Featured Image Credit: Capcom
Topics: Resident Evil, Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom, Resident Evil 2
I’ve just rolled credits on Resident Evil Requiem, and while I’d say I generally enjoyed the game, there’s one aspect about it that’s been bothering me.
Releasing for the series’ 30th anniversary, Resident Evil Requiem features returning protagonist Leon S. Kennedy alongside a brand new character, Grace Ashcroft.
The game is a sort-of tribute to the series’ long-standing history—a requiem, if you will—taking us back to Raccoon City which was featured as the main set piece for the second and third games.
Before I go any further, I’m going to prop up this article with a spoiler warning. I’ll be diving into Resident Evil Requiem’s second half, including the ending and other aspects about the game.
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Okay, so I think the first half of Resident Evil Requiem is pretty fantastic. I love Grace as a character, the Rhodes Hill care centre is a fantastic old-school Resi location, and I generally quite liked the pacing of switching between both characters. It’s great having those little sprinkles of action gameplay as Leon to break up the longer tense survival horror sections as Grace.
This kind of flips on its head when we reach the second half of Resident Evil Requiem, taking us to Raccoon City and almost exclusively featuring Leon as the main playable character. It’s here where I think the game falls apart a little. If Grace’s half of the game is close in tone to RE1 or RE7, then Leon’s is a mix of RE4 and RE6.
Resident Evil Requiem’s whole Raccoon City section is full of references and connections to the older games in the series, particularly Resident Evil 2. This much was clear to me when we saw a glimpse of the Raccoon Police Department building in that initial reveal trailer last June.
I’m already a little tired of the “hey fans, remember this?” thing that exists in so many long-running franchises nowadays, and there’s so much in this half of the game that exists purely as a callback to earlier Resident Evil games.
How is the Welcome Leon banner still in pristine condition? Why are we fighting a new version of Mr. X? There are lickers and Plant 43. Hunk is there too. And Zeno is a clone of Albert Wesker, but also might not be? That isn’t really fully explained for some reason.
Particularly from the point that you hit the RPD section, Resident Evil Requiem just hamfists in so many references to the earlier games that it reminds me that I could just go and play those games instead.
It’s a very hollow callback to the good games in the series, which feels frustrating as the destroyed remains of Raccoon City already aren't as interesting as set pieces as the care centre. A lot of similar-looking destroyed buildings, decaying subway tunnels, and dark warehouses. It reads as Capcom not having as much confidence in this part of the game, so we’re fed reference after reference to give players a reason to point at the screen like they’re Leonardo DiCaprio.
I’m left wondering how we got here, when less than a decade ago we got Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, which was a lot more restrained with its references to the wider canon. In that game, the action sequences and convoluted lore of previous Resi games was dialled back, instead delivering a more intimate survival horror experience. It was something brand new and fresh, and made it one of the best games in the franchise.
Even Resident Evil Village was a lot more interesting in terms of how it referenced the wider series while also bridging tonal gaps between RE7 and RE4.
I ultimately felt that Village was a bit clumsy in presentation, but I think I’ll end up looking at it more favourably following my disappointment with Requiem’s second half.
All of this is to say that if Requiem had kept the tone and pacing of its first half into the second half, while also holding back on throwing as many callbacks to us as humanly possible, this might have landed a little better for me.
I would love to have something like Resident Evil 7 again in this franchise. Just a quiet, isolated location, with new characters and story, and only very loose links to the wider canon of the series.
For Resident Evil 10, I'm hoping this is the case, because I'm not sure I like the direction this is headed in.