Beebom Score
Resident Evil Requiem had odds stacked against it. The game, released at the 30th anniversary of the franchise, was set to release after one of the best Resident Evil titles, ‘Village,’ and was bringing back Leon as protagonist, who has become the poster kid of the franchise, while also adding a completely new face and giving her equal limelight. Long story short, the fan base had immense expectations from the game, and such high expectations are terribly difficult to meet.
Against all odds, Resident Evil Requiem not only delivered on its promise, but it may also go down as one of the best games in the franchise, competing with Resident Evil 4. Why do I say that? Check out our Resident Evil Requiem review and find out for yourself.
An Opening So Unsettling, You’ll Check the Lights Twice
The game kicks off by putting you in Grace’s shoes, tasked to investigate the Wrenhood Hotel, where her mother was murdered right in front of her a few years back. The Wrenhood Hotel is now this dark, filthy building filled with maggots infesting everything. Grace is visibly worried about being there, constantly remembering her past and her mother’s death.
Her shaky nature heightens the horror in the game as you go through terribly lit places searching for the next clue. Eventually, Victor Gideon captures Grace and takes her to the Rhodes Hill Care Center. This is when true horror begins in Requiem.
In Rhodes Hill, she has to make her way through these dark, narrow hallways, which are infested with zombies. But that’s not your biggest concern, as something much more menacing awaits in the dark. You have likely seen the horrifying mother zombie in the game’s trailers. This creature is straight out of a Japanese horror manga, and she haunts Grace throughout the game, making it incredibly terrifying at every dark corner. This creature expertly stalks the corridors by climbing into the ceiling and jumping out exactly where you are planning to go.
The terrifying part is that you can constantly hear her moving through the walls. It creates this sense of mass hysteria and is only fueled by Grace’s demeanor of constantly being terrified of everything around her. I have not witnessed a more terrifying creature in gaming, and I have played a fair number of horror games so far.
Sorry Leon, Grace Ashcroft Is My Main Character Now
Grace, as a character, gets scared very easily, and her entire demeanor and voice acting expertly capture it, making it highly contagious. Unlike every other protagonist we have had so far in the franchise, who showcase a brave front and courageously fight the most horrifying of creatures without losing any footing, Grace instead stumbles, hides, runs at the slightest of risk, cries for help, and is constantly terrified out of her mind. All of this makes her incredibly…human.
She is relatable to a fundamental level. You are not just playing Grace as a character; you are playing your own shadow.
Heck, I would be terrified as well if thrown into a pothole of infected zombies, while Slenderman’s sister awaits at every dark corner.
But it’s not just her demeanor that makes her relatable; it’s also her ‘common sense’ that most protagonists seem to lack in horror games or movies. For example, at a certain point in the game, Grace meets this caged little blind girl. She then has an opportunity to free the child. Normally, every other protagonist would jump right in and do the noble deed.
As a person of common sense, my first thought was to question why the little girl was in the cage in the first place. She could be a terrifying monster for all we know! At least all of the characteristics did match to be that. Grace, as if hearing my musings, hesitates and asks her why she is locked inside.
She then asks the kid if she is a bad person and whether she wants to leave, while looking completely terrified, as if expecting her to burst into a massive monster the moment she gets out…exactly what I felt!
Now, all of this does make her more relatable, but what made her stand out? The reason I completely fell in love with her is due to her incredible character growth as the story progresses. Even though she is visibly terrified, she tries to put on a brave front for the little girl.
Like a mother who puts on a brave face for their worrying children, even though she is constantly losing her mind from worrying.
This eventually grows, and Grace becomes stronger mentally, not for herself, but to protect someone she holds dear. All of this happens naturally, and not once does it look forced. This change in her character was a joy to experience, and it made her one of my favorite characters in the franchise.
Leon’s Still Built Like a Tank… Just Now a Certified Hot Daddy
The Resident Evil franchise has always been a horror game at its core. Sadly, the game made a U-turn from Resident Evil 5, becoming more action shooter than horror. Ever since then, Capcom has been trying to find a perfect blend of both horror and action. Although they came very close to it with Resident Evil Village, the formula was finally perfected in Requiem.
