Resident Evil Village demo dates, times on PS5, PS4, Xbox and PC explained

Resident Evil Village demo editions, times and schedule explained

The Resident Evil Village demo rollout can be a little on the confusing side - here's a breakdown of how it works:

• There is a single demo available, allowing you to explore the village and castle areas of Resident Evil Village.
• All platforms - PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Steam and Stadia - will have access to this demo for a limited time for a week from the weekend of May 1st (this was originally just 24 hours until an extension offered by Capcom).
• PS5 and PS4 owners will have early access to this demo across the two weekends prior - the weekends of April 17th and April 24th - staggering out access to the Village and Castle areas respectively across these weekends.
• Access to all demos will be limited, both in availability as well as playtime. The PlayStation demos will be scheduled during an evening in both Europe and North America, while the final, multi-platform demo will start and end at the same time globally.
• Pre-loads will be available on all platforms ahead of each window.
• All demos will be free, and require no pre-orders or sign ups to access.

Note these demos are different to the Maiden demo, which was released exclusively on PlayStation 5 earlier this year - though it's possible some of the same areas might feature in the castle segments. You can watch a full playthrough of Maiden in the following video:

Resident Evil Village Maiden demo walkthrough (complete playthrough)

Resident Evil Village demo dates and times on PS4 and PS5 explained: When can you play 8 Hours in Village?

For PlayStation owners, you have three weekends in total to sample the Resident Evil Village demo, allowing you to explore the village and castle areas across two platform-exclusive weekends, then another alongside other platforms to explore either area as you choose.

On each weekend, you can only play the demo during an eight hour period, and play only for 30 minutes. Each period will go live during evening hours in the US and Europe.

The dates and times are as follows:

Village demo times (Saturday, April 17th or Sunday April 18th, PlayStation exclusive)

• West Coast US: April 17th, 5pm to April 18th, 1am (PDT)
• East Coast US: April 17th, 8pm to April 18th, 4am (EDT)
• UK: April 18th, 6pm to April 19th, 2am (BST)
• Europe: April 18th, 7pm to April 19th, 3am (CEST)

Castle demo times (Saturday, April 24th or Sunday April 25th, PlayStation exclusive)

• West Coast US: April 24th, 5pm to April 25th, 1am (PDT)
• East Coast US: April 24th, 8pm to April 25th, 4am (EDT)
• UK: April 25th, 6pm to April 26th, 2am (BST)
• Europe: April 25th, 7pm to April 26th, 3am (CEST)

It's then assumed the same demo download will allow you to then access the multiplatform window - which PlayStation owners can also participate in - the following weekend.

Resident Evil Village demo dates and times on Xbox, PlayStation, PC and Stadia explained: When can you play on all platforms?

Across all platforms - PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X / S, Xbox One, Steam and Stadia - the demo can be played across one week, allowing you to explore both village and castle areas. (This was originally over a 24 hour period, until an extension was introduced before it went live.)

When available, you can access the demo for only 60 minutes. The week-long availability is the same across the globe - starting in the evening on May 1st in the US, and early hours of the 2nd in Europe.

Resident Evil Village demo times (weekend of May 1st to weekend of May 9th all platforms)

• UK: 1am, May 2nd to 1am, May 10th (BST)
• Europe: 2am, May 2nd to 2am, May 10th (CEST)
• East Coast US: 8pm, May 1st to 8pm, May 9th (EDT)
• West Coast US: 5pm, May 1st to 5pm, May 9th (PDT)

Resident Evil Village demo preload date and time

It's possible to download the demo ahead of each weekend, allowing you to get playing as soon as each window opens.

April 18th and April 25th PlayStation exclusive demo - preload available from:

• UK: April 16th, 12am (BST)
• Europe: April 16th, 1am (CEST)
• East Coast US: April 15th, 7pm (EDT)
• West Coast US: April 15th, 4pm (PDT)

May 1st / 2nd demo (all platforms) - preload available from:

• UK: April 30th, 1am (BST)
• Europe: April 30th, 2am (CEST)
• East Coast US: April 29th, 8pm (EDT)
• West Coast US: April 29th, 5pm (PDT)

Phew! That's a lot of dates and times to cover. Long story short - PlayStation will have something each weekend, while the weekend before release, all platforms can sample the demo throughout the week that follows.

If you miss out, the good news is the game is then out a short time later on May 7th - so you won't have long to wait to play the full thing.