Taking part in Leon in Resident Evil Requiem Is a Kickass Catharsis

Final yr, I performed by means of the Resident Evil Requiem demo, controlling the terrified Grace Ashford, weaponless and anxious that this entry within the horror franchise would prioritize powerless concern over a zombie-killing energy fantasy. However not too long ago, I sat right down to play the newest preview of the sport, lastly controlling the collection’ beloved fairly boy Leon, and inside minutes, I used to be chopping aside zombies with a chainsaw. 

“We’re so again, child,” I need to say, although there’s means an excessive amount of of the sport nonetheless to be seen. But my brief time with Leon (lower than an hour of gameplay) left me pumped for his return, together with the whole lot that made his Resident Evil 4 look so iconic, from the motion hero antics to the sassy quips to the standard grid-based merchandise field. 

On this preview, the 2 segments I performed with Leon have been sandwiched round an prolonged playthrough with Grace, which instructed how the sport will circulate, alternating between the 2 as distinct flavors of gameplay.

2 approaches, each satisfying

Let me put a preferred concern to relaxation: Grace’s sections do not resemble notorious segments from Resident Evil video games previous, the place gamers should management helpless facet characters who can solely sneak round threats (just like the maligned Ashley chapters from Resident Evil 4). 

As a substitute, Resident Evil Requiem appears to be showcasing two iconic gameplay types of the franchise round every character: Grace’s sections resemble the spooky puzzle-laden environment of the unique Resident Evil, whereas Leon’s embody the horror motion of Resident Evil 4. 

Requiem tailors every character’s expertise to every gameplay fashion. Grace begins with a restricted variety of stock slots requiring gamers to juggle objects, and he or she has restricted ammunition — sneaking previous enemies is a harrowing necessity. She slowly creeps round, fixing baroque puzzles and making probably the most out of a brand new crafting system that makes use of zombie blood (yuck) to make ammo and defensive weapons. 

After Grace’s tense and moody exploration segments, Leon’s sections are a cathartic launch, letting gamers minimize free with a variety of ammo and intense enemies, in addition to some satisfying executions with Leon’s new greatest pal — a carbon fiber hand ax.

This break up is exemplified by a brand new function in Requiem: the power to change between first- and third-person cameras on the fly. Capcom workers working my preview instructed I play by means of Grace’s sections within the former to ratchet up the strain, then change to the latter for Leon’s action-oriented sections.

3 hours with Resident Evil Requiem

At Summer time Recreation Fest 2025, CNET’s Sean Booker got to play the primary snippet of Requiem gameplay that Capcom unleashed, during which Grace awoke from her abduction and snuck round a derelict hospital, evading a grotesque matronly mutant chasing her by means of an deserted ward. This newest preview begins simply after that second, during which Leon arrives on the hospital to seek out zombie medical doctors and orderlies — simply dispatched by his gunplay and fight kicks.

When a zombie got here crashing in with a chainsaw, I shot him down, picked up the instrument, carved open different zombies and minimize by means of a barred door. That is when Leon bumped into Grace, fairly actually choosing up proper the place my earlier preview ended. With a robust revolver — named, I child you not, Requiem — I gunned down the matronly mutant. Earlier than our heroic duo may correctly group up, a gate slammed down between them. The hospital’s tall, pale overseer Dr. Gideon, working the constructing from a distant management room, has different plans for them. 

That is the place management shifted to Grace for a 2-hour gameplay section, putting the wayward FBI agent in a setting acquainted to Resident Evil veterans: a lobby between two staircases, with a door that may solely be unlocked with three crystal gems. Echoes of the Spencer Mansion from the primary Resident Evil manifested in arcane puzzles and ornate picket furnishings, in addition to evading zombies relatively than capturing them to protect scarce ammo. 

It is a vibe of harmful exploration, made manageable by one other twist: for no matter cause (presumably defined within the full sport), these specific undead retain their reminiscences and wander across the set paths they patrolled in life. By sneaking round and never making noise, I used to be (principally) superb. 

However as with the unique Resident Evil that Grace’s sections evoke, I ended up having to run forwards and backwards, retrieving key objects from save rooms to resolve puzzles throughout the map. The traversal turned so tedious that I switched to the third-person over-the-shoulder digital camera to make it simpler to weave across the undead.

Then the sport sprung one other shock. Again from the 2002 Resident Evil 1 Remake are zombies that come again to un-life, crazier and deadlier. I whipped out the highly effective Requiem revolver (which Leon had handed over to Grace by means of the gate separating them) and fired the one bullet I needed to kill it — a treasured useful resource, like a one-hit-kill security blanket, that now put me extra on the mercy of the hospital’s horrors.

It is clear that Capcom desires gamers to really feel weak whereas controlling Grace, however not hopeless. Through the preview, Capcom workers impressed on me that the FBI agent will develop in functionality all through the sport. Mechanically, this was represented by her considerably shaky intention, which took a second or two of focus to calm her sufficient for correct capturing (i.e., the crosshairs shrinking after readying her gun) — which might be improved by discovering or crafting injectable reflex boosters. Regardless of gathering assets and instruments, together with an offensive lab-made drug I may jab into zombies to make them actually explode, the shambling lifeless are nonetheless harmful within the face of Grace’s uncertain gunplay, and there are worse issues haunting the halls.

One in every of these was a horrifyingly massive mutant child (distinct from the horrifyingly massive mutant child in Resident Evil 8), which chased Grace round one of many hospital wards. I switched to Leon, who escaped from the clutches of Dr. Gideon solely to must tackle the grotesque toddler the one means he is aware of how: a lot of weapons and chops from his ax. 

After dispatching the horror-child, Leon runs round among the similar hospital areas I would snuck round as Grace — however this time weapons a-blazing. Even an ambush of a number of reanimated, deadlier zombies was an exciting piece of cake for our hero and his trusty shotgun. 

If the preview is consultant of the sport’s general circulate, gamers will survive by means of Grace’s weak, tense gameplay stretches, whereas following chapters with Leon will act as launch valves of motion and gory gunplay. That is a enjoyable mixture…when finished proper. Resident Evil Requiem looks like an try by Capcom to cram two flavors of its franchise into the identical sport. Independently, both is a pleasure to play, however how they will really feel collectively will show whether or not the sport can sink or swim. 

And but, what little I noticed (together with a handful of issues I used to be requested to not reveal) showcased a sport that felt like an intriguing mixture of acquainted and new. After the saga of Ethan Winters in Resident Evil 7 and eight, it is a aid to return to fan-favorite Leon and uncover Grace’s story. 

Working round a wierd hospital ward overrun by its undead residents, locked within the purgatory of their outdated routines, is delightfully weird. So is peering right into a microscope to analysis a approach to craft bullets out of scrap steel and blood. Resident Evil’s mix of surreal horror has all the time been higher when it is making an attempt out new components so as to add to its beloved melody — and this duet of novice and veteran, survival and motion, looks like we’d simply be again, (non-mutant) child.