Resident Evil Requiem Review – Encyclopedia of Evil

The Resident Evil series has largely gone from strength to strength in recent years, with Capcom serving up a number of distinct takes on the series, from the hardcore horror of Resident Evil 7 to the intense action and zingers of the Resident Evil 4 remake. And now, Capcom is preparing to roll out Resident Evil Requiem, a game that promises to combine a lot of what they’ve been doing with the series recently into one terrifying concoction.

Is Resident Evil Requiem destined to be another horrific hit for Capcom? Or does this Requiem lay the Resident Evil series' recent hot streak to rest? As always, grab yourself some green herbs, because it’s time to delve in.

Resident Evil Requiem's story initially focuses on fresh-faced FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, daughter of deep-cut character Alyssa Ashcroft (last playable in the Resident Evil Outbreak co-op games from the mid-2000s). In a flashback, Alyssa is brutally murdered before Grace's eyes for unknown reasons, and, wouldn't you know it, in the present day, Grace is assigned to investigate the death of a Raccoon City survivor (the latest in a string of similar deaths) at the very hotel where her mother was killed. Personally, I would have gone home sick that day.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the body at the hotel turns out to be a trap, and in short order, Grace finds herself surrounded by folks beset by some form of new zombie infection and captured by Dr. Victor Gideon, a hulking Frankenstein-like mad scientist with ties to Umbrella (there's just no escaping those guys, is there?).

Ah, but all is not lost. Our old friend Leon Kennedy, still largely battling back the ravages of time despite likely being in his 50s by now, is looking into the Raccoon City survivor deaths, too, and arrives just in time to witness Dr. Gideon making off with Grace. Leon also happens to be suffering from a mysterious ailment, a gangrenous black growth, affecting Raccoon City survivors.

Leon manages to track Dr. Gideon and Grace to a shadowy medical facility, at which point we continue down two paths, following both Grace and Leon's exploits as they splatter zombies and uncover various typical Resident Evil-style secrets and revelations. Why was Grace’s mom killed, and what’s the true nature of Emily, the young blind girl Grace finds locked in a holding cell? What exactly is the mysterious "Elpis," and why is Dr. Gideon obsessed with finding it? You get the gist.

Resident Evil Requiem's story flows in a similar way to other recent entries in the series, which is to say, it gets its hooks in you early, but after an intense and attention-grabbing first few hours, it kind of gets lost in the weeds of lore and reveals that don't quite land with the impact you might hope. Is this an above-average story compared to other Resident Evil games? Probably, but by more general gaming standards, it's still a somewhat disappointing yarn, particularly for those hoping for a ton of new Leon character development. Yes, there are some attempts to bring a bit of emotional weight to Leon's personal journey (amidst all the wisecracks), but Capcom takes a pretty light touch with it. This is more Grace's story than Leon's.

And really, it's when Grace is front-and-center that Requiem's storytelling shines. This is easily Capcom's best new protagonist since the early days of the "classic" lineup of Chris, Jill, Leon, and Claire. She's more of a grounded, vulnerable character, much like Ethan in RE7 and RE8, but, crucially, you can actually see her face. This is an asset, as Grace's character model may be the most impressive Capcom has ever delivered. Her face is subtly expressive, with cutting-edge tech bringing every bead of sweat and strand of hair to life.

Resident Evil Requiem is an impressive-looking game in general, with ray tracing on PS5 Pro and full path tracing on PC adding to the game's atmosphere. If you play on PC, you'll probably be interested in our detailed analysis and graphics settings guide. The game scales nicely on consoles, anyway, running at a consistently smooth 60 frames per second on the PS5 base model (I wasn't able to test the game on Switch 2, but previews have looked promising). This is a game that plays with light and darkness in really effective ways, and you truly feel every brain-splattering shotgun blast and blood-drenched death scene (this is the most gruesome Resident Evil ever by several magnitudes).

In terms of gameplay, after a brief intro, the game settles into a nice rhythm, as you explore the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Centre as Grace for a couple of hours at a time, with brief 20-to-30-minute interludes with Leon to break things up. The Grace sequences are good, old-school, undiluted Resident Evil in the vein of the Resident Evil 2 remake. The hospital is a classic labyrinth reminiscent of the Spencer Mansion of Raccoon City PD, full of improbable puzzles, weirdly-shaped keys, and a whole cast of grotesque "stalker" characters. The tension in these sections is thick, and Capcom has a lot of twisted fun with their new take on zombies, which retain some of their traits from when they were alive, doing things like obsessively turning off lights or cleaning up spilled blood (of which there is a lot).

