I Finally Played Something in VR! Resident Evil 4 First Impressions

While VR might not be the brightest spot for reviews currently, it is still gaining traction as a viable video game medium. VR has been around for years in some capacity, but I have never had the opportunity to experience it myself in a way that would make me feel like I actually tried it out.

For starters, I wear glasses and usually have issues with wearing my contacts for extended periods of time, especially with something strapped to my face. Also, due to financial reasons, I couldn't afford to pick up another expensive gaming peripheral that I may not use to its fullest extent.

Cut to Christmas 2022. My partner got her son an Oculus Quest 2 that came with Resident Evil 4 in VR.

We had no plans for him to ever play this game, at least not for years, as RE4 can sometimes get quite scary. We downloaded it after Christmas, but there were never any plans for anyone to play it (I joked about wanting to play it, but it's his system, you know?)

And then life happened: I never had the time, it wasn't set up properly, something, something, something.

Until last night.

My fiancée, in her ADHD hyper-fixation mode, decided to get the Oculus set up in the living room. We moved the coffee table, and then she set the boundaries, set up the headset, and decided to play the game herself.

We weren't able to get the stream to the TV working correctly, but it was streaming to her phone, so I was watching her play, completely absorbed in it, remembering every little detail of a game I had beat a dozen times over, over a dozen years ago (the original release date for RE4 was Jan 11th, 2005).

And she crushed it! She learned a new game and new mechanics in just moments, which was very impressive. (For backstory, she isn't a "gamer." I got her into video games recently, and she is much better than she thinks.)

I watched her play for about 40 minutes, with her regrettably dying in the village fight (the OGs will know what I mean), and it was fantastic. The graphics were good, the audio was crisp, and the mechanics seemed to be working well (There were some issues with her height, the calibration, and whatnot, but she got through it).

After she died, she took the headset off and offered it to me: "Go get your contacts in. You need to try this!"

At 9:30 at night, I popped in my eyeball fixers and strapped this headset to my face.

I know how VR works vaguely, as I have used it a little bit in the past: grab the controllers, wave them around, push buttons, etc. I started a new game and skipped past all the opening cut scenes—cut scenes I had seen so often that I could quote most of them.

The game opens with you going to a simple farmhouse to look for a local to question. You ask a few questions, and they reply in Spanish, which the character (and I) don't speak. Then, as you start to turn around, they reach for an ax and take a swing at you!

Cut to the first important part of the game. In RE4VR, there are two weapon modes: immersive and quick select. Quick select requires you to hold a button, and a "weapon wheel" appears, letting you select what you want as time slows down in the game.

I am playing in VR for the immersion. So, I went with "immersive."

When that villager started walking toward me, and I pulled my service pistol from my hip, and Leon did the same thing IN-GAME?! This. This is what VR is all about.

The man was slowly walking closer. I lifted my hand in real life, as Leon did in the game.

I took aim.

I took a breath.

I fired.

*click*

What?

*click-click-click*

Ammo! I needed to load a clip into my gun and then chamber a round!

I quickly reached to my left hip to grab the clip, slammed it into my gun, and racked the slide back. It made a very satisfying "ch-chik" sound.

I aimed again.

With the red light dancing over the face of my enemy, this time correctly, I squeezed the trigger again.

*BLAM!*

The round hit home, square in the face of my target, and they dropped to the floor.

The next cut scene started as I breathed out heavily.

My fiancé started laughing at the smile on my face. I was SO excited to perform these actions in real life and have my in-game avatar do the exact same thing.

I played for about another 45 minutes, going through the game's first chapter. I died zero times and had an accuracy of 87%! I'll take that!

I put the headset down for the night and reflected on how this almost 20-year-old game that I have played dozens of times on a few different systems has all been great. This play-through was the best by far. I spun left and right, aimed behind me while walking forward, shooting behind myself as I pulled weapons off of my body to wield in combat. I PULLED A GRENADE OFF MY CHEST AND THREW IT AT AN ENEMY! I had to pull the pin and everything!

I'm not posting this as a review of VR as a whole or even this game. I just wanted to talk about my experience with VR. As a lifelong gamer, I have tried to experience any and all new techs and peripherals that come out, but finances don't always allow that. I don't know how good a current VR game is, but now that I have experienced it myself, I am more excited to dive into more VR games and see where they take me!

Quick side note - I didn't experience any motion sickness, but my stomach was a little queasy afterwards, for a few minutes. I was also grossly sweaty and took another shower right afterwards.