Resident Evil Requiem was a major highlight from the summer Game Fest announcement and trailer onslaught. The horror franchise’s ninth mainline installment brings players back to the iconic, devastated Raccoon City, this time performing as FBI agent Grace Ashcroft. The PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC will be released on February 27th.
We were able to see the off-hand theater presentation of the game at Summer Game Fest Play Days. What I saw definitely felt along the direction the series took along with Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village.
Honestly, the atmosphere was most consistent with the RE7, at least in this demo. There was a major focus on terrorism as Grace tripped around an aging medical facility, looking for ways to escape from a first-person perspective.
Multiple perspectives
Well, let me jump to the end of the Capcom demo now. Because they showed that players could choose the first one of the third-person cameras. So if you prefer the more immersive atmosphere of RE7 or the village, you can go to the first person. But if you’re more interested in the classic third person perspective, it’s an option.
However, please note that in the menu the game recommends first-person cameras. Again, that makes sense. This is because Requiem is still very important for its RE7 type.
We also saw other classic Resident Evil elements. For many of the demonstrations, Grace was chased by a corpse-eating monster. If you’re familiar with Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 or Lady Dimitrets from Resident Evil Village, you can get some ideas here.
Fighting and flying
What we didn’t see very often was the actions. Capcom noted that Grace has firearms training, but she is not a combat expert. That doesn’t mean the game doesn’t feature action, but I don’t expect as much filming as I got with the Resident Evil 4 remake. I don’t know if it has a fighting focus as Resident Evil Village.
But that’s a bit of a question mark for now. The same goes for the game’s scope. The demonstration took place in a relatively small area, but we hope that Requiem will cover more grounds. I’m not sure if Capcom has acquired the Resident Evil Full Open World, but there’s a chance that it will explore more Racoon City than this one facility.
I’m excited to learn more about Requiem in the months before next year’s release. Capcom has done an incredible job with Resident Evil since the 2017 soft reboot of the RE7. I don’t expect good (and scary) times to end soon.
