Capcom Keeps Its Promise: 'Resident Evil: Revelations 2' Coming To PlayStation Vita This Summer

"Resident Evil: Revelations" was created as a low-budget Nintendo 3DS spinoff to the zombie franchise after the crushing critical and commercial failure of "Resident Evil 6." The unprecedented success of the 3DS title spawned a more elaborate and better budgeted mainstream sequel in the form of "Resident Evil: Revelations 2." Although the spinoff found success on the 3DS, it was ignored altogether. Instead, the game was launched on the PC, PS4 and Xbox One platforms on February 24. However, the developer's original promise of a PS Vita version never really materialised. Just as fans had given up hopes of a portable version of "Revelations 2," Sony has announced that the Vita version is coming after all.

Like all low budget titles, the PlayStation Vita version will be a digital only release. The announcement on the PlayStation Blog hasn't provided any specific release date, but the game is said to be on schedule for a summer 2015 launch. The inordinate delay surrounding the release was expected. The development team had already experienced many troubles with the core PC and console versions of the game. "Resident Evil: Revelations 2" had scores of performance and optimisation issues, which weren't addressed until after the retail version of the game hit the store shelves more than a month after the release of the buggy first episode.

With the main version of the game in order and the weekly/monthly online challenges in place, Capcom finally seems to have the time on its hands to take up the PS Vita port. The blog post cites SCEA's Gio Corsi, who claims that the developer now has access to "all the code [required] to complete the porting of the project over to the PS Vita platform."

Even though the PS Vita version will be released after practically everyone else has finished the game, there's a silver lining in the form of all DLC content (available as of today) being included in the portable version. The blog post doesn't reveal what's special in the Vita version, but it does say that it will include gyroscopic aiming. Those who have played the original 3DS version of the first "Revelations" game should know how much of a difference the intuitive gyroscopic aiming feature can make to the core gameplay experience.

The PS Vita release will unfortunately ship without online co-op modes, according to Eurogamer. Like the core release of the game, this feature will be patched in at a later stage through an update. The developers cite the priority to port "Revelations 2" to the Vita as soon as possible as a justification for this move. In addition to regular online co-op functionality, the PS Vita version will also include ad-hoc multiplayer support. In layman's terms, this will allow gamers to wirelessly connect and play the game co-op without the need for internet connectivity.

Many fans of the spinoff have been disappointed by the absence of a 3DS version. This is especially the case because the game owes its success to Nintendo's portable platform. The 3DS' lack of power could be one of the major reasons for Capcom to have skipped it altogether. Then there's the fact that "Resident Evil: Revelations 2" was designed from the ground up as a game that supports two analogue sticks. This is a feature missing on most 3DS variants. At any rate, fans of portable gaming at least have the PS Vita version now.

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Resident Evil: Revelations 2 Trailer (Credit: Resident Evil channel)