The Oculus Quest 2 has only been available for a little over six months, but the latest headset from Facebook has already been making waves, especially in the fitness community. When taking into account price, accessibility, and ease of use, there is perhaps no better option right now other than the Oculus Quest 2. If there has been one potential downside to the headset so far, however, it has been that it’s lacking a single killer app.
Well, that finally looks poised to change later this year as Oculus announced just recently that Armature Studio is transforming Capcom’s beloved 2005 release of Resident Evil 4 into a new VR iteration. The classic action-adventure game, which normally takes place from a behind-the-shoulder, third-person perspective, has been recreated from the ground-up to be played from a first-person viewpoint. The project looks ambitious, to say the least, but it’s also one that has many longtime fans excited.
What’s perhaps more intriguing about Resident Evil 4 VR though comes with how accessible it will be to those looking to use virtual reality for fitness purposes. If you’re reading this article, after all, you’re likely interested in trying to find new games that will help you stay in shape. And even though this new remake or RE4 hasn’t been made with fitness in mind at the forefront, that doesn’t mean that it can’t be beneficial when it comes to helping you stay active.
Although there’s still a lot we have yet to see of Resident Evil 4 VR, let’s examine what we have been shown so far and determine whether or not it will be a good game to add to your own library if you’re trying to move your body.
Freedom to Move About
Likely the most beneficial component of Resident Evil 4 VR that we’ve seen so far for fitness enthusiasts comes with how movement will work in the game. Rather than simply turning RE4 into a first-person experience that would be on-rails (or something of the sort), Oculus, Armature, and Capcom are still giving players complete freedom to move about the game’s iconic world.
Armature has specifically packed in a handful of different movement styles for Resident Evil 4 VR. The default scheme will let users move about with the Oculus Quest 2 thumbsticks, allowing Leon to walk around in the same manner as he would in the original game. Conversely, those who can’t handle the fluid motion of this type while in VR will have a teleportation option as well, which will simply let them point and choose where they want to go in a given area.
The best news though for fitness fans is that Armature is also adding a room-scale movement option as well. This means that you’ll be able to move in a one-to-one manner around some environments within Resident Evil 4 VR. The first step for any good fitness game in VR is to encourage prospective players to play a game while standing up rather than sitting down. For the most part, it looks like RE4 VR will be a game that is better experienced when standing on your own two feet rather than sitting slumped in a chair.
Constant Upper Body Motion
This is perhaps a bit of a given, but Resident Evil 4 VR is going to not only have you walking around your own home quite a bit, but you should also be moving your hands and arms a lot as well. This doesn’t just mean that you’ll be aiming to shoot enemies left and right, but you’ll also have to perform constant other actions as well. Resident Evil 4 VR forces you to perform a number of tasks manually, such as reloading your weapons, using healing spray, and interacting with items in the environment.
Speaking of items, one major change in Resident Evil 4 VR is that obtainable items will actually be placed in environments for you to pick up on your own. In the original game, ammo, healing herbs, and other accessories that you might come across would simply be found on the ground and could be picked up with the press of a button. Now, if you want to get these items you’ll have to physically move your hands and arms to where they are located and pick them up like you would anything else in the real world.
And if you have played Resident Evil 4 before, you’re probably well-prepared to be putting your knife to good use. Although RE4 contains far more ammo than other games in the series, there are instances where you’ll want to conserve your ammunition in favor of trying to take down some zombies with your knife. As such, you’ll be flailing around your arms more wildly and more frequently than you would likely expect.
While none of these tasks are going to lead to you moving your hands and arms as much as you would in a game like Beat Saber or Supernatural, Resident Evil 4 VR is constantly promoting upper body movement of some sort, which is great to see.
Horror Makes the Heart Race
This is perhaps an element of Resident Evil 4 VR that you might not think about as being beneficial for your health, but the fact that the game falls within the horror genre might prove to be a good thing for you. Although it’s not the scariest game in the Resident Evil series by any means, there are absolutely some stressful and tense moments within RE4. I dare you to not get freaked out the first time you see a psycho sprinting at you with a chainsaw.
All of this is to say that the game might have more than one way of getting your heart rate to increase. While the movement of both your body and hands might be a great first step to getting your heart to pump a little harder, the increased stress, fear, and dread that you might get while playing could help contribute to this as well.
Not to mention, Oculus has also said that it’s trying to actively lean into making Resident Evil 4 a bit more frightening. While it’s not doing this by adding anything wholly new to the core game, it has utilized the Oculus Quest 2’s spatial audio to create environments that are eerier than any other iteration of Resident Evil 4 that we’ve seen before. So even if you have played through RE4 previously and don’t think the game has anything spooky left in store for you, this new edition in virtual reality might prove to be quite different.
Is it Worth Your Time? + Release Plans
So is Resident Evil 4 VR going to be a marquee game that fitness enthusiasts should look to pick up? Well, perhaps. Everything that we have seen of this remake so far tells us that it’s doing far more to promote real-time motion than you might expect. While it’s not going to stack up one-to-one with games that have been made specifically with fitness in mind, there are a lot of positive takeaways to have here. Not to mention, the fact that the game is coming to VR in any capacity is simply awesome. If you’re looking for a nice change of pace when it comes to what you spend your time playing, this could be just that.
At this point in time, we still don’t know exactly when Resident Evil 4 is going to launch. Oculus and Armature have only said so far that the VR remake will be arriving later on in 2021. A specific window within the year has yet to be narrowed down.
What we do know with certainty, however, is that this is one game that will only be available on Oculus Quest 2. Yes, even if you have the original Oculus Quest, this new edition of Resident Evil 4 will only be available on the second version of the headset. So if this is a game you’re looking to play later in the year, you might want to look to buy one in the near future.
If that’s an investment you are going to make, though, there are far more reasons to pick up the Quest 2 other than Resident Evil 4 VR. You can check out some of the other great fitness uses for the device in our dedicated article right here.
