Resident Evil Requiem review: Thrills and chills

Delivering a story that expertly combines survival horror and action, Resident Evil Requiem stands as one of the finest entries in the 30-year-old franchise.

Resident Evil’s family tree contains many branches. Going back almost 30 years, you’ve got classic survival horror, action survival horror, spinoffs (most not worth remembering), and the new era of games that began with 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. Some games focus more on one style of play than the other; Resident Evil 2 leans more into survival horror, while RE4 prefers doling out action draped with horror motifs.

But some Resident Evils attempt to intertwine those branches. And there’s nothing wrong with that, provided one branch doesn’t strangle the other. That happened in RE7, when Ethan Winters, billed as an everyman character, began the game weak and helpless, and became a walking tank by the end.

With Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom set out to solve that problem by offering two protagonists, each with their own style of gameplay. The result is a shining example of how new Resident Evil games—not necessarily counting remakes, which set out to recapture the spirit of their source material—could, and possibly should, be handled from now on.

Styling and profiling

Newcomer Grace Ashcroft and grizzled veteran Leon S. Kennedy take centerstage in Resident Evil Requiem. Each begins their mission with a different agenda. Grace, an FBI agent, must investigate a series of mysterious deaths, while Leon has come down with a serious infection tied to his past. Their attitudes and personalities define them. Grace starts out afraid of her own shadow, while Leon would fight his with the slightest provocation.

You play as each character for approximately half the game’s runtime, switching between them at key moments. The cadence between Grace’s more horror-driven sections and Leon’s no-holds-barred action is masterful. You start as Grace, creeping through darkness and solving puzzles while terrifying creatures stalk your every move. By the time your tension reaches a breaking point, the game switches to Leon and lets you kill all the things to relieve that tension. Just when you’ve had enough of Leon’s hilariously cocky one-liners and superior strength, the game puts you back in Grace’s shoes for more puzzle solving and slinking around.

That cadence, combined with the story, make Requiem a masterclass in design. The actors for Leon and Grace—especially Grace, who goes from terrified to more confident as the narrative progresses—embody their characters perfectly. Not only are the traditional narrative elements such as cutscenes well done, but little gameplay moments, such as Grace’s hands shaking while Leon’s aim is much steadier, lend themselves to character development.

Once upon an outbreak

Every story beat continues Leon’s evolution as a monster slayer whose career in saving the world began with an ill-fated first day on the job, and follows Grace’s awakening as a heroine. There were moments during the story that brought tears to my eyes—emotion! In a Resident Evil game!—and if you’ve followed the series since the early days of the Spencer Estate and the R.P.D., you’ll probably get a little misty-eyed, too. 

Zombies talk now, but that, too, is more than a gimmick. Zombies retain elements of their personalities, so the words they say give you an indication of who they were before they turned. This sets up their positions in the environment (an early gameplay demo showed a maid scrubbing obsessively at a mirror in a bathroom) and their behavior. Zombies hooked up to IVs will stab you with needles. A self-absorbed blonde in a ballroom will scream if she sees you, alerting nearby enemies to your presence.

That’s the last thing you want to happen as Grace. But if you’re Leon? Bring it on.

It's a-me, Leon Kennedy

I would be remiss if I failed to mention the Switch 2 version’s performance. I reviewed RE Requiem on Nintendo’s newest console, and was impressed at the smooth frame rate and crisp visuals. It might not look as good as its PS5, Xbox, and PC brethren, but I never felt like I was missing out just because I was playing on a Nintendo console. The RE Engine perpetuates its reputation as one of the most flexible engines out there, proving that Switch 2 is a fine platform for third-party games provided their developers have the technical pedigree to optimize them.

I have only two complaints, both minor. First. I became a tad too powerful in Grace’s sections. Not so powerful that I could take on any threat without fear of repercussions (there are enemies she cannot kill no matter how much ammo you dump into them), but powerful enough to stand up to your run-of-the-mill zombies without flinching. That caused some of the tension the game had built up around Grace to dull. Just slightly, but enough to put some pep in my step, exhibiting more confidence than I should have felt at that point in the story.

Second, there aren’t many puzzles. The ones you’ll find are pretty straightforward, and might leave you disappointed if you appreciate the more elaborate puzzle design in other Resident Evil games. However, the relative lack of tricky puzzles didn’t bother me much. They wouldn’t make sense in Leon’s action-heavy segments, and Grace’s sections are more about survival than they are puzzle solving. Too many puzzles, and the pacing of both characters could suffer.

That aside, Resident Evil Requiem is a crown jewel in Capcom’s survival horror crown. Its characters develop realistically, its rhythm between action and horror should more than satisfy fans of both styles, and its story gripped me from beginning to end. This is Resident Evil at its finest, and I can’t wait to see where Capcom takes the series next.

This review was based on a Nintendo Switch 2 key provided by the publisher. Resident Evil Requiem releases on February 27 for PC, Xbox Series X|S, PS5, and Nintendo Switch 2.

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Review for
Resident Evil Requiem
10
Pros

• Exhilirating and terrifying in equal measure
• Great pacing between Leon and Grace
• Fun puzzles
• Little touches add to the story and environments
• Runs beautifully on Switch 2

Cons

• Grace can grow too powerful depending on how you play her
• Very few puzzles