Resident Evil Requiem (PS5-GAMING CD)

Description

This year marks the 30-year anniversary of the beginning of the Resident Evil franchise, one of if not the most iconic survival horror franchises. Like any long-term media property, it’s had its ups and downs throughout its many releases. I had an interesting entry point into the franchise with Resident Evil 5, which was an action heavy title that didn’t strike a chord with me. However, my next game was Resident Evil 7, the first in the franchise to adopt a divisive first-person perspective which resonated with a lot of fans and survival horror diehards. That game was responsible for bringing me into the fold and I finally understood Resident Evil. I since played Resident Evil Village and the remake trilogy, and the reason I’m writing this is to preface that I am by no means a diehard of Capcom’s most successful project, and a lot of my experience with Resident Evil is very modern. I hope this provides a bit of perspective on my experience leading into what I believe to be the best Resident Evil yet.

Resident Evil Requiem follows a dual protagonist storyline. The player is thrust into the shoes of series newcomer Grace Ashcroft, an FBI agent with a tragic past. The player also steps into the boots of a hardened hero of prior entries, and a character many are fond of; DSO Agent and bioweapon hunter extraordinaire Leon S. Kennedy is back. From a story perspective, this design choice flows surprisingly well. I expected the pacing to be a little bit questionable, but the tale of how Grace and Leon are pulled into another bioweapons incident is told expertly through both perspectives; you’re never left wondering what the other character is up to while your current character is going through their horrors. Each cutscene is time stamped and the continuity is managed well.

Without giving away any story spoilers, I liked how Grace fit into the overarching story as well as the motivations that drive Leon through another grisly chapter.

The gameplay is series-best here. With two different characters, comes two distinct gameplay experiences. Before you even begin the game, you’re offered to choose what perspectives you want to play in for each character. Given how divisive the first-person switch was in Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, I love how we’re given a choice as well as a recommendation. I highly recommend following the default perspectives, as the immersion in Grace’s survival horror first-person experience is as invigorating as it is terrifying.

Grace’s background as an FBI agent means she knows how to handle a gun, investigate her surroundings and decisively make plans to move forward. She’s introverted and unsure of herself, and she is sent into a place where she has old wounds to confront. After taking my first steps into the darkness, I immediately felt tense as each footstep echoed in the building. This tension lasts throughout all of Grace’s gameplay. The environments you step through are either long abandoned, dank dark and gross, or eerily clean. The devil is in the details, and every step on broken glass, every creak of a door, and every scream of a monster ensures an incredibly immersive experience.

If you can, it is absolutely worth experiencing this game with a set of good headphones in a dark room with the surround sound setting on.

Grace’s gameplay in first-person is intense. You’re working with limited inventory space, short on resources including weapons and ammo, and you’re just trying to put the puzzle pieces together to stay alive. The darkness is threatening, serving as a home for the indestructible and grotesque monster that hunts Grace throughout the game. When you see this creature, you must flee. The scares and appearances of this creature do keep you on your toes, that even one so experienced with jump scares as I still let off audible curses at the screen. The fear further is enhanced by Angela Sant’Albano’s master class performance as Grace, who provided the voice and mocap for this character. Whether I was in a cutscene or behind Grace’s eyes, Angela’s voice work channelled Grace’s fear into me and helped immerse me in the narrative unlike many other video game performers out there.

Zombies are the primary enemy in this game, and in Resident Evil Requiem they’re spookier and cooler than ever. This comes down to not only their terrifying grunts, moans, screams, or roars as they bite into your flesh. Nor is it solely due to the sheer detail in their infected bodies and faces. Each zombie retains characteristics of their pre-death occupation. They utter things under the breath, serving to hint at creative ways you can deal with your enemies. One example is a zombie who must turn out all the lights, as the rules state the lights must turn off at night. So, you can risk luring a zombie to light switches by turning them on, clearing a stealthier path.

