As one of the longest-running survival horror franchises, a new Resident Evil game always comes with a lot of anticipation. Will it be as good as Resident Evil 4, or was it better left undead like Resident Evil 6? Over the years, Capcom has experimented with the franchise, including the addition of a first-person perspective in the more recent entries. And now comes Requiem, the 9th game in the franchise, which tries to marry the old ways with the new; and boy, it didn’t disappoint. Grab your lighter and gun, let’s dive right into it!
Two stories, two perspectives
When Resident Evil shifted towards a more personal first-person perspective, it really leaned heavily into the horror aspect of the franchise, resulting in some of the scariest entries ever. Moving away from the third-person perspective was crucial to make Resident Evil relevant again, but fans of the series did miss the good old days when this survival horror franchise could also lean a bit more into campy action. With Requiem, it looks like Capcom listened to both its old and new fans and created the ultimate marriage of perspectives. You’ll control Grace Ashcroft, a rookie FBI agent who has to investigate a couple of mysterious deaths, but you’ll also play as the legendary Leon S. Kennedy, who enters the story to look for long-lost answers. Grace embodies the modern first-person Resident Evil while staying true to what worked in the older games, while Leon is there to spice things up with over-the-top campy action segments that still carry weight. The way Capcom created this dual narrative and dual gameplay is nothing short of genius. Let’s talk about Grace first.
The game kicks off with Grace, who’s tasked with investigating a murder in a hotel where her own mother was brutally murdered years ago. As a rookie FBI agent, Grace is still very green and scares easily, which is such an asset for the atmosphere and the tension you’ll feel while playing. Since you play her sections in first-person, you truly see everything through her eyes, but Requiem takes it to the next level thanks to its incredible audio design. You’ll hear Grace’s voice crack when calling out into the void, or you’ll hear her scared reactions when a window suddenly pops open. Grace isn’t an overpowered character but is grounded in realism. She doesn’t have a lot of resources and needs to think on her feet if she wants to survive, even when she’s too scared to do so. It’s all pretty unmatched, to be honest, and the sound design, in combination with the setting and impressive visuals, truly makes this one of the scariest games I’ve played in the past few months, and that’s what a Resident Evil game should do in my opinion. How did Capcom pull this off? By maintaining what worked in the old games while giving it that modern feeling at the same time.
A huge part of Grace’s chapters is set in a Care Center full of unimaginable horrors. Grace needs to find her way through this center, and it all happens in a rather organic way. You look for keys, unlock doors, find pieces of a puzzle, connect the dots, and open another pathway. This exploration and puzzle-solving reminded me of the good old Resident Evil games, but this time in first person for greater impact. As Grace, it’s never easy, and it’s extremely nerve-wracking. Guns, ammo, and health are all scarce, so sneaking past a zombie or distracting it is often the better choice. Talking about the zombies, Requiem introduces some new types where the undead remember parts of their previous lives. Cleaning zombies who want to clean everything, blind zombies who attack based on noise, zombies who want to switch off light switches… These characterisations offer new ways of taking them down or sneaking around them, adding an extra layer of strategy on top of the well-known formula. It sounds small on paper, but these new types truly offer an entirely new way of playing the game.
Thanks to this, it feels both very familiar and very modern and, in my opinion, the best use of the first-person perspective in the franchise to date. I also love the fact that Grace can craft new materials with infected blood, and the way she starts to really use the environment and the tools in it to her advantage. If you’re not a fan of the first-person perspective, you can switch it up in the menus, but as the game states at the very start, it’s best to enjoy these sections as intended, and that’s in first-person… even when it might scare you a lot.
Oh Leon
And then we have the Leon chapters. Unlike other Resident Evil games, the dual protagonists intertwine a lot in terms of locations and enemies. Where Grace desperately tried to survive hordes of zombies and huge stalker-type nemeses, Leon often enters the same locations to gun those enemies down, including the bigger ones. Playing as Leon after you barely survived the horrors as Grace always felt like a reward. A reward for surviving the horrors and for pushing forward. Killing off those enemies who hunted you before just feels so incredibly good, and even though Leon is pushing 50, he’s as powerful as ever. His weapons pack a punch, and he can even upgrade them for more damage. Out of ammo? Take the remaining hordes out with your hatchet and perform a kickflip while doing so. Leon represents the action that we all know and love from Resident Evil 4, but isn’t afraid to make the experience campy. You’ve probably seen the motorcycle fragments online, so you know Capcom isn’t afraid to go silly.
Storywise, Leon also offers some interesting callbacks to Resident Evil 2, but I won’t go into spoiler territory there. For the fans of the franchise, Leon feels and plays like the evolved version of our favorite hero. His movements might have slowed down a bit, but he makes up for it with a lot of firepower and acrobatics. That being said, in the second half, the game might shift a bit too much towards Leon and focus a little too heavily on the past and iconic locations instead of letting the Grace chapters shine.
Perspective-wise, it’s advised to play the Leon chapters in third-person for that action survival horror feeling and it simply also works best in that perspective. Leon often needs items or uses his environment to his advantage to take down bigger enemies, and this just reads a lot better in third-person. It’s good that Capcom gives you options for sure, but I wouldn’t mess around with the settings too much. The game is a masterpiece, the way it was intended to be played, and I think we should respect that.
Small cracks
As you can tell by this review, I’m incredibly impressed and easily place this among the very best Resident Evil and survival horror games. Is it perfect? No, but it’s nearly there. Story-wise, Capcom does make some strange and disappointing decisions, and I didn’t really like the shift in chapters in the second half of the game. A few puzzles can also slow the pacing down a little more than necessary. It’s nothing game-breaking, but in a game where the story is one of the main selling points, I think it could have stuck the landing a bit better. That being said, I applaud this approach and adore the inclusion of both perspectives. It could have been just that little bit tighter or a little more balanced, but that’s just me being picky.
Conclusion:
Resident Evil Requiem is the new blueprint for what survival horror should be. Capcom really delivered with its dual perspective, offering extreme horror on one side and over-the-top action on the other. It’s the perfect marriage of the two Resident Evil styles, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time with it. There are small letdowns in the story that prevent me from giving it a perfect score, but this one is a no-brainer nevertheless. If you’re a fan of the genre, this is a must-have.
