Resident Evil Requiem
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Platforms: Switch 2, PC, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X (Reviewed)
Release Date: Available Now
Price: $69.99 USD – Available Here $129.95 AUD – Available Here
Overview
Thirty years ago Capcom found what would eventually become one of their landmark franchises in Resident Evil and now nearly thirty years after the events of Raccoon City, one of the game’s stars will be returning to where his story began. Over the past ten years Capcom has told the story of Ethan Winters while bringing the classic Resident Evil titles to modern audiences and now with Resident Evil Requiem it feels like the company has brought the two together into one complete package, aiming to deliver both survival horror and some action packed gameplay all into one story. Thankfully for fans, they have succeeded.
Story
Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak (now canon) survivor Alyssa Ashcroft , has been working as an FBI agent and is currently assigned to investigate a series of mysterious deaths across the country. Each one seems to have the same strange symptoms and the latest death happened at the same hotel her mother was murdered at years earlier. Upon arriving at the hotel, she finds that someone has been expecting her and kidnaps her for his own plans. At the same time, Leon Kennedy, with the help of Sherry Birkin, has been investigating these same deaths, only their knowledge of the events behind-the-scenes point to the fact that every survivor of Raccoon City has started to exhibit symptoms of a unique plague from the T-Virus.
Seeking to track down an ex-Umbrella scientist still on the loose by the name of Victor Gideon, Leon arrives on the scene right as Grace is kidnapped by the very man he is hunting. After catching Victor’s eye, the man triggers a small T-Virus outbreak to slow Leon down and escape with Grace in tow, though thankfully with Sherry’s assistance and the help of her government capabilities they can still manage to track down his location, at the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, a medical facility hidden deep into the mountains. Unfortunately for both Grace and Leon, the actual medicine being done there is far more twisted and monstrous than anyone could expect, especially for Grace who comes face to face with the first horror, a monstrous being afraid of the light. But with Victor’s intentions unknown and zombies around every corner, escape is Grace’s only goal while Leon’s is to track down Victor and hope Grace can manage on her own.
In almost every way Resident Evil Requiem feels like two games in one package and that feels the same when it comes to its storytelling and how characters are presented. Grace is an inexperienced field agent that has barely fired her pistol until now while Leon is a battle-hardened veteran that has seen the worst that the T-Virus and beyond can throw at the world. As such the story flips from perspective to perspective between the dual protagonists as players advance through the game, with Grace seeking to escape and solve puzzles while dodging enemies and uncovering various deeper secrets into the workings of Victor’s twisted experiments and later, far more in-depth discoveries, while Leon is a powerhouse that is often at the forefront of confronting Victor, taking on bigger and tougher opponents, and is ready to quip at a moment’s notice with his beloved tacky humor.
Both characters uncover a wide array of documents and discoveries along their respective journeys throughout the game and it is worth noting that a lot of it is quite vital to not only understanding certain events in the game but also surrounding events that have been hinted at in previous games, meaning die-hard fans will adore the amount of attention to detail and extra bits of lore that are revealed throughout the storyline, especially in Leon’s sections.
Grace’s half of the storyline is steeped in fear and survival while also some elements of sorrow. That being said, some of the framework for the horror was so well done that we thought at numerous times something grievous had happened to her through some clever cutscene manipulation. It is also worth noting that, throughout most of Grace’s story the zombies she encounters also retain some semblance of their human selves, repeating acts they would have done otherwise in life and even crying out for help or in apology when attacking her. Or in a couple of cases, hauntingly serenading an entire section until they are eliminated or dodged entirely.
As for Leon’s half of the storyline it is, once again, far more action based but also one reminiscent of the past. It goes without saying that Leon does return to Raccoon City here. This moment is as impactful as any fan could hope for and is treated with respect while also coming with constant flashbacks and memories littered throughout, including easter eggs, fully revealed fates and notes never found before, and of course the culmination of the two stories coming together that is surprisingly poignant given the source.
