It appears Capcom is only planning to release Resident Evil Village on next-generation hardware. Apparently, the reason for such a decision is nestled within the company’s various ambitions for the new mainline entry. A bigger focus on exploration in Resident Evil Village reportedly left current-gen versions riddled with pop-ins, load times, and other visual issues.
Word on the matter comes by way of Twitter user AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem, an industry insider who correctly leaked a few details about RE Village. According Dusk Golem, the new title was indeed previously built with a cross-gen launch in mind. However, “the way RE8 was designed [led] to past-gen consoles having a lot of pop-in/long texture loads/load times, because the game has you traveling through most of the Village and had a lot of load zones.”
Dusk Golem adds that RE Village’s “bigger focus on exploration” caused significant issues for current-gen hardware. In turn, this held back how beautifully realized Capcom could make the game in certain areas. Ultimately, the development team cut its losses in favor of removing load times in their entirety, Dusk Golem claims. Such a move also allows Capcom to take RE Village’s “graphic overhaul” many steps further, without having to hassle over the limitations of current-gen technology.
The insider’s Twitter thread on the matter begins with the following tweet:
(1/3) Okay, I got some clarification on why they made RE8 next-gen only, when it was cross-gen previously. With the updated graphic fidelity overhaul they’re doing (still in progress), the way RE8 was designed lead to past-gen consoles having a lot of pop-in/long texture loads/
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) June 13, 2020
Capcom unveiled Resident Evil Village during Sony’s recent PlayStation 5 event. The game is slated to release on the PlayStation 5 on an unspecified date in 2021.
[Source: Dusk Golem on Twitter]
