REVIEW: ‘Resident Evil Requiem’ Offers An Excellent Culmination Of A 30-Year Legacy

For 30 years, Resident Evil has been a key facet of the horror genre. From films to TV shows to numerous video games, it has now culminated with the ninth main entry in the series, Resident Evil Requiem. As the name of the game suggests, Requiem definitely feels like a melody to what’s come before.

It can be rough at times, but  Capcom has delivered one of the best in the series. Resident Evil Requiem is an ode that shows why this series is so great despite how outrageous it can get, its faults and blunders all uplifted by its highs.

Resident Evil Requiem kicks off several years after the end of Resident Evil Village. However, unlike 7 and 8, we have now moved on from the chaos of the Winters family. This time, we are with Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak‘s Alyssa Ashcroft. But Alyssa is gone, and Grace is working with the FBI on mysterious deaths that are reminiscent of the incident that led to the destruction of Raccoon City so many years ago.

When a lead on a new death comes in, Grace must return to the place where she witnessed her mother’s demise. But what she doesn’t know is that stepping back into that godforsaken hotel is only the start of a deep rabbit hole. One that ties directly back to her past, her origin, and maybe even beyond that. Even if she is forced into the heart of everything after being abducted by a mysterious masked figure. 

Grace Ashcroft allows for a different type of tension to settle on the player in Capcom’s latest Resident Evil title. 

Grace’s story is the main source of discovery as to what on earth is going on. Grace largely has the most involvement with the villains and is given the most opportunities to find key revealing info from notes scattered across each level. However, what is most surprising is how involved her story is for someone who is just being introduced in this game. Unlike Ethan Winters from Resident Evil 7 (RE7) and Resident Evil Village, Grace’s ties go shockingly deep. 

Part of what makes Grace’s storyline so engaging to experience is her voice actress, Angela Sant’Albano. Grace doesn’t act like she’s some experienced gruff agent or someone who can adapt quickly to tense situations. Grace is a desk worker at the FBI. Sant’Albano masterfully ensures that Grace sounds believably scared. Grace comes across like a human fighting for her life in the worst nightmare imaginable. 

And that feeling translates quite well to her gameplay. One of the first choices you make in the game is choosing how you want to play: First-person (like 7 and 8) or third-person (like RE2, 3, and 4 remakes). For Grace, the game suggests playing first-person, and it really is a great experience.

Grace’s point of view is meant to be tense, and playing in first person amplifies the stress immensely. Especially when navigating the first main area, the hospital, not knowing where zombies are, and going headfirst as a more inexperienced character who isn’t a fighter, makes them even more terrifying to encounter. 

Playing as Grace requires a more methodical, thoughtful approach in RE9. 

What makes Grace unique is that her inventory matches that of older RE7. Additionally, her crafting mostly involves collecting corrupted blood from the environment and downed enemies. This all adds an extra layer of planning to get the most out of scavenging and crafting. To make ammo and higher-level healing items, you’ll need a good bit of corrupted blood.

Even with the surplus everywhere, you’ll want to spend some immediately to get extra handgun ammo and collect more corrupted blood. You won’t want to get caught in a bad situation with no ammo and then not have enough blood to make more. 

The weapons she gets access to are all those that a person unfamiliar with guns could handle, except for the high-powered pistol, the Requiem. Everything else is like a smaller handgun, a shotty, and throwing items like a bottle or a Molotov. Her weaker hit keeps you regularly on the back foot, always at risk of being overwhelmed.

Having Grace be a survivor who isn’t as hardened or battle-ready in this experience really does justice to the environmental design. Because she requires you to play more methodically, with even more emphasis on scavenging, you can really take in the detail of the levels, which works because there’s a good bit of environmental storytelling, with numerous secrets to unearth. Dividing and conquering, and understanding the layout of rooms, will help you take down areas with many zombies ready to attack.

Leon Kennedy enters as the other half of the Resident Evil Requiem coin. 

However, the puzzles are lacking as, sadly, there’s not as much of a focus on puzzle design. Instead, the overall puzzle design is more about navigating an area and figuring out what needs to be done to collect the item needed to advance. It’s less about taking clues in and piecing together how they interact with the oddest objects imaginable to unlock a door. That’s not to say there are zero puzzles. But there’s just not that much of a focus on them in the grand scheme of how the game plays. 

Grace isn’t alone in finding out why certain survivors of Raccoon City are mysteriously dying of a viral disease that has turned people into zombies. Leon Kennedy is the other half of the Resident Evil Requiem coin. Leon ultimately serves as a near-direct continuation of Resident Evil 4. Similar style,  attitude, and same awful humor, just more aged. Aged like a fine wine, even. 

Leon is doing a more private investigation into the matter. Haunted by what happened on his first day on the Raccoon City police force, he is taking these murders personally. This leads him to arrive at the hotel just after Grace is abducted. On the same lead, he catches the masked figure leaving the scene of the crime with an unconscious Grace in tow. But the guy in question is on to Leon.

To lose Leon, Grace’s abductor begins infecting random citizens on the street with the T-virus. Leon now knows he’s on the right track and gives chase, right into an even bigger mystery than one he ever expected to find. One that may lead him back to where it all began. 

Between the two characters, you get opposing perspectives on the same world. 

