I may have reached this part last night. It sure was an intense (and repulsive) fight. I wasted probably way more bullets than I should have on it and another part leading up to it, but since I managed to win (after thinking that there must be a trick to it that I just wasn’t getting) I went ahead and saved my game.
I couldn’t help thinking that the character would have further dismembered the body just in case, since destroying the brain doesn’t seem to matter, but the game doesn’t let you do that.
Now that I have access to an outdoor area and there don’t seem to be any immediate threats anywhere, I think I will try exploring a little without VR, just to see how the graphics differ.