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Requiem for an Evil
This is a game of twos.

There are two characters, two styles of gameplay. It’s meant to be a capstone to the newest trilogy but can be enjoyed with little knowledge of the franchise. You can pick from two different viewpoints. There are two endings and two different styles of horror on display. I loved both sides of each of these coins equally, though one gave me far more stress than the other.

You’re given an interesting choice when you first start the game – the aforementioned viewpoints. Trailers released before the game’s launch showed this feature off, otherwise I’d have thought it was added as a little extra after the game came out. Grand Theft Auto V did something similar with a later edition. The change in viewpoint adds so much to the game. You have your first-person perspective from the earlier games in this current trilogy, and you have the third-person perspective made popular since Resident Evil 4. When starting the game I decided to go with the default options: first-person for Grace and third person for Leon.

If you’re any sort of fan of the Resident Evil franchise, one of those names should have rung a bell in your head. That’s right, Leon Scott Kennedy makes another return. His first since RE6—remakes of 2 and 4 notwithstanding. Leon’s weary in this entry, older. Though he’s still quick with the one-liners still, they can feel somewhat tired in their delivery.

Grace Ashcroft, on the other hand, is new—new to the franchise and embodying the newer style of Resident Evil games put forward in this new trilogy. She’s new to her job at the FBI, and new to being pitted against bioweapons and other various horrors. Her mannerisms show this well. She’s constantly scared. Her animations show her hands shaking as she holds a handgun. Her voice shakes and quivers.
These two characters and their traits translate over into gameplay perfectly. Leon, with his default third-person viewpoint takes on the more action-y horror experience of the middle Resident Evil games. You’re more mobile, tougher, and have more inventory capacity and guns to shoot zombies with. Leon gets all the exciting set pieces, too. The two (again, that number) that stick out to me are an excellent chainsaw fight early on which pays homage to RE4 and a motorcycle sequence later.

The game transitions between Grace and Leon as you progress through the story. I found myself getting excited to fight with Leon and being filled with dread when I had to play as Grace.

Grace is the opposite. Her first-person perspective limits your ability to see what dangers you might be around. She’s frailer than Leon, must manage her inventory, and you’re lucky if you have more than twenty bullets. She gets the truly scary segments, too, with un-killable enemies in the beginning and loads of body horror as you bumble through the levels.

Her segments are also more representative of what you’d expect from a classic Resident Evil. There’s a whole hospital to explore with different keys you find throughout the area, unlocking new sections at a decent cadence. Zombies are back in this game, slightly more intelligent than they have been in the past. They retain memories of their previous lives and can be seen dragging IV drip stands with them or insisting that the lights be turned off.

An old nemesis of mine—crimson heads—also make a bit of a return. Kill a zombie without destroying the head and there’s a good chance they’ll eventually return as a heartier, more dangerous enemy. It creates this great tension when you don’t know if—or who—will get back up again and eat your face.

“Wow, What a Mansion!”
There are copious amounts of camp in Requiem, though it’s mainly limited to Leon’s side of things. A camera lens peeks out of a skull, for example. The only example I can think of from Grace’s side is a Bond villain-esque lab hidden underneath a posh lounge.

The villains, a hulking yet soft-spoken doctor named Victor and a Temu Albert Wesker named Zeno. While they’re chewing the scenery most of the game, they just don’t have the amazing mustache-twirling of Wesker or the over-the-top nature of Lady Dimitrescu.

Being such a storied franchise such as Resident Evil, there’s plenty of fan service and throwbacks. On the harder difficulties Grace can only save the game if she uses an ink ribbon on a typewriter, a classic Resident Evil gameplay trope. Leon has an oversized briefcase to hold his guns and ammo just like RE4. Even his HUD changes into one resembling RE4’s.

These throwbacks extend into the setting, too. Leon returns to a bombed-out shell of Raccoon City and its police department, not seen since RE3. The same music creeps in as you enter, and I didn’t realize how nostalgic that song was for me until I heard it so many years later. One of the classic esoteric puzzles of the time sits solved, untouched by the ravages of time. Leon comments on it too, saying “That was a weird puzzle” when inspecting it. Is it nostalgia bait? Yes. Do I still love it? Also yes.

I just wish the ending was a little more impactful. I got the bad ending first and went back to get the good ending. It’s just a simple red pill/blue pill moment, but neither really give the impression of having impact beyond this game’s self-contained narrative. The final boss fight also leaves something to be desired, and the post-credits stinger felt like it went nowhere.

While the game did end on a bit of a low note, I can’t knock it too much when only two hours of my twenty-two were disappointing. The rest of the game filled me with dread, excitement, and fun as

I scrounged up ammo and green herbs.

I just hope it won’t be too long before I have to worry about becoming a Jill Sandwich again.