Leon’s story, compared to Grace’s, reads more like exposition. There is growth for him throughout his part of the stor,y but it’s all approached as if someone is at least in the know, which Leon is. He has the history of Umbrella. He has first-hand experience of Raccoon City and its aftermath. He also knows how far Umbrella’s fallout has spread worldwide. So, of course, he is faster at piecing the pieces together. 

The story in Resident Evil Requiem is well told with the mix of Leon and Grace. Switching regularly between the two lets you see both sides of a story that requires a naive and a knowledgeable perspective to grasp what’s going on fully. It lets you get into it without getting too much exposition or being too note-heavy to understand everything. All the notes and lore bits scattered throughout add to the overall story and offer more insight. 

Unlike Grace, Leon is a seasoned veteran at dealing with the undead. Yet, he is hindered by a mysterious illness that’s slowly making him increasingly weaker. Even though this weakness is more of a story-beat thing than tied to actual gameplay, it adds some risk to what’s going on, like Leon racing against time to not only save Grace but also save himself before it’s too late. 

Nicholas Apostolides and Angela Sant’Albano are terrific in their roles in Resident Evil Requiem. 

Leon really shines as well, thanks to the return of Nicholas Apostolides. Apostolides’s performance shines through when Leon and Grace do eventually interact. Leon helps ground Grace and gives her hope that they can get through their current predicament. What also really helps with returning to the world is that, as mentioned before, Leon is the same old Leon. His awful humor and confidence also contribute to his continued ability to live well after RE 6. His age adds context and serves as a reminder that five years have passed since the events of Village. 

Not only does Leon act differently from Grace, but his gameplay in Resident Evil Requiem is also very different. First with the inventory. His inventory management is just like what it was in Resident Evil 4 Remake. Items and weapons take up multiple spaces, and you’ll need to manage how everything fits together to get as much as you need.

Crafting is also quite different, too. Leon doesn’t have access to the blood collector that Grace has. He simply combines gunpowder, scraps, and more. Later on, new features are also unlocked that give Leon even more differences, almost an arcade-like feel, to how he plays. 

Expect a surplus of ammo when playing on Modern Standard mode in RE9. 

For gunplay and survivability, Leon’s combat sections aren’t nearly as intense as Grace’s. He knows how to handle a gun and gets access to much higher-powered weapons, like a combat shotgun and a sniper rifle. Stunning enemies with a good headshot or two lets Leon do his classic kick to knock foes down.

Also armed with a combat axe, he can chop away at downed enemies, on top of being able to parry and fend off attacks. The axe’s only weakness is that it has to occasionally be sharpened as it dulls over time. But the game does get outrageous at times, with attacks so massive that Leon can simply parry them with a smaller axe. 

But Leon’s portions feel weaker than Grace’s. There’s very little tension when playing as Leon. Maybe because he’s more confident, or because he’s armed to the teeth, these portions are almost a relief after dealing with the harrowing situations as Grace. Plus, Leon’s weapons are much, much stronger than what Grace has access to.

So foes die much more quickly, even as tougher enemies get introduced as the game progresses. This leads to you having a much larger surplus of ammo, which is surprising given recent entries that made the game more difficult. Also, for context, this was when playing on the Modern Standard mode. All of this could not be the case when running it again at a higher difficulty level.

While it isn’t the very best of the Resident Evil franchise, it comes close. 

Some Leon sections tend to feel like they overstay their welcome. Yet for fans of the entire series, these portions may be more valuable for a worldbuilding perspective, as they give time to reflect on the aftermath of events from previous games. 

He is supported by outrageous gameplay elements at times that make the fighting even more fun. At times, a zombie will drop a throwing item or a chainsaw. All of these Leon can pick up and chuck around. Or swing around a massive chainsaw that can be dangerous for everyone if dropped on the ground. (The chainsaw literally spins around, stabbing everyone who gets close to it.)

As a whole product, Resident Evil Requiem doesn’t rank at the top of Resident Evil areas in terms of fear, gameplay, and maybe even story. But the overall package is excellent and is worthy of being considered one of the best games in the series. That is ultimately about balancing remake and modern gameplay as separate sections rather than different games entirely. 

RE9 proves that the risk taken by Capcom is worth it. 

Capcom has capitalized on this and made a RE-of-all-trades game. No section feels like the best of horror, or action, or absurdity. But the game dives deep into each to deliver a fantastic experience. They took a risk by having a story that requires multiple perspectives to reach the ending and understand the whole Resident Evil Requiem story in a single playthrough. That risk has definitely paid off, particularly in terms of the story being told and the player’s enjoyment. 

Resident Evil Requiem may not have the best areas, nor be the scariest in the series. What it does do is serve as an excellent culmination of the series’s 30-year history. Resident Evil Requiem has something for every type of fan. Tension and fear with Grace. Action and terrible humor with Leon. And a story that not only answers questions, but touches on more than just what’s happened in the modern era of the series.

In short, for anyone who’s started the series from Resident Evil 7 onwards, Resident Evil Requiem may easily be one of the best in the series. For everyone else, the bar is high to be considered one of the greats, but it definitely does a heck of a job jumping for it.

Resident Evil Requiem is available February 27, 2025 on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.