At the iPhone 15 launch event on Sept. 12, Apple revealed a selection of games with console-like performance will head to iOS devices. One of the games shown was Resident Evil Village, and I was able to spend some time with this, now, “mobile” game.
Resident Evil Village on iOS is a remarkable sight to see. It’s hard to tell any difference between playing the game on a console. From the accurate textures on the characters to the lighting and shadow effects, the game looked as good as it did as when I played it on the PlayStation 5 back in 2021. Normally a big-budget game of this caliber on an iOS device looks nowhere near the same quality as it is on a console.
I played Resident Evil Village on a sixth-generation iPad Pro that is powered by Apple’s M2 chip. According to Capcom, Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake can be played on the iPhone 15 Pro and Max as well as iPads with M1 or later generation chips. The game does have touchscreen controls that are very responsible, but I was given an Xbox Bluetooth controller, which worked fine, although there was just a hint of lag.
How the touch controls look while playing.
As for the game itself, it’s a spot-on mobile version of Resident Evil Village. My playthrough was at the start of the game and lasted for only about 20 minutes, but this did give me time to see the details of characters in the cutscenes as well as get into some action moments. While playing, I had to remind myself that I was playing on an iPad and wasn’t just streaming the game on something like Xbox Game Pass or GeForce Now.
Everything I saw in this iPad version of Village was as I remembered it on the console. From the details of the close-up shots of the lycans to seeing footprints in the snow as I walked around, there wasn’t anything I could see that would make it clear that I was playing a mobile version of the game.
Since the game’s graphics were on par with the console version, I checked out the display settings in the options menu and was surprised to see how extensive of a list there was. Text quality, frames per second, shadows, lighting, bloom and other graphic options were available to help fine-tune the graphics for whatever device it’s being played on. It will be interesting to see if the iPhone 15 Pro can max out these settings when the game comes out or if that’s only possible with an iPad powered by an M2 chip.
Resident Evil Village comes out on Oct. 30 for $30 on the App Store and is already available for preorder. Capcom is implementing cross-save functionality for those who already have the Mac version of the game. There will also be a portion of the game available for free, similar to a demo, where those interested can check out the game for themselves before deciding to buy.
