It's 3 in the morning. The child sleeps next to me and I quietly sneak down the hall, hoping the zombie doesn't find me before I find him. I'll be honest: horror games have never been my genre. However, after playing through Resident Evil: Requiem in almost one sitting, I may have to reconsider that claim. Once you start, it's hard to stop. I was constantly wondering what was waiting for me behind the next door.
The Resident Evil series has been balancing between two identities for decades: slow survival horror and explosive action. Requiem tries to reconcile these two worlds - through two protagonists who represent each side of the spectrum. The result is a game that constantly switches you between tension and adrenaline.
Let's try to write an objective review. No spoilers. Buckle up.
Grace: survival horror in its purest form
Grace Ashcroft is a new character in the series - an FBI analyst who ends up in the middle of a disaster after going to investigate an unusual murder. Very quickly it becomes clear that something much bigger and much worse is hiding behind everything, and Grace is kidnapped, and has to escape from a hospice full of zombies where the new villain, Victor Gideon, is conducting research on the well-known T-Virus.
Grace's sections are primarily intended for first-person gameplay, which immediately sets a different tone. There is no heroism here. There is no dominance over the situation. There is only fear. One of the first times I realized this was when I ran out of bullets in a narrow hallway and had to literally squeeze between two zombies while one bit me along the way.
Ammunition is scarce, enemies are dangerous, and corridors are dark and full of unpleasant sounds. You'll spend most of your time exploring, solving puzzles, and trying to avoid major conflicts whenever possible.
The voice acting is surprisingly excellent and perfectly conveys her fear, frustration and despair. It's very easy to empathize with Grace, because unlike many RE protagonists, she's not a soldier or a super agent, just a person trying to survive.
Gameplay dodatno naglašava tu ranjivost. Grace ima ograničen inventar, slabije oružje i mora se oslanjati na improvizaciju. Njezini crafting sustavi također su drukčiji; umjesto klasičnog Resident Evil miksanja biljaka i baruta, Grace prikuplja uzorke zaražene krvi i analizira ih u laboratoriju kako bi otključala nove recepte i alate. To je mali, ali zanimljiv twist koji dodatno naglašava istraživački aspekt igre.
Leon: pure Resident Evil action
And then comes Leon.
In Requiem, Leon S. Kennedy is practically the ultimate version of himself - a veteran who has been through all possible disasters and is now simply not wasting time. If Grace's sections are horror, Leon's are catharsis.
The pace picks up immediately. The camera switches to third person, suddenly you have a shotgun in your hands, and the zombies stop being something you avoid and fly through the shelves, and Leon drops dead-cold sarcastic comments.
Leon has an entire arsenal at his disposal: shotguns, snipers, automatic weapons and his classic melee finishers. He can also throw interactive axes, spears and explosive barrels from the environment, and briefly grabs a chainsaw. Unfortunately, very short. Damage.
He also has his ax, which needs to be sharpened regularly, because it wears out with use (butchering). Leon's inventory is larger, the crafting is classic, and the gameplay is more reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 than survival episodes, and it works great.
The best part is the contrast. After an hour of sneaking around and panicking with Grace, switching to Leon kicking zombies through a shelf feels like a release. After everything the game does to you with Grace, Leon acts as a personal vendetta.
In the second part of the game, he gets a smartwatch and access to a laptop through which you can use the points you collect by slaughtering zombies for new weapons, upgrades and equipment.
Atmosphere: What Resident Evil continues to excel at
Resident Evil has always been a master of atmosphere, and Requiem confirms it. The locations are excellent. From the claustrophobic hallways of medical facilities to the ruins of Raccoon City, each zone has its own identity and character.
And most importantly: the world does not look like a scenery that exists only for the player. It has weight, history and details, it feels… authentic, real. One of my personal frustrations with modern games is feeling like you're walking through a diorama - a world that exists only to serve you a quest. Requiem doesn't have that problem.
The corridors are quiet. The curtains move slightly in the draft, water drips somewhere in the distance, and every step echoes a little louder than you'd like. And just when you think everything is calm, something moves behind you. The game is constantly doing little tricks to keep you on your toes.
Zombies are no longer just a slow mass of flesh. In Requiem, enemies have more variations and behaviors, and some even retain traces of their former personalities.
This results in more interesting encounters - there are zombies who don't like noise so they don't care who they attack, there are zombie cleaners who don't like mess, zombies who are bothered by the light and turn it off, and a zombie butcher who is best to run away from. It sounds completely ridiculous when you read it, but in the game it seems surprisingly believable and gives the encounters an extra dose of unpredictability.
Sometimes you'll lose your head if you kill too many of them, because if they lie on the floor for too long, they can mutate into "Blister Heads", much faster and more aggressive opponents that are harder to kill. This is where the Hemolytic Injector can help you, with which you can sneak up behind a zombie and explode it.
