Resident Evil 4 VR omits certain questionable pieces of dialogue and animation to better fit the expectations of a modern audience, Oculus has confirmed.
The changes were captured on video by Eurogamer, which found that several pieces of dialogue between Leon and his Secret Service handler Ingrid Hannigan had been edited: for instance, the line where Leon asks Ingrid if she got "lonely" when she didn't hear from him for six hours has been removed from Resident Evil 4 VR. The edit points in this and other radio transmission scenes are indicated by in-game static.
On the other hand, a cinematic scene where Leon's local ally Luis Sera makes a suggestive comment upon meeting Ashley Graham has been edited to quietly skip that part, though Ashley now just seems inexplicably angry at him. These are some of several alterations to what could be charitably described as the original game's intermittent, weirdly horny tone.
"Oculus Studios, Armature, and Capcom partnered closely to remaster Resident Evil 4 from the ground up for VR," a Facebook representative explained to Eurogamer. "This includes immersive environments and high-resolution graphics. It also includes select changes to in-game dialogue and animations that we believe will update Resident Evil 4 for a modern audience."
The alterations, which were initially called out by Happy Warrior, must have been a difficult call for the developers, given Resident Evil 4's status as a horror classic. While the radio scenes are presented in the context of a sexy secret agent flirting with a colleague, they could also be interpreted as Leon just being a massive creep. As the creators of this new version rebuilt the entire game from the ground up for VR, it's easy enough to see why they would prefer to leave those parts behind - even if their absence leaves the rest a little choppy.
Changes aside, we'll have to wait and see whether this new version of Resident Evil 4 earns a spot in our list of the best horror games.
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