Resident Evil Requiem review

After years of focused Resident Evils that excelled in one particular area or another, Capcom set itself the unenviable task of combining the best parts of all of them into one single game. Puzzles. Horror. Action. Leon Scott Kennedy.

It sounds like an impossible task—but Requiem not only pulls it off, it does it in just 10 hours. If I had known I'd be done shooting zombies in the head with Leon and turning items around in newcomer Grace's hands until they bare their secrets so soon, I likely would've thrown my toys out of the pram. But Resident Evil Requiem's restraint is too impressive for me to sulk over.

Everything I did in those 10 hours felt necessary. No redundant fetch quests, no dragged-out stealth sequences just for the sake of raising blood pressure needlessly. Every puzzle, corridor and burst of action is tightly choreographed, and if I appreciate anything in videogames, it's when they don't waste my time. But Requiem doesn't just use its time wisely—it manages to make every minute just as exciting as the last.

There's a lot of Requiem I can't talk about—spoilers and all that—which has made it a struggle to convey just how meticulously Capcom has put the pieces of this game together. That means that I'll have to ask you, the reader, to use some creativity when imagining the scenes ahead. I'll leave as many cryptic clues as I can, and where necessary, fall back on the classic reference system of: just trust me bro.

Riddle me this

Instead of trying to conquer the action, horror, and puzzles at once, Resident Evil Requiem splits these between Leon and Grace, at least at the start. It's the right choice. Leon is the conduit for pure adrenaline as the roundhouse-kicking, grandma-suplexing action hero we've all come to expect, with a light dusting of puzzles still sprinkled in for flavour. Grace is forced to circumvent most action for stealth, becoming the proxy for most of the horror and the majority of puzzles towards the beginning of the game, setting Requiem up for long stretches of tension in between bursts of catharsis.

In classic Resi fashion, when Grace finds herself trapped in the Rhodes Hill Hospital run by theatrical scientist-villain Victor Gideon, she must find three quartz blocks to place inside the door that blocks her from freedom. This sets her on a puzzle run across the east and west wings of the facility. There are safe codes to crack, jewels to find, and bodies to fill with organs (let's not dwell on the details).

The individual puzzles aren't anything new—my favourite turned out to be the question of how Grace has to navigate the hospital. Evading a huge zombie chef with a knife and an even bigger bloater-looking fella called a Chunk, alongside the rest of the staff and patients who have all been infected, forced me to play smart even as I became intimately familiar with the hospital's layout.

Like with previous everyman protagonist Ethan in Resident Evil 7, you are very much at a disadvantage, so you need to be strict when it comes to resource management—I'm talking bullets and herbs—and learn when it's necessary to engage in fights and when you should just haul ass.

Towards the beginning, Leon hands Grace Requiem, a forearm-sized revolver that can pretty much obliterate any zombie in front of it. But you only have one round (rude), so you need to make it count. There is a possibility to craft and find more ammo, but I only ever had two on my person for the majority of my time in hospital hell.

What did I do with it? I used it to take out the two biggest thorns in my side: zombies like the screamer from Left 4 Dead, which shriek so loudly they'll burst your eardrums as they grab your shoulders and hold you closely, taking out most of your health with it. I could've used it to kill the angry chef or even try to take down the Chunk, but these two singing zombies presented actual obstacles to the puzzle progression, so they were the ones that had to go.

Grace comes up against bigger issues than these two singing zombies, such as a freakish monster with bulging eyes that makes Chunk almost cuddly by comparison. It haunts Grace and provides some of the scariest horror sequences I've encountered in Resident Evil. My hands were clammy, my gut was tied in knots—turning every corner felt like I was peering over a cliff that I couldn't see the bottom of. I had to switch Grace's perspective to third-person for this part. I just couldn't crawl around the dark and dingy corridors, avoiding roaming infected and the beast that haunts Grace, without corner peeking. I can't say more about what I lived through, but good luck with the basement.

Grace's final fight in Rhodes Hill against [redacted] is a brilliant crescendo for both character and play, paying off Requiem's combination of puzzles, action, and horror. It felt like she actually learned from her past encounters in the hospital and became more confident in her actions. My only wish is that I got more time with her in the later hours of the game, as her stealth sections were just so much fun.

After Rhodes Hill, you do see a shift in how Grace can be played. Yes, she still encounters puzzles, and I had to do plenty of running away. But I was also able to stand my ground and actually go on the offensive at times. You love to see a good bit of character development.

