The central gameplay pillar of Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline entry in the beloved zombie series, arises from a problem of character: how do you bring back the all-American, wisecracking badass Leon Kennedy while retaining the breathless, terrifying first-person viewpoint successfully established in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard? Introduced, it should be noted, precisely because Leon’s action-packed outing in Resident Evil 6 was considered one step beyond survival horror. Developer Capcom’s answer? Newcomer Grace Ashcroft.
We open as Grace – a scattered young FBI agent – is called into her boss’s office and handed a new mission: investigate the “strange deaths” at the Wrenwood Hotel. Her boss admits – in what amounts to an HR nightmare – that he knows the hotel is “where your mother was murdered”, but advises that was “eight years ago” and it’s time for Grace to buck up her ideas and face the past. The hotel makes up Requiem‘s tutorial, before Grace is kidnapped by a gold-toothed, suspiciously zombie-skinned Dr Victor Gideon, and spirited away to the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, setting off a mad yarn involving the origins of the nefarious Umbrella, creators of the T-Virus.
It’s here we get our first perspective switch, as Leon arrives to pursue the doctor through busy traffic and grabby zombies. This is Requiem‘s key innovation – retreading an area as the gunslinging, curb-stomping Leon. Grace might have fled a foul-mouthed blob monster through exploding doorways, only for Leon to arrive and face “Chunks” in a gruelling boss encounter. Areas reveal new secrets and pathways with Leon at the helm: he can pry open wardrobes with his hatchet that Grace cannot force. The pair’s overlaps remain compelling throughout.
Resident Evil: Requiem makes the stylistically bold choice of recommending the game be played in first-person while controlling Grace, and third-person while controlling Leon. The result borrows a little magic (along with some old friends) from across the series’ outings. However, this trick also brings a few drawbacks that stop Requiem from reaching the heights of Leon’s greatest adventures.
Requiem‘s first major area, the Rhodes Hill Medical Center, is a rather traditional Resident Evil rabbit warren of winding stairs and dark corridors. Zombies are scattered throughout, retaining their pre-infection habits: a cook wanders between kitchen stations clutching a giant butcher’s knife and a maid scrubs a bloody mirror with undying dedication.
Grace is not quite helpless against these ghouls – an infected blood collector lets you craft ammo for a relatively flimsy handgun and in a pinch, she can sneak up with a Hemolytic Injector to jab a zombie in the neck and turn them into a pulp of guts and gore. It’s a terrifying formula. Tight stabs of strings puncture the soundtrack’s moaning drone when you spot a zombie and avoiding the hideous new ‘Girl’, reminiscent of the Airbnb monster in 2022 film Barbarian, sets hair on end.
Leon’s role at the Medical Center is more of a walk-on part. In the next area, not revealed for spoiler reasons, he takes centre-stage. It feels like an entirely new game, right down to a health bar and inventory that provide a knowing throwback to more action-orientated outings. Requiem tracks Leon’s kills as he mows down hordes with shotguns, snipers and rifles, earning credits along the way that can be exchanged for upgrades.
Even as it leans into nostalgia, there is a slight blandness to Leon’s section, particularly compared to the atmospheric locales of the 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake. His progression also feels rushed. And though the twin perspective idea is ambitious, there’s a natural downside – switching characters truncates the flow of the game. There’s a third zone that splits time between Grace and Leon (and it’s rare you find yourself asking for a game to be longer nowadays) one more Leon-led area would have been welcome.
‘Resident Evil Requiem’ is out February 27 for Nintendo Switch 2, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5 and PC
VERDICT
Make no mistake, Requiem is a fantastic game that’s well worth your time. Like so many Resident Evil titles before it, the fun proliferates on repeated playthroughs: ticking off fiendish gameplay challenges (such as completing the game in under four hours) earns credits to spend on classic weapons like ‘The Matilda’, while ‘Insanity’ difficulty unlocks after your first successful go round. It just suffers, very slightly, in the shadow of some of the greatest games ever made.
PROS
- Resident Evil’s formula at its finest: thrilling gunplay, inventive puzzles and genuinely terrifying jump scares
- Revisiting levels through a different perspective is a great innovation
- Return of Leon, with one-liners are as sharp as ever (“I think I want a second opinion,” he tells a doctor brandishing a chainsaw)
CONS
- The switching perspectives bring a slightly uneven sense of progression, particularly with weapons
- The locations don’t quite match the atmospheric heights of the series’ greatest entries