Capcom has announced a new playable demo for the upcoming Resident Evil Village, but it’s surprisingly confusing figuring out how – and when – you can actually play the demo.
The hour-long playable demo will be available across all the same platforms as the game itself – PS4, PS5, Stadia, Steam, Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S – but only for 24 hours. PlayStation players will get the chance to play it early, but only in two specific 8-hour windows that vary depending on where you live.
Confused yet? Don’t worry, we’ll explain.
What is the Resident Evil Village demo?
What you’ve got to look forward to is an hour of gameplay across the game’s early village and castle sections. Unlike the scripted, PlayStation-exclusive first demo, this gameplay slice sounds much more open.
You’ll be able to do what you like in either – or both – of the two areas, but will be limited to 60 minutes total – so choose wisely.
When does the Village demo drop?
The demo will be available across every platform on 1 May at 5pm PDT/8pm EDT in the US, which works out as 2 May at 1am BST/2am CEST for those of us in Europe.
The hour-long gameplay section will be available for free from your platform store of choice, but will only be playable for 24 hours, so you’ll have to act fast to get access.
How to play the Village demo earlier on PS4 or PS5
Players with a Sony console will get to play the demo earlier, but the rules are even more complicated. Instead of an hour across both gameplay sections, you’ll get half an hour in each of the village and castle, spread across two limited time windows when the demo will be accessible.
First up is the village half. This will only be available for eight hours this weekend:
- 17 April from 5pm until 1am PST in the US
- 18 April from 4pm until midnight BST in the UK
Exactly a week later the castle will become available for another eight hours, playable at these times:
- 24 April from 5pm until 1am PST in the US
- 25 April from 4pm until midnight BST in the UK
As a reminder, within each 8-hour window you can only actually play the demo for a maximum of 30 minutes. PS4 and PS5 players can at least start pre-loading the demo already.
Resident Evil Village launches worldwide on 7 May, and Resi fans also have the new animated Netflix series Infinite Darkness to look forward to when that debuts in July.
