Resident Evil Requiem: our verdict

Nine mainline entries in, Resident Evil keeps finding new structural tricks to keep the series feeling alive, and Requiem's is a good one: nearly every major sequence can be played in first-person or third-person, individually toggled per character, with the studio actively steering players toward whichever perspective best serves each storyline's tone. It's a feature that could have been a gimmick. Instead, it's the backbone of one of Capcom's most confident releases in years.

The essentials: two leads, two philosophies

Requiem splits its campaign between Grace Ashcroft, an FBI intelligence analyst investigating a spate of mysterious deaths, and returning veteran Leon S. Kennedy, now operating as a D.S.O. agent pulled into the same widening conspiracy. The game recommends — but doesn't force — playing Grace's sections in first-person, since her half of the story leans into slow-burn dread, tight corridors, and a much more vulnerable combat posture, while Leon's more action-forward sequences are tuned for the faster, more spatially aware third-person camera the series has used since Resident Evil 4 Remake.

That design intent tracks with how players have actually engaged with it: reporting suggests around 90% of players stick with third-person for Leon as recommended, while opinion on Grace's sections is far more split, with a sizable chunk of players sticking with first-person for the immersive terror it adds. Having played through both configurations, the recommendation is well-earned — Grace's chapters in first-person are genuinely unnerving in a way third-person survival horror rarely manages, with limited peripheral vision turning every dark hallway into a held breath.

The experience: Grace is the story's real discovery

Grace Ashcroft is the standout here. Her arc — an analyst pulled far outside her depth into body-horror territory — is carried by a strong performance that gives Requiem's quieter, more psychological chapters real emotional stakes, something the series hasn't always prioritized between its bigger action beats. Her combat kit is deliberately more limited and desperate than Leon's, forcing careful resource management and favoring evasion over confrontation, which reinforces the horror rather than undercutting it.

Image credit: Capcom (official promotional image, via Wikimedia Commons)

Leon, by contrast, brings the aggressive, mobile combat style longtime fans expect, with faster mobility and a more forgiving arsenal that makes his sections feel like a release valve after Grace's tension. Reviewers have broadly praised how well Capcom "double-fists" the series' dual identity here — survival horror and action horror in the same package — pulling off a balance that Resident Evil 6 notoriously fumbled a decade ago.

The limits: an old structural risk, mostly avoided

The dual-campaign structure inevitably invites comparisons to that earlier misstep, and while Requiem largely sidesteps the tonal whiplash that sank RE6, the seams do show occasionally — jumping from a slow, dread-heavy Grace chapter into a fast, set-piece-driven Leon chapter can feel like a gear change rather than a smooth transition, particularly for players determined to fully complete one character's arc before switching.

Image credit: Capcom (official promotional image, via Wikimedia Commons)

There are also a handful of late-game sequences that trade the series' trademark slow-burn dread for bigger, more spectacle-driven set-pieces — effective in the moment, but a slight departure from what makes Grace's earlier chapters so distinctive.

Who is this for?

Horror purists should gravitate toward Grace's first-person sections for some of the tensest survival horror Capcom has produced in years. Action-oriented series veterans will find Leon's chapters comfortably in line with the RE4 Remake-era third-person formula. The genuinely rare achievement is that Requiem serves both audiences within a single, cohesive package rather than forcing a compromise.

Verdict

Resident Evil Requiem takes a real structural risk with its dual-protagonist, dual-perspective design and comes out ahead, delivering both some of the series' most effective horror and its most satisfying action within one confidently assembled game. It's a high point in Capcom's ongoing Resident Evil renaissance. 8.9/10.