Resident Evil has gone through its share of ups and downs throughout its 30-year history. Starting out as a hallmark of the survival horror genre with the first three main games, it then transitioned to a more action-oriented affair, albeit with mixed outcomes, before returning to its roots.
With Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom is drawing a harder line in the sand between the franchise’s two directions. It’s trying to have its cake and eat it too. By having two distinct protagonists embodying both survival horror and action elements, Resident Evil Requiem is equally horrifying and enthralling. There’s a little unevenness in pacing and questionable loose ends by the time the story ends, but Requiem is more than the sum of its parts.
Resident Evil Requiem follows Grace Ashcroft and Leon Kennedy as they investigate a string of mysterious deaths. They eventually join forces in order to survive through several grueling days and nights filled with terrifying monstrosities to uncover the dark secrets behind the series of deaths. Resident Evil has sometimes veered off into some weird lore, especially with the more supernatural elements in Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village.
Requiem’s story feels like it’s two separate projects stapled together that don't quite connect all the dots. While it does provide some backstory towards the end, I was left with more questions than answers, particularly around the antagonists’ motivations, including the centralizing figure and creepy scientist Victor Gideon. Requiem feels like a setup for upcoming DLC. Even so, the gameplay is stellar enough to overlook the more confusing bits of the story.
As you progress, you’ll switch between Grace and Leon as they navigate different areas. Grace represents the survival horror aspects of Resident Evil, while Leon’s segments are filled with action. Capcom did a fantastic job nailing the vibes of both. Although you can switch between first and third person perspectives, Grace’s is defaulted to first-person while Leon’s is third-person.
The first-person perspective with Grace is incredibly petrifying, restricting your line of sight to what’s directly in front of her, making gameplay feel more claustrophobic. Additionally, Requiem takes a page out of Resident Evil 2 remake by having giant monsters follow Grace around as you try to solve puzzles, amping up the frightening atmosphere.
Dark hallways fill you with anxiety and uneasiness, while lit-up areas provide brief moments of reprieve that let you brace yourself before continuing forward. Requiem does a phenomenal job with lighting, delivering a nightmarishly emotional roller coaster between fear and tranquility. Just when you think you’re in the clear, all of a sudden a bulb gives out, and you’ll be running for your life.
Grace is an FBI intelligence analyst, and you can really feel her inexperience in the environment she’s in. Her inventory space is substantially smaller than Leon’s. This makes item management crucial and forces the player to make trade-offs about what to keep. She can also only wield pistols, making every shot matter with the limited ammo you scrounge up. There’s a real sense of dread when you realize that you’re out of bullets and need to navigate the hallways with no way to fight back.
While you generally want to conserve your ammo, you’ll be rewarded if you do manage to kill enemies. They can drop blood, which Grace can drain and combine with other crafting materials to create things like more ammo and healing items. It’s an enticing risk and reward system that switches up the survival horror elements and incentivizes you to engage with enemies if you’re truly desperate for supplies.
On the other hand, Leon is a hardened veteran, and it definitely shows. With a vast offensive arsenal including pistols, shotguns, snipers, and submachine guns, he’s a one-man army. Leon even gets a tracker that converts his kill count into points to upgrade and purchase more weapons. As Leon, you’re practically encouraged to mow down every enemy you come across as opposed to avoiding them like Grace. While the change in tone might feel drastic at first, it prevents gameplay from becoming stale.
Leon can also parry incoming physical attacks from enemies, roundhouse kick them after staggering with bullets, and on occasion, wield a chainsaw to rip straight through them. Along with his cheeky one-liners, it’s like playing through a better version of the high-octane Resident Evil 6.
Level and gameplay designs are more cohesive, while leaving plenty of room for improvisation. The sheer variety of weapons and defensive options at Leon’s disposal makes him a bloody joyride to play. There are also some cheeky callbacks and references to Leon’s past adventures that I won’t spoil, as players should experience the fanservice firsthand themselves.
The second half of Requiem is a bit too Leon-heavy, as he has several long gameplay segments to compensate for his shorter ones during the first half, where Grace has the majority of the spotlight. This causes some awkward pacing as you don’t get to play as her for a rather extended amount of time. There’s also an annoying mandatory stealth section that further impedes pacing, and I wish it were just a cutscene, but overall, these moments don’t put much of a damper on the experience.
The guns feel responsive, and the action is intense. Playing on the PS5 Pro, the DualSense controller’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers really enhanced immersion. During Grace's earlier sections, I could hear the rain coming through the controller's speakers, which made the ambiance even more suspenseful. Performance is basically flawless, too. There were very few, if any, glitches or hiccups.
After turbulent changes in quality over the past several years, Resident Evil has finally hit its stride, with a streak of solid entries that range from varying levels of survival horror to action. Resident Evil Requiem attempts to balance the two in a single adventure and largely pulls it off. While pieces of the story don’t quite fit neatly by the time the credits roll, the gameplay is simultaneously chilling yet explosive, making it one of the best entries in the series to date.
Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27 for PC, PS5, Nintendo Switch 2, and Xbox Series X|S.
