I'm not referring to the game being the best VR experience, being the most immersive, having the deepest "wow!" factor, making you glad you have a VR headset, and having tons of fun with it, or having the best game mechanics, or being really enjoyable to play. I mean, it can arguably be said to be all that, and more, and it really is up there with the best of the best (easily on the top 10 list of all VR games, perhaps even top 5, no matter how you choose to measure it), but that's not the actual reason why I think it's the best VR game so far.
I think Resident Evil 7 is the best VR game so far because it dispels many notions that many people had, and to a large extent still have, about VR games. It dares to go against common notions (especially those promoted by Valve) about how VR games should be, and how they should be made.
For starters, it showcases beautifully that "regular" games and VR games can mix (unlike so many people were so adamant to say, some even to this day). This game shows that the one and same game can be made so that it can be played normally, or in VR, and still work well both ways. This is not a VR-only title. It doesn't exclude the 99.6% of the potential userbase that does not own a VR headset, which is smart.
I have been saying it for two years now that the complete wall of separation between VR games and regular games is a big mistake. Many people have responded to me claiming that VR and regular games just don't mix, and that you have to design games specifically for one or the other. Resident Evil 7 beautifully proves this assertion wrong.
Secondly, this game forgoes the more gimmicky VR controls, and controllers. It doesn't try to play with the gimmicks, and instead it simply goes straight to the tried and true good old-fashioned choice of using the regular game controller, skipping the gimmick controllers completely.
Moreover, it doesn't restrict movement to stupid teleportation. Instead, movement is just completely normal analog movement, like in any other game played from the first-person perspective.
And no stupid "room-scale VR" either (which is just horrendously limiting when it comes to gameplay mechanics)!
For months and months people were exclaiming how you can't have a VR game where you move like in regular games, that it would cause immediate nausea and projectile vomiting. And once again this game proves that assertion wrong (at least in my case, and in tons of cases, given that it seems to use this mode of control without much problems). Turning the camera is more of a problem, which most games of this type, including this one, alleviate by supporting stepped turning, as a well-working compromise. Luckily stepped turning doesn't detract much from the normal playing experience.
(While not the first VR game to offer this kind of controls, it's certainly one of the biggest ones in the forefront of this, again beautifully demonstrating that you don't need a stupid teleportation mechanic in order for the game to be perfectly playable. I can play the game for hours in end without feeling any sort of nausea or exhaustion.)
Essentially, you play this game with the normal controller as you would play any first-person shooter (just with stepped turning to alleviate nausea, if you need it), and with the addition of being able to look around by turning your head. The tried and true method of control of first-person games works beautifully here. Aiming (eg. a gun) by looking at the direction where you want to shoot works exceptionally well (in fact, it works better than aiming in non-VR games with a controller. In some sense it works even better than aiming with a mouse, even though obviously it can't be as fast for physical reasons.)
Thirdly, and more subtly, Resident Evil 7 has been designed to be a video game, not a VR game. It's not designed to be what essentially amounts to an extended VR technology demo, like so many other games. It doesn't have in-game gimmicks that try to artificially demonstrate VR, or its controls. It's not an in-your-face "look at me, this is VR, isn't this cool?" game.
By this I don't mean it's just a regular game with VR artificially tacked on. It's a regular game that has been designed to be playable and enjoyable in VR as well. It's first and foremost a horror game, with good (but optional) VR support. And that's how it should be. (This kind of goes back to my first point above.)
Not that VR games should never, ever take advantage of the possibilities that VR offers, and offer something unique to that platform. It's just that when a game is too much designed to be essentially a VR technology demo, being an actual good and fun game can easily become secondary.
Resident Evil 7 is what VR games should be, and that's why it's the best VR game so far.
I think Resident Evil 7 is the best VR game so far because it dispels many notions that many people had, and to a large extent still have, about VR games. It dares to go against common notions (especially those promoted by Valve) about how VR games should be, and how they should be made.
For starters, it showcases beautifully that "regular" games and VR games can mix (unlike so many people were so adamant to say, some even to this day). This game shows that the one and same game can be made so that it can be played normally, or in VR, and still work well both ways. This is not a VR-only title. It doesn't exclude the 99.6% of the potential userbase that does not own a VR headset, which is smart.
I have been saying it for two years now that the complete wall of separation between VR games and regular games is a big mistake. Many people have responded to me claiming that VR and regular games just don't mix, and that you have to design games specifically for one or the other. Resident Evil 7 beautifully proves this assertion wrong.
Secondly, this game forgoes the more gimmicky VR controls, and controllers. It doesn't try to play with the gimmicks, and instead it simply goes straight to the tried and true good old-fashioned choice of using the regular game controller, skipping the gimmick controllers completely.
Moreover, it doesn't restrict movement to stupid teleportation. Instead, movement is just completely normal analog movement, like in any other game played from the first-person perspective.
And no stupid "room-scale VR" either (which is just horrendously limiting when it comes to gameplay mechanics)!
For months and months people were exclaiming how you can't have a VR game where you move like in regular games, that it would cause immediate nausea and projectile vomiting. And once again this game proves that assertion wrong (at least in my case, and in tons of cases, given that it seems to use this mode of control without much problems). Turning the camera is more of a problem, which most games of this type, including this one, alleviate by supporting stepped turning, as a well-working compromise. Luckily stepped turning doesn't detract much from the normal playing experience.
(While not the first VR game to offer this kind of controls, it's certainly one of the biggest ones in the forefront of this, again beautifully demonstrating that you don't need a stupid teleportation mechanic in order for the game to be perfectly playable. I can play the game for hours in end without feeling any sort of nausea or exhaustion.)
Essentially, you play this game with the normal controller as you would play any first-person shooter (just with stepped turning to alleviate nausea, if you need it), and with the addition of being able to look around by turning your head. The tried and true method of control of first-person games works beautifully here. Aiming (eg. a gun) by looking at the direction where you want to shoot works exceptionally well (in fact, it works better than aiming in non-VR games with a controller. In some sense it works even better than aiming with a mouse, even though obviously it can't be as fast for physical reasons.)
Thirdly, and more subtly, Resident Evil 7 has been designed to be a video game, not a VR game. It's not designed to be what essentially amounts to an extended VR technology demo, like so many other games. It doesn't have in-game gimmicks that try to artificially demonstrate VR, or its controls. It's not an in-your-face "look at me, this is VR, isn't this cool?" game.
By this I don't mean it's just a regular game with VR artificially tacked on. It's a regular game that has been designed to be playable and enjoyable in VR as well. It's first and foremost a horror game, with good (but optional) VR support. And that's how it should be. (This kind of goes back to my first point above.)
Not that VR games should never, ever take advantage of the possibilities that VR offers, and offer something unique to that platform. It's just that when a game is too much designed to be essentially a VR technology demo, being an actual good and fun game can easily become secondary.
Resident Evil 7 is what VR games should be, and that's why it's the best VR game so far.
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