“Requiem for the dead, Nightmare for the living.” – Resident Evil 9 Store page.
Time and time again the “Resident Evil” franchise created by Capcom has revolutionized the video game industry. Since the release of the original Resident Evil in 1996, the franchise has been more popular than ever, having sold over 180 million video game copies today. During February of this year the newest entry in the franchise: “Resident Evil Requiem,” was released and has become the fastest selling game in the franchise, having over 5 million copies sold less than a week after release. Today we are going to be reviewing Resident Evil Requiem, spoiler-free! Along with suggesting if you should buy the game.
The plot of the game revolves around FBI investigator, Grace Ashcroft, and occasionally ex-police officer, now government special agent, Leon S. Kennedy investigating a surge of violent behavior. You will be uncovering a new mysterious bio-weapon spoken of throughout the game. Throughout the story as Grace, you will be hunted down by many enemies, one of which is especially terrifying. You’ll also be tasked to investigate a building, try to escape a care center, protect a blind little girl, and find out what is going on within the story.
This game utilizes paranoia and sound design perfectly, you practically have to take a second to gain the courage to check every corner, and the enemies add to the atmosphere perfectly. You will use your hearing to its max to understand where enemies are. One enemy encapsulates this perfectly, as it stalks you in the dark and the only thing you hear is the sound of chains dragging, along with its drooling and gremlin noises. Your only salvation is the small amount of light you can find around yourself.
Requiem keeps on the tradition of combining puzzle solving with survival horror. There will be many times that you will go somewhere only to find out you have to either backtrack or use an item you found before to progress. Some may see this form of gameplay as tedious, but that’s what the core of Resident Evil is.
Like some of the games in the franchise, the game features dual protagonists. However, unlike Resident Evil 2 for example, you do not get to choose who you play as for a majority of the game. There are scripted parts that switch you from character to character. For example, after playing as Grace for a while, you’ll do a task, a cutscene will play, and now you’re playing as Leon and vice-versa.
Leon S Kennedy is as cool as ever in this game, he practically “aura farms” everything in this game, even just standing he looks awesome, and of course I can’t forget to mention the quips he throws out whenever he roundhouse kicks the nearest zombie in the head. This is one of the many things that highlights how incredible the balance between action and horror is in this game.
If you have played the remake of Resident Evil 4, you can see the resemblance and improvement of its combat system in Resident Evil Requiem. The switch between the characters in the story is heavy and makes you feel the sudden rush of adrenaline or dread. There are also so many references to older games, especially Resident Evil 2, where it feels like the entire game is fan service.
Speaking of fan service, Leon and Grace’s parts feel exactly like it. Grace’s parts focus on the survival-horror aspect that was beloved in the first three games and revitalized in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, while Leon’s parts are action-heavy Hollywood style like Resident Evil 4-6. Many fans even say he acts like his ‘half-prototype brother’ Dante from Devil May Cry, another beloved Capcom series.
Overall, Resident Evil: Requiem goes above and beyond for the franchise and brings a new definition to terror. We give it a five star rating due to its great gameplay, atmosphere, and even replayability after you complete it the first time. You can buy Resident Evil: Requiem either on Amazon, Steam or any other console digital shop. With Requiem comes a new renaissance for the Resident Evil franchise.