If there is any complaint, it is that the title may feel a little on the short side for those who don’t scrape and look for everything possible while playing the game. Similarly, the ending which wraps up rather well for the story being told does feel a bit unfinished as it leaves off with a fairly significant mystery once again. But on the other hand, there is a surprisingly in-depth unlock once players complete the game from Grace’s over sixty-page field report that provides even more information that ties some story beats together for players that either missed the references or makes it a bit more clear.
Gameplay
Similar to the story, the way Resident Evil Requiem plays is basically combining two games in one and serves to combine both the first-person horror elements found in more recent titles in Grace’s segments with the more action-based combat from Resident Evil 4 and 5 with Leon’s sections. It is interesting to note that the title defaults players to specific camera angles for characters and, personally, it feels best to leave it that way as Grace’s camera is defaulted to first-person while Leon is third-person over-the-shoulder. This not only gives Grace’s sequences more impact when something horrific or scary happens but also a better look at events happening directly in-front of her while Leon can keep a better scope of the chaotic action around him. It is worth noting that Grace’s camera can be swapped to third-person and it does give players both an advantage and disadvantage. From this perspective Grace will run and scramble faster from enemies that have seen her but also she runs the risk of stumbling and falling, leaving her open for attack, something that does not happen in first-person.
Either way, when players take control of Grace they will find that the FBI agent is woefully under-equipped and un-prepared for the challenges ahead of her. Not only does she have to contend with a blind but incredibly deadly stalking-style enemy known as The Girl in certain locations, but she must also contend with an entire facility loaded with the undead, including a monstrous chef and a giant blob of meat capable of instantly killing her if it grabs a hold of her. As such, players must play stealthily and make careful use of their resources to survive, using the zombies’ tendencies that they once had in life against them. This can include switching on a light switch to move one to another location, making noise somewhere else, or even just watching their wandering patterns and squeezing past when there is an opening.
Of course Grace can also defend herself, but only through proper preparation. As players progress through Grace’s segment they’ll obtain Antique Coins that can be used to purchase hip-pouches to upgrade her inventory capacity, Steroids to boost her overall health, and even a stabilizer to increase her aim. Similarly, Grace obtains a “Blood Collector” that can be used to gather infected blood from slain zombies and buckets of gore throughout the clinic and any DNA samples she acquires and decodes will reveal crafting recipes that make use of this collected blood. This means players can gather blood and items such as scrap or green herbs to craft additional ammo, self-defense knives, and even extra healing items if needed.
There is plenty to do and explore and even sneak-attack instant kill items players can craft as well, making some of the more imposing enemies more tolerable, though at the same time “Blisterheads” can also appear after a certain point. Some enemies, when slain, will transform after a period of time into a monstrous Blisterhead that Grace cannot take down without using precious Requiem (magnum equivalent) ammo or an instant kill item if they sneak up on them. Otherwise the best course of action is to simply avoid them. All the while Grace must solve the majority of the game’s puzzles herself and while the puzzles aren’t too challenging, it does require a bit of extra thought here and there, especially in regards to a certain secret optional puzzle that is completely off-the-wall.
On the other side of things, playing as Leon is entirely different. Not only does Leon carry a case similar to that of Resident Evil 4 Remake capable of holding countless weapons, ammo, and much more, he is a powerhouse in combat.While Grace can only obtain a few handguns, Leon’s Requiem, and knives initially, Leon’s own handgun is already superior to Grace’s and he obtains a slew of other weapons simply by progressing through the title, including a shotgun, rifle, and SMG and even these have upgraded and enhanced versions later on. Even his crafting method is far simpler as it only requires two objects to combine together, not anything related to zombie blood collection. Ironically, where Leon treads initially is the same ground Grace has covered so if players have handled things well as Grace, Leon won’t have too much to deal with but either way, he can pry open doors with his axe, use said axe to parry literally any attack, and of course absolutely tear through most enemies in his path. Even the axe itself is completely unbreakable as low durability just requires a quick sharpening to fix.
