in. Herbs are mixed and eaten by hand. The merchant's shop, the attaché case and the treasure hunting all return. When a crowd closes in on a farmhouse or a chainsaw starts up behind you, it is much closer than it ever was on a screen.

The cutscenes are shown on a flat screen in front of you, which Road to VR found less immersive, but it gave the game 8/10, and players on the Quest store rate it very highly. It suits anyone with a Quest who knows Resident Evil 4 and wants to stand inside it, and newcomers who do not mind a long, action-heavy survival horror game.

How to play Resident Evil 4 (VR)

Set up your Quest and pick the movement and comfort options that suit you: smooth or teleport movement, seated or standing.
Take weapons from your body: pistol and other guns, the knife, and grenades.
Reload by hand: drop the empty magazine and push in a new one from your belt.
Aim at heads and legs to stagger villagers, then finish them before the crowd closes in.
Collect money and treasure, and spend it at the merchant to upgrade and buy weapons.
Try The Mercenaries mode once you know the controls, for score challenges.

Screenshots

Resident Evil 4 VR screenshot: a giant roaring creature looms over the player, who holds a large knife beside a burning fire under a stormy sky

Resident Evil 4 VR screenshot: the player draws a bow at a sack-masked villager raising an axe on a wooden dock, a score counter above

Resident Evil 4 VR screenshot: the hooded merchant stands behind a candlelit counter of guns, ammunition boxes and eggs

Resident Evil 4 VR key art: a gloved hand presses against a cracked window showing Leon's face, a castle and a crowd of villagers with torches

Tips

Practise reloading in a quiet moment; doing it by hand takes getting used to.
Keep your back to a wall when crowds gather, and watch your sides.
Shoot a villager's leg to stop them, then use the knife to save ammunition.
Sell treasure to the merchant and spend on upgrades for the weapons you use most.