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Resident Evil Village's convoluted demo schedule heads to Castle Dimitrescu this weekend

As long as you're on PS4 or PS5.

Resident Evil Village arrives in exactly two weeks, on 7th May, and Capcom is attempting to stoke enthusiasm for its release with a needlessly convoluted demo roll-out that continues this weekend on PS4 and PS5 with a trek into Castle Dimitrescu. Consider this a reminder!

As it announced last week, Capcom is spreading its Resident Evil Village demo over three weeks - but which bits you get to play, when, and for how long depend entirely on your platform of choice. Last weekend, for instance, saw Capcom opening the gates to Village's, er, village for a total of eight hours on PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 - although participants were only actually allowed to explore the demo for 30 minutes.

It's the same format again tomorrow, but, this time, PlayStation players can explore the shadowy halls of Castle Dimitrescu - home of internet favourite Lady Dimitrescu (pronounced Dimitresc, don't you know) - for 30 minutes during the demo's eight hours availability window.

Cover image for YouTube video
Resident Evil Village - 'Castle' Demo Trailer.

If you're in the UK, the demo goes live on Sunday, 25th April, at 6pm and will remain available until 2am, 26th April. In North America, that's 24th April at 5pm PT until 25th April at 1am.

If prior engagements - or just general disdain for Capcom's marketing nonsense - prevent you from taking part this weekend, there'll be another chance to explore Castle Dimitrescu, as well as the previously available village area, next week, this time on all platforms.

Starting at 1am on Sunday, 2nd May, in the UK (1st May at 5pm PT in North America), Capcom will be releasing a third demo, granting access to both previously available locations, for a 24-hour period on PlayStation 5, PS4, Stadia, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S. Players can dip in and out of both locations, but only for a total of 60 minutes.

So there you go; two remaining opportunities to play Resident Evil Village ahead of release, two more opportunities to curse Capcom for not letting players consume its pre-launch interactive advertisement when their busy life-schedule permits. Oh, and if you're wondering how the game itself is shaping up, why not let Eurogamer's Aoife Wilson have a word?