Subject: "Resident Evil Requiem"
A bit late to the game - I had exams in between so I couldn’t really play it in due time. Moving past that, I noticed that the trailers generated a lot of buzz surrounding the game. The promise of 2 playable characters with contrasting gameplay sold the experience for me. I was pleasanty surprised considering the string of bad AAA games we have gotten lately.
Capcom has perfected the RE Engine to create gloomy, forlorn environments. The game heightens the horror by aiming for photorealism like other AAA games. It uses volumetric lighting and soft shadows to amplify this fear of the unknown. The game looks best during first-person sequences where you can notice a lot of the finer details.
The game nudges the player to use sound cues to their advantage. The directional audio helps evade bigger bosses that limit traversal, giving a small peek at their location. The voice actors excelled at their roles, giving off a convincing sense of realism. Grace's voice actor portrays her introverted nature well, making it the highlight of the game for me.
Most of the story revolves around Grace. Capcom failed to emphasize Leon's role in the story, making him feel like an afterthought. Oftentimes, I find Leon being this knight errant constantly pulling Grace out of trouble. In the second half, that dynamic completely flips.
I was satisfied most with Grace's character development. Throughout the game, she is seen gradually stepping out of her comfort zone. Leon maintains his charm as usual, delivering cheesy one-liners in the heat of battle.
I found the narrative to be largely serviceable. It is self-contained but doesn't stand out amongst other games in the franchise. The game thickens the lore by relying on loose papers and terminals throughout the map. There are some references tucked within, rewarding long-time fans of the franchise. Lastly, the good ending felt artificially positive, being a let down for me.
The game doesn't scare you with cheap horror. Resident Evil has always been about putting the player in a stressful position. Whether it’s limited ammo or being confronted by a squad of zombies, the game is what I call an ‘ass-clenching’ experience. I found the difficulty rather enjoyable because of the contrasting gameplay between the two characters.
Grace’s gameplay places you in the shoes of someone who is extremely underpowered. The game pits you up against some of the biggest monsters in game with the least number of resources. Crafting requires blood samples which can only be acquired from dead zombies, forcing you take lopsided gunfights. It also puts you in some of the worst scenarios possible. You would think, “What’s the worst that could happen?” and that would be what exactly happens.
Leon is basically a tank during his gameplay. Most of the time spent in his shoes goes towards solving puzzles and getting across places. Crafting is not as important during his gameplay and ammo is scattered very generously throughout. I honestly expected his gameplay to be far more difficult but I think it is a good change of pace. Leon also doesn’t have the typical storage box, instead opting for a supply crate where you can spend points to unlock new weapons.
I was quite happy the optimization. I didn’t play with Ray-tracing since I’m on a mere RTX 4050 but even without it the game looks phenomenal. I was able to play at High settings with DLSS Enabled. I was getting upwards of 80 - 90 FPS on average with the FPS only dipping at the beginning and parts of Raccoon city. It was a smooth experience and I think they learnt a lot from working with the dumpster fire that is Monster Hunter Wilds.
Resident Evil 9 was a very enjoyable game for me. I spent 9 hours in it and had a blast playing through. The game built a gloomy atmosphere and played with it very well. It put the player into tricky situations often which felt massively rewarding. I’m sure this is a game long-time fans of the franchise would be happy to play. It builds upon the best parts of the previous games and adds a fresh twist to it. This is the definitive Resident Evil game of this generation.
Post Scriptum
I played this game fresh after exams. The past two month had me completely burnt out. I was dealing with exam stress and lots of family problems and just needed something to take the edge off. Resident Evil Requiem was that escape for me. It felt like the long-needed dopamine hit I needed. Something about surviving an encounter with large hordes of zombies or getting that perfect axe parry just felt so good.
I honestly don't know what game to play next. Most of the games coming out just haven't caught my interest. There was some hype around Crimson Desert but I'm more hyped to play Death Stranding 2 with the recent PC port. Also, My controller joysticks caught drift and I need to get it repaired as well, so the next review might take some time.
I was kind of slacking off on this review a lot. I wrote the main content but was too lazy to edit it and make it tidier. School reopened so I could barely find time again. I set the deadline as last week but hey, better late than never I suppose.