Picture this. You’re 20 years old, going to college, and working at Waldensoftware in Fayette Mall (Lexington, Kentucky). A shipment of PlayStation games comes in with something called Resident Evil. You and your co-workers can’t stop laughing at the goofy opening, where a very mousse-haired man is running and shooting at dogs that aren’t real. And you think to yourself, “Who would ever buy this goofiness?” Just as you’re about to write the game off, one of your co-workers plays it to the point where the 3D zombie-dude is munching down on another human. The zombie stops, turns around with a dead look in their eyes, and all that laughter that began with the opening cutscene suddenly dies, and things get serious. And they get really serious when the damn dogs jump through a hallway window and come after you.
Welcome to my first experience with this series. A game that proved that I shouldn’t turn off the lights when playing it at home. Yeah, it was that freaky.
Well, it has been 30 years since the first game arrived, and many iterations later, including a hard shift with Resident Evil 4 and third-person action, and we’re back to the beginning again. Same terror. Same uncomfortableness, but this time with graphics that are out-of-this-world good. There is not much to complain about with the latest release in the series.
So, stock up on ammo, make sure you’re only carrying your important things, and let’s get resident-ing with this evil.
Story
Something has gone terribly wrong at a hotel. Residents have suddenly become hungry for humans, and a mysterious man has been seen walking the hallways. Who do you call to investigate such a place? Well, naturally, the person whose mother had been murdered in the same hotel and who hasn’t quite dealt with the trauma of it yet. Grace Ashcroft enters the chat as an FBI agent who doesn’t quite know what to expect in the situation. Thankfully, she has backup with Leon Kennedy, who has seen a few fights with the undead and mutated monsters before. Both are trying to get to the bottom of the hotel’s T-virus outbreak, while also trying to survive along the journey.
The story is fun and winding in Resident Evil Requiem. It plays out two different scenarios, both running in parallel. Grace and Leon’s story intertwines and meet at times, although come to a solid conclusion by the end. Well, a ‘conclusion’. No spoilers here. Anyway, this twist and turn dance that each character does gives off a huge Resident Evil 2 vibe, as the main characters go their own path but meet up at certain points. Each character in Resident Evil Requiem brings their own problems. Grace is still trying to recover from her mom’s tragedy, while Leon is racing against time and survival with a problem of his own. The stories are thick with scary moments, gross details, and some solid payoffs for player trouble. In other words, the story is solid. And, yes, I am being vague because I really don’t want to give too much away.
Just know that you’re in for a good, self-contained, small set of adventures that bring some great moments and find solid ground within the Resident Evil series.
Now, about that gameplay.
About that gameplay
Not to make it too obvious, I was dying to get to this portion of the review because I have some points to make. First and foremost, I adore what Resident Evil VII and Resident Evil VIII did for the franchise. It took it in different directions and truly opened the world of RE in ways that I’m sure fans didn’t expect. I found both fascinating in their horror and take on how they fit into the series. They were wonderful entries into the RE family, and doubly so when you played VIII in virtual reality. Dear God, I have never sweated so hard in my life until that VR experience. Scary as hell.
So, with so much greatness in the last two outings, did Capcom make a cookie-cutter copy of their successes to feed the masses? Not at all. In fact, the company went back to the beginning with Resident Evil Requiem. They shrunk the world for Grace and Leon, brought back incredible offensive limitations, while wedging in stealthiness in the gameplay, and they simply made it far scarier in the process. It was a return to an older structure that proves that Resident Evil is timeless.
Starting with the limited scope of the levels and gameplay, the game has shrunk in comparison to the last. Grace begins the game in a hotel, which has restricted hallways, limited movement ranges, and a claustrophobic feel. This matches the very first game in the series, where players explored small environments that made them feel trapped in their mansion confines while trying to survive and solve puzzles.
That limitation in Resident Evil Requiem is perfectly delivered. I found myself enjoying the hell out of this game and how much it mimicked the first release in 1996. It felt like a closed-in atmosphere where every movement and ammo decision had to be carefully strategized because there was little room for error. Again, small in scope, but upped in horror and terror.
As for the gameplay, it has improved considerably. Running off the old gameplay structure, only by level design and monster scares, Resident Evil Requiem feels like a modern version of what RE fans are used to seeing nowadays. It’s done from a first-person perspective, and brings some pretty horrifying moments to life, which players will see the first moment they wake up as Grace in the care center she is stuck in (not giving too many more details). It’s very in-your-face gameplay, and all magnified by that first-person perspective, while playing off that tight, old-school RE structure.
As for other gameplay elements, Resident Evil Requiem brings some interesting systems with it. The big one is the ability to create material, including ammo and health (and a lot more horrifying things), with the blood of the zombies and spare parts. This helps alleviate the need to search for objects, which was a big, intentional problem back in the first game. The crafting involves Grace finding blood sitting in buckets, dripping off fresh kills, or packed nicely into a blood bag, acquiring it through a blood-sucking device, and then pairing it with spare/rare parts to create items. This system is convenient to have around and gives exploration multiple purposes. Instead of finding puzzle pieces, plants, or ammo, players get to find pieces and parts to produce items.
