Resident Evil Requiem is Capcom’s latest instalment in the long-running Resident Evil franchise of games. Being the ninth mainline title in the series, Resident Evil Requiem follows the story of Grace Ashcroft as she looks to find out the answers behind her mother’s death many years ago.
Does the game live up to the franchise’s iconic survival horror action, or does it fall flat like a zombie that’s just been shot in the head?
The Story
The story of Resident Evil Requiem kicks off with Grace Ashcroft being sent out on a murder investigation by the higher-ups at the FBI. Unfortunately for her, she’s been sent right back to the same hotel that her mother died in years ago. The Wrenwood Hotel has some dark history from Grace’s past, and she’ll have to face her fears to investigate a murder that took place in the now condemned building.
Upon arrival, however, Grace encounters a bit more than she can chew and gets abducted. The whole introductory segment of the game serves as a tutorial of sorts to get you up to speed with the game’s mechanics. It’s done really well, and you’ll immediately be able to tell that you’re in for a creepy action adventure here.
Dual Protagonists: Grace and Leon
Leon Scott Kennedy from previous Resident Evil titles also makes a return this time around as a playable character, albeit a lot older, more grizzled and absolutely jacked. Seriously, what have they been feeding this guy? In any case, the game plays out in separate story segments and alternates between First-Person mode for Grace and Third-Person mode for Leon.
Grace’s segments are a lot scarier than Leon’s, with the latter’s focusing more on combat than on survival. You can change the viewpoint in the settings, but it’s best to stick with the defaults on your first playthrough because that’s the way the game was intended to be played.
The game masterfully weaves its storytelling between the two characters throughout, with minimal confusion arising from the character swapping. For example, Leon and Grace’s paths eventually cross at the Care Centre location in the game, and while one character is trying to escape, the other is caught up in a precarious situation. This goes on throughout the game and overall keeps the plot flowing forward at a brisk pace.
Gameplay and Survival Mechanics
Playing as Grace feels significantly scarier since she’s not as well-equipped as Leon is, and her segments are played in First-Person view, which makes it feel a lot more tense. As the game progresses, Grace will be able to learn how to craft ammo and other resources from pieces of scrap and blood…
How someone is able to make bullets from pieces of metal and infected zombie blood is anyone’s guess but hey, it works so I won’t complain about it. Given how scarce ammo is in the earlier segments of the game, crafting can really save your skin in a pinch.
Grace’s anxious and nervous personality really shines in the game with the voice actor doing a fantastic job bringing her to life. Leon’s more serious demeanour interspersed with some of the most amazing dad joke comments and action-packed gunplay throughout the game is in stark contrast to Grace. It’s refreshing swapping between the two – Especially after a particular scary segment that you just got through with Grace.
Survival Horror vs Action
The ”Survival Horror” aspects of Resident Evil Requiem are not as pronounced as with earlier titles in the franchise. The series has definitely taken a different direction since Resident Evil 4 came out in 2005 and Resident Evil Requiem is more “Survival Action Horror” rather than pure “Survival Horror”.
Yes Grace’s segments are quite terrifying with jump scares, monsters lurking in the shadows and the distinct lack of weaponry to keep you safe but it’s still not as terrifying as ye olde Resident Evil 1, 2 and 3 from the old days.
Resident Evil Requiem follows in the footsteps of the Remakes of 2, 3 and 4 and that’s not a bad thing at all. Modern audiences will definitely appreciate the game and even fans of the classics such as myself will find it appealing. Heck I absolutely loved this game thanks to it’s perfect execution of so many staple Resident Evil concepts.
Puzzles, Exploration and Classic Elements
Speaking of which, plenty of what we’ve become accustomed to makes an appearance here. Yes there’s a lot of puzzle solving, yes there’s notes to read, yes there’s even some backtracking to get hidden items and collectibles. It’s all here and it’s been refined and distilled to pure perfection. There’s very little I can fault in Resident Evil Requiem but I’ll get to my gripes in a bit.
Graphics and Performance
Graphically, Resident Evil Requiem looks ridiculously great on PC with all settings maxed out. The game is incredibly well optimised too and runs very well on modern hardware. Even if you have an older RTX 30 series GPU you might be able to play with most of the settings maxed out at 1080p but be prepared to take a hefty performance knock when it comes to using Ray Tracing or Path Tracing.
I also highly recommend playing with the Hair Strands enabled because it makes a massive difference to the game’s visual fidelity. Grace’s hair looks exponentially better with the setting enabled. The game still looks gorgeous though with some of the other settings turned down or lowered.
Audio, Soundtrack and Voice Acting
The soundtrack used in the game is another work of art since the music really compliments the setting and tone of the various environments and areas. The use of silence also accentuates the creepiness factor in multiple spots in the game and overall the sound design team clearly worked super hard in making sure that everything is well done.
The voice acting is also perfect with Grace’s voice actor having nailed the role here. She’s easily become one of my favourite Resident Evil protagonists because she’s so endearing with her anxiety and her ability to overcome it.
Issues and Criticisms
Now to my only two gripes with the game. The first being the fact that despite being able to turn off or disable Motion Blur, due to the way Grace’s First-Person viewpoint is done in-game, the field of view is rather narrow and motion sickness inducing. Some people might be able to handle this perfectly fine but others might not.
The second gripe I have with the game is the fact that after a certain point, the entire tone of the game shifts and becomes far more action focused instead of horror focused. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing but diluting the horror down felt like I was playing a part of Resident Evil 4 or 5 again. Again though, this isn’t exactly a bad thing since if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it and some people might love this tonal shift more than others.
Final Verdict
Resident Evil Requiem is a masterpiece of a game. Capcom have crafted an action-packed survival horror game that does so much right that you’ll easily want to replay the game multiple times trying to 100% it. The game should take you roughly around 12 hours to complete but a lot more if you actually do want to 100% it.
The horror aspects might have been diluted halfway through the game but the storytelling, the gameplay and sheer sense of achievement you get after getting through challenging segments of the game is truly captivating. Capcom also do not shy away from the fact that Resident Evil Requiem is a game since the less serious aspects of it show through a bit every now and then with some hidden Easter Eggs and moments that just scream, “Yeah, video game logic…”.
They know that games are all about having fun and there’s plenty to be had here in-between all the horror and surviving. Give Resident Evil Requiem a chance to shine and you’ll see that we have a potential Game of the Year on our hands already so early on in the year.
Bonus Opinion from IGC’s Owner
Wrenwood was alright. Grace makes it more tense with her whimpers, screams and constant “wtf” moments with her voice acting. “Ohh, ahh, AHHH… what’s that… hhrr.” When playing as Grace in Resident Evil Requiem, I felt far more on edge. The strong voice acting elevated every moment—each sound, every creak, and every jump scare hit harder because of how convincingly she reacted to the horrors around her.
Playing as Leon felt completely different — more like stepping into the boots of a hardened veteran who was all about kicking butt and going in guns blazing. When you first meet Grace, you immediately feel for her. As the story unfolds and you learn more about her backstory, that connection only grows stronger. It pulls you deeper into the game and makes everything feel more personal.
With Ethan Winters in Resident Evil Village, your goal is clear — rescue his daughter — but the action starts almost immediately. You don’t really get that same gradual emotional pull that slowly draws you into the experience the way Grace’s story does.
I can play Resident Evil Requiem better than Village, especially once I turned off depth of field, motion blur, and camera shake. Played a little on PC and mostly on Xbox, but PC is way better visually.
Resident Evil Requiem Video Review
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The game was provided to us for the express purpose of reviewing.
