It can be easy to forget, but Resident Evil and Capcom weren’t doing so hot a decade ago. Not only was Resident Evil 6 a commercial failure, but was also panned by critics and fans alike. It was a huge wake-up call for Capcom to stop making subpar products and appealing solely to western fans, resulting in their modern renaissance with Resident Evil 7 and the remake of Resident Evil 2. All of this has led to Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline title in the series and easily one of the most highly anticipated games in the series to date. Can Capcom continue their streak of excellent Resident Evil Games following the Resident Evil 4 remake or will this game be another monstrous abomination like the dark ages?
New faces, same survival horror
Resident Evil Requiem follows Grace Ashcroft as she investigates a murder at the same hotel where her mother Alyssa Ashcroft died many years ago, getting entwined in the experiments of Victor Gideon and the remnants of Umbrella. At the same time, Leon Kennedy is investigating a string of deaths that are directly linked to survivors of Racoon City which not only threaten himself, but also his partner Sherry Birken who has contracted the sickness as well. Both of these stories merge at the Rhodes Hill Care Center where the game truly begins as horror and action blend together.Â
Similarly to many of the recent Resident Evil entries and remakes, we once more have a mainline Resident Evil game with more than one playable protagonist. Grace Ashcroft is our newcomer to the series whose sections focus more on survival horror and stealthing around dangerous enemies. Leon Kennedy on the other hand is all about action and over the top boss fights, which really fits his experience in the series. They represent these different playstyles through gameplay perspective. By default, Grace sections are done in first person in the vein of Resident Evil 7 and the Leon sections are done in third person like in Resident Evil 4. There is an option to change the perspective of each character but I recommend playing the way the game recommends as it enhances the differences between both characters and their gameplay.
At first I wasn’t sure how I was going to like the game splitting between the straight horror of the newer games with the action oriented gameplay of Resident Evil 4, but it works beautifully. Both Sections are given plenty of time to shine and show just how much both aspects of the series deserve to be represented. Resident Evil can be scary, but it can also be like an action movie at times, which previous games in the series prove that it can work. Grace’s sections were above and beyond my favorite, having some of the best tension and atmosphere that I have seen in a horror game in my time as a fan of video games. You feel really weak as Grace, only having access to a few handguns, and the stealth mechanics make you careful about which enemies you want to engage, because the enemies in this game are no joke.Â
Evolving the formula
Grace’s sections don’t just feel like we are in Resident Evil 7 again. They bring new and interesting ideas to the gameplay formula. One mechanic they’ve expanded on is the crafting of bullets, ink ribbons, and even a variety of health items. One new item that deserves a highlight is the injector which gives Grace the ability to stealth kill an enemy by making them blow up in glorious fashion. To craft these items you need blood, which can be collecting by fallen enemies, blood bags, or environmental items that contain blood. Along with blood you need scrap which, when combined with blood, can create items. This creates a really engaging item economy where you have to be picky with which items you create because they can affect your playstyle and how well you can defend yourself against the enemies in the game.Â
Leon on the other hand feels very powerful with the vast amount of weapons he has at his disposal. You can use shotguns, his Requiem hand-canon, rifles, and submachine guns to name a few. You can even perform stealth kills and finishers which look and feel amazing to pull off. You can parry enemies with a well-timed block and you can even perform cool finishers with your guns if you can get close and personal with an enemy. His sections have some of the most well designed enemy encounters that I have seen in a third-person action game. One of my favorite sections is where you have to navigate a toppled building and get rid of enemies by shooting glass windows from underneath them while also being careful to not lose your own footing. The game does a great job at making both action and horror engaging without lingering on one for too long at the risk of that gameplay losing its luster.Â
Persistent atmosphere
The atmosphere and level design in this game are top notch with the Rhodes Hill Care Center being one of my new favorite locations in the series. The way the zombies shamble throughout the halls performing the same tasks that they did when they were alive such as cleaning the bathroom or turning the lights on and off feel natural in the setting. It feels like a fully realized place that doesn’t fall victim to the problem that the mansion in Resident Evil Village fell into where it barely lasted one-fourth of the game’s runtime. Some of the creepiness is lost on repeated playthroughs, but I really enjoyed what they did with the design of the care facility. Racoon City is a nice departure as far as environments go even if it does indulge a bit too much into nostalgia for my liking, but this was still a really fun time. The least fun part of the game has to be the last hour or so when they start introducing human enemies, and the lab sections with Leon which are just not very fun to play on repeat playthroughs and does hurt the pacing.Â
The technical performance of this game is pure wizardry. It ran super crisp on my PC which is not the most powerful rig out there with an Intel I7 CPU and an Nvidia 3050 card. The game basically never stuttered, with the only parts of the game that had any performance drops being some of the more chaotic moments when I was in Racoon City. It made sense considering how many zombies you can fight in the game as Leon. Compared to the Resident Evil 4 remake that had Denuvo — which made the game run worse on my PC — this game was a dream and I had barely any issues. The game has a really impressive gameplay system where every enemy in the game is a persistent game element which means that if you kill an enemy as Grace then Leon would not need to kill that enemy during his section and vice versa. The same goes for items you choose to collect which can be picked up by either Grace or Leon, reminiscent of the zapping system in the original Resident Evil 2, which was a very pleasant surprise and is a technical achievement.
The music of Resident Evil Requiem is nice, and aids the atmosphere really well in the action and horror. Angela Sant’Albano, the voice of Grace Ashcroft, stole the show in Requiem, having one of the best horror game performances that I have heard in quite a long time. The way she goes from the nervous wreck in the beginning who could barely hold a gun, to a strong and determined hero who fights to protect the people that she cares about is really well done. She is one of my favorite new additions to the series and I hope we do get to see more of her in the coming titles. Nick Apostolides did a great job coming back as Leon and did an amazing job showing just how far his character grew from a rookie cop to a confident hero who does whatever he can to protect innocents. All the rest of the cast performed super well including Victor Gideon who is very intimidating if not a bit underutilized.Â
Great story, weak villains
As much as this game impressed me, it still has quite a few issues that Capcom just can’t seem to shake off no matter how hard they try. The primary villains in this game are Victor Gideon and Zeno which are very entertaining to watch and have their moments, but ultimately do not live up to be truly memorable villains. Nothing can quite match Wesker from Resident Evil 5, and this game was unable to make a villain live up to that standard. The final boss was very underwhelming which is too bad considering how good the ending of the game is. Capcom needs to do a better of job of giving these villains more time to shine and making their final encounters more memorable. Not bringing back old enemy types and bosses could fix that issue.Â
The last few hours of the game, while not bad, just do not live up to the quality of the earlier parts of the game and it seemed that it was losing quite a bit of steam by the end. It didn’t help that by the end we are hit by flashbacks, lore dumps, and the worst case of choose your ending that I have seen in quite a long time. The bad ending was super anti-climatic. Not to mention that once the game introduces zombies with guns and armed soldiers, the Leon sections started feeling more annoying than fun or exhilarating. Thankfully the game knew when to end.
A new standard for Resident Evil
Resident Evil Requiem is not a perfect game as I do have minor nitpicks with the late game pacing, some lackluster bosses, and several questionable story decisions. Despite this, I believe that it is one of the best games in the series and a serious early contender for game of the year. The horror and atmosphere are gripping and never let go, and the action is some of the best I have seen from the series since Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil Requiem is going to go down as one of the most impressive games this year and I am so excited for the other games that Capcom has cooking up.Â
