Capcom’s RE Engine is firing on all cylinders again, but this time they aren’t just pushing the graphics to sickeningly gorgeous new heights—they’re trying to marry the two most divisive eras of Resident Evil into a single game. Requiem throws you into a gorgeous, terrifying experiment that mashes the creeping, claustrophobic terror of the modern titles right up against the heavy-hitting, battle-tested action of the classics. It is a wildly ambitious juggling act that absolutely nails the moment-to-moment gameplay, even if it occasionally trips over its own feet trying to rush you to the finish line.

Pros

• 🔥 Pushing the in-house graphics engine to absolutely sickeningly gorgeous new limits
• 🔫 Giving every single gunshot an incredibly satisfying sense of heavy concussive weight
• 🎥 Allowing swapping between intimate first-person and classic third-person perspectives
• ⚖️ Balancing pure survival horror anxiety with highly cathartic action-movie shootouts
• 🎙️ Nailing the raw panic of survival through incredible acting (voice and mocap)

Cons

• ⏱️ Campaign that feels drastically too short
• 🗺️ Ditching interconnected labyrinth maps in favor of disjointed location and short time jumps

Capcom’s in-house tech is usually top-tier, but Resident Evil: Requiem is just on another level. This is easily the absolute peak of the RE Engine to date. The graphics are super impressive right out of the gate. The environmental detail in the opening hours is just so thick it practically suffocates you. Capcom really flexes the lighting, the peeling textures, and the grotesque enemy mutations right away, rendering everything with this sickeningly gorgeous realism. Looking back at the screenshots I took during my playthrough, almost every single one legitimately looks like pre-rendered CGI.

For the first time, we get to seamlessly swap between classic third-person and intimate first-person views whenever we want. It’s a massive win for how you experience the horror. You can tailor the claustrophobia to your exact liking, whether you are nervously peeking around a corner or getting ready to blow a bio-weapon’s head off. And you can set this option individually for Grace and Leon.

Fully Embracing the Franchise’s Split Personality

The magic of Requiem is how it handles its pacing between the two characters and playstyles. The franchise has spent years trying to figure out if it wants to be a haunted house simulator or an survival horror action movie. Instead of picking a lane, the game fully embraces its split personality. It manages this identity crisis beautifully by recognizing exactly when you are getting tired of a specific gameplay loop and then totally switching gears.

Grace is your anchor for the recent modern games’ horror vibe. Her sections heavily channel that creeping, suffocating dread we saw in RE7 and RE8. When you play as her, you are doing the classic routine—solving intricate puzzles, managing a tiny inventory, and actively avoiding terrifying threats because you just don’t have the ammo or the skills to fight back. The tension is crazy high.

The survival mechanics tied to Grace are super stressful in the best way possible. Her inventory space is incredibly limited, turning every single item pickup into a massive decision. Do you keep that extra healing item, or do you prioritize raw materials just in case you get backed into a corner? The crafting system here is stripped down and raw. You are constantly scrounging for literal scraps, combining chemicals and gunpowder to make a handful of bullets or injectors that you’ll probably end up wasting anyway because of sheer panic. It forces you to actually think about resource management instead of just hoarding everything.

A massive reason her horror segments actually work so well is the sheer quality of the performance. Grace is portrayed with this incredibly grounded, hyper-realistic sense of terror. It’s not that cheesy, over-the-top B-movie screaming the series is known for. You can literally hear her voice trembling when she speaks. You hear her frantically hyperventilating when she hides in the dark. She sounds exactly like a normal, terrified girl thrown into a living nightmare, and it sells the horror perfectly.

Old Man Leon and the Heavy Gunplay

Right when you get completely exhausted from the puzzles and the hiding, the game hands you over to Leon. Suddenly, you are taking a break from the creeping dread to focus on pure action and killing. It’s an incredible release valve. Leon’s segments are a highly refined action sandbox that feels directly ripped from the RE4 remake. The enemies that Grace are having trouble dealing with is an absolute cakewalk when it comes to Leon.

However, they heavily toned down the absurd martial arts and acrobatics from the older games (or even the CGI movies). You can really feel that Leon is a much older, wearier guy now. He isn’t doing crazy backflips; he’s surviving on bitter experience and heavy firepower. The gunplay feels great, and every single shot has an incredibly satisfying concussive weight to it.

On the flip side to Grace, Leon’s approach to inventory and weapons is straight out of the action movie playbook. He gets a huge inventory, as the case from RE4 is back. He isn’t just scraping by; he is building an absolute arsenal. The weapon variety he gets access to is fantastic by way of computer/armories that lets you purchase new gear in exchange of points you get from killing or looting. Upgrading your guns feels super impactful. Stacking mods on a shotgun or upgrading the raw damage on your handgun genuinely changes how you clear a room. While Grace is hiding and praying with a single crafted bullet, Leon is combining resources to pump out heavy munitions and explosives. It perfectly highlights the contrast between her pure survival horror and his seasoned, battle-tested experience.

And there is a bonus feature (if you choose to use it) — the dual camera option extending to Leon. We are finally given the opportunity to play as Leon in first-person for the first time. It’s kind of like how you got to play as Chris Redfield in some parts of RE8, but fleshed out into a full mechanic. Staring down the sights of his signature handgun as you blow chunks off incoming monsters has genuinely never felt this good. And then, once you’ve had your fill of the action, the cycle continues and you are back to Grace’s nightmare.

The Friction in the Foundation

It’s not all great, though. Despite enjoying the game overall, Requiem feels way too short and is missing something massive compared to, let’s say, the RE2 or RE4 remakes.

I’m probably just used to Resident Evil games taking place in one big, interconnected area across the entire runtime—like a massive police station or a sprawling village where you learn every shortcut. Requiem completely ditches that. Instead, the game jumps around many different sections with disjointed time and location skips in between. It destroys that classic labyrinth feeling. You never really get to learn a space or feel the relief of unlocking a shortcut back to a safe room.

Worse, when you finally hit the highly anticipated nostalgic sections later in the game, it feels really lackluster. Returning to these iconic areas should be a huge visual showcase, but instead, the art direction is just full of brown in broad daylight. They smeared this muddy filter over everything, completely killing the gorgeous lighting and color work from the early game.

The pacing completely falls off a cliff here, too. It feels like the game starts to get going properly once you hit this pivotal late-game section, and then a few hours later, it’s just over. The final stretch felt really short, although I did feel the same way on RE2’s final stretch either. I honestly couldn’t believe it was over when the credits rolled.

Conclusion

Resident Evil: Requiem is a wildly entertaining ride that completely nails its dual-gameplay loop, even if the structure holding it together feels a bit too short and disjointed. Playing as a terrified Grace and a battle-hardened Leon creates a brilliantly addictive rhythm of anxiety and catharsis, backed by some of the most stunning visuals Capcom has ever produced. It is incredibly solid in the moment-to-moment gameplay. But by trading an interconnected world for a fragmented, painfully short sprint to the finish line, it’s not as great in comparison to the masterful full focused single setting of other RE games.

Share this review

PlayTested.net

Scan to read
full review

Fully Embracing the Franchise's Split Personality | Resident Evil Requiem Review

8.5

Resident Evil Requiem throws you into a gorgeous, terrifying experiment that mashes the creeping, claustrophobic terror of the modern titles right up against the heavy-hitting, battle-tested action of the classics. It is a wildly ambitious juggling act that absolutely nails the moment-to-moment gameplay, even if it occasionally trips over its own feet trying to rush you to the finish line.