It is ultimately up to you how you decide to take on zombies as Grace, and while you have a gun and crafting expertise you need to make sure each shot counts. The last thing you want to be is boxed in with zombies closing all around you. Knowing your bullets are limited, made each shot feel strategic and nerve-wracking. When you have a group of zombies slowly shuffling towards you, and you miss a shot knowing they’ll be able to have a chomp of you before you realign is frightening in first person. This is especially true when using Leon’s signature weapon for this title, the Requiem. It’s a powerful hand cannon that you want to save for when you truly need it. You’ll know when that time comes.

The agency the player utilises exhibits some notable consequences – the zombies that you don’t take out as Grace, are destined to be dealt with by Leon. The resources that Grace takes as well, impacts what Leon can grab on his run. While this system is cool in theory, even in harder difficulties I find that there’s plenty of resources if you want to scoop up everything no matter who you’re playing – although you’ll be making a few drop off trips to the item box if you’re hoarding resources as Grace. On my primary playthrough, I took all the ammo I could and strategically utilized my resources to take down nearly, if not all of the zombies in the Wrenwood Clinic Care centre where the first act takes place. Once I switched to Leon, it was satisfying to see Grace’s handywork and stock up on resources. I understand that this segment was meant to be quite short, but I wonder if knowing that would’ve affected my time spent in Grace’s shoes.

There are more than a few interactions between Grace and Leon, where you switch between characters for moments at a time. I also really liked that you get a solid short session introducing how different the characters and their experiences are.

I didn’t fully comprehend it at the time, but this almost feels like a melding pot of two distinct Resident Evil games.

Playing as Leon is an action-packed visceral experience, thanks to the satisfying encounter variety and the mechanics that compliment his style so well. Speaking of his style – Leon’s tight bicep complimenting shirts combined with forearm veins, perfect nineties boy band hair and cameras pans designed for the female gaze has many a gamer enjoying the sexy fan service on offer.  His elite athleticism is used to deliver roundhouse kicks and deadly punches, as well as pulling off stylish finishing moves with firearms that are reminiscent of John Wick. There’s so much attention to detail like pulling a pistol into a closer more angled grip to the chest when enemies close the distance, and how each reload of chambered weapons is counted in the animations so you’re always loading the exact amount – looking at you Requiem. Leon brings wit to the table with lines like “I think I want a second opinion” as he encounters an infected doctor wielding a chainsaw, or “Well, that’s my cardio for the week” after desecrating a wave of zombies. Little moments of this charm enhance the personality that this character has retained through 30 years of fighting B.O.W.s (bio-organic weapons). The massive inventory capacity (especially compared to Grace) means you never have to worry about having too many explosives, healing items, ammo, or guns – no need to use your Tetris skills like in previous games. Just pick it all up and hold down a key to auto sort!

Leon’s coolest new combat trick though is his hatchet. In addition to satisfyingly gory finishing moves, Leon uses the hatchet to parry enemy attacks. This can range from a zombie trying to grab you, a boss trying to charge you, or even zombies throwing cinderblocks at you. Most importantly it feels so fun to use. The loop of staggering an enemy, getting in range to roundhouse kick them and then rip their head off with the hatchet simply doesn’t get old. You can even make light and heavy attacks if you so wish, although personally I preferred to land those headshots in close range before heading in for a finisher. Leon himself is also on a clock, and it feels like his personal drive informs the animations and punchy combat. There’s a lack of care for how he rampages against all odds in the face of mortality.

The inclusion of a long residing character like Leon, also allows for the opportunity to tastefully include nostalgia. From trailers we already knew Leon was returning to Raccoon City, the setting for Resident Evil 2where the then rookie cop made his series debut. Repeating some of the locations and a particular boss fight from the Resident Evil 2 remake didn’t feel like a chore, but an opportunity for Leon to display his growth as a combatant in the fight for good throughout the franchise. I personally am happy with how tastefully and considerate the use of old locations was, and there are a few segments that are so reminiscent of old games I couldn’t help but smile. For example, when you’re trying to build an item to progress through Raccoon City you encounter a scenario that instantly reminded me of assaulting the castle in Resident Evil 4. Familiar horrors return once again, and it feels invigorating to fight something that we’ve killed before but with our new tricks up our sleeve.

