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This article contains spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.
Just in time for the franchise’s 30th anniversary, Capcom’s iconic survival horror franchise Resident Evil has released a new mainline game with Resident Evil Requiem. Given the series’ penchant for remaking prior titles to acclaimed effect, Requiem is the first brand-new game for the title since 2021’s Resident Evil Village. More than just continuing the overarching narrative, Requiem does what many entries in the series do so well by finding fun ways to incorporate the franchise’s extensive legacy into the game.
The number of references and allusions to past Resident Evil games throughout Requiem is staggering and it’s impressive how it not only figures out how to present them organically but not feel like overt fan service. At the same time, Requiem is fully accessible for newcomers, offering a solid survival horror experience. Here’s how Resident Evil Requiem provides a full-on celebration of Resident Evil’s extensive history while forwarding these plot threads to potentially tease its tantalizing future.
The Story of Resident Evil Requiem
Requiem is set in September 2026, 28 years after the destruction of Raccoon City as depicted in Resident Evil 2 and 3. New protagonist Grace Ashcroft’s latest assignment working for the FBI is investigating a string of deaths related to a strange contagion found in survivors from the Raccoon City incident, with the latest victim found in an abandoned hotel where Grace’s mother was murdered eight years prior to the start of the game. Upon inspecting the crime scene, Grace is ambushed by a mysterious figure named Victor Gideon, who reveals that she is the key to his latest genetic experiment involving the zombie-creating T-Virus.
Grace’s story is juxtaposed with returning protagonist Leon S. Kennedy mounting his own investigation on behalf of the Division of Security Operations (DSO). As a Raccoon City survivor himself, Leon is already beginning to exhibit visible symptoms as other victims from the pathogens, adding a sense of urgency and personal stakes to his mission. The two heroes’ paths converge at Gideon’s remote hospital before the duo eventually make their way to the ruins of Raccoon City to uncover the long-forgotten secrets of the sinister Umbrella Corporation which unleashed the terrors of the T-Virus nearly 30 years prior.
How Requiem Honors Resident Evil’s Legacy
Apart from the game’s return to Raccoon City premise, as well as Leon back in the saddle as one of the game’s protagonists, Requiem is chock full of elements from Resident Evil’s past. Grace is the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, one of the playable characters in the 2003 online multiplayer PlayStation 2 game Resident Evil Outbreak and its 2004 follow-up. Other playable characters from the two games are alluded to through in-game files that can be found and read throughout Requiem.
Other clear references and nods to past games include an appearance by Sherry Birkin, the girl that Leon and Claire Redfield rescue in Resident Evil 2 while Chris Redfield is directly name-dropped in the game’s ending while his elite squad arrive to lend their support to Leon and Grace. In regard to the opposition, Gideon is revealed to be working with the Connections, the shady organization pulling the strings behind the events of Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. These hostile forces are drawn to Raccoon City to continue the research behind the ultimate project by Oswell Spencer, Umbrella’s founder, which was sealed away in a secret laboratory under Raccoon City.
In terms of its level design, Requiem also directly evokes past Resident Evil games as well. The clearest example is the inclusion of the Raccoon City Police Department, the city’s orphanage, and Umbrella’s secret subterranean labs, without the layout resembling similar levels in the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2. Even the game’s initial setting at the foreboding Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center is reminiscent of ornate hub settings in prior games like Spencer Mansion, the Baker estate or Castle Dimitrescu.
Mechanically, the game feels like a mix of the more stealth and tension-driven sequences in Resident Evil 7 and the combat-heavy sequences in the 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake. To solidify that connection, Grace’s portions are recommended to be played from a first-person perspective, like RE7, while Leon’s are encouraged from third-person, like RE4. But even the inventory systems evoke the two past games, with Grace’s inventory operating like the RE2 remake while Leon brings back his attaché case from RE4. Like the 2002 Resident Evil remake, fallen zombies can occasionally rise again stronger and much more agile while characters can get upgrades, including charms similar to RE4’s system, to even the score.
What Requiem Sets Up for Resident Evil’s Future
More than just bringing in a new protagonist to Resident Evil’s ongoing survival horror party, Requiem proves that the franchise is nowhere near done with the legacy of its earliest titles. Though the fight against Gideon seemingly comes to an end in Umbrella’s dilapidated heart of darkness, there are still plenty of plot threads intentionally left dangling to set up future DLC and/or sequels to continue the story. A post-credits scene goes as far as to directly suggest that the fight against the Connections is only just beginning.
But beyond the narrative, Resident Evil Requiem is a strong reminder that the franchise can be both utterly terrifying and action-packed in relatively equal measure. Every Resident Evil gradually empowers the player as they progress through the game and Requiem makes that an explicit part of Grace’s character arc, something that could guide her and similar protagonists in subsequent follow-ups. With a series as long-running and diverse in tonal and gameplay experiences as Resident Evil, Requiem serves as something of a synthesis of these disparate elements, blending them together within a familiar template that the franchise can springboard off of further.
Resident Evil Requiem is the perfect anniversary game, honoring and incorporating so much of the franchise’s past while bringing something new and fresh to the experience without alienating its legacy. The game is a full showcase of what the survival horror genre can be while reminding fans that there is no developer in the industry that consistently gets it better than Capcom. The future of Resident Evil is looking bright and like any number of zombies that Grace and Leon put down, this franchise will thankfully never stay down for too long.
Developed and published by Capcom, Resident Evil Requiem is available now for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, the Nintendo Switch 2, and PC.
The post How Resident Evil Requiem Celebrates the Past and Charts a Future appeared first on Den of Geek.
