Capcom has announced that a number of recentResident Evilgames are being shifted towards legacy status due to their reliance on DirectX 11. WhileResident Evil Villageand the remake ofResident Evil 4have both relied on DirectX 12 from day one, some of the previous mainlineREtitles needed to be updated post-launch to achieve the same effect.
A switch to DirectX 12 came simultaneously for all of the affected titles when Capcom releasedupdates for someResident Evilgames— namely2,4, and7— in August 2022, the highlight feature of which was the introduction of ray tracing. Though a welcome upgrade, it’s worth pointing out that the shift to a newer version of DirectX did not come without its own set of growing pains, as all three titles suffered a performance drop compared to their old DirectX 11 versions.
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The three aforementionedResident Evilgames subsequently received an optional legacy DirectX 11 mode on Steam to allow users to play whichever version they wanted, depending on the capabilities of their PC. Curiously enough, Capcom has now confirmed that these DX 11 builds ofResident Evil 2,Resident Evil 3, andResident Evil 7will no longer receive technical support starting on June 14, 2025. This isn’t necessarily a huge issue in and of itself, it’s worth pointing out, as the DX 11 versions will remain optionally accessible, but it may be a problem in the future.
Specifically, Capcom’s announcement says that “after technical support has ended,” there will be no guarantee that the DX 11 versions remain compatible and/or operable. In other words, if something breaks after late 2023, it’s going to stay that way indefinitely. Though the recent release of thewidely acclaimedResident Evil 4is still in its heyday, the olderREtitles and remakes remain a compelling option for horror game fans, making this announcement very noteworthy for gamers with lower-spec PCs.
There’s still no word onwhat the nextResident Evilremake might be, but the odds are good that Capcom will continue the trend in some respect. With DirectX 11 now fully out of the question, new titles will likely perform similarly toRE: Villageand theRE4remake, which may mean leaving older rigs behind for good, in some cases.
It’s also possible that Capcom may have some future plans for the three affected titles, though it’s difficult to imagine what those may end up being. Much more likely is that the studio simply doesn’t wish to support old, legacy builds of its previous games and that it’s instead looking to focus on theinevitableResident Evil 9and other franchise offerings.