Touching on the set pieces, both characters had plenty of moments that stood out and the next paragraphs could be considered light spoilers.

For Grace this includes when she has nothing but a lighter to fight the darkness and the stalker within, when she must stand her ground while a new companion unlocks a puzzle box, or when she finally gets to take out what’s been hunting her in an Alien Isolation style gameplay segment. She also has an incredibly eerie flashback sequence that is pure nightmare fuel, and she gets a really satisfying character arc that ends her story in this game well.

Leon’s action set pieces that wowed me began the second you start playing as him, as the streets spill into chaos during an infection. Cars are smashing, and zombies want your flesh. You immediately understand that Leon isn’t messing around; I loved when he got to explore city ruins, provide sniper cover for Grace, duel with an old foe, and took on a couple of big bad bosses. Parry skills felt unstoppable during a particular hand to hand combat encounter, but the zombie arena in a servo followed by a chainsaw dual was a moment that made me say a very elated “fuck yes!”

I like that the overall story has something to say about mortality and inevitable death. Leon has a clear affliction, and he needs to fulfill a promise to himself, and Grace struggles with the idea that she may or may not be a key to a destiny that’s greater than she could have ever imagined.

Throughout even the most explosive of scenes in this game, I am stoked to say that the RE Engine rendered the game beautifully. This engine has been in use since Resident Evil 7, bringing forth an appropriately spooky, gritty, and realistic style to the environment. Lighting is so meticulously effective at building atmosphere, and combat arenas feel either naturally blocked off or a wall of fire is keeping you in the fight. The tension is in the details in the close quarter’s environments where the light really matters too. In addition to looking great, the game played very well. Before beginning the game, I selected the preset option to prioritize performance. This is one of the only times that a game has scanned my hardware, taken my choice for quality or preference into consideration, and given me auto selected graphics settings that I didn’t need to adjust.

I was able to run the game at 4k resolution at a constant 60fps with zero drops in frames across all of my playthroughs on my 10GB RTX 3080 GPU and an AMD Ryzen 7 5700X. I am confident that you will be able to run this game on a wide variety of PC hardware, purely due to the elite optimisation that Capcom have implemented. I also experienced 0 crashes or bugs throughout my entire playthrough, so I feel like more developers should take note of how Capcom have quality tested this thing.

Resident Evil games generally start you off in a scary situation. As a player you need to navigate and survive a hostile world that seeks to end you with varying degrees of challenge in both puzzles and enemy variation. As you progress you become stronger, testing yourself at junctions such as boss battles or arenas to demonstrate your character and player growth. This generally ramps up to a blitzkrieg of a final act, where much of the tension is gone and it’s you and one big bad to take down. Resident Evil Requiem is no different, however what is so special here is how refined this feels despite bringing in a dual protagonist focus. While she’s no killing machine like Leon, by the end of the game you and Grace are both confident in her abilities to defend herself and carve a path.

Once the credits roll, I found myself satisfied at how things played out for both Grace and Leon.

Video games are getting more expensive, and I understand that the short length of Resident Evil Requiemhas potential buyers considering the value for money with their purchase. This is emphasised by the fact that playing two characters feels like you’re playing two halves of different games in some respects. I do think though that the game is designed to coalesce those ideas, bringing the overall length of the game on par with prior franchise titles.

I think that the quality of game here more than makes up for its short length and I don’t feel the need to spend more time with Grace and Leon..

Although I wouldn’t say no to kicking some more zombie ass in an expansion down the line. Overall, I am personally satisfied with the game length and replayability, having completed 4 playthroughs and achieving 100% achievement completion in 35 hours of playtime.

The nearly 30-year-old Resident Evil franchise is an iconic blend of survival horror and action. Resident Evil Requiem feels like the most refined game in the franchise, that expertly balances the ideas taken from the remakes and recent titles. Long term threads are wrapped up, and the future is open for whatever direction Capcom wants to take. This game could not be a better celebration of 30 years of Resident Evil and is a game that every survival horror fan should experience.