Despite its title, Resident Evil Requiem feels like a celebration of the series with its myriad mechanics from past titles. It beautifully blends different play styles in one coherent title, but what could have been the best Resident Evil game in the series is marred by its strange story.
Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst and nervous mess. She’s looking into a string of bizarre deaths, with all victims survivors of the Raccoon City Incident. After a new body’s discovered, her boss sends her to the Wrenwood Hotel, which happens to be the place her mother Alyssa (a playable character from Outbreak) was killed. The investigation goes south, and the mysterious, creepy Victor Gideon kidnaps Grace. She has to use her wits and limited resources to escape. At the same time, Leon S. Kennedy is looking into the same deaths. His own probing leads him to meeting Grace and kickstarts his side of the tale.
As playable characters, Grace and Leon don’t feel like they’re in the same game. Capcom maximized the potential of Resident Evil 6 when it introduced the notion of different campaigns playing like different games. From things like the health meter and inventory UI to overall play style, there’s barely anything in common between the two. Leon is faster and more agile. Grace’s segments feel a return to traditional survival horror while mixing in elements from the 2 and 3 remakes and Ethan Winters games. Leon’s segments feel straight out of Resident Evil 4 (remake specifically), 5, or 6. His new points-based customization system encourages you to kill enemies to rack up credits, which you can then spend on new guns or tune-ups.
Grace feels unique for a mainline protagonist in that she only ever gets a handgun, forcing you to employ stealth and resource management. She relies more on crafting than Leon, as she can make powerful insta-kill items with Infected Blood. This is a new mechanic that involves collecting blood from specific locations or felled enemies and combining it with other items. Grace has a preset amount of resources available. You can kill everything. However, you might get stuck with no way around an opponent. Do you want to use your limited resources on this enemy now or sneak past it and hope it doesn’t bother you later? These questions are constant, making her levels exhilarating in a different way than Leon’s adrenaline-filled fights.
Grace levels are also really spooky, especially during the first playthrough. If she’s not navigating tight hallways full of enemies that might chase you into the path of more if they spot you, she’s shuffling in the darkness while the game’s invulnerable stalker stomps about. Capcom limiting her resources and firepower, forcing us to maintain a stealthier approach, is a smart way to stop the game from turning into action-horror. It kept me on my toes even on subsequent playthroughs.
Now, let’s talk about the story. Well, the plot of Resident Evil Requiem is something. There’s a lot I’d like to say! To sum it up, it’s weird, and not in a fun way. There’s a pervasive feeling of wrongness. Leon is a playable character, yet this doesn’t feel like a Leon game. It’s not because of Grace, either. Many of the events have more to do with the other core characters of the series than with him. There are also plenty of references that would confuse newer fans who got in after remakes, and some scenes may bewilder older fans. I do want to shout out Angela Sant’Albano‘s incredible performance as Grace. She sounded like the voice director was actually forcing her to experience the horrors.
Despite that, Resident Evil Requiem gameplay’s really enjoyable. I feel it’s the most consistently fun entry. Whereas previous games featured annoying sections that I despise replaying (RE2R‘s Sewers, RE5 4-2, and RE6 Jake Chapter 2), almost all the segments here were fun in their own ways. Though some are stronger than others, nothing is significantly better or worse. The game balance, both the difficulty and pacing, is immaculate, making it a comfortable game to replay.
Performance-wise, the Switch 2 version is not fantastic. The frame rate consistently poops itself in the clinic’s Bar & Lounge. It sometimes drops during fights as Leon. That’s annoying, but thankfully never fatal. As you might see from my screenshots, the game can look pretty chopped on the Switch 2.
Other graphical issues include Leon looking terrible with a gun strapped onto him. Instead of the strap of a gun going around him, it stretches out from behind like it’s T-posing. The game also bugged out so badly on me that I had to quit, as I couldn’t even open up the main menu anymore. This was especially annoying, since the last auto-save had been before one of the more difficult segments as Grace, forcing me to have to replay it.
Resident Evil Requiem feels like if Capcom took parts from 2R, 4R, 6, 7, and 8, then sanded them all down to fit together. As a game, it might be the most fun installment I’ve played in a very long time. It combines both classic survival horror and fast-paced action-horror without feeling completely incongruent or like it’s compromising something. Its strong level design is a promising step in the new direction the series is taking, yet it’s dragged down only by a weak and forgettable story.
Resident Evil Requiem will come out on February 27, 2026 for the PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X, and Windows PC.
Resident Evil Requiem
Requiem for the dead. Nightmare for the living. Prepare to escape death in a heart-stopping experience that will chill you to your core. Switch 2 version reviewed. Review copy provided by company for testing purposes.
Pros
- I really do not recommend crafting ammo as Grace unless you’re completely empty and will die if you can’t shoot. I consistently end my runs with an average of 55 bullets for her, and I’m the type to kill everything.
- Even though I have it on the Switch already, I plan to buy it on the PC. That’s how much I enjoy playing it, and I’d like to see it with much better graphics.
- In my opinion, third-person perspective is still the best when playing as Grace. It’s easier for her to see her surroundings when sneaking past enemies, and in first-person, you miss out on a lot of unique character animations for her.