Rating: 9/10
“Resident Evil Requiem” is the ninth main entry in the genre-blending “Resident Evil” series, a fittingly titled ode to its many predecessors and a fine-tuning of the series’ staple elements. Bridging the old and the new with an eerie polish, the newest entry is the closest players have gotten to a “legacy sequel” of sorts, aside from the handful of recent remakes.
“Requiem” almost plays like two games woven together, with new character Grace Ashcroft playing the out-of-her-depth counterpart to returning fan favorite Leon S. Kennedy. Grace is one half of a player surrogate, understandably mortified by the surreal horrors she’s plunged into as she investigates a bizarre murder in the fictional city of Wrenwood.
Her gameplay harkens back to the franchise’s roots, as players walk laps around an intricately designed manor of nightmares. In accordance with the series’ trademark gameplay loop, players search for hidden keys and passageways while nervously creeping around a horde of the living dead.
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The aesthetic of Grace’s section is yet another throwback to the first two games, juxtaposing fluorescent hospital hallways with pitch-black maintenance tunnels and blood-splattered cell walls.
There’s an incentive to stealth in Grace’s earlier sections, especially when a handful of whiffed bullets is enough to send the player back to their last checkpoint. Developer Capcom walks a line with these opening hours, nailing the look and feel of the series’ most iconic sequences but presenting them through a first-person perspective.
This shift in viewpoint is by no means an invention for the medium or even the franchise itself, but putting players so squarely in Grace’s shoes has a tangible impact. Even though this type of gameplay stems from the bayou folk horror of “Resident Evil 7: Biohazard,” it translates flawlessly to the oppressively quiet atmosphere of “Requiem.”
Running parallel to Grace is the grizzled Leon, rendered with an action-hero swagger that surpasses even his most dynamic appearances. Leon’s slice of the series has been an increasingly action-forward one, and this latest installment is no exception.
At risk of spoiling some of the game’s most hilarious moments, Leon’s half is a smorgasbord of wonderfully convoluted chase scenes and unusually surreal boss battles. This zero-to-100 acceleration between Grace and Leon’s story could be jarring in the wrong hands, but “Requiem” balances the two skillfully. Returning game director Koshi Nakanishi keeps an iron grip on the trademark “Resident Evil” tone, simultaneously deeply sinister and knowingly silly.
For all of “Requiem’s” maximalist tendencies, there’s a robust quality to it, delivering the exact experience players want to the highest degree they could want it. In an era where AAA games are designed to leech hundreds of hours from their players for the sake of a worthwhile purchase, this is a deftly plated three-course meal of a game.
Nakanishi has an uncanny sense of pacing for his players, knowing exactly when to give players a 20-minute firefight as Leon and understanding the value in a longer and eerier exploration as Grace. “Requiem” clocks in at about 15 hours of playtime, but there isn’t a wasted minute to be found, a rarity in the current gaming landscape.
“Requiem” doesn’t seek to reinvent the franchise, but rather to perfect it. This old-meets-new dual narrative is equal parts chilling and exhilarating, and an undeniable slam dunk for one of the medium’s great series.
