The stress, suspense, and environment in Resident Evil Requiem are nearly unbelievably palpable, and after seeing a behind-closed-doors preview of the sport, it appears to be a gripping and terrifying journey that embraces a number of the collection’ core components of survival horror.
Channeling the collection’ penchant for edge-of-your-seat concern, unpredictable horror, and deep immersion, Resident Evil Requiem (or Resi 9 for brevity) is poised to supply one thing that’s compelling, thrilling, and stuffed with adrenaline.
Whereas the demo I used to be proven was a mere glimpse of what the sport has to supply, the playable protagonist Grace Ashcroft’s time in a spooky deserted lodge setting and encounters with a number of the grisliest Resident Evil monsters up to now have gotten its hooks in me, and I’m not even an enormous horror fan. Plus, the demo additionally threw up one huge gameplay-shaped shock.
Survival at its core
What’s in a short time apparent from my preview is that there’s an enormous shift again to the collection’ survival roots, particularly after the action-fueled cocktail of Resident Evil Village and the Resident Evil 4 remake.
Our demo takes place fully in an deserted lodge atmosphere. After waking up the wrong way up and strapped to a hospital mattress together with her blood being drained by the appears of it, we step into the footwear of Requiem’s protagonist, Grace Ashcroft.
Not proficient in fight, and definitely not flush with instruments, profiting from the atmosphere is essential. Because of this, there’s a deal with the investigation of rooms and areas to search out objects that assist Grace navigate the darkish, tight corridors. This contains some basic situations, reminiscent of discovering a door that wants energy, and having to scope round for a device that may then get you right into a fuse field to ship energy to the door.
You’ll additionally get to research further context and clues, choose up throwables for distracting enemies, in addition to sensible objects like lighters that will help you shine a little bit of a light-weight within the darkness.
Whereas none of those are outrageously progressive, it ties into a way that there’s an enormous onus on escape, evasion, and survival reasonably than making an attempt to assault enemies to cope with them and even delay them; I didn’t see one offensive weapon within the preview. It felt fairly just like the sooner hours of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, during which protagonist Ethan needed to depend on fast wits to outlive the horrors of the Baker homestead.
A grim setting and really grisly monster
An offensive weapon would positively have been welcome after we had been handled to a sight of the monster that stalked Grace all through the demo.
It’s one of many creepiest monsters I’ve ever seen in any horror sport, and on this part-hotel part-abandoned hospital setting, its grotesque matron-cross-nurse look was in line with the atmosphere because it crawled by means of home windows and holes within the wall.
Reinforcing this emphasis on survival, with out an offensive weapon, Grace as an alternative focuses on hiding or fleeing hazard. Nevertheless, the fact of it’s that she has to heal whereas on the run, having taken a success from the chasing enemy. There’s real panic in Grace, and concern is created for the participant in these moments as you scramble to discover a secure place and escape a risk you haven’t any means to counter.
The lodge’s design promotes the sense of nerves and concern too, with a selected mastery in using shadow and illumination to up the ante on environmental stress, whereas giving sufficient to drive on development for the participant.
Out of mentioned darkness, I did witness a few soar scares, however they felt extremely at house for a Resident Evil sport – akin to these within the Baker home in Resident Evil 7, maybe – and by no means felt low cost. For those who’re after the strain that there may be a soar scare round each nook or when opening any door, then it appears such as you’ll be nicely served by Resident Evil Requiem.
Concern by no means appeared so good
Captured all on a PlayStation 5 Professional, Capcom’s technical brilliance – naturally – shines by means of, too, and all the pieces within the lodge appears incredible. Strands of hair look extraordinarily pure, blood believably drips off of surfaces and from the monster’s enamel, and the lighting on present is downright glorious. RE Engine is as soon as once more displaying it’s one of the spectacular within the enterprise.
Complementing that was a delightfully restricted method to audio, too. With an nearly complete absence of musical rating, the combo of silence and Grace’s actions, blended solely with environmental noises – and that of the creepy monster – solely served to ramp up the strain deliciously.
The motion of Grace can be on level, with strolling in first particular person feeling heavy and every step bobbing the digital camera up and down believably, transporting you straight into Grace’s perspective, immersing your self in her expertise.
In fact, there are many questions nonetheless to be answered. With out seeing this gameplay snippet in wider context, there’s much more to be defined – when does this happen? How huge is that this lodge as a part of the sport – is it the whole setting? Most likely not, judging by the reveal trailer’s teasing of a return to Raccoon Metropolis. Might or not it’s that the nuke dropped in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis solely served to make the issue worse?
Solely time will inform as Capcom hopefully shares extra particulars within the run-up to the sport’s launch on February 27, 2026, for Xbox Series X and Series S, PlayStation 5, and PC.
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