Review— Resident Evil: Requiem

At a UK trade site, the President of Zynga, Frank Gibeau said, “I think that model [of single player games] is finished… Online is where the innovation, and the action, is at.” 

Nearly every triple-A company seeks live service games and microtransactions to make games a product. But that does not fit in the eyes of gamers. Single player games are still around, and proving they’re not done yet, with the help of the consumer wallets. Not all companies have turned all of their IPs into quick cash grabs. Capcom has kept Resident Evil: Requiem an experience untainted by greedy practices. 

But is that enough to deserve high ratings? Or is this just a mediocre experience that’s getting caught up in video game politics? Let’s find out. 

Content

Violence
Players use pistols, shotguns, explosives, and chainsaws to dismember and decapitate enemies. Monsters and zombies leave large blood stains and body parts around the environment; some areas depict corpses with exposed entrails and viscera. Cutscenes depict further instances of intense violence and blood/gore: a close-up image of a woman stabbed through the throat, a man’s throat slit, a zombie stabbed in the eye, bodies ground up by a grinder, a woman impaled in the chest by a chainsaw, soldiers dismembered and decapitated by enemy fire.

Language
The word f***, s***, d***, a**, b****, and b****** are heard in the game.

Sexual Themes
N/A

Alcohol/Drug Abuse
Some instances of smoking and drinking.

Review

Resident Evil: Requiem acts as a marriage between Resident Evil’s survival horror and action horror gameplay. Grace Ashcroft is a traumatized FBI agent kidnapped and forced to puzzle her way out of a resource management nightmare. I guess the zombies are scary too. If playing on classic mode, the amount of items and crafting components are gracious, as are how fast zombies go night-night. The beauty of her playthrough is seeing her character growth physically change from shaky, whimpering breaths, to tall, straightened shoulders. I also loved the detail of the Requiem gun given to her by Leon having an extreme recoil for her at the start, but towards the end she can handle it. Admittedly, the fear factor was less when I felt I had plenty of firepower, and that I could craft anywhere. Which brings me to Leon Shoot-em-all Kennedy. The tone shift of hunters becoming hunted is visceral. Even the in-game music goes from the violins screeching, “Death is inevitable,” to Leon’s electric guitar playing a “Who’s next” exultation.

The line between video games and a form of realism is blended as deeply as possible. Controlling Leon and Grace feels like driving a huge moving van. I don’t say that as a criticism, because if I understand correctly, that’s what Resident Evil is known for. But now, having felt that for myself, I can see that the game is built around the controls. Enemies that chase you always have a misplaced step, a second of screaming, or some deliberate pause before the chase starts. Sometimes that control is taken away for deliberate damage or a forced ambush, when it serves the purpose of moving the game along. The same goes with locked doors, or conveniently placed furniture. 

A symphony between player agency and developer handholding is pretty delicate, but I think Capcom worked it out in the player’s favor. Most of the time, big baddies don’t even get a cutscene—the moments are experienced. These moments were my favorite, even more than the bigger takedown moments. 

See that shiny object?
Let’s go get it—
Oops, scary monster trap.
Which way was that safe room!

But I can’t say the bigger moments were garbage, either. After the horrendous moments in the dark and the jump scares, I welcomed a colossal death for my enemies, and a cutscene is just what the T-Virus doctor ordered. The balance between what you experience and what the game wants you to experience work in harmony. Harder difficulties will adjust item placement, but there’s replay value for players wanting more. Resident Evil: Requiem awards challenge points that can buy special items for meeting certain criteria. Some challenge points require additional runs, with locks on things like using health or not crafting. But the payoff for infinite ammo or an indestructible knife attracts more playthroughs, and that, I believe, is the true formula for player retention.

Great songs get repeated, while bad songs fade into obscurity. The same goes with games. Resident Evil: Requiem stands on its own for its excellent mixture. It seeks to make fans of the series happy, and as someone outside of the fanbase, it’s really good. I was about as new as Grace Ashcroft to the scary game thing, but I walked away with a new appreciation. And in that way, the game earns the title Requiem.