Capcom
Resident Evil Requiem Review: A Terrifying, Nostalgic Return to Raccoon City
With Resident Evil Requiem, Capcom celebrates three decades of survival horror by revisiting its most iconic setting: Raccoon City. The ninth mainline entry in the legendary Resident Evil franchise leans heavily into nostalgia — but not at the expense of tension, atmosphere, and modern gameplay innovation.
Set for release on PC, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch 2 , and PlayStation 5, Resident Evil Requiem delivers a gripping mix of classic puzzle-box exploration and bombastic action sequences. While it occasionally retreads familiar ground, it remains a must-play survival horror experience in 2026.
Dual Protagonists: Grace vs. Leon
The game alternates between two playable characters: newcomer Grace Ashcroft and fan-favorite Leon S. Kennedy.
Grace, an FBI agent investigating strange deaths at the eerie Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, represents the franchise’s slower, fear-driven roots. With limited ammunition and minimal combat skills, players must carefully navigate labyrinthine corridors, solve puzzles, and evade grotesque enemies — including disturbingly human-like zombies that retain traits from their former lives.
Leon Kennedy’s sections, by contrast, are pure adrenaline. Armed with shotguns, rifles, and a hatchet, he tears through hordes of undead with swagger and sharp one-liners. The tonal whiplash between Grace’s stealth-heavy survival gameplay and Leon’s action-packed sequences creates a dynamic rhythm that keeps the pacing fresh.
This dual-protagonist structure strikes a balance between old-school horror and modern action — a hallmark of the series’ evolution.
Nostalgia Done Right — Mostly
Resident Evil Requiem’s early hours inside the Care Center are widely considered its strongest. The gothic architecture, claustrophobic hallways, and puzzle-based progression evoke the Spencer Mansion and Raccoon City Police Department from earlier titles.
Later chapters revisit the ruins of Raccoon City itself, delivering wide-open combat zones filled with faster, more aggressive enemies. While longtime fans will appreciate the callbacks, some environments feel overly familiar, echoing past remakes rather than breaking entirely new ground.
Still, the franchise has never relied heavily on narrative complexity. Instead, it thrives on atmosphere, tension and cinematic moments — all of which Requiem delivers in abundance.
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RE Engine Visuals and Performance
Built on Capcom’s upgraded RE Engine, Resident Evil Requiem is visually impressive. Enhanced hair rendering, improved facial animations, and full path tracing on PC push the franchise closer to cutting-edge realism.
Hardware requirements remain reasonable compared to many recent AAA titles. At 1080p without ray tracing, most modern GPUs can achieve smooth 60 FPS performance. Ray tracing and path tracing significantly increase demands, but upscaling technologies like DLSS and FSR help maintain playable frame rates.
Importantly, the game supports both first-person and third-person perspectives — a welcome accessibility feature for players who prefer flexibility.
The Verdict: A Must-Play Horror Experience
While Resident Evil Requiem occasionally leans too heavily on nostalgia and features a somewhat forgettable villain, its strengths far outweigh its flaws. Bone-chilling scares, polished action, and refined survival mechanics make it one of the strongest entries in recent years.
As the series marks its 30th anniversary, Requiem feels less like a reinvention and more like a masterful closing of a chapter — honoring its legacy while showcasing how far survival horror has evolved.
For longtime fans and newcomers alike, Resident Evil Requiem stands as one of 2026’s essential video game releases.