And yes, we're going back to where it all started. Raccoon City has been a key location of the series for decades, and Requiem isn't shy about nostalgia. The return to familiar locations is full of references and fan service for longtime fans who, I believe, will be happy. Sometimes the nostalgia can be too much, but it's hard not to laugh when you see some iconic details again.
Two styles, one game
Requiem is a game about contrast. Grace presents a slow, claustrophobic survival horror, while Leon counters with explosive action.
The game regularly switches you between these two rhythms, which prevents the experience from becoming monotonous. One moment you're hiding behind a door and listening to footsteps in the hallway, and the next zombies are exploding everywhere.
Capcom tried to combine all phases of the Resident Evil series here: slow horror from RE1 and RE7, action from RE4, all with modern remake production, and to a large extent it succeeds.
However, after that mixing of the two protagonists, the second half of the game is mostly dedicated to Leon. And I have to admit, while it's fun slaughtering zombies, you start to miss Grace. The segments with her gave me a greater sense of accomplishment, as if they required more effort and more emotional investment.
I must also mention a few frustrations. First, movement speed. Running in this game is very SLOW, especially when playing with Grace. Everything is fine while you're walking and exploring, but when something starts chasing you, you expect a panicked sprint, and Grace throws herself into a light Saturday jog as if she's doing cardio.
Another thing is the third-person camera. The wide angle gives the game a cinematic look, but it feels a bit cramped in some fights. When those zombies start coming from all sides, aiming becomes awkward and sluggish, especially in narrow segments, and I refuse to turn on aim assist on principle.
The game can be completed in about twelve hours, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but after finishing it leaves the feeling that some additional content could be used. I hope Capcom already has DLC planned.
How does it all look on the Switch?
Capcom pleasantly surprised Switch 2 owners with the so-called "Generation Pack". In one package you get as many as three games: Biohazard, Village and of course, Requiem. For fans of the series, it's actually a little time machine, a chance to see how modern Resident Evil has evolved over the last few generations. However, here we will focus on Requiem, because it is the most technically interesting test of the new hardware.
I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised by the quality of the port. Capcom has already shown that it knows how to optimize its RE Engine for weaker hardware, but Requiem on Switch 2 acts as another proof of how flexible that engine is. In terms of performance quality, this port easily stands alongside impressive Switch 2 ports such as Cyberpunk 2077, Star Wars Outlaws or Assassin's Creed Shadows.
Of course, there are compromises and there is no point in hiding it. Ray tracing is omitted, the models are of slightly lower quality than on more powerful platforms, and some effects are simplified. But Capcom clearly knew where to cut without breaking the overall feel of the game.
Where RE Engine excels again is optimization. Loads are fast, performance is stable, and the game generally feels very smooth. Loads are fast, and the game is ambitiously aiming for a stable 60 FPS. Bigger drops do exist in more demanding scenes, especially when enemies and effects fill the screen, but they're rarely big enough to spoil gameplay.
DLSS technology plays a big role. In docked mode, the game aims for a higher resolution than 4K and a slightly more stable frame rate, while handheld mode uses more aggressive dynamic scaling to maintain performance. Fortunately, the RE Engine does a great job here as well, so the game looks surprisingly clean even in the handheld.
Jedna stvar ipak odmah upada u oči – kosa glavnih likova. Posebno kod Grace, čiji model u krupnim kadrovima jasno otkriva da se koristi jednostavniji „card hair“ pristup, odnosno plošne teksture kose umjesto kompleksnijih volumetrijskih rješenja. Rezultat je pomalo zrnast i djeluje kao da je kosa dodana naknadno, a što najviše dolazi do izražaja u cutscenama. Nije nešto što će pokvariti iskustvo, ali razlika je dovoljno vidljiva da je teško ignorirati.
Also, the picture on Switch 2 seems a bit brighter and washed out compared to other versions of the game. This isn't necessarily a negative (it even helps visibility in some scenes), but it gives the game a slightly different visual character.
So, we won't lie: there are compromises. But Capcom obviously knew where to make them without ruining the atmosphere and gameplay. The result is a port that may not be technically identical to the versions on more powerful platforms, but it's high enough quality to play and enjoy on the Switch 2 without any problems.
Conclusion
Resident Evil Requiem is perhaps Capcom's most successful attempt to reconcile the two completely different philosophies that defined the series.
Grace brings fear, tension and slow survival horror. Leon brings explosive action and pure RE spectacularity. The result is a game that constantly changes pace and keeps you engaged until the very end.
If you're into survival horror, you'll get some of the most tense moments in modern Resident Evil, and Leon will remind you why he's one of the most popular characters in gaming history. In combination, you definitely get a great game.
Resident Evil Requiem may not be perfect, but it's very close – and could easily end up among the best games of the year.
And for someone who has never been a big fan of horror games, that might be saying the most.
Evaluation: 4.5/5
A copy of the Nintendo Switch 2 version was provided by distributor CD Media for review purposes
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