Console Sport Overview · PlayStation 5
Resident Evil Requiem
Platform: PS5 (additionally on Xbox Collection X|S, Swap 2, PC) | Style: Survival Horror | Developer: Capcom | Reviewed by Klorvex Crew
Two protagonists, two very totally different flavors of horror — and on PS5, each look and sound phenomenal.
9 mainline entries in, Resident Evil Requiem arrives with the unenviable process of being each a celebration of every thing the collection has constructed over three many years and a coherent, standalone horror story in its personal proper. Having now completed the marketing campaign twice on PS5 — as soon as centered on stealth-and-survival, as soon as leaning absolutely into motion — we are able to say Requiem largely pulls off that balancing act, delivering a number of the most purely horrifying hours in franchise historical past alongside a few of its most crowd-pleasing motion set items, even when the seams between these two halves sometimes present.
Story: Two Survivors, One Lodge of Nightmares
Set practically three many years after the autumn of Raccoon Metropolis, Requiem follows Grace Ashcroft, an introverted FBI intelligence analyst and daughter of an authentic Raccoon Metropolis survivor, as she investigates a string of murders tied to the previous outbreak. Her path collides with collection veteran Leon S. Kennedy, and the sport splits its marketing campaign between their two very totally different views: Grace’s sections play as susceptible, first-person survival horror the place she is ceaselessly unarmed or under-equipped and should depend on environmental stealth and improvisation, whereas Leon’s sections shift to a extra acquainted third-person motion framework filled with the sort of assured, over-the-top fight set items the collection has constructed its fashionable identification round.
Grace’s half of the marketing campaign is, with out query, the scariest Resident Evil has been in years. Her investigation of the decaying Wrenwood Lodge — the identical location the place her mom was killed years earlier — unfolds with a slow-burn dread that remembers the collection’ earliest entries, and Capcom neatly leans into Grace’s inexperience as a real mechanical drawback reasonably than only a narrative conceit; she staggers, hesitates, and fumbles reloads underneath stress in ways in which make each encounter really feel genuinely harmful. Leon’s sections, against this, are a assured, well-worn energy fantasy, and whereas individually wonderful, the tonal whiplash of alternating between the 2 kinds chapter to chapter can sometimes undercut the dread Grace’s sections work so exhausting to construct.
Gameplay: Two Distinct Toolkits
Mechanically, Requiem primarily bundles two totally different Resident Evil video games into one bundle, and each maintain up individually. Grace’s sections emphasize useful resource shortage, environmental hiding spots, and a genuinely tense new “managed panic” mechanic the place her character mannequin visibly shakes and her intention degrades the longer she’s uncovered to a risk, forcing you to actively handle her stress by retreating to cowl reasonably than simply tanking hits. It is a sensible, mechanically attention-grabbing approach to make a protagonist’s worry a gameplay system reasonably than only a cutscene trait.
Leon’s sections, in the meantime, ship the tight, weighty third-person taking pictures the collection has refined for the reason that Resident Evil 4 remake, now with an expanded melee counter system and a genuinely satisfying new environmental execution mechanic that permits you to use destructible surroundings to dispatch teams of enemies directly. Boss encounters break up pretty evenly between the 2 protagonists’ skillsets, and the sport’s greatest struggle — a multi-phase confrontation late within the story that forces you to swap between Grace’s stealth toolkit and Leon’s firepower mid-battle — is likely one of the most creative set items the collection has ever produced.
Stock administration, lengthy a defining hallmark of the collection, will get a intelligent uneven therapy right here as nicely. Grace’s restricted attaché case forces fixed, agonizing choices about what to hold into every new space of the lodge, reinforcing her vulnerability at each flip, whereas Leon’s significantly roomier tactical vest displays his expertise and preparedness as a collection veteran. It is a small structural selection, but it surely does an enormous quantity of labor reinforcing every character’s identification purely by way of gameplay techniques reasonably than dialogue alone, and it is the sort of delicate design considering that separates Requiem from a extra surface-level greatest-hits retread.
“Grace’s sections had our fingers genuinely shaking on the controller. Leon’s sections had us grinning ear to ear. Getting each emotions out of the identical marketing campaign is an actual achievement, even when the transition between them is jarring.”
