Nearly 30 years ago, a rookie cop named Leon S. Kennedy exited a vehicle and stumbled into a labyrinthine police department within Raccoon City, a metropolis in the process of being overrun by a horrific virus. In the present day, I sit within an unassuming office building in Los Angeles, watching a much older Leon do almost the same thing in Resident Evil Requiem. His hair’s longer, his sculpted jaw shaded by the remnants of an early morning shave, his jacket more stylish; he exits not a police car, but a custom Porsche this time around, and once more stumbles into a labyrinthine building. It’s not long before a mysterious virus turns humans into zombies, and the hallways of this quiet building, a therapeutic care medical facility, echo with painful groans, stumbling bodies, and a familiar chaos Leon was practically born for.
I dispatch a few zombies before one rushes me with a chainsaw. I dodge and riddle its head with bullets. The chainsaw falls to the ground and begins spinning wildly, like it has a mind of its own. Nearby zombies walk into its path, losing legs in the process, blood painting the surrounding walls, fake plants, and expensive office chairs. As I approach the weapon, I take damage too before picking it up. Finally, Leon’s got a chainsaw.
Resident Evil Requiem Impressions – Video Preview:
The chainsaw rips mercilessly through zombies before its use is depleted and left buzzing in the chest of what used to be a doctor. It’s exhilarating, both diegetically and as a fan of the series who’s been terrorized by this machine’s rapid-spin teeth many, many times.
During this preview, I play as Leon for an hour and control the game’s other protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, for two. Everything I see, hear, and feel while playing as Leon speaks to the final hours of Resident Evil 4, specifically on The Island, when confidence built up over the game’s prior eight or so hours, combined with the weaponry on hand, allows you to feel like a blonde killing machine. Though Requiem’s Leon is much older, that killing machine is still ready at a moment’s notice – you need only to prime its engine with a threat and pull a cord, like the very chainsaw I just used to eviscerate the undead corpses of this facility’s patients and employees.
Playing as Leon in Requiem during this specific preview is so clearly meant to provide the feeling of control and power that Grace’s sections strip away in favor of methodical exploration and terror. Leon is not concerned with finding every green herb and box of ammo here. Though I don’t know the details, he’s on a mission and deftly handles any obstacle before him with speed, cunning, bullets, and a nasty roundhouse kick. Compared to Grace, Leon’s movement feels like a sprint. I worry little about the room full of zombies, or the hulking, pus-filled monstrosity squeezing through attic hallways later in the preview, and what they can do to my health. I kill and kill and kill, and it feels good.
It’s the adrenaline I need before my two hours (and after) with Grace in this very same medical facility. Separated from Leon, Grace finds herself in a similarly nostalgic and familiar situation. For some ungodly reason, this medical facility uses gems like quartz, exceedingly advanced levels of security, and old, musty hallways to create a maze-like puzzle. I can imagine employees spending hours (rightfully) complaining about this layout after work over a beer or two. Why does Grace need to find mysterious jewels, security bracelets, cast-iron keys, and more to get around this facility? Why are these items mystifyingly placed in puzzle boxes that require me to understand ritualistic poems and observe faded photographs for clues? Why, because the Raccoon City Police Station in Resident Evil 2 did.
Capcom is not trying to hide what Grace’s section is meant to emulate. It isn’t the aforementioned police station, but, like… it is. And Grace plays like 1998’s (or 2019’s) Leon, too, boldly trying to put aside fears to confront zombies that stand before her and some key items she needs.
After blitzing through Leon’s section in third-person, I go first-person for Grace’s section, adding some Resident Evil 7-inspired flair to this horror experience. I pass through a kitchen where a rotten behemoth of a man chops meat, scanning the room and its surrounding hallways for signs of life (presumably also to be chopped). It’s unnerving in first-person, just as it was cowering through the Baker family’s demented dinner party. Requiem plays its greatest hits here as I kill a zombie with the very last bullet in my inventory, as I reach the next typewriter to save at, as I open another drawer and locker and cabinet to find something, anything that will help me survive this god-awful night.
It’s not all familiar tricks here, though. A new crafting system in the form of blood synthesis allows me to make use of the zombies I mar as I can now collect their ichor in an upgradable tube. I can combine it with ammunition, herbs, and more to create powerful healing vaccines and one-shot-one-kill bullets, among other things. It’s a fun addition to Resident Evil’s inventory resume, and makes me think twice before sprinting past a zombie to advance – what could its blood do for me? I can even craft a special inhibitor that Grace plunges into the backs of unaware zombies to prevent them from metastasizing into an unholy tumor of blood, muscle, and guts, a second life of sorts for zombies already brought to the ground by my bullets.
There are some surprising, interesting, and strange (complementary) things happening narratively, but I won’t spoil them here. I’m both excited about what I see play out on that front and nervous – what’s interesting and strange in the first halves of many Resident Evil games morphs into something weaker in the second half. I hope the other hours of Requiem match the adrenaline and horror I felt in this preview’s sections.
For more about Resident Evil Requiem, catch up on the reveals from the latest Resident Evil Showcase, and read our interview with director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazawa.
What questions do you have about Resident Evil Requiem? Drop them in the comments below!
