Resident Evil Requiem

Even though Monster Hunter has taken over as the best-selling series made by CAPCOM, the Japanese developer is still betting heavily on the success of Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline game in the globally acclaimed horror series that has sold more than 178 million units throughout its thirty-year history.

With Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village, CAPCOM managed to reinvent the saga with a new protagonist, Ethan Winters, and a new perspective, first-person view, in both cases moving away from series staples such as military proficient playable characters and third-person perspective. In many ways, Requiem marks a new chapter that aims to connect elements from both the recent and the older games in the series.

• Release Date, Platforms, Pricing, and DLC
• Genre, Setting, and Story Premise
• Gameplay Features and Mechanics
• Tech and Specs
• Demo
• Review
• Guides

Release Date, Platforms, Pricing, and DLC

The first rumors about Resident Evil 9 started circulating in March 2024, although it wasn't until June 2025 that CAPCOM announced the final title. On this occasion, the studio also communicated the planned release date: February 27, 2026. Initially, the game was confirmed for a simultaneous release on Sony's PlayStation 5, Microsoft's Xbox Series S|X, and PC (via Steam and the Epic Games Store). A Nintendo Switch 2 version was officially added a bit later, during a Nintendo Direct presentation held in September 2025.

Pre-orders are now open. The Standard Edition is priced at $69.99, while a Deluxe Edition is available at $79.99. This provides access to the Deluxe Kit, composed of the following items:

• Grace's Costume: Dimitrescu
• Grace's Costume: Film Noir
• Leon's Costume: RE4
• Leon's Costume: Apocalypse
• Leon's Costume: Film Noir
• Screen Filter: Apocalypse
• Screen Filter: Film Noir
• Four weapon skins, including S&S M232 Weapon Skin: Apocalypse
• Mr. Raccoon Charm
• DSO Emblem Charm
• Audio Pack: Raccoon City Classic
• Files: Letters from 1998

Any pre-order of the game includes the bonus cosmetic item Grace's Costume: Apocalypse. Pre-ordering through the Epic Games Store also grants players access to the Grace Ashcroft Outfit exclusive cosmetics item in Fortnite. Additionally, CAPCOM is releasing a Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller themed after the game (priced at $99.99) and an amiibo of protagonist Grace Ashcroft in 2026.

On March 10, 2026, on the heels of the excellent commercial launch (over six million units sold in the first week on the market), CAPCOM confirmed that a story DLC and a "surprise" (possibly a Mercenaries mode) are in development.

Genre, Setting, and Story Premise

In Resident Evil Requiem, CAPCOM seeks to offer fans of both action-horror and survival horror their slice of entertainment, thanks to the dual-protagonist structure.

The setting marks the long-awaited return to Raccoon City's iconic locations, including the police station featured in Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. However, Requiem presents the city in a never-before-seen state of ruin, being set thirty years after Raccoon City's nuclear bombing in RE3.

The narrative premise centers on Grace Ashcroft, an FBI agent with a sharp analytical mind, as the brand new playable character. Grace is assigned to investigate a series of strange deaths. The case ultimately leads her to Raccoon City, more specifically to the Wrenwood Hotel, where her mother Alyssa died eight years before the game's events. The developers have described Grace as a bit of a bookworm who doesn't much trust her own capability to handle dangerous combat scenarios. This choice was made to emphasize survival horror mechanics reminiscent of games like RE2 and RE7, where Grace will be forced to evade detection from various enemies while navigating horrifying environments.

For a long time, CAPCOM leaker Dusk Golem maintained that the game would also feature another playable character, fan-favorite DSO agent Leon S. Kennedy, previously seen in Resident Evil 2, 4, and 6. The developer finally confirmed the rumor at The Game Awards 2025 with a new trailer, although the cat was already out of the bag since two days earlier due to a PlayStation Store leak. The developers later revealed that there is a roughly even split between the two protagonists, with Leon's segments usually being combat-driven and action-focused, more akin to Resident Evil 4.

