Last Updated on January 29, 2026 by Angel Melanson
We’ve had monsters chasing us in Resident Evil games, such as Mr. X and Nemesis in Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes, respectively. In 2021’s Resident Evil Village, the towering Lady Dimitrescu followed players throughout the castle portion of the game. Capcom has confirmed that the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem’s stalker monster, a grotesque female creature of some sort (which can be seen in the initial reveal trailers), will be more like Lady Dimitrescu, only being a “small part” of the game.
I spent three hours playing Resident Evil Requiem, and while I didn’t experience getting chased by the disgusting new creature, I found myself terrified of a different kind of monster: a ghostly singing and screaming banshee that can temporarily paralyze you.
But I’ll get to them in a minute. Let’s start with some background information. Resident Evil Requiem features a dual protagonist structure, similar to Resident Evil 2 remake with Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield. However, the former takes it a step further with new protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, and the returning Leon. Whereas Leon and Clair played quite similarly, Grace embodies the more claustrophobic and classic survival horror elements, emphasizing tight spaces with scarce ammunition and resources. Leon leans into more action-focused gameplay, as he did in the Resident Evil 4 remake.
I really like the different approaches, as they can keep the gameplay fresh, so it doesn’t become stale over the course of the game.
During my demo, I started with Leon’s stories as he pulled up to the senior care center where the game takes place. He meets a nurse, then, moments later, a zombie enters and impales her with a giant chainsaw. Sheesh, quite an entrance, huh? In any case, I was immediately thrust into gameplay and managed to wrestle the chainsaw away from the zombie and wield it myself! It was an exhilarating moment and only a small taste of what’s to come.
Leon’s first section was surprisingly short. He managed to meet up with Grace before getting separated from her, but not before handing her a gun to defend herself. Whereas Leon’s gameplay is from a third-person over-the-shoulder perspective, Grace’s is in first-person, similar to how Ethan Winters’ was initially in Resident Evil Village. However, you’re able to switch between both first-person and third-person perspectives freely at any time.
I spent the next two hours playing as Grace, and as Capcom said, it was pure survival horror. As I made my way around the senior center, I had to solve puzzles revolving around three jewels to place in a centerpiece to reach the next area. Along the way, I finally came across the aforementioned monster.
She was this pale, white, feminine banshee that seemed somewhat harmless, as all she did was prance around gleefully in a confined area. You can even hear her humming calmly. But if I know anything about horror games, I’d say this is all an elaborate front. And I was right.
I tried to sneak around her, but when she noticed me, she immediately let out an ear-piercing shriek that alerted all of the other zombies within the room, and then they were onto me, too. To make matters even more frustrating, when you’re close to her, her scream will temporarily stun you, and your movement will be slowed for a few seconds. However, those few precious seconds are all that’s needed for her and the other banshees to completely overwhelm you. Thankfully, I was able to escape (relatively) unscathed.
From that point on, every time I heard singing, I braced for the worst. In one section, I saw a banshee standing in the corner of the room I needed to get into to grab an important item for progression. As a result, I had to come up with a game plan: there were two other unavoidable zombies in the room, along with the banshee. Instead of trying to take them all simultaneously, I decided to run as fast as I could, grab what I needed, and get the hell out.
That plan worked, until it didn’t. The other two zombies blocked my path as I was running out after retrieving the item. I was able to stun the banshee with a few bullets to the head, and Grace has the ability to push stunned enemies down to buy herself extra time to get away. Surprisingly, these banshees seem to be immune to conventional firearms, while the zombies are not. Armed with this new piece of information, I managed to escape once again.
Interestingly, Grace has a new stealth attack: she injects a mysterious liquid into an enemy, which causes them to implode, permanently ending them so they don’t reanimate later. However, they come in limited quantities, and you’ll have to either find or craft them, as well as strategically decide when’s the best time to use them.
I didn’t think to use it on the banshees, since I didn’t find opportunities to sneak up on them and find out. Looks like that’s something exciting I’ll have to discover in the full game when Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, 2026 for PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S.
