Playing through Resident Evil 8 VR made me realize that I only a fraction of a fraction of people will be in the same situation as me. That is to say that as a person who could afford a Playstation VR2, never played any VR other than PSVR1, and never played Resident Evil 8 before, it is hard to imagine many people being in my position. That being said, I wanted to write a review because I think RE8VR figured out something about survival horror that I had not even considered.
Survival Horror as a concept has been codified to mean something that makes getting through the game tougher and more resource focused. Whether that is through challenging game play and forcing you to use healing items, movement systems that force you to be more deliberate, and limited inventory space, Survival Horror hinges on the player making (hopefully) interesting choices to get through the game. As time went on however, Survival Horror as a concept will cling onto some of these concepts, and leave others behind to make getting through the game more akin to an action game than something you have to "survive" through. Resident Evil turned from a Survival Horror series into more Horror Themed action series. RE8VR keeps this tradition, and it is very much an action game, but the VR adds two important things: the VR enables visuals with added depth, and motion controls that, by default, require you to manually reload your weapons.
The first added thing is obvious: what makes VR virtual is how the environment now has full depth, but it is surprising how much RE8 feels like it was made for VR. Perhaps this is just how the developers use a first person perspective, or remnants of how Resident Evil 7 in VR was made, but there are moments and environments that seemed tailor made for virtual reality. Whether it is something going right into your face, or the ability to look around and look right at the monster approaching you, never has Resident Evil felt like a horror movie (perhaps not since RE7VR).
The second thing isn't as obvious, which is how the game by default requires you to use motion controls to take out and reload your weapons. Some VR games are compatible with a normal controller, RE8VR utilizes the PSVR2 motion controllers to aim, choose your weapons, and reload. Reloading via motion controls is on by default, and it is something you can turn off, but new functionality redefined what Survival Horror meant for me. Before, it would be about what handicaps the player has in order to facilitate interesting choices, but now with manual reloading, the ability you have to precisely reload a gun while something is trying to harm you adds a new dimension to Resident Evil. In games like Resident Evil 4, being able to shoot with a laser sight and reload like a button made you feel like a special ops badass, but fumbling to put in a clip, trying the trigger, and then having to remember to cock the gun, only for you to run away from whatever harm is quickly approaching you, reintroduces the horror and interesting choices. As the game progresses, you get better and better, but then as you get more powerful guns, figuring out how to reload them in the middle of a fight is something you have to relearn as the game progresses.
These two things work in harmony to bring what could be a new direction for the Resident Evil series (well, at least in VR). Having things that pop out at you, and then fumbling to make sure you can continue to defend yourself, makes for an experience that I really enjoyed. Survival Horror becomes more about that moment when you realize that reloading your new pistol isn't how it used to be, and scrambling to pick yourself up and put yourself back into a place of power. It just feels right to be in the shoes of RE8VR protagonist Ethan Winter's shoes, and not knowing how to reload a sniper rifle while fighting a dragon. It feels like the ideal way to play the game for me.
While is was ideal for me, it should be said that it isn't a perfect experience. With some cut scenes still being in 2D (including the ending), some loss of motion tracking (only happened to me once in a fight, but it wasn't great), some graphics clearly not being made to be looked up close (it was also a bummer to try and read any book titles as they were always blurry), and special modes like Mercenaries not making the cut (no trophy support was also disappointing, but I'd rather had more modes than trophies), it feels like all the polish and time went into the full game, and they didn't have the time or money to work on anything else. Overall though, Resident Evil 8 VR redefined what it means to be a scary game, and the potential they can have to make some fun, scary times.
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