Resident Evil 9 masterfully blends the skin-crawling, terrifying nature of the horror genre with the perfect John Wick-style action shooter. How do they manage to pull it off? By creating two separate protagonists who have drastically different personalities.
Where Grace leads the horror, Leon’s playthrough is a completely different ball game. There is no reason to be afraid while playing as Leon. You have a chiseled body, an arsenal of heavy weapons, an old partner to talk to over comms, and a list of corny jokes for every enemy and situation.
Leon’s playthrough oddly feels familiar, and is designed as the ultimate fan service for veterans. Every enemy that terrified you out of your wits while playing as Grace, appear as mere bugs in front of Leon.
You don’t hesitate to blast through anything and everything, shooting first and speaking second. Remember that terrifying chef that haunted you in the kitchen? Its innards are now strewn all over the wall after Leon smashed open its head with his axe, alongside every other monster in the vicinity, in seconds. While playing as Leon, you become the monster, hunting the infected, not the other way around.
And Capcom has done a spectacular job of making Leon’s playthrough drastically different from Grace’s. He not only shoots guns, but can utilize other weapons in the environment, including a literal chainsaw to cut open anything that even peeks at his majestic figure. It is even comical with Leon running some of the best Resident Evil Requiem weapons, like Shotguns, Handguns, Rifles, Grenades, also wielding chainsaws and god knows what, while Grace is struggling to find even 10 rounds of ammo for a handgun that literally takes years to kill a monster.
Later down the line, you get to upgrade Leon’s weapons based on the credits he obtains after slaying enemies. This incentivizes you more to go out and slay monsters.
Some of the Best Creature Design in the Series, Period
Resident Evil Requiem includes the highest variety of monsters I have seen in any game in the franchise. After Village, my expectations for enemies from Capcom had skyrocketed, and Requiem actually delivered on it. The infected in Requiem actually have different characteristics and are not simply brainless monsters. This is most evident in Rhodes Hill Care Center, where you will find zombies who retain characteristics from their past lives.
A clear example is right at the start when you meet this oversized Chef who slices meat in his kitchen. He constantly moves from one place to another, finding new meat and butchering it on his table. The entire sequence of his butchering sound, as you have to creep away as Grace learning their pattern, is incredibly fear-inducing. At the very next door, you will find a zombie who is obsessed with keeping the electricity bill low by keeping the lights off. This zombie can be kited by turning on lights in other places, jolting him to turn them off.
Similarly, there is a maid zombie who is terribly infatuated with cleanliness, but sadly cleans with blood instead of water. She haunts the restroom and is one of the most terrifying creatures in the game, in my opinion. Like that, there are ‘Singers’ who are inspired by Banshees and sing all the time. Their high voice can cause damage and alert other zombies. Interestingly, certain zombies who were patient actually get annoyed at the singing, closing their ears and screaming in agony, just like us.
But the two most terrifying creatures in the game are the mother zombie that haunts Grace from the get-go and a huge, fat zombie with really good jiggle physics that creeps in the east wing of Rhodes Hill. This monstrosity blocks an entire corridor with its body and appears randomly, even in lit places.
These creatures are only in Rhodes Hill; the rest of the game has much more. From little zombie girls to the iconic zombified dogs, the game offers an incredible variety of infected monsters that provide equal horror and challenge for Grace and Leon.
Old Faces in Old Places
Resident Evil Requiem didn’t shy away when it came to fan service. The game took players back to Raccoon City, so a few references were to be expected. However, Capcom did not limit it to a few references; instead, they shifted to fifth gear and did not hold back. Leon’s time in Raccoon City revisits every iconic place we have been to during the Resident Evil 2 and 3 playthroughs. Not only does it revisit, but the place is also filled with old memories that only veteran players can appreciate.
From the RPD to Kendo’s Gunshop, Raccoon City is filled with flashbacks and Resident Evil Requiem easter eggs. Leon finds notes and files that you may remember from back in the day, has flashbacks of Kendo and his daughter, and also meets many old faces.
Old faces? Yes, multiple! From Tyrant X to a wannabe Albert Wesker, Zeno, and even a version of HUNK named The Commander. But that’s not all, Lickers make an appearance, and you get to refight both Tyrant X and Lickers as Resident Evil Requiem bosses.
