Digital Foundry Direct: RE Village DRM, Plague Tale & Retro Hardware

Resident Evil Village DRM and Performance

This episode addresses the ongoing controversy regarding Resident Evil Village on PC.

• Performance Discrepancies: It was discovered that a cracked version of the game, which removes the Denuvo DRM, significantly outperformed the official retail release.
• The Issue: DRM, particularly when layered across multiple systems, is causing severe performance stutters and input issues for legitimate users, which is described as "totally unacceptable."
• Positive Development: Shortly after recording, Capcom confirmed they are working on a patch to address these performance problems, validating the concerns raised by the PC gaming community.

Plague Tale: Innocence on Consoles

Technical analysis of the next-gen update for A Plague Tale: Innocence reveals interesting findings regarding high refresh rates:

• 120Hz Support: Unexpected 120Hz support was found on Xbox Series consoles, allowing for an uncapped frame rate that benefits users with VRR (Variable Refresh Rate) displays.
• Development Oversight: Evidence suggests this was likely an accidental feature rather than a deliberate, optimized mode, as it lacks consistent performance across hardware.

Retro Discussions and Hardware

Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

The team reviews the Switch release of Skyward Sword HD, noting that it successfully addresses many of the original game's flaws, such as restrictive dialogue and lack of camera control, transforming it into a much more accessible and enjoyable experience.

FPGA and Retro Tech

• CPS2 Cores: New public support for Capcom Play System 2 (CPS2) games on the MiSTer FPGA project is highlighted as a major advancement for hardware-accurate preservation and CRT gaming.
• N64 Digital Mods: Digital Foundry explores new HDMI mods for the Nintendo 64 that allow for cleaner signals, de-blurring features, and improved scaling, making the console's library visually tolerable on modern displays.

Crysis Remastered Feedback Loop

John explains how the team is working with Crytek to provide direct feedback on Crysis 2 and 3 Remastered builds, hoping to avoid the technical pitfalls encountered during the initial Crysis Remastered launch.

"I honestly think if there's a lesson to be learned from this, it's that if you're going to add DRM... it's got to be part of your technical validation process."