In addition to that crafting process, the game also features the ability to improve weaponry with parts, in the same vein as multiplayer experiences in other first-person shooters, like Call of Duty, where you earn pieces to improve offensive firepower. It also introduces trinkets that the characters can pick up to buff out their weapons. For example, early in the game, there is a food container that, when acquired and staying in Grace’s inventory, can make knifing zombies more effective and powerful. While melee weapons are finite, the buff works for any replacements in the future, if the items stay in Grace’s inventory. Anyway, parts, crafting, and buffs make the gameplay more engaging, as well as more satisfying. Providing more options that are effective for the overall gameplay is always a good route to take because it will open the world a bit more for players, even when it is structurally contained. It will certainly encourage players to explore every nook and cranny of the game.
Beyond buffs and crafts, the game also features some solid puzzles. As with old RE games, the main characters will happen upon objects out of place or pick up pieces and parts that can’t be used on weapons, and then run into a puzzle that requires said items. The game does a great job of creating these types of puzzles and obstacles for the player to deal with, as well as perfectly mixing in baddies along the way. For example, there is a portion of the game when Grace must go upstairs in the care center, but is met by a giant and grotesque patient who packs their body into every side of the hallway. Players can’t get through the monster, as they must lead the monster out of the area to find a piece that relates to another puzzle. That piece specifically, which I won’t name because SPOILERS, has a purpose that isn’t immediately noticed during a puzzle portion of the gameplay. Once it is noticed, the game progresses, and the player is guaranteed to have said ‘OH! That makes sense!’ when they finally discover its use. Guaranteed!
Anyway, outside of getting around bad people to pick up objects, the game does feature some brainteasers, such as discovering how blocks are arranged to get a special piece of a part, and features lots of reading, which provides secrets to upcoming obstacles and puzzles. Again, it’s all a tip of the hat to the old-school Resident Evil games. It’s more about puzzles and obstacles than it is about simply knocking down a door and killing every non-living thing in sight. I found myself really enjoying this portion of the gameplay. It gave me some good flashbacks to the first. Clever puzzles mean a more cognitively rewarding time.
Now, what about that gunplay? Well, it’s exactly what you think it might be. Limited ammo, various guns to find, and plenty of secondary weapons to make things interesting. Respectfully, the game follows the same pattern that most people are used to seeing in RE titles. It’s a struggle to keep ammo in stock without crafting it, which means that the player has to strategize what weapons they use and when/where to use them. That gameplay element adds a thick layer to the survival portion of this experience. Players not used to the series will probably struggle to grasp why there aren’t too many places to pull ammo, while the rest of us will feel right at home.
On the melee side of the tracks, there are finite hand weapons that Grace and Leon can use before needing to replace them. I didn’t love this portion of the game, but it works with the action. Having a weapon in hand will at least ensure that players who are zombie-handled by a terrible baddie can shove a melee weapon into their face to escape without damage.
Now, I have always loved to have a backup weapon in case of an ammo shortage, so having that backup be finite, like it’s from a Zelda game, isn’t my cup of tea. I want that object to live forever as a backup. Sadly, that is not the case during this gameplay, which I didn’t enjoy. I mean, sure, it ups the horror and survivability tension, but at the end of the day, having to run through zombies because you have no weapon at your disposal is a bit defeating. Not the worst knock in the world, but a knock nonetheless. Injecting zombies and watching them explode with other melee weapons is a hoot, though. I didn’t mention that? Well, injectors can be acquired through crafting and can be used to watch a blood bag explode all over the place. Gross and cool, but it still doesn’t make up for finite knives and melee weapons.
So, who or what is getting the bad end of that blade? Well, Resident Evil Requiem has a wide variety of bad guys to interact with. As usual, most are common, even though the game will up their difficulty as the story progresses, and evolve them into more monstrous beings, while the big baddie payoff lies within the bosses.
Some horrifying bosses in this game will absolutely scare you. For example, early in Grace’s gameplay, she will come in contact with a hallway monster that is huge. The monster works within darkness and hates the light, which means players must figure out how to navigate darkness without pissing it off with light. That monster’s introduction is unnerving, as is its hallway walk that will live in the nightmares of gamers for years to come. It’s the first introduction to a big baddie and one that sets the tone for the rest that players meet. Capcom and their devs did a fantastic job of bringing larger-than-life bosses to this newest addition to the series. They upped their game.
All the above combined equals a very expected and balanced Resident Evil experience. There are good brainteasing puzzles, moments of panic, and gunplay that will satisfy those looking for a good action-horror game. And all of it is driven by a solid story that brings two very different characters with different purposes that have been beautifully intertwined. On top of it, this is a true return to old-school Resident Evil structure and scares.
Overall, it’s a damn fine game.
Visually appealing
Beyond the scares, crafting, and everything in between, Resident Evil Requiem looks positively gorgeous on the PlayStation 5. It’s one of the more visually impressive games on this system, featuring detailed textures, really well-done lighting, and plenty of grotesque models to keep the horror going throughout the experience. It’s everything one would expect from a modern, powerful console, and a next-generation Resident Evil experience.
Not to be outdone, the audio is equally impressive. Put on some headphones to enjoy the hell out of audio proximity-accurate sounds and screams. It’s well-placed and offers just enough beef in its burrito to make the gameplay that much scarier and intense.
On that sweet note, let’s wrap up this long review.
Conclusion
Resident Evil Requiem is a return to old-school Resident Evil structure with new-school flavor. It’s a more compact and claustrophobic experience compared to the previous title, while bringing dual stories, intense action, and horror, and a proper number of puzzles into the mix.
