It seems that the Resident Evil franchise is simply screaming out for virtual reality mods to up the immersive terror even more. The release of Resident Evil 4 on VR last year showed that there was definitely potential, and that taking the most influential horror franchise in gaming history and translating it to VR only makes the experience that much better. Given that there are plenty of entries in the series, it remains to be seen what some of the other titles would look like with a VR makeover, but one person has managed to do that to two of the newer games.
Uploading the files to GitHub recently, modder Praydog has managed to create virtual reality mods for two recent Resident Evil games, namely the remakes of 2 and 3. On top of this, they've also been working on a virtual reality mod for Resident Evil Village, which is available for download, but is considered a "work in progress" at the moment. VR for RE2 and RE3 remakes are also in "early states," but the download page lists a number of features in them, which include full motion controls, knife damage, and grenade throwing capabilities. Praydog even released a 20-minute video showing footage of them playing the VR version of RE2.
This also means that the games are now in first-person, rather than third-person. Playing in this perspective is something that fans may have become accustomed to in the newer games, despite them being a departure from the classic games in the series. A couple of years ago, Praydog even released a mod for Resident Evil 2 remake which adds first-person, so perhaps turning them into virtual reality games was just the next logical step.
As a series, RE experienced a bit of a lull between the fourth and seventh game, but is currently in the midst of a resurgence which it's been enjoying since 2017. In fact, Resident Evil Village recently won this year's Steam Awards, beating out the likes of Valheim, Cyberpunk 2077, and Forza Horizon 5. It shows how much life is still left in the influential horror franchise.
With the Resident Evil entries often dominating lists of the best survival horror games of all time, it's a franchise that has stood the test of time for decades now. With Praydog releasing the RE2 and RE3 VR mods, there's an opportunity for fans to re-experience the horror in more immersive and tech-defining ways.