Resident Evil Requiem [REVIEW] – The Best of Both Horrifying Worlds

Let’s be honest: being a long-time fan of the Resident Evil franchise means you are pretty used to tonal whiplash. We have spent nearly decades swinging wildly between inventory-juggling survival horror and explosive, boulder-punching action, and usually, the games lean heavily into one lane or the other. But what if a title actually managed to nail both vibes at the exact same time? That is exactly what Resident Evil Requiem does, and it’s absolutely brilliant. 

Check out some screenshots down below: 

Resident Evil Requiem takes the horrifying, slower-paced first-person focused foundation that made modern titles like Resident Evil VII and Resident Evil Village so successful, but deliberately injects an old-school twist into how it feels through its locations and storytelling, with the result offering an excellent single-player campaign that effortlessly balances creeping dread with high-octane spectacle – all thanks to its smart dual-protagonist setup. 

The story kicks off by putting you in the shoes of Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst looking into a grim string of murders, eventually leading to the Wrenwood Hotel. Awkwardly, this is the exact place her mother died years ago, and long-time fans will immediately appreciate the deep lore cut here – Grace is actually the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, the investigative journalist from the beloved PlayStation 2 spin-off Resident Evil Outbreak (and don’t worry, that’s not the only old-school throwback you’ll encounter in the game). And, of course, things go dreadfully wrong when she finds herself kidnapped by a hideous ex-Umbrella researcher known as Victor Gideon. Luckily for her, Leon S. Kennedy – the returning long-time hero of the series – just so happened to be in pursuit of Gideon at the time, which leads to the two protagonists meeting and working together. 

Grace is not a trained soldier, and her vulnerability feels incredibly believable and grounded, which is a massive breath of fresh air in a series populated by heavily armed bioweapon killers. Playing her sections in first-person with a tiny inventory, fragile makeshift shivs, and a basic pistol makes for an incredibly tense experience, and you are forced to rely on stealth, solve classic puzzles, and carefully manage your resources if you want to survive. 

“Whether you are holding your breath while hiding from an unstoppable monstrosity as Grace or revving up a chainsaw to carve through a zombie horde as Leon, Resident Evil Requiem is simply f*****g brilliant.” 

The horror in Grace’s chapters is amplified by the fact that she is often hunted by distinct, unkillable pursuer abominations. Trying to sneak through a dark corridor while being stalked by a colossal girl whose eyes look ready to burst from her skull adds an unbearable layer of tension to these segments. Furthermore, the standard undead have evolved, with the zombies in Resident Evil Requiem still retaining fractured memories of their past lives. You might hear one quietly apologising as it shambles toward you, or find another aimlessly flicking a light switch on and off… it makes them feel tragic rather than just being mindless cannon fodder, and it adds a totally new layer of strategy to tackling them. Grace also has a wonderfully gruesome mechanic where she uses a syringe to harvest infected blood, allowing you to craft essential ammo, health, and even exploding injectors to finish foes off (yep, there’s a Crimsonhead-like mechanic in place where defeated enemies need to be finished off properly if you don’t want them to return in a more powerful form). It is proper, palm-sweating survival horror, and it is absolutely f*****g outstanding. 

And then, just when your nerves are completely shot, the game hands you the reins to Leon S. Kennedy. 

Leon’s campaign shifts the game into a third-person, action-heavy playground, and believe me, he brings an entire arsenal of bioweapon killing tools to the party. You trade sneaking in the shadows for blasting apart mutated hounds, giant spiders, zombies, and even an old familiar face with shotguns, rifles, machine guns, and so forth. He eventually earns currency from kills to upgrade his weapons in a very arcade-style loop, and he even gets his hands on a goddamn chainsaw at one point. Of course, there is still an outrageous silliness to some scenes – physics-defying motorcycle chases included – but that campy, over-the-top charm is exactly why fans love Leon so much. 

The blend of gameplay between Grace and Leon genuinely gives players the best of both worlds, and honestly, the contrast between the pair works perfectly. There is nothing quite like being completely petrified of a monstrosity and running for your life as Grace, only to cross paths with it later and dish out a severe beating when playing as Leon. It acts as a massive palate-cleanser, and the sheer sense of power you get after feeling so defenceless is brilliantly liberating. And with it somehow maintaining both sides of Resident Evil’s identity from across the last ten years, it really does feel like a special release that’s going to please both long-time fans and those who’ve only recently joined the ride.  

Check out some screenshots down below: 

As a long-time fan myself, I feel it’s important that I mention that the campaign eventually takes both characters back to Raccoon City, though this reunion is a little bit mixed. When you are exploring the tightly designed, nostalgic locations, it is ABSOLUTELY perfect and packed with clever nods for long-time fans… believe me, you will be hit in the feels big time. But whenever you step out into the new open-world sections, it feels like it is missing that distinct sense of personality that made the city so iconic in the original games and their recent remakes. I suppose it’s to be expected given that the city was hit with a missile, so it is a shadow of its former self, but I don’t know… it was the only time in the game where I felt like it made a misstep… well… apart from the lack of additional modes. Mercenaries, anyone? 

But despite that small bump in the road, Resident Evil Requiem is an absolute triumph. The pacing is masterful, ensuring Grace’s terrifying segments never drag on too long before Leon arrives to blow off some steam, and once the credits roll, the urge to dive straight back in to optimise your route, tackle the brutal sub-four-hour speedrun challenge (I did it on my second run), and unlock infinite ammo is undeniable. Capcom has successfully harmonised the scariest parts of its survival horror roots with the most entertaining elements of its action era, and it makes for one hell of a brilliant ride.

Developer: Capcom 
Publisher: Capcom 
Platform(s): PlayStation 5 (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC 
Website: https://www.residentevil.com/requiem/