Visuals & PS5 Efficiency
Requiem is, fairly merely, one of many best-looking video games accessible on PS5. Capcom’s RE Engine continues to be a marvel of environment friendly, high-fidelity horror presentation, and Requiem pushes it additional than any prior entry with genuinely next-gen lighting work all through the Wrenwood Lodge’s decaying interiors — flickering emergency lighting casts lengthy, dynamic shadows that do huge work in promoting rigidity even in areas with no single enemy current. Character fashions, notably in close-up cutscenes, present a degree of pores and skin and material element that rivals the rest on the platform this technology.
On PS5, a Efficiency mode runs at a fluid, primarily locked 60fps with dynamic 4K decision scaling, whereas a High quality mode permits full ray-traced world illumination at a locked 30fps. We spent your entire runtime in Efficiency mode and by no means as soon as felt like we had been sacrificing meaningfully within the visible division to maintain the body price easy — a genuinely spectacular technical achievement given how dense and detailed the sport’s key environments are. The DualSense adaptive set off implementation for weapon reloads and Grace’s stress-shake mechanic provides actual tactile weight that headphone-and-controller setups will respect within the sport’s quietest, most unnerving stretches.
The place Requiem Stumbles
The marketing campaign’s again half is noticeably much less constant than its first. With out spoiling specifics, the story’s remaining act leans more durable into fan-service callbacks to earlier entries within the collection than into forging new floor, and a few late-game chapters really feel extra like a victory lap by way of franchise historical past than a pure continuation of Grace and Leon’s particular person arcs. It isn’t a dealbreaker, however after such a robust, confidently authentic opening stretch, the shift towards nostalgia within the closing hours can really feel like a small step backward reasonably than the escalation the pacing appears to be constructing towards.
There’s additionally a slight difficulty-curve inconsistency price flagging for newcomers particularly: as a result of Grace and Leon’s chapters alternate reasonably than run in a set linear order tied to escalating issue, gamers who aren’t used to the collection’ older, extra punishing survival-horror sensibilities might discover a few of Grace’s earlier chapters significantly more durable than the extra forgiving motion beats that comply with in a Leon chapter, which may make the general issue curve really feel somewhat uneven reasonably than easily escalating from begin to end.
Sound Design: The Collection’ Finest in Years
Horror lives and dies on sound design, and Requiem could be the best-sounding entry the collection has ever produced. Grace’s sections particularly use audio as a core gameplay sign reasonably than pure ambiance — distant groaning by way of the Wrenwood Lodge’s warped floorboards, the moist, irregular footsteps of pursuing threats, and a genuinely unsettling rating that shifts virtually imperceptibly from ambient dread into energetic hazard cues all work collectively to maintain you in a relentless state of low-grade rigidity, even throughout quiet exploration stretches. Performed by way of a great headset with 3D audio enabled on PS5, a number of sequences had us bodily turning to verify behind us, satisfied one thing was nearer than the display screen steered.
Leon’s sections shift the audio identification accordingly, leaning right into a punchier, extra propulsive rating throughout fight encounters and satisfyingly meaty weapon sound design that makes each headshot and melee execution really feel appropriately weighty. The distinction between the 2 protagonists’ audio landscapes does as a lot as any visible option to promote the tonal distinction between their respective halves of the story.
Replay Worth & Publish-Launch Content material
Past the roughly eighteen-hour predominant marketing campaign, Requiem features a New Sport Plus mode with expanded enemy placements and a more durable issue tier for gamers who wish to revisit the story with a fuller arsenal from the outset, alongside unlockable alternate costumes and a bonus “Mercenaries”-style score-attack fight mode that permits you to replay favourite arenas from each Grace and Leon’s campaigns in opposition to the clock. Capcom has additionally confirmed a slate of post-launch story DLC exploring a supporting character’s perspective through the occasions of the principle marketing campaign, which, based mostly on the power of the bottom sport’s writing for its secondary forged, is a genuinely thrilling prospect reasonably than a token add-on.
Execs & Cons
- Grace’s sections are the scariest the collection has been in years
- Two distinct, each wonderful, gameplay toolkits
- Beautiful lighting and character element on PS5
- Locked 60fps Efficiency mode with no seen compromise
- One of many collection’ most creative boss fights ever
- Tonal whiplash between Grace and Leon’s sections
- Last act leans too closely on franchise nostalgia
- Some pacing dips within the again half of the marketing campaign
Resident Evil Requiem does not land each one among its bold swings, however when it connects — and it connects usually — it is genuinely among the many best horror experiences on PS5. A must-play for collection followers, and a robust entry level for newcomers prepared to embrace its break up persona.
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