Grace's parts of the game take the "survival" part of survival horror further than any Resident Evil in recent memory -- you only ever get a pistol, a powerful magnum-like gun with very limited ammo, and some throwable items to defend yourself with. Resources are quite limited, and to keep stocked, you need to engage with a novel new crafting system based around collecting infected blood from fallen enemies. Oh, and something similar to the terrifying Crimson Heads from the Resident Evil Remake returns here, with zombies rising a second time as extra-dangerous "Blister Heads" if you don't take extra steps to dispatch them. This is Resident Evil at its most sweaty, demanding, and intense.

The Leon interludes are much more along the lines of Resident Evil 4: big, bombastic, one-liner-filled action set pieces. I wasn't sure how these bits would vibe with Grace's sections at first, particularly following an early Leon sequence in the hospital involving an entire ward of zombies and chainsaws that almost felt like (very, very bloody) slapstick. That said, I eventually began to appreciate these Leon intermissions as a bit of a pressure valve after the often gut-churning tension of the Grace sequences.

Frankly, I would have been quite happy if Resident Evil Requiem had continued in this rhythm for its entire runtime, but Capcom opted to take a hard left turn around halfway through the game. Without spoiling any story specifics, Resident Evil Requiem eventually returns to the ruins of Raccoon City (Capcom has been open about this in PR and trailers), and this doesn't just represent a change in location but a total shift in tone and gameplay.

At this midpoint in the game, Leon becomes your primary playable character. While the game doesn't go fully open-world, as there's still a specific path you need to follow, it does go "wide-linear" (the Downtown Seattle section from The Last of Us Part II is perhaps a good comparison). An almost arcade-like scoring system is introduced, with Leon trading in points earned from kills at storage boxes for new gear, ammo, and healing items. The unsettlingly unique zombies of the first half of the game disappear in favor of generic ghouls that literally spawn by rising out of the ground. The carefully calibrated tension of the first half of the game largely evaporates.

I'll admit, when I first got to Raccoon City, I had a visceral "Oh no, what have they done?" reaction. I was having a great time with Resident Evil Requiem up to that point, and it just felt like a marked step down. Also, frustratingly, while Leon got those regular interludes in the first half of the game, Grace essentially disappears as you explore Raccoon City. To be fair, I did eventually get into the rhythm of the Raccoon City section of the game and found it fairly enjoyable in its own right, but it simply didn't measure up to what had come before. It felt like I was feasting on Resident Evil at its finest, a fantastic, sweaty-palmed elevation of what we got in the Resident Evil 2 remake, and then, suddenly, I was playing a Resident Evil Revelations game. And I don't mind the Revelations games, but they're kind of the fast food of the RE franchise.

Thankfully, Resident Evil Requiem does right itself somewhat in its final hours, with a return to a more narrowly defined path and a heavy focus on referencing and reimagining various iconic elements from Resident Evil 2, which dedicated fans ought to appreciate. Grace also returns for an extended playable sequence, with the level of tension ratcheting up accordingly.

In the end, while you can't fault Capcom's level of ambition, I feel like Resident Evil Requiem tries to do a bit too much. It's basically every flavor of Resident Evil piled onto one plate, with a few new ingredients thrown in for good measure. Old-school Resident Evil 2 survival horror? Check. The gut-punch intensity of Resident Evil 7? Check. The balls-to-the-wall action of Resident Evil 4? Check. The tongue-in-cheek extravagance of Resident Evil Village? Check. Combat-free, dread-filled haunted house segments? Check. Slightly janky combat-heavy RE Revelations-like sections? Check. A Mad-Max-style motorcycle battle? Uh, check!

All these things are good (to varying degrees) in isolation, but eventually, the overall experience starts to feel a bit muddied. In my opinion, the very best Resident Evil games -- Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 7 -- are the ones that pick a lane and tone, and largely stick to it. That said, there's no denying Resident Evil Requiem is a journey, with a substantial 15-hour campaign that feels twice as long given everything Capcom has packed into it. Whether this Resident Evil Retrospective approach appeals will largely depend on the player.

This review was based on a PS5 copy of Resident Evil Requiem provided by publisher Capcom.

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8.5

WCCFTECH RATING

Resident Evil Requiem

Resident Evil Requiem is the Every-Evil, as Capcom has taken all the things they've done with the franchise over the past decade or so and stitched them together into a towering monster of a survival horror game. Parts of this game are the best, scariest, and most intense this series has ever been, other parts are merely alright, but no part of the game is bad and it's all very distinctly Resident Evil. While it won't be everyone's new favorite, Resident Evil Requiem should hit enough right notes for most fans.

Pros

• First half is classic RE formula perfection
• Grace is the series' best new character in ages
• Atmospheric, technically sound presentation
• Core action gameplay feels satisfying
• Campaign is good and meaty
• Spectacularly gory

Cons

• Back half of game feels a bit more uneven
• Leon is only allowed to be so interesting
• Story starts better than it ends

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