During Sony’s E3 2016 press conference, the PlayStation 4 manufacturer announced that not only is Resident Evil VII: biohazard releasing in January of 2017 on PS4 (later revealed to also be coming to Xbox One and PC) but it would also be receiving full PS VR support, playable from start to finish inside Sony’s VR headset.
While many people at E3 suffered from motion sickness and other issues while playing the demo, those that did enjoy playing it on PS VR found a lot to love. Luckily, during the press conference Sony also revealed that not only would it be playable on PS VR at E3, but everyone with a PS Plus subscription on PS4 would also be able to download the demo to play outside of VR as well, known as Resident Evil 7 Teaser Demo: Beginning Hour.
Recently, Capcom revealed that over 2 million people have downloaded the demo so far, in less than a month’s time, making it the most popular singleplayer game demo of all-time. What makes this achievement even more surprising is the fact that the demo is not only exclusive to the PS4 currently, but it’s also only available to PS Plus subscribers. There are over 40 million PS4s in the wild today, but it’s still a shocking number that so many people in such a short period of time would all download and play the same demo.
Another factor at play here is undoubtedly the game’s striking similarities to P.T., the playable Silent Hills teaser that was stealthily released on PS4 to wide acclaim. Following the cancellation of Silent Hills and Hideo Kojima’s departure from Konami, P.T. was also removed from the PS Store. Unless you saved the demo on your harddrive, it’s gone forever. And now with Allison Road’s cancellation, the spiritual successor to P.T. that was also coming to VR, REVII, for many people, appears to be carrying the torch for fans of slow-paced, atmospheric first-person horror games.
Resident Evil VII: biohazard is the first game in the Resident Evil series to take a first-person approach, as all previous games have been played from the third-person perspective. For a series that popularized and helped birth the entire survival horror genre in video games, this is a huge move that’s dividing long-time fans.
Details about the game beyond what’s found in the demo are sparse, but we can expect more information soon. At least, that’s what this cryptic message from the official Resident Evil Twitter account would have us believe:
— Resident Evil (@RE_Games) July 4, 2016
Source: Capcom, ScreenRant