The prodigal son returns

I enjoy playing as Grace because it makes me feel smart, managing to overcome seemingly impossible obstacles with a handful of ammo and some herbs. But I love Leon's sections for the simple reason that they make me feel cool. Embodying Leon is like watching Pacific Rim: I know it may not be as sophisticated, but like, have you seen those freaking robots?

There was not a single moment of horror or uncertainty with Leon. Even when wading through a flooded, dimly lit underground parking lot with zombies rising from the water, I felt nothing but confidence.

After trudging around one of the scariest parts of the game as Grace, you get handed a rifle as Leon and get to take potshots at zombies from a balcony—no stress, just fun. Then you get trapped inside a church (which is on fire, because where would the drama be if it wasn't), and have to fight a huge infected alongside other mutated zombies. It's fast-paced, gory, and a great place to show off all of Leon's combos.

As in previous Resident Evil games, Leon has access to a bevvy of finishing moves and a great parry system that is simple to use: just hit the right button at the right time. Mastering this helps you make quick work of any enemies you come across and also just makes you feel cool as all hell.

But feeling cool as all hell is only part of what makes for great action design. The controls balance heft and responsiveness; the combat tests you while never edging into feeling unfair to overcome (this isn't a FromSoft game); and despite the pacing driving forward relentlessly, Requiem ensures all the weapons in your arsenal have a time and a place to shine.

I never once encountered an enemy which, after killing me, left me staring blankly at my screen, wondering how the hell I'd beat it. I didn't die a lot (brag), but every time I did, it came with an important lesson that helped me on my next attempt. There were also no moments where I was left gesturing at my screen in confusion and anger after I definitely pressed a button or moved out of the way, only for Leon to not respond in time. There's no delay in Requiem—Leon reacts as soon as you do.

Leon has access to a pistol, a revolver, a shotgun, a rifle, and acquires more as the game goes on. This means you really do have something for every occasion. Each one handles really well, and you're able to mod them even more to your liking.

I upgraded the power on my handgun, reduced the knockback on my shotgun, and sped up the reload time on my rifle. I never reached a moment where I was frustrated with a gun or felt stifled because all I was left with was ammo for a weapon that would be absolutely no help.

The best part about the weapons and parry system is getting to use them against real threats. Leon gets some great action set pieces against [redacted], [redacted], and the mighty [redacted], each presenting a slightly new combat challenge for him to go up against. One utilised surrounding explosives, the next demanded I be deliberate with my aim, and the last let me exult in an all-out brawl with my trusty combat axe. Leon's finale demands the use of all three of these skills, again, feeling as if everything you've done as Leon has been training to smash this epic moment.

So the guns are great, the parry system is as precise as always, and each fight feels like it builds into the next. But hang on, I'm about to squash the critic part of my brain and tell you that Leon's best fight doesn't actually prioritise any of these. It's not even that technically impressive or difficult—it's just sick as all hell.

Go big or go home

After rummaging around the ruins of Raccoon City, Leon's next step is to get to the next location, which is miles away. Does he run? No, but he probably could. Does he get into his fancy Porsche? No, you left that amid rubble a few blocks back. Instead, you find an old army motorbike. Leon then proceeds to race his way across a devastated Racoon City, shooting at suped up Cerberuses with a machine gun while also fighting none other than our eccentric villain in a snake-skin coat, Victor Gideon, who has been waiting for Leon on his own motorbike armed with an RPG.

This sequence is perhaps the most fun I've had in a Resident Evil game, even beating out the terror of spearfishing with the great lake salamander Del Lago. It was completely over-the-top, definitely improbable, and perhaps even unnecessary. But I loved every second of it.

I'd have been happy with just the puzzles, action sequences, and horror, but Requiem also nails the eccentricity of Resident Evil, which, for me, is a must-have and a big part of why I have such nostalgia for the older games. I've always loved the absurdity of Resident Evil and how outrageous some of its villains are—there's a reason why the original Resident Evil 4 is still my all-time favourite.

Now that's a requiem

So yes, Resident Evil Requiem somehow manages to provide excellent action set pieces accompanied by great weapon handling, some truly horrendous horror, and satiates my love of classic Resident Evil puzzles. All within 10 hours.

Requiem is a game that is built on the backs of everything that's come before it, utilising what works and learning from what didn't. It makes for some of the most fun I've had in Resident Evil and feels like you're playing a highlight reel of the best moments in the series.

It's a superb way to round off storylines and makes revisiting Racoon City feel like a worthwhile venture and not something that treads on precious memories. Requiem has now made it into my top Resi games and will be a game I'll replay almost as much as RE4. Almost.