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For the past few entries, fans of old school Resident Evil have felt that Capcom’s left us hanging. Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 7 sucked if you’re a sucker for lore. Who the hell cares about Ethan Winters and his family or the Bakers? Yeah, it’s tangentially related to the overall plot of the series, but they contributed so little the two games might have well been spin-offs. That is thankfully not the case with Resident Evil Requiem.
This is Capcom back in the saddle.
This is primo Resident Evil.
But is it a Resident Evil fans are looking for?
What is Resident Evil Requiem?
Resident Evil Requiem is a first and/or third person survival horror game developed and published by Capcom. It is available right now on the PC, PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles.
Our review copy was awesomely provided by the folks over at Capcom.
For the game, I tested it on our three sponsored gaming rigs.
Here are their specs –
Desktop 1 –
– MSI B550M Mortar WIFI
– AMD Ryzen 9 5900X with NZXT Kraken X73 RGB Liquid Cooler
– MSI GeForce RTX 4090 Suprim X 24G
– Teamgroup T-Force Dark Z 64GB DDR4 RAM
– Samsung 980 PRO 2TB SSD
– NZXT C1200 Gold ATX 3.1
– Lian Li LANCOOL III RGB case
Desktop 2 –
– MSI MPG X870E Carbon WiFi
– AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D with Cooler Master MasterLiquid 360L Core ARGB cooler
– Sapphire Pulse AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX 24GB
– G.SKILL Trident Z5 NEO 32GB DDR5-6400 RAM
– Samsung 990 PRO 2TB SSD
– Corsair RM850x PSU
– Lian Li LANCOOL 207 Digital
Notebook –
MSI Raider GE78 HX 14V
– Intel Core i9 14900HX
– NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4090
– 32GB DDR5 RAM
– 1TB SSD
As another game using Capcom’s RE engine, Resident Evil Requiem is pretty well optimized. I had no issues maxing out settings with DLSS and FSR for a stable 60FPS on 4K with the highest Ray Tracing setting. Everything flowed like wine. No hitches, no stuttering, no slowdown at all that interrupted the game play. Transitions from cutscenes to gameplay were seamless, though loading between transitions (such as changing from Leon to Grace) was a tad lengthy.
It’s bearable though, as the game has zero loading otherwise.
Resident Evil Requiem takes place in the near future of October 2026, which is about 28 years (give or take some days) after the events of Resident Evil 2. Despite such a large gap between the Raccoon City incident games (Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City and the Resident Evil Outbreak games), Resident Evil Requiem tries to tie the lore in them and wraps things up, while also setting up a future conflict.
It’s a much welcome change from the last two mainline Resident Evil titles. The Mutamycyte saga was lame and self-contained, which made it feel small. The dearth of lore also didn’t help matters much. To see Resident Evil Requiem return to theme of global proliferation of bioweapons is refreshing. There’s political maneuvering in the upper echelons of the US government hinted, including more info on how compromised the BSAA is. The game even ropes in Resident Evil 6’s plot and a nod to HCF, Wesker’s employers during the events of Resident Evil Code: Veronica.
If you’ve been playing since the series’ beginnings, you’ll be absolutely floored at the amount of lore dropped here that ties into past games and the motivation of Oswell Spencer. Resident Evil Requiem might sound final, but it is far from it. I honestly can’t wait to see how the series progresses from here and if Capcom does DLC (yes please!) for the game. I would love to see what Jill, Barry or even Billy Coen has been up to since we last saw them in action.
In Resident Evil Requiem, you’re given control of two characters – Grace Ashcroft (who’s new to the series) and Leon S. Kennedy. They’re not manually selectable (like in Resident Evil or Resident Evil 2), rather, the game changes you to another character at certain points of the game.
Grace’s gameplay is predominant in the first half, with Leon pretty much the main character of the second half.
As Grace, the game plays like a mixture of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 7/ Village. First-person mode is optional (I prefer to play in third person) thank goodness but limited inventory space, scarcity of ammo and a focus on evasion and escape make Grace’s sections harder than Leon’s.
To be honest, I’m a bit mixed here. I hate horror games where you play hide and seek with a pursuer. I hated Grace’s gameplay when I tried it at TGS 2025 last year… and I hate it here too.
