Resident Evil Requiem Is the Horror Experience Fans Have Been Begging Capcom For
For years Resident Evil fans have argued about what the series should be. Should it lean into full blown action like Resident Evil 5 and 6? Should it return to claustrophobic survival horror like the original games? Or should Capcom keep pushing the first person terror route introduced with Resident Evil 7?
Resident Evil: Requiem somehow answers all of those questions at once. After several playthroughs it becomes clear that this is not just another sequel. It is Capcom throwing thirty years of Resident Evil history into a blender and somehow producing one of the most satisfying entries the franchise has delivered since Resident Evil 4.
And yes, Leon S. Kennedy is back. Older, grumpier, infected with the T-Virus, and still capable of delivering a one liner while kicking a zombie through a window.
Two Protagonists, Two Completely Different Games
One of the biggest talking points going into Resident Evil Requiem was the dual protagonist structure. Players control both Leon Kennedy and new character Grace Ashcroft, an FBI agent investigating a mysterious kidnapping that pulls her into the dark heart of Raccoon City’s long buried secrets.
On paper this sounded risky. Resident Evil has attempted multiple campaigns before and sometimes the results have been… messy.
Requiem absolutely nails it.
Grace’s sections are pure survival horror. Played in first person, they lean heavily into tension and vulnerability. When Grace fires a gun for the first time her hands literally shake with fear. Her aim is unstable, recoil throws her off balance, and the game subtly pushes players toward stealth, puzzle solving and careful planning.
Then the perspective shifts.
Suddenly you are Leon Kennedy, and subtlety goes out the window. Leon boots down doors, throws axes into infected enemies and chainsaws his way through hordes like he has been waiting twenty years for someone to hand him a power tool.
The contrast is brilliant. One moment you are creeping through dark corridors terrified to make a sound. The next you are mowing down zombies like a man who has seen this nonsense far too many times before.
A Return to Raccoon City
Perhaps the biggest nostalgia hit comes when the story pulls players back to the ruins of Raccoon City.
Decades after the nuclear blast that wiped the city from the map, the area has become a decaying wasteland of abandoned buildings and buried secrets. For longtime fans it is an incredible moment. Returning to familiar locations like the Raccoon Police Department feels both nostalgic and eerie.
Even if Dead by Daylight players have basically turned the place into a holiday destination by now.
Requiem uses these locations cleverly rather than simply relying on fan service. Areas explored earlier with Grace can later be revisited with Leon, and the difference in gameplay is striking. Rooms that took hours to survive through as Grace can be cleared in minutes by Leon’s more aggressive combat style.
It is a clever bit of level design that constantly reminds players how different these two characters really are.
Zombies, Lickers and Proper Resident Evil Chaos
While Resident Evil 7 and Village experimented with different types of enemies, Resident Evil Requiem brings things back to basics in the best possible way.
Zombies are everywhere. Lickers return. Classic bio-weapons appear. And yes, there are boss battles involving giant spiders and mutated monstrosities that look like they crawled out of a particularly nasty nightmare.
One of the standout encounters involves a Tyrant style enemy similar to Mr. X from Resident Evil 2. This time however the confrontation becomes a full blown battle rather than a stalking game of cat and mouse. It is chaotic, intense and exactly the kind of moment Resident Evil fans live for.
The game also introduces some clever new systems. The Blood Collector mechanic allows players to gather blood samples from enemies and convert them into resources such as ammunition or health items. It adds a surprisingly strategic layer to combat encounters and encourages players to think carefully about which enemies to eliminate.
It is one of those systems that sounds strange on paper but works brilliantly once you start playing.
Nightmares, Orphanages and Bald Creepy Children
Resident Evil would not be Resident Evil without at least one sequence designed to completely destroy your nerves.
Requiem delivers this in spectacular fashion during a section set in an orphanage where players must escape a group of giggling bald children who seem to have crawled directly out of the world’s worst nightmare.
It is deeply unsettling and wonderfully creepy.
Elsewhere the game delivers plant based horrors, grotesque mutations and plenty of creative boss encounters. Capcom clearly had a lot of fun designing these creatures and it shows.
A Fitting Chapter for Leon Kennedy
Beyond the monsters and explosions, Resident Evil Requiem also works surprisingly well as a character driven story.
Leon Kennedy has been part of Resident Evil for decades and his storyline finally receives a meaningful chapter here. The game balances emotional moments with classic Resident Evil absurdity remarkably well.
It never forgets that this series is allowed to be a little ridiculous. After all, this is a franchise where roundhouse kicks, rocket launchers and giant bio-weapons have always existed side by side.
But Requiem manages to ground those moments with genuine character development.
Capcom Has Delivered Again
Resident Evil: Requiem has already shattered franchise sales records, reportedly moving around five million copies within its first five days of release. After spending time with the game it is easy to see why.
This is Resident Evil firing on all cylinders. It blends the tension of Resident Evil 7, the action of Resident Evil 4 and the classic zombie horror of the original games into one thrilling experience.
With two major DLC expansions already announced and rumours swirling about potential remakes of the original Resident Evil and Code Veronica, the future of the franchise looks incredibly exciting.
For horror fans and longtime players alike, Resident Evil: Requiem is exactly what we hoped for.
And once you unlock unlimited rocket launchers and Insanity Mode… well, you will probably be playing it all over again anyway.