Wait… Wasn’t There Supposed to Be a Main Villain?
The biggest issue with Resident Evil Requiem is that its major villain is a massive flop. Victor Gideon is the main villain of Resident Evil Requiem, and even though he tries his best to appear menacing and interesting, he reeks of mediocrity and cannot be seen as anything more than a lackey. To be honest, for the entirety of the game, I did expect Gideon to just be a lackey, with another big baddie appearing at the end. The wannabe Alber Wesker’s appearance gave me hope that there is more at the end.
Unfortunately, the Resident Evil Requiem ending falls flat due to a lack of an existential threat as the main villain. Even the final boss fight is a straight-up copy of the Nemesis boss fight from Resident Evil 3 remake, which was another cause of my massive disappointment at the end. Even normal zombies were more intimidating than Gideon in the game, and the mother zombie actually stole the show as the best monster. Unfortunately, her role came to an end quite early, and after that, we never really got a payoff at the end.
It feels even worse because the entire game was a constant buildup to the Elpis, with every fight, enemy, and sequence revealing new information to the very end. All for it to fall flat on its face at the finale, due to a poorly written main villain who behaves like he is Batman’s Joker, but instead is nothing more than a Killer Croc.
A Graphical Powerhouse That Never Breaks a Sweat
Resident Evil 9 is a masterpiece in level design, with each area appearing drastically different. The Rhodes Hill Care Center is my favorite place in the game, where every corridor and room exudes this intensely creepy atmosphere. Once the game takes you outside and into Raccoon City, you cannot help but be in awe at the portrayal of the iconic map in its devastating state.
Capcom also never loses an opportunity to showcase its environment, even going as far as adding a bike-chasing mission where you have to ride through the now destroyed Raccoon City while shooting at infected dogs.
My Setup: CPU: AMD Ryzen 9 7900x
CPU Cooler: CORSAIR H150 RGB
Motherboard: GIGABYTE B650M Gaming X AX
GPU: MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16 GB
RAM: 32GB (32GB x 1) ADATA XPG DDR5 5600FSB LANCER
SSD: 1TB AORUS Gen 4 5000E NVMe storage
Monitor: 1080p @165hz
But it’s not just the graphics, but performance as well that impressed me. Resident Evil Requiem ran incredibly well on the NVIDIA RTX 5060 Ti GPU, giving over 240 frames at every given moment thanks to DLSS 4x that doubled frames without any latency. Even though I played the entire game with DLSS 4x and upscaling, I chose to disable it to test its performance in a normal setting. And, the game didn’t disappoint again! I was constantly getting over 120 FPS at the highest setting with RTX On, and the most I saw frames fall was 104.
Requiem is one of the smoothest-running games I have played in the last couple of years, and NVIDIA DLSS only heightened that experience for me. I personally had zero issues with performance, found no bugs, even though I tried exploiting quite a bit, and the game never crashed, even at the highest settings. Probably the best day 1 experience I have had in a long time.
Verdict: Resident Evil Requiem Is Peak Horror, Even If Its Villain Isn’t
Resident Evil Requiem mixes horror and action incredibly well, becoming the perfect formula that Capcom needs to follow for future games in the franchise. The game features an incredible cast of monsters that can be killed in a hundred different ways, either as Grace or Leon. Every zombie appeared more than a mindless vessel, giving a genuine challenge to both protagonists and keeping the game from getting boring throughout. The mother zombie will remain stuck in my mind whenever I walk through a dark hotel corridor. That monster has scarred me for life, and I am incredibly happy for it.
Even though Requiem does almost everything perfectly, all of its buildup falls flat in the end due to a terribly written main villain. Victor Gideon is the sole reason Requiem is not getting a perfect score and is not going down as my favorite game in the franchise.
Now, Resident Evil’s future actually looks great. With Capcom finally figuring out the perfect formula and the story revealing many things that were previously kept in the dark, I expect big things from the genre in the future.
So, did you enjoy reading our Resident Evil Requiem review? What did you agree and disagree upon? Let us know in the comments below.