Blisterheads are still a problem but contextual melee options are more vicious than ever. Stunning one near a wall will see Leon planting his foot into their head and squishing it against the wall, near a table will see a head-slam, and even general melee attacks are quite brutal. Ever seen a zombie drop-kicked off a sky-scraper before? It’s a riot. Either way, Leon’s arsenal can eventually be further improved by points he obtains from slaying enemies and gathering trackers throughout the second half of the game and these points can be traded in at abandoned BSAA lockboxes to purchase items and upgrade Leon’s equipment, such as enhancing the stats for his weapons or buying attachments for them. The second half of Leon’s journey is far longer and also far more action packed, though players looking for puzzles will be a bit disappointed even though the bosses he happens to face are not only a mix of classic nostalgic ones but callbacks to ones that were clearly missed during a certain Nemesis Remake.
If there is one thing that is a bit of an issue gameplay wise, there is something of a disappointing lack of new enemy types. While one new enemy type is introduced, it is only through one mostly-scripted sequence and never appears again. Sure, the boss enemies are of course brand new but those hardly count as they are bosses. Otherwise players will face off against almost entirely zombies throughout the game and while the memory retaining ones in the Clinic are incredibly spooky and challenging to deal with at times, that disappears in the latter half of the game outside of a few enemies being able to randomly fire weapons they still are holding onto or carrying a chainsaw still.
Once players complete the game on any difficulty they will not only unlock Insanity mode, the hardest difficulty that also throws some extra curveballs at players by changing enemy and item locations, but also the bonus shop as well. The bonus shop is where players can use Challenge Points obtained by completing various achievements in the game, literally, that reward a certain amount of points each. These can then be spent on things such as unlocking extra charms for characters to wield that may make things easier on replays, more weaponry and costumes for Grace and Leon, and even infinite ammo if players really want to go all out.
It is a bit disappointing that, considering Leon’s extensive combat capabilities, that the title does not feature any type of Mercenaries mode at launch. This means that once players complete the storyline and, most likely, run through it at least once more to challenge themselves to obtain extra Challenge Points, there isn’t much left to do. Including a Mercenaries mode would have done wonders.
Audio & Visuals
It is easy to say that Resident Evil Requiem is one of the best looking games that fans can play on their consoles today. The lighting effects when it comes to navigating dimly lit hallways or underground terrain either with a lighter or flashlight are spectacular and the level of detail on everything from the most minute elements to the way zombie flesh shreds apart when being shot is outstanding. There is also quite a lot of variety when it comes to actual zombie appearances, at least in the first half of the game, which makes almost every room feel like a new challenge for Grace. Leon’s action packed segments are wild and fluid, never suffering any slowdown despite how much action can be happening on screen at a time during segments we won’t spoil here. Also, as mentioned earlier, the way some cutscenes are framed are masterful, making players think something devastating has happened only to be a fake-out or in other cases lead right into combat.
The voice acting is excellent for the English cast as Grace’s voice actress does wonders to make the characters fear feel believable and palpable as she confronts the terrors in front of her all while Leon and Sherry both return with their same voice actors and sound as wonderful as ever. Leon’s tone when fighting zombies and bosses is exactly what fans have come to expect from the Raccoon City survivor. The soundtrack features a great collection of background music including haunting themes that remain perfect callbacks to the series’ origin music and tracks specific to certain locations only re-done for this release.
Overall
Resident Evil Requiem feels like it makes a deliberate choice by bringing the first-person horror of Grace’s story and the third-person action-horror of Leon’s storyline together here. It blends two game types together to bring the old in with the new in one turns out to be an absolutely incredible game that any fan will want to dive right into. Newcomers may not get every bit of lore dropped throughout the game but there is a lot here to enjoy. With plenty of horror and solid puzzles as Grace and action combat as Leon, those looking for a taste of everything will find Resident Evil Requiem ready to deliver in spades with only a few small issues along the way.
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