Welcome to the Family, Son: How to Play Resident Evil 7 on Android (Step-by-Step Guide)

Part 1: Hardware Requirements

Part 2: Essential Files & Setup

Before we start tinkering, you need to make sure you have the right gear and files.

Storage Space: Clear out your photo gallery; you’ll need about 40GB to 50GB of free internal storage.

Winlator Emulator: Download the latest version of Winlator (currently v10.1 or the popular Ludashi 2.9 fork) from the official GitHub repositories.

The Game Files (PC Version): You need the PC installation files for Resident Evil 7.

Crucial Warning: You must use the DirectX 11 (Non-Ray Tracing) version of the game. The modern next-gen DX12 update is notorious for crashing Windows emulators on Android. A DRM-free version is highly recommended, as running the Steam client in the background eats up precious RAM.

Part 3: Configuring the Emulator Environment

Winlator is powerful, but it requires a bit of configuration to translate PC instructions to your phone’s ARM chip effectively.

Tap the checkmark to save your container.

Install Winlator: Install the APK and open the app to let it unpack its essential OBB data.

• Create a New Container: Tap the “+” icon in the top right corner to create a virtual Windows environment.
• Optimize the Container Settings:
• Screen Size: Set this to 1280×720 (720p). Pushing it to 1080p will unnecessarily tank your frame rate.
• Graphics Driver: Select the Turnip(Adreno) driver. This is essential for rendering 3D PC games on Snapdragon devices.
• DX Wrapper: Select DXVK (version 2.4 or the latest stable option). This translates DirectX calls to Vulkan, which Android natively understands.
• Audio Driver: Leave this on PulseAudio.
• CPU Affinity: Ensure all your CPU cores are checked so the emulator can utilize your phone’s full processing power.

Part 4: Transferring and Booting the Game

Move the Files: Connect your phone to your PC and copy your installed Resident Evil 7 game folder directly into your phone’s “Download” folder. Winlator automatically recognizes your phone’s Download folder as the virtual “D:” drive.

Launch Windows: Open your newly created Winlator container by tapping the three dots next to it and selecting Run. You will be greeted by a familiar Windows-style desktop.

Find the Game: Use the touchscreen (drag to move the mouse, tap to click) to navigate to D:\ and open your Resident Evil 7 folder.

Force DX11: Right-click (two-finger tap) on re7.exe, select Properties, and in the execution arguments box, type -dx11.

Double-tap re7.exe to launch the game.

Part 5: Best In-Game Settings for Maximum FPS

Part 6: Controls

Running away from Jack Baker using on-screen touch controls is a surefire way to get a chainsaw to the face.

While Winlator does allow you to set up virtual on-screen gamepads (accessible by hitting your phone’s “Back” gesture and opening Input Controls), we highly advise against it for a first-person shooter.

Connect a Controller

For the best experience, connect an Xbox, PlayStation, or a mobile clip-on controller (like a Backbone or Razer Kishi) via Bluetooth or USB-C. Winlator supports XInput, meaning your controller will be recognized exactly like an Xbox controller on a real PC!