For years now, Capcom has made no bones about how their business plan resolves around getting people to play older games in a modern context. Sometimes this means remasters, like how Resident Evil‘s Gamecube remake was then remastered and brought to then-modern platforms in 2015. Other times, it means remakes, like Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and the upcoming Resident Evil 4. And with the march of technology, it also sometimes means updates that make the older backwards compatible titles look better on modern platforms.
That’s the case at least for Resident Evil 2 (2018), Resident Evil 3 (2019), and Resident Evil 7 (2017). All three games, Capcom has announced, will be getting updates later today to maximize compatibility with the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S|X, and more modern PC hardware. Those games have always been playable on those modern platforms, but the updates will up the resolution and soothe the loading times thanks to the built-in SSDs on modern platforms. For the PC versions, the minimum requirements are being jacked up a little.
There will be 4K support, 3D audio, and better framerates as well.
Most critically, though, is that these updates are free for existing owners. If you already own any of these games, you can replay them (or play them for the first time, I don’t judge backlogs) on modern systems. If you own them on disc, you can just pop the disc into the new console and get the update. If you own them digitally, the update should just come with the next time you download the game. If you own the disc but now own a discless variant of the current consoles — a PlayStation 5 Digital Edition or a Xbox Series S — you might be out of luck here.
These updates were rumored to come for the last few weeks, with updated files appearing on PSN and found by data miners. Capcom also confirmed that save data and DLC will also move over.
Capcom’s Showcase is part of Fanbyte’s Hot Game Summer coverage, where we’re bringing you recaps and commentary on this summer’s game presentations like Xbox’s showcase, the PC Gaming Show, and the all-encompassing Summer Game Fest hosted by Geoff Keighley. If you’re interested in seeing all Fanbyte’s coverage, check out our Hot Game Summer 2022 hub.
