Resident Evil Requiem - The Final Preview

With the triumphant instrumentality of Leon Kennedy, Resident Evil Requiem is forced to straddle an awkward enactment betwixt all-out enactment and methodical endurance horror. I’ll beryllium honest, earlier getting my hands connected the crippled and seeing the modulation successful action, I was highly sceptical that Capcom would beryllium capable to make a coherent acquisition involving some Leon and Grace, the series’ latest, highly susceptible protagonist. The switching betwixt their polar other styles sounded jarring, which is astir ne'er a bully thing, and though it's been a while, it’s not similar we haven’t been burned by Capcom’s tendency to propulsion the bid towards enactment before. But I’m pleased to stock that, from my all-too-brief 3 hours of hands-on clip with Resident Evil Requiem, not lone does this plan really, truly work, but there’s a batch much going connected than conscionable a merging of Resident Evil’s top hits.

My playtime started with a abbreviated trial thrust of Leon, and Resident Evil 4 musculus representation kicked successful immediately. Make nary mistake, this plays conscionable similar the caller remake, enhanced with immoderate clever caller additions suitable for a seasoned badass. Leon is much useful than ever, with a deadly hatchet that helium tin plaything mercilessly added to his regular arsenal. Leon tin besides heave axes recovered successful the world, tin execute caller contextual finishing moves specified arsenic a handgun changeable to the chin, and finally wield the convulsive chainsaw. There was erstwhile a clip Leon feared the chainsaw, but now, Leon has go chainsaw, destroyer of ghouls.After a abbreviated 15 minutes, the gameplay shifted position to Grace Ashcroft, Requiem’s 2nd protagonist, picking up her travel instantly aft the events of the erstwhile demo I wrote astir successful August past year. Grace and Leon are polar opposites. Gone were the tense gunfights and guardant momentum of Resident Evil 4, arsenic I was instantly thrust into what felt similar a sterile, white, cleanable mentation of Resident Evil 7. For the adjacent 2 hours, I explored the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, a somewhat accepted Resident Evil mansion that contains overmuch of what you mightiness expect among its rooms and corridors, but with plentifulness of caller surprises. Surprises that mostly originate acknowledgment to Grace’s abilities, oregon rather, deficiency thereof.

Much similar successful the erstwhile demo, Grace’s conception was focused astir exclusively connected endurance horror. She is equipped with tiny pistols she finds successful the environment, but her firepower and combat skills are negligible compared to our favourite floppy-haired icon. Where Leon tin round-house footwear zombies successful the face, Grace makes bash with a clumsy push. Leon is all-out assault, but the champion people of enactment for Grace is dilatory and deliberate stealth, due to the fact that if you do effort to instrumentality immoderate of the caller enemies head-on, you’re going to person a atrocious time.

Last year’s demo revealed a caller and much-celebrated stalker enemy, a towering, hunched, bug-eyed warden, but adjacent wrong the span of my abbreviated three-hour session, I was introduced to different two, giving maine the content that Resident Evil Requiem won’t person 1 Mr. X oregon Nemesis-like persistent threat, but alternatively respective smaller pursuers that look to defender definite wings of the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. Most notable was a hulking wide of blubber called Chunk, who burst done the partition and into my bosom arsenic helium precise slowly, but surely, crushed his mode done halls, stairwells and doorways successful pursuit of me. Uniquely, Chunk fills the abstraction entirely, truthful your lone accidental of endurance is to find and navigate the loops built into the level plan successful bid to outmanoeuvre the walking lardarse. It’s a clever plan that generates a (somewhat) living, breathing partition of terror, and 1 you can’t simply sidestep oregon combat rotation distant from.

Much similar the stalker I escaped past year, Chunk is cleverly implemented successful the discourse of accepted harmless rooms. Where the room’s agleam airy caused the erstwhile stalker pain, Chunk simply can’t physically compression his sheer wide done the door, making definite there’s a logical in-world justification for a country of respite.

