Update from 15/07 at 13:50 p.m.:
In the end, it didn't take long for Capcom to react to the analysis conducted by Digital Foundry on the poor performance of the PC version of Resident Evil Village compared to its pirated version. The Japanese giant has indeed contacted the specialized team of Eurogamer to inform them that a patch is being produced.
"Our teams are working on a patch to address performance issues on PC, which should be available soon. We will share more details shortly,” Capcom said.
Good news for PC players, who should soon be able to fully enjoy the otherwise visually pleasing Resident Evil Village experience without having to resort to piracy.
Si Resident evil village sold very well in two months of exercise, its PC version seems to suffer from performance drops due to its protections against piracy, where a hacked version of the game, which is obviously devoid of it, runs like a charm on a identical setup.
It is in any case a rumor that ran in the streets of the village, until our colleagues at Digital Foundry carried out their investigation and confirmed the sad truth. A situation visibly known since the launch of Resident Evil Village two months ago, among other performance concerns, which have obviously still not been corrected since.
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Drop in performance at the Village due to the Vigipirate plan
As of May 7, 2021, the PC version of Resident Evil Village is subject to numerous technical and performance issues. In combat in particular, certain animations such as opening fire or an enemy charge can cause serious jerks. Another example of sluggish performance can be found on the side of Lady Dimitrescu's daughters, when they assault Ethan with their swarms of insects, causing major jerks and framerate drops.
The reason behind these particularly poor performances would be on the side of the double protection against piracy that Resident Evil Village houses. On the one hand, the Denuvo DRM, infamous for the significant additional load it exerts on the processor, and on the other, Capcom's in-house protection.
A double protection which obviously was not enough, since a pirated version of Resident Evil Village ended up seeing the light of day. A feat that also had the side effect of drastically improving the performance of the game once this double protection a priori removed.
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Waiting for repairs
If pirating is of course to be avoided as much as possible, unfortunately it seems that, in the last two months, Capcom has not done much to improve the technical aspect of Resident Evil Village. This leaves PC gamers in a tricky situation where the official version of the title may prove unplayable, unlike its pirated version.
It should be remembered that this is not a first for a Capcom game: in 2019, Devil May Cry 5 had suffered from the same performance concerns, a priori due to DRM Denuvo. Over time, the Japanese giant agreed to remove this protection, resulting in a real leap in performance of around twenty frames per second.
Digital Foundry, however, is cautious in its analysis: comparing the official version and the pirated version, the only difference and the only apparent culprit for this performance gap would be behind the double anti-piracy protection. However, it could be that the group that hacked Resident Evil Village did not completely erase the latter.
Richard Leadbetter, editor of Digital Foundry, concluded: “In an alternative scenario, let's say the hackers didn't clean the game of its DRM. In this case, the only logical explanation would be that they managed to optimize the game in a way that has totally eluded Capcom for two months. Let's hope for them that this is not the case and that this comprehensive analysis from Digital Foundry will be the springboard for a change for the better.
