I have the same issue with VMWare player 15, using an unsupported OS - OS/2 / eComstation, which means no VM tools.
I am using a 32" 4K monitor. Host OS is Ubuntu 18.04 .
OS/2 has tons of configuraiton that needs to be done in text mode. The window is approximately 4x3 inches on my screen. Even with 20 / 20 vision, I have to put my eyes about 3 inches from the screen in order to read the text ! The only thing that helps is the system-wide screen magnifier in Ubuntu, but I find that quite inconvenient.
Is there any way to scale the text during the boot process, including the VM's BIOS text before any OS is loaded ?