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Resident Evil 4 VR gets The Mercenaries mode in a free update

Plus, Big Head mode comes to Resident Evil

Michael McWhertor is a journalist with more than 17 years of experience covering video games, technology, movies, TV, and entertainment.

Resident Evil 4’s virtual reality rework for Quest 2 headsets is getting a free update, one that will add the beloved Mercenaries mode from the original game. Oculus Studios, Capcom, and developer Armature Studio announced The Mercenaries in VR on Wednesday during the Meta Quest gaming showcase. The update is available today.

The VR version of The Mercenaries for Resident Evil 4 VR features online leaderboards and 20 new challenges for players to experience. Those challenges will unlock additional new features, like a Big Head Mode, a black-and-white Classic Horror Mode, and golden gun skins. Those unlocks will be accessible in the main game, after acquiring them in The Mercenaries.

Oculus Studios, Capcom, and Armature Studio released Resident Evil 4 VR in October 2021. The game reimagines Capcom’s classic survival horror action game in first-person. According to our colleagues at The Verge, it plays better than expected.

In the Mercenaries, players battle waves of enemies while given limited time and ammo, chaining together kill combos for higher scores. Resident Evil 4 VR’s version of The Mercenaries includes playable characters Leon S. Kennedy, Ada Wong, Hunk, Jack Krauser, and Albert Wesker.

Capcom introduced The Mercenaries as a bonus mode in the original Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. The mode wasn’t present in 2020’s Resident Evil 3 remake — Capcom opted for the 4v1 multiplayer game Resident Evil Resistance instead — or in Resident Evil 7 biohazard, but Capcom brought back the combo-focused, beat-the-clock mode for Resident Evil Village.

Resident Evil 4 was first released in 2005. Initially a GameCube exclusive, RE4 later came to Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Wii, Windows PC, Xbox 360, and Xbox One. Capcom previously experimented with VR in 2017’s Resident Evil 7 biohazard.

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