… BUT despite Capcom featuring the gameplay style heavily in trailers and demoes, it is not the majority of what playing as Grace is like. In fact, it’s whittled down to just three sections, with the second part being the longest and most complex. The rest of the time, playing as Grace isn’t that much different from playing as Ethan Winters from Resident Evil 7 and Village.
Except that Grace is an incompetent FBI agent. I don’t know how she was even recruited into the bureau with her abilities.
It goes without saying that after playing as badass women like Jill and Claire, playing as Grace is a severe letdown. I just hated her as a character. She’s weak and rather one-dimensional, stuttering and living with the trauma of her mother’s (Resident Evil Outbreak’s Alyssa Ashcroft) murder.
It’s all her character is currently. Hopefully Capcom fleshes her out if she’s to return in future instalments. Hell, even Brad Vickers or Rebecca Chambers are more interesting than her at this point.
As Grace, you’ll explore the Wrenwood Hotel and the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, though it’s Rhodes Hill where the majority of her gameplay is.
Rhodes Hill is the site of the latest T-Virus outbreak, as a security measure enacted by Victor Gideon to stave off the pursuit of the DSO’s Leon. Grace wanders the hallways of the hospital, creeping around with limited ammo and using distraction so she can sneak by.
While it starts off with Grace being helpless, Resident Evil Requiem slowly gives her the tools to fend for herself. Grace gets the ability to craft ammo, some offensive weapons and even a way to neutralize zombies in one shot as you progress. It doesn’t lessen the difficulty much (you don’t get a lot of resources to craft stuff anyways) but it does give you options on how you tackle encounters.
Capcom’s brought back a very controversial feature in Resident Evil Requiem. That is, they’ve brought back resurrecting zombies. Remember the Crimson Head zombies from the Resident Evil (2002 / Resident Evil HD) remake? They’re baaaaaaaaaaaaaack… except this time they’re called Blister Heads due to the mutated T-Virus.
The mutated T-Virus that’s at work in Resident Evil Requiem also has a few quirks to it. Those infected by it retain more traces of their humanity and can even mutter basic phrases. You’ll encounter these primarily in the Rhodes Hill section of the game. Some zombies are obsessed with darkness, making their way to any light switch you activate to turn them off. There are also zombies that think they’re songstresses, belting out sonic attacks that stun and play havoc with your aim.
Ultimately though, as cool as these are, they’re underutilized. Only a few of them feel different than the run of the mill zombie. Capcom should’ve leaned harder on this idea though the cramped constraints of the Rhodes Hill location makes it hard. After all, how many different types of zombies can you get from a limited sample size? Perhaps this mechanic will return in a future title and more fleshed out, like the Blister Heads.
While Crimson Heads can be dealt with by burning them, Grace unfortunately doesn’t have a lighter or fuel. Blister Heads are instead dealt with by injecting them with a craftable item known as a Hemolytic Injector or blowing up their heads when you encounter zombies.
Now that’s easier said than done. Grace doesn’t have access to any weapon that can reliably do it. The Requiem revolver can do it, but ammo is scarce and you need to aim for the head. Her regular pistols only destroy the head on critical hits, which are random. That means you’ll want to avoid combat as much as possible and fighting only when you really have to, despite having the ammo to tango.
One weird omission from past RE games is that you’re no longer able to dismember corpses. I understand why it’s been cut (there’d be no Blister Head resurrections) but I miss being able to chop limbs off dead bodies. You can still dismember ‘living’ zombies that are a threat to you, but once they’re dead, you can’t chop them up no more. *Insert sad panda noises*
My first playthrough was harrowing because I didn’t know about the Blister Head zombies. I killed as many zombies as I could as I made my way through Rhodes Hill. It was not a walk in the park in the latter parts. It did however make me aware that zombie resurrection is random.
It’s both terrifying and annoying. You could be sprung upon by multiple Blister Heads at once (if you’ve killed many zombies together), attacked by single ones or even have none that spawn that time. You can readily test this by loading a save and approaching downed zombies. Sometimes they’ll mutate into Blister Heads but most times not. That meant that I was saving and reloading a lot to get optimal outcomes.
