‘Resident Evil Requiem’ Review

Developer: Capcom | Platform: PS5 | Playtime: 13:05 | Platinum: 28:10

After a bizarre promotional cycle with fakeouts and leaks, the next step in the Resident Evil is here, a Requiem for the dead, nightmare for the living and a blast to play. It’s mix of Horror and Action appeals to me double and I’m proud to say the game sticks the landing. Like 99%.

This is a fairly thorough review so there will be MAJOR STORY and GAMEPLAY SPOILERS. Reader discretion is advised, this review is better enjoyed after playing.

The story follows FBI analysist Grace Ashcroft and Counter Bioterrorism veteran and Leon Kennedy as dual protagonists investigating a series of murders involving survivors of Raccoon City. Their paths cross when mysterious figure Victor Gideon kidnaps Grace and together they must discover the truth of the mysterious Elpis and escape the shadow of the Umbrella Corporation once and for all. Admittedly, I’m not a huge fan of the story. I like the idea that there is still a secret left in Raccoon city, I like the retcon of having The Connections involved (If it gets expanded upon in 10) in the bombing. However, the crux of my issue is the Raccoon City survivors only exhibiting symptoms like 30 years after the fact, which is bizarre. There’s also what the game doesn’t show -the complete lack of mention that Ada, Claire and Jill get is very suspicious, considering all three are also Raccoon City survivors and Leon/Sherry’s sickness is directly due to their time in Raccoon City. Is Sherry not immune to T-Virus thanks to her G-Virus genes? There’s also the pretty major Spencer retcon, but I suppose that’s what the Resi 5 remake is for. There’s also the whole Grace is a clone who isn’t a clone? She’s special but also not? I assume she has Elpis already in her system? That’s all fairly minor in the grand scheme, the moment to moment of the story is good. 

The dynamic between Leon and Grace, Leon and Sherry and Grace and Emily are all very good. They’re all very believable relationships supported by some stellar voice acting. Grace in particular is outstanding, showing the genuine fear that the maniac Ethan Winters should have felt in 7 and 8. Gideon and Zeno are also very well voice acted 

A selling point of the game is that it combines the two major gameplay style of previous games – the Survival Horror of 2 and 3 or the action of 4, with the former being assigned to rookie Grace and the latter to ‘Too-old-for-this-malarkey' Leon. I think the survival scenarios are the best they’ve ever been but the gameplay isn’t as good while the action gameplay is the best it’s been but with weaker scenarios. Having the option of First Person or Third Person is cool (Though First person seems to only really be for those who jumped in with 7 and 8). I played both Leon and Grace in Third person, to keep it in line with the 4 remake and 2/3 remake respectively. Despite it being Grace’s intended view point, first person feels odd, like it was modded in. It kind of feels like how third person in Village, which was a little bit janky and out of place. 

Grace feels fairly limited by the end of the game, being reduced to only having a pistol. I suppose this adds to her Survival Horror elements but RE2 Leon and Ethan Winters both got shotguns and grenade launchers and whatnot. Even a farmer’s shotgun would have been good. In terms of Grace’s equipment, she also has the Blood Collector which is an odd tool. The player can collect blood from dead bodies and buckets what have you and use it for crafting. It’s an odd system, but maybe no less odd than any other crafting in the series. As a less experienced character, Grace can also craft ‘Haemolytic Injectors’ which act as stealth kills for enemies. I never really used them but I can see the appeal. Leon ends the game with a fair bit more weaponry as can be expected and from Raccoon City onwards he can upgrade his weapons using a Point system. The point tracking system is as good a replacement to the Merchant as the game was going to get even if the execution (Literal points for kills) is a little odd. 

The enemies this time around are once again Zombies but this time around they’re slightly more intelligent. Some zombies use weapons like broken bottles and guns while others rely on preexisting behaviour patterns that can be exploited – make a mess and the maid zombie gets mad, turn a light on and a security zombie will rush to turn it off. There’s also ‘Mini Boss’ like zombies that are cool – a hulking butcher zombie or a pair of singing zombies. They’re not quite Left 4 Dead’s special infected but they’re cool additions. Returning from way back in Resident Evil Remake are the Crimson Heads, this time in the form of Blister Heads. They’re aggressive and tend to dodge but there’s not really that many of them, even without doing the prep so they don’t spawn (Decapitation rather than burning). It also might just be me but the newer gameplay style means that they’re just harder enemies rather than threats like the original Crimson Heads).  

Stalker enemies in this series are apparently quite controversial, personally I like them. The game features 1 proper Stalker and 1 less so. Less so is “Chunk” who is more area denial than stalker. The main one is ‘The Girl’. She appears only for Grace and is more of a puzzle in a way, having an aversion to light and not stepping into areas that are well lit. It works for this game but it’s also not something Tyrant or Jack Baker needed. The game does an awkward thing where it shows Leon kill her with 4 Requiem shots but then when the player encounters The Girl with requiem, she can only stun her, no matter how many shots are used. Having the stalker enemy dealt with in the first third of the game is fine (The same thing happens in Claire’s scenario of RE2) but then there’s nothing left for the rest of the game. Did Leon need a stalker in Racoon City? Do you bring Tyrant forward in the story? Use Yawn? Nemesis? 

Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Centre (Grace’s first section) is truly great, makes the RPD (RE2) and Baker House (RE7) look like child's play in comparison. I would have maybe tied in the Water treatment centre into the whole thing also instead of an epilogue section but that’s neither here nor there. Raccoon City and ARK falter somewhat, still good just not as good – it does have to balance between homage and hey remember this, between Super Tyrant, Black Tiger, Plant 43 the Cerberus, Lickers, Nemesis etc. It’s definitely cool when you first play it but it’s hard to look at it objectively.  The inevitable RE1 ReRemake should be interesting. I Think Ark needed one more enemy type – Nest had the Ivy’s and Nest 2 had Pale Heads. Maybe the Hunters could have been brought back (Since we already brought back a few existing enemies). Raccoon City proper could have also done with a little more in it. Akin to the merchant requests, there could be a couple of optional bosses like the Rabid dog or Golden Knight from RE4R 

The games lowest point is easily the fact there’s another unskippable Orphanage hide and seek section. I’d say it’s fine the first time but annoying that it’s not skippable but we’ve literally already had a little girl hiding in the orphanage section in 2. This is the most egregious callback and I don’t actually feel like it adds anything to the game.

Requiem is undoubtedly a great game, one I enjoyed a great deal but I do think the games troubled development has led to the game being a hodgepodge of existing concepts. The game plays things a little too safe at times, trying to please everybody rather than committing. A nice culmination of the remakes and more recent titles but a sign that the series needs to move forward for Resident Evil 10. If we see Requiem as Capcom testing the waters, then the next game should truly be special. Regardless, Requiem is a blast through and through and one I’ll no doubt return to many times.