As good arsenic Chunk, I besides ran into a seven-foot-tall hulking portion masquerading arsenic a chef, who, until helium noticed me, was wholly focused connected his chopping chores. This soon-to-be stalker wasn’t yet successful searching mode; rather, helium was fulfilling, I assume, his pre-infection duties. This benignant of behaviour isn’t unsocial to the chef: It turns retired successful Resident Evil Requiem, the accepted zombie fodder is conscionable arsenic overmuch the prima of the show. You see, zombies not lone speech now, but besides person their ain personalities.

Resident Evil Requiem, speech from being packed with enactment and fear, is present besides funny, thing the bid has ne'er (at slightest intentionally) achieved before.“

The undead are nary longer unfortunate, generic mislaid souls, but alternatively husks that clasp a smidge of surviving personalities, hanging retired successful the abstraction they erstwhile occupied. There’s the lounge singing shrieker successful the barroom area, who, earlier being alerted, entertains herself by belting retired a ditty. There are the zombies who were formerly patients successful betterment that importune connected wheeling astir their drip stands, which are then, unsurprisingly, wielded arsenic weapons erstwhile they’re aggro’d. Some zombies hatred large noises and volition repeatedly outcry astatine you if you adjacent truthful overmuch arsenic smash a vase, and past there’s 1 that loves thing much than turning lights connected and disconnected until you rudely interrupt him.

If it’s not wide by now, Resident Evil Requiem, speech from being packed with enactment and fear, is present besides funny, thing the bid has ne'er (at slightest intentionally) achieved before. As Grace creeps astir the hospital, there’s the continual menace that astir each country awaits horror, oregon laughter, oregon sometimes adjacent both! When you tin perceive the undead nattering distant successful a country you cognize you person to participate to execute your adjacent objective, it’s hard to cognize whether to beryllium frightened oregon person a bully chuckle. On paper, this sounds similar it could beryllium atrocious - I’m alert of that, but honestly, it’s truthful good! I laughed truthful hard erstwhile I caught 1 peculiarly dopey zombie red-handed (both virtually and figuratively), lifting a ample and, importantly, reddish canister to propulsion my way. I’m definite you tin ideate what happened next.

To Grace, Chunk and his chap creeps are stalkers; to Leon, they’re targets.“

My demo ended with a second, each excessively abbreviated stint arsenic Leon, which allowed maine to revisit sections of the Care Center I’d antecedently experienced with Grace. Interestingly, this conception demonstrated possibly my favourite constituent of this hybrid experience. Leon is besides exposed to immoderate of the tougher combat encounters that I’d suffered done arsenic Grace, though the position (much similar my viewpoint of choice) is precise different. When I met Chunk arsenic Grace, I instantly retreated and was forced into a crippled of cat-and-mouse. The menace is intimidating and encourages you to tread lightly. As Leon, however, emboldened by my recently acquired shotgun, I felt instantly trigger-happy, unloading shells close up successful Chunk’s look and launching hatchet attacks connected his caput arsenic portion of a combat that felt somewhat reminiscent of the El Gigante encounters of Resident Evil 4. To Grace, Chunk and his chap creeps are stalkers; to Leon, they’re targets. This ethos was reaffirmed erstwhile taking connected a question of Blister Heads with Leon astatine the extremity of my play time. With Grace, I waited patiently for a stealth onslaught opportunity; with Leon, I was hurling manus grenades and throwing axes for fun.

This twelvemonth is the 30th day of the Resident Evil series, truthful it feels similar nary coincidence that 2026’s Resident Evil Requiem is combining the champion ideas of the saga into what appears to beryllium a fantastically constructed tribute to everything that makes the bid truthful great. Do you similar tense endurance horror? It’s here. Wanna spell each guns blazing with aggravated enactment and a quip-obsessed hero? You get that too. Do you similar playing RE games successful archetypal oregon third-person? Doesn’t matter; you tin bash either. All these choices, on with my fears of a jarring play acquisition being mostly squashed, marque it casual to judge that Capcom’s bold determination to person its barroom and devour it is going to wage disconnected successful a large way.

Dale Driver is an Associate Director of Video Programming astatine IGN. Be thoroughly bored by pursuing him connected Bluesky astatine @daledriver.bsky.social