Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth mainline entry into the popular and long-running Resident Evil franchise. This new adventure features two protagonists, Grace Ashcroft and Leon S. Kennedy. The story begins with Grace Ashcroft being assigned to investigate a crime at a location where she had experienced serious trauma nine years earlier.

Throughout the adventure, you will jump back and forth between the two characters. At times, you play as Grace, trying to make sense of everything going on around you while trying to survive. The sections of the game with Grace were a bit scarier for me than when I was playing with Leon. Leon is a bit more of a badass and has access to better weapons. Grace, on the other hand, while having access to some weapons as well, is a character with whom I tried to use stealth much more. That seems to work out a lot better than just running up on a zombie (or two) and unnecessarily engaging in combat with them. This is also true due to the scarcity of ammo in this game, so you really need to conserve whenever possible. With that being the case, I couldn’t really run up to any random zombie and unload a clip into them (although at times, I didn’t have a choice). If you run around and treat Resident Evil Requiem like a Call of Duty, you are going to have a bad time and potentially put yourself in some very bad situations.

One aspect of Resident Evil Requiem that I really appreciated is the choice of perspective. The default is to play through Grace’s sections in first person to heighten the horror and align more closely with some earlier entries in the franchise, then switch to third person during Leon’s sections. That can be changed to whatever you want, though, so, for me, I always used third person for both Grace and Leon. I am someone who generally really enjoys first-person shooters and similar games, but I thought going third-person was the best decision for me in Resident Evil Requiem.

Long time fans of the Resident Evil series know the basics of what they can expect to see in Requiem. I can see a lot of people playing Resident Evil for the first time here since Resident Evil Requiem has received such glowing praise from almost everyone. I can say for me I am in that group as I didn’t have much interest in the Resident Evil franchise in the past because I am not someone who is in to horror games. With that said, it did look like there was something special about Resident Evil Requiem so, coupled with the amazing response it has received, I decided to give it a shot. I am glad I did too because while I might not go back and play the other Resident Evil games, Requiem was a lot of fun and a great first experience with the franchise. That said, I know there are moments in Requiem that would have hit harder and meant more if I did know the backstory from the previous games, but I still had a great time regardless.

When starting Resident Evil Requiem, you have a few different options depending on the level of difficulty you want. There are Casual, Standard (Modern), and Standard (Classic) modes. There is also an Insanity level, but that only unlocks after you beat the game. For my playthrough, I went the Standard (Modern) route. The Standard (Modern) route offers a more balanced experience, while Standard (Classic) limits your ability to save utilizing ink ribbons, which long-time fans will appreciate. Casual offers a bit more of a narrative focus and isn’t quite as challenging as Standard. For someone who traditionally doesn’t really like horror games, Standard (Modern) was perfect for me.

The levels in Resident Evil Requiem are a decent size, which meant I consulted the in-game map quite a bit until I started to learn my way around. I did appreciate how detailed the map could be, showing me where a save point is located(after I already visited it, they won’t show you where it is beforehand), where a chest might be, where a locked door is, so I can try to return there later, and so on. There is also an inventory system here that, for me, is a little annoying, but it is similar to what I have seen in other games, so I knew how to work with it. There were a few instances where the auto-sort feature helped me a lot, allowing me to maximize my inventory space and carry as much as possible. This is also where you can equip different weapons, charms, examine the item, or even potentially register a shortcut so you can get to it more quickly in the heat of battle.

Resident Evil Requiem also features a crafting system, so you will want to be sure to search all over to pick up supplies. I would frequently craft shotgun and handgun ammo to try to make sure I would have enough in case I got in trouble somewhere. Other items included a mixed herb that would increase my health when I used it, and some steroids that would give me a permanent health boost to raise my maximum health for those big boss battles that you will encounter.

Resident Evil Requiem has a lot of lore in it, which is another reason you want to be thorough when going through the different levels. Once you find a file, you can look at it in the “files” section. Within that section, there are different spots for each area you visit (I’m not giving specific names for spoiler reasons). If you pick up a note with a safe combination, this is where you find it. There are also reports you can read, access logs to check out, interview notes to read, and much more. This is something where you can get as deep into the lore as you want. It is there if you want to read (or reread) something, or you can simply ignore the majority of it and just focus on the gameplay. I like that the option is there because even though I am someone who generally likes getting to see that lore, not everyone is like that.

Resident Evil Requiem seems to control well and functions like a normal third-person/first-person shooter. Left trigger to aim, right trigger to shoot, and all of the normal things like that. If you aren’t quite sure how to do something, you can always use tutorials as a refresher, in case you missed something the first time around.

There are also a number of different challenges in the game to unlock. Some of them unlock automatically when you reach key story moments. Others you have to earn, such as successfully parrying an enemy attack or throwing a weapon that was dropped by an enemy. By completing these challenges, you earn Challenge Points (CP). Using these Challenge Points will allow you to unlock some bonus content. Some of this content can include different weapons for Leon, an infinite ribbon for Grace, a tactical tracker for Leon, and more. If you are really hardcore, you can work towards unlocking perks like Infinite Ammo and Infinite Durability for your hatchets, but that could take you a long time to get, as Infinite Ammo, for example, requires 50,000 Challenge Points.

Overall, I really don’t have anything negative to say about Resident Evil Requiem. At times, toward the end, I felt it was overstaying its welcome a bit, but once I finally beat it and saw how everything wrapped up, I was happy with the story. Keep in mind that there is a good and a bad ending here. You will need to pay attention to what is happening in the game because the good choice might not always be immediately apparent, but there are clues as you go through the game as to what the right choice should be. There were definitely a few instances in the game where my character got killed because the game wasn’t clear about what was going on, but I only had to make that mistake once or twice before I figured it out and was able to advance.

Coming from someone who really isn’t into horror games (with an occasional exception here and there), I found Resident Evil Requiem to be a great time. It is definitely a tense adventure, and I did jump a couple of times. It is also incredibly violent and gory in parts, so beware if that isn’t your scene. If you are on the fence, though, give Resident Evil Requiem a chance. Even if this type of game isn’t normally your thing, it might surprise you. Being able to switch between first- and third-person perspectives also helps if you are the type of person who jumps or gets scared easily.