Resident Evil Requiem (PS5) Review: Survival Horror at Its Finest

While Capcom has not gone so far as to label Resident Evil Requiem as the end of a trilogy, it very much feels like the natural successor to the two mainline games that preceded it. From the outside looking in, it might seem like Requiem would suffer from trying to have its cake and eat it too. Rather than focusing its efforts squarely on one style of gameplay, it’s instead serving up equal parts classic, slower-paced survival horror alongside the adrenaline-packed action-centric kind that helped propel the series to new heights. This decision was certainly a gamble, but it’s one that’s paid off in spades.

Rather than trying to strike a fine balance between these two tried-and-tested gameplay styles (à la Resident Evil Village), Capcom has instead gone for the direct, blunt approach by essentially smashing two different games together. Split roughly down the middle, you’ll spend half your time in the shoes of newcomer Grace Ashcroft, a rookie FBI investigator who’s thrown into the thick of things while investigating a series of mysterious deaths that have “biohazard” written all over them.

If the name Ashcroft sounds familiar, that’s because it probably is; Grace is the daughter of reporter Alyssa Ashcroft, the protagonist of Resident Evil Outbreak (a game I’m sure you’ve definitely played and remember fondly), who just so happened to die at the very hotel Grace is dispatched to as part of her investigation. It doesn’t take long for things to kick off in typical Resident Evil fashion; while investigating the condemned hotel, Grace is kidnapped and taken to the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, where the mysteries of both her past and the circumstances surrounding Raccoon City’s annihilation come to a head. Speaking of Raccoon City, this is where everyone’s favorite former cop, Leon Kennedy, comes into play. When you aren’t scrambling to survive as Grace, you’ll take control of Leon, whose gameplay favors campy and, at times, wonderfully excessive blood-soaked action.

Admittedly, Resident Evil Requiem is heavy on fan service and eager to serve up callbacks, references, easter eggs, and cameos in short order. Series fans will undoubtedly lap these up without complaint, but as over-indulgent as it can be, Requiem’s narrative is digestible enough for casual fans to navigate without too much trouble. Sadly, there are a few plot points that are left hanging in the air, and I wrapped up my playthrough with just as many unresolved questions as I had satisfying answers. There’s a good chance these will be addressed in future DLC or sequels, but, for a series whose lore and backstory have ballooned over the course of three decades, some definitive answers would go a long way.

Requiem’s story occasionally stumbles when trying to stick the landing, though the mashup of its disparate playstyles goes off without a hitch and feels more like a well-constructed sandwich than it does a mish-mash of different ingredients. Players aren’t able to freely switch between playing as Grace and Leon, but the game gives both heroes their turn in the spotlight and swaps back and forth at a regular rate. For those who gravitate towards Resident Evil 7’s cramped and desperate take on survival horror, Grace’s sections will feel right at home. As an awkward and introverted FBI agent with little field experience, Grace can’t rely on combat prowess and a suite of weaponry to fight her way through. In fact, resources are often so limited that players will have to carefully weigh whether it’s worth taking on enemies in the first place. With only two pistols at her disposal (one of which is a handcannon with hard-to-come-by ammo), opting for a stealthier route is often the safest choice.

Thankfully, Grace does have a few other options at her disposal, though they come with their own tradeoffs. Scattered throughout the map are pools of infected blood, which can be harvested and combined with scavenged scrap metal to craft pistol ammunition, healing items, or insta-kill injectables that only work against zombies that have yet to spot you. Of course, the simple act of scavenging for these supplies comes with its own risk, as you’ll often have to explore the environment, which can spell doom if you get cornered by a wandering zombie or two. These sorts of decisions – to scavenge or not, to engage in combat or retreat stealthily – are central to Grace’s sections, but there’s enough flexibility here that players can ultimately adopt whatever playstyle they so choose. For my first playthrough, I opted to search every square inch of the Rhodes Hill clinic to gather every resource I could, and while it certainly came with plenty of scares and a few unnecessary deaths, it felt genuinely satisfying to claw back as much control as I could, given Grace’s limited means.

Leon, on the other hand, has plenty of ammo to spare, and his penchant for reducing the undead to a bloody pulp makes for a completely different play experience. While he isn’t as limber as he’s been in past games (I miss his dodge/dive, but I’ll chalk it up to his age), he still has a few tricks up his sleeve should the going get tough. Aside from his ever-expanding arsenal of pistols, shotguns, rifles, and SMGs, his trusty hatchet can be used to parry and block incoming attacks if you can nail down the timing, and it can also be used to swiftly decapitate downed enemies, which is crucial given that some zombies reanimate if their heads aren’t fully destroyed.

While Leon’s sections are certainly bloody (his first real introduction to combat includes a chainsaw that you can use to hack away a horde of recently-zombified medical personnel), it would be a stretch to call these moments revolutionary. If we’re being honest, the moment-to-moment gameplay hasn’t evolved much over the past few entries, but to be fair, it never really needed to. The foundation laid down by Resident Evil 4 has stood the test of time for a reason, and Capcom has smartly chosen to breathe new life into the franchise by serving up action-packed set pieces and nail-biting close calls to keep things feeling fresh. Without veering into spoiler territory, I can confidently say that Resident Evil Requiem boasts some of the most impressively put together sequences in recent memory. And even during the quieter moments, there’s something incredibly satisfying about having Leon lay waste to dozens of zombies after having barely escaped by the skin of your teeth when playing as Grace just moments earlier.

To be clear, Resident Evil Requiem isn’t without its flaws; while its story does tie together a lot of loose ends that have been piling up over the past couple of decades, it also introduces plenty of unanswered questions. And, while it certainly could be added in through a post-launch update, the lack of a Mercenaries mode at release is disappointing to see. Still, for its occasional stumbles and missteps, Resident Evil Requiem is a masterclass of its genre. Detractors might cry foul that Capcom has forced two wildly different experiences into one package, but I prefer to think of it as two sides of the same coin. It’s an endless buffet of nail-biting, pulse-pounding action, and, I would argue, survival horror at its finest.