One of the best video game franchises of all time returns this week with the phenomenal “Resident Evil: Requiem,” a game that takes how this franchise shifted its personality with 2017’s “Resident Evil: Biohazard” and marries that style to what fans loved about the recent remakes of “Resident Evil 2” and “Resident Evil 4.” It narratively echoes those early games with the return of fan favorite Leon Kennedy while also appealing to those who fell in love with the series through “Biohazard” and 2021’s “Resident Evil: Village.” It’s a bit shorter than it should be—it could have used a few tougher, intense boss battles late in the game—but it is consistently satisfying, riveting, and sometimes even terrifying.
“Requiem” opens with such a confidently conceived and directed prologue that it gets its hooks in you from the start. You begin the game as FBI Agent Grace Ashcroft, daughter of reporter Alyssa Ashcroft, a character from 2004’s PS2 game “Resident Evil: Outbreak.” The writers of the 30-year-old lore of “Resident Evil” have loved to drop Easter eggs and references into their storytelling with increasing frequency—Alyssa Ashcroft is even referenced in “Biohazard,” for example—but “Requiem” sees them most aggressively weaving mythology from past games, most notably 2-4, into their new storytelling.
It features so many characters and locations that Capcom has asked that we keep most of them under wraps, but it’s been revealed that you’ll be going back to Racoon City and going back to the origins of how all of this began. That alone should be a draw for fans of the series, and it’s all handled incredibly well narratively, not feeling like a cheap connection to the beloved games but a new way to appreciate what you loved about them all those years ago.
Before Racoon City, Grace goes to investigate a series of murders at a decrepit hotel called the Wrenwood. These early sequences are stunning for their atmosphere, with wind blowing through broken windows and rain on the street below. As your flashlight barely illuminates its way around the Wrenwood, the writing flashes back to Grace’s childhood, revealing that she may be more connected to Leon and Umbrella than she knows. The entire game can be played in either first- or third-person, but the developers recommend playing in first-person for Grace’s tense story of survival and in third-person for Leon’s action-driven narrative. It’s literally like alternating between the tension of “Biohazard” and the explosivity of “RE4 Remake,” two of the most beloved games in the history of the franchise.
Grace’s story takes her to a medical facility called Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center that’s been overtaken by some of the most impressive nightmare fuel in video game history. There’s the massive dude with a machete who stalks the halls, the thing that looks like an enormous zombie baby, and then there’s “the girl,” a creature who hunts Grace in darkness, avoidable by luring her into the light. Grace’s half of “Requiem” centers on puzzle-solving and stealth as the story moves this strong new protagonist through a facility that brings back memories of her dark past.
If we’re all figuring out how Grace got here, along with the game’s co-protagonist, Leon Kennedy’s journey has been well-documented. “Requiem” features an older Leon, facing both physical degradation and the ghosts of his time in Racoon City. The gameplay on Leon’s side is very similar to “Resident Evil 4 Remake” with significantly stronger weapons and an axe that fits well into enemy skulls.
There’s something remarkably satisfying about successfully avoiding enemies in Grace’s chapter, only to introduce those same enemies to Leon’s shotgun in one of his sections of the game. At times, the arcs intersect literally, such as in a sequence in which Leon provides sniper fire for a fleeing Grace. You get to know both of these characters not just as cogs in the plot machine, but also how they move and how they succeed or fail. While it could have easily been clunky—two games never merging into one—it’s the opposite, a fluid way to distinguish two important halves of this story that keeps the game fresh.
The characters and their associated gameplay are incredible, but the environments of “Requiem” are just as important to its success. The Wrenwood sets a bar for setting that the rest of the game matches. Most of all, Rhodes is a stunning location in terms of design, a place that includes everything from well-stocked libraries with a “Shining” vibe to medical facilities out of “Re-Animator” to an underground facility that houses things you’ll soon want to forget. The return to Raccoon City has a desolate isolation that almost feels like the desert setting of “Resident Evil: Extinction.” On that note, when the game returns to a sterile, white Umbrella facility, it has echoes of the first “Resident Evil” film, again reminding one of how closely the games and films are culturally intertwined.
Something you should know: My in-game completion screen showed a playtime of just over 8 hours (though the PS5 welcome screen showed 13—I think the total is likely somewhere in between). That’s going to be a sticking point in an era of $70 games. I must say that I sped through the game very quickly, doing less exploring than normal and rarely dying. Those who take their time will easily add a few hours to that number, but I’d be lying if I didn’t say that I was hoping for another major chapter or two in the final act, one that comes on pretty abruptly.
I think the game length debate is largely overblown—there are great short games and bad long games—but my main complaint about “Requiem” would be that it feels like there is a bit less meat on its bones narratively than the best in this series, and that it lacks some of the big, huge, boss set pieces that people have come to love.
But that’s literally it. There may not be enough literal game time for some gamers, but what is here is undeniably great. It’s fluid in both design and gameplay; its environments feel genuinely three-dimensional; the puzzle design is top-notch; the voice work and sound design are perfect. It makes sense that I wanted more, and you probably will too, but that doesn’t diminish what’s here.
Where does “Resident Evil” go now? With this sure-to-be-hit and a new standalone film from Zach Cregger of “Weapons” fame forthcoming, 2026 is going to be a good year for fans of the Capcom franchise. Without spoiling, “Requiem” unsurprisingly ends in a way that implies this game could herald a new future for the series, one that employs this hybrid style in subsequent adventures.
As someone who has played every single “Resident Evil” game, I’m happy to report that this one is near the top—not quite “RE4,” but few games are. Ultimately, it’s a reminder of how effective these games can be at their best, rollercoasters of tension to action, suspense to execution. I just hope it doesn’t take them five years to make another one.
The Publisher provided a review copy of this title on PS5. It will also be available on PC, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch 2 this Friday, February 27.