CAPCOM has stressed that this seamless interweaving of high-stakes cinematic action with survival elements represents their bold reinvention of the series, as they attempt to balance atmospheric horror with visceral combat scenarios. As a colorful side note, the developers have now revealed that the female staff took particularly care in crafting Leon's "hot uncle" appearance, which has been very well received so far.

Gameplay Features and Mechanics

Notably, the project initially began development as a multiplayer-focused title with open world design (confirming earlier rumors), before being redesigned as a single-player, more linear experience. CAPCOM admitted realizing that this wasn't what core fans of the horror franchise would have wanted.

Even so, Resident Evil Requiem does introduce at least one major innovation: the hybrid first-person and third-person perspective system, which allows players to dynamically switch between viewpoints for the first time in the series so that they'd be able to suit their playstyle. Those who prefer a more scary and immersive experience are likely to gravitate toward first-person, whereas action gamers and traditional fans will probably opt for third-person.

The core gameplay loop integrates classic Resident Evil mechanics with modern refinements: combat, investigations, puzzles, and resource management. The dual-character structure also aims to create distinct gameplay identities that, in the words of Game Director Koshi Nakanishi, will make players feel like they are on a rollercoaster ride like never before in Resident Evil. Nakanishi noted that it wouldn't do to keep the horror tension to the max throughout the whole game, because that would be quite exhausting for the player. As such, there will be a dynamic pacing curve that alternates between tense, horrific sequences and some release, exciting combat, and peaceful exploration, before gradually picking up again on the horror part of the curve. To further highlight the differences between Grace and Leon, Nakanishi recently said that Grace is the series' most fearful character yet, while the experienced Leon is the strongest.

A taste of playing as Grace was made available to press and fans alike in the Gamescom 2025 demo that Wccftech's Francesco De Meo praised in the hands-on preview article.

Furthermore, CAPCOM has deliberately designed Requiem to be accessible to series newcomers while rewarding veterans through familiar features, such as legacy enemy types and narrative callbacks. Thus, no need to worry if you haven't played all, or any, of the predecessors.

The Resident Evil Requiem team has also shared information about the zombies players will face in the game. They reckon they are more unpredictable than ever because they were designed to retain some of their human memories, potentially making them scarier.

Tech and Specs

Resident Evil Requiem employs CAPCOM's proprietary RE Engine, which was named after the series and was first used in RE7. Nowadays, the RE Engine powers every game developed by the Japanese studio. In most cases, it delivered excellent visuals and solid performance, with the notable exceptions of Dragon's Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds, both of which were open world games.

Luckily, Resident Evil Requiem's final incarnation is not an open world game and is therefore unlikely to suffer major optimization problems. The developers themselves told fans there wouldn't be a repeat of the disappointing launch performance of Monster Hunter Wilds.

CAPCOM already shared the minimum and recommended system requirements for the PC version.

We also know that the PC version of Resident Evil Requiem will support NVIDIA DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation and path tracing.

CAPCOM has now shared details on the PlayStation 5 Pro version of the game. PS5 Pro users can pick between:

• Ray tracing and 60 frames per second
• No ray tracing and up to 120 frames per second (with an average of 90 FPS)

The DualSense controller's features, like haptic feedback, adaptive triggers, and the controller speaker, will all be supported. The developers briefly discussed the Nintendo Switch 2 version, the least powerful platform among those supported, to reveal that even they were surprised at how well it ran on the hybrid console.

Demo

CAPCOM released a free demo on all platforms on May 27, 2026, exactly three months after the game's launch. It features a portion of the early stages, but its save data doesn't carry over to the full game.

Review

The game received stronger critics reviews than Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village, though not quite as strong as Resident Evil 4 and the Resident Evil 2 Remake. On Wccftech, Nathan Birch rated it 8.5/10:

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.

Guides

If you've just purchased the game and are struggling with some puzzles or boss fights, check out our guides and walkthroughs available in our dedicated guides hub.