Save scumming wasn’t fun, but it did afford me an easier playthrough.
Leon on the other hand is as badass as ever… maybe even more so.
Now 51 years old, Leon’s much older but the DSO agent has lost none of his edge. He is as impressive as he was in Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6, with similar gameplay. Leon’s sections are purely action based (like in the games with him present), with his attacks alternating between melee and shooting for optimal gameplay.
It’s a bit annoying that hitting the head doesn’t automatically stun zombies though. I know that Capcom’s tweaked it so that combat doesn’t become predictable (like in Resident Evil 4) but it’s ludicrous that sometimes multiple shots to the noggin still don’t stagger a zombie that’s coming to munch you.
Leon’s bits are full-on combat heavy encounters. Fighting numerous enemies as Grace was terrifying as Grace, but as Leon? It’s just another day on the job. The DSO agents engages in fights with his usual skill. Stun enemies with head or knee shots, then close in for a melee. Finish the job with a hatchet to the head.
Oh yeah, the hatchet – it replaces Leon’s combat knife. You can use it to parry attacks or use it as a melee weapon in combat. You can’t throw it sadly. It’s nothing major, but it does add in a new dynamic to Leon’s usual stun and melee routine. It’s all still very fun though, so no worries on that.
Weirdly, Leon also has the capability to do cinematic critical hits via a short cutscene if attacked close up.
I don’t know the conditions to trigger these (nor is it explained in the tutorials) but they usually result in an immediate kill to whatever is at the opposite end of his guns. I’ve personally done them a couple of times with the pistol and shotgun (the weapons I use the most incidentally), though I’m not sure whether this can trigger for his other weapons.
While Leon does encounter Blister Heads as well, his array of weaponry and the liberal (for a Resident Evil game) amount of ammo means that they’re not as much as a threat to him. Incidentally, as both Leon and Grace share the same gameplay sections in Rhodes Hill, there’s a subtle Zapping System situation (ala Resident Evil 2) going on.
It’s just a simple cause and effect mechanic at work. Enemies killed (or not killed) by Grace are still around during Leon’s section. That means if there are corpses that have not been neutralized, they might pop up as Blister Heads in Leon’s run. Items Grace left behind can also be picked up by Leon.
If anything, Resident Evil Requiem makes a case for buying the Deluxe Edition of the game. The extra stuff in it is worth it, especially if you’re a Resident Evil 2 (the OG version, not the remake) veteran.
The Audio Pack gives you OG Resident Evil 2 sound effects in menus and OG Resident Evil 2 safe room music, just like a similar pack did for the Resident Evil 2 remake. This makes returning to the destroyed R.P.D. building even more melancholic, as Leon reminisces on what went down there the last time he was in the building.
The Bottom Line.
Resident Evil Requiem isn’t the perfect Resident Evil game. The OG Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2 still share the top spot for me. It is however, a very, very, VERY good Resident Evil game. Much better than the last mainline entries. Much better than Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6. Almost as good as Resident Evil 4.
Despite some issues with Grace, I quickly adapted and seriously enjoyed my time with the game. It bridges the past, present and sets up the series’ future in one deft swoop and I’m extremely excited to see what’s coming. I do hope there’s DLC to build upon the stinger in the final ending cutscene though I’d also be happy to finally get a Resident Evil: Code Veronica remake.
Whichever way Capcom goes, it looks like Resident Evil Requiem is just the beginning to a whole new era of Resident Evil… and I’m really glad it has nothing to do with that damn Mutamycyte.
TLDR:
A near-perfect Resident Evil game. Everything fits together superbly. A definite Game of the Year contender.
The Good:
- Leon and Grace both play differently.
- Massive lore drop.
- Blister heads!
- Incredible visuals.
- Optimized for PC.
- RE 2 music with Audio Pack DLC.
The Bad:
- Grace’s hide and seek sections aren’t fun.
- No corpse dismemberment.
Salehuddin Husin, EIC
Sal's been in the industry since the early 2000s. He's written for a ton of gaming and tech publications including Playworks, Hardwarezone, HWM and GameAxis. Recently, Sal served as a juror for the Indie Game Awards at Taipei Game Show 2020. A geek and hardcore gamer, Sal will play everything, on any platform.
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