Leon S. Kennedy is a married (to the job) man.
It’s been 30 years. 30 years since a very specific zombie in the first major hallway of Spencer Mansion introduced us to the world of survival horror. At the time, our heroes Chris and Jill clumsily spun on the spot to attempt to evade the zombie. Alternatively, they could also risk their low supplies allowing them to venture further into the puzzling mansion. And right there is the direct influence of naming this genre:
Survival meets horror.
Since then, we narrowly avoided becoming a Jill sandwich. We’ve escaped our first day on the job as a rookie. Met a creature obsessed with yelling “STARS!”. And punched a massive boulder because that is literally the power of Chris Redfield’s aura. As the franchise spun out into riskier fare, producing on-the-rail shooters. Co-op and PvP multiplayer titles. And a successful cinematic universe to boot! Gamers felt the series was becoming similar to the undead in the game. Stale and decrepit. Which is why 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard completely flipped the series on its head.
Gone were the days of being stuck on the spot or shooting over the shoulder (yes, games didn’t do this until the Nintendo Gamecube’s Resident Evil 4 in 2005). We were instead thrust into the ported view of Ethan Winters. A family man who just wants to find his wife on a farm. A farm which unfortunately resembles Spookers located on the edge of Auckland. Understandably, it all descends quickly into a…survival horror…as the scares this time, jump directly at you.
This continued with the success of 2021’s Resident Evil 8: Village. Reintroducing Chris Redfield to the series, and tying in Ethan Winters encounter with the mold, it suddenly had a whole new direction to go. While 2023 would see the latest addition to the REmake series, with Resident Evil 4 having it’s day again. This year, we would see Resident Evil: Requiem (no number!) start to bring it all back together again.
TRAUMA.
Would be the name of Grace Ashcroft if she was an emotion in Disney-Pixar’s Inside Out. The daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak’s Alyssa Ashcroft, she’s a young FBI agent who suddenly finds herself in the shadowy world of Umbrella. Presented in first-person, she finds herself in a clinic she must escape from so she can find answers to her past.
Like the game itself, we bring it back around by saying ALTERNATIVELY…Leon S. Kennedy is now a hardened DSO Agent investigating the renewed spread of the T-Virus. As the victims start piling up, we play as the titular hero in third-person. Guns blazing as a busy city street bursts into chaos with newly turned zombies beginning to feast on the living.
Resident Evil: Requiem is a bold new direction for the series.
Embracing the components of its survival horror legacy, it presents each as a different way to play the game. The horror reeks within Grace’s sections, trapping her in the harrowed halls of the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. The RE Engine (which means ‘Reach for the Moon’, not Resident Evil like many think) is fully on display, rendering light in hauntingly beautiful ways to give Grace the briefest of reprieves from her nightmare. Her style of play is characteristically Resident Evil, with restricted space for her inventory, puzzles to solve, and terrors to fight if you have the means. And if not, you better hope you know a way out. And if you play in Standard (Classic), you’ll have to hope you have an ink ribbon on hand to save the game.
Leon S. Kennedy on the other hand, echoes one Sgt. Murtagh from ‘Lethal Weapon’. He’s too old for this sh*t. Canonically, it’s confirmed he is 49 years old meaning it’s been almost 28 years since he missed his welcome party. Which means he’s going to shoot everything in site. While he does have some puzzle-like sections, his game plays out in third-person, guns blazing and puns equipped. Purposefully fall on a zombie and crush their head? “Scuse me”. Kill a monster that appears to eat everything? “I’m not on the menu”. And wipe out a room of newly mutated enemies? Well you’ll have to hear it for yourself. But it looks like the events of Resident Evil 4 have only emboldened him further. Suitably, he also retains his attaché from it, lending itself to the fun little game of “how much stuff can I fit in here”.
The story suitably struts the line between the more serious tones of 7 and 8, while keeping the campy stylings of any adventure Leon S. Kennedy goes on. But he does find his own moment of melancholy, when the game begins to light up as a stunning piece of fan service. From the dual-storyline, to the home of horror, everything Requiem is, is a sum of parts. From completion points and references, to timed runs and infinity ammo. It fuses it all together like a sort of Nemesis; A mutation of parts that deliver the glorious results Oswell E. Spencer wanted from his work.
Requiem is the love letter Capcom set out to make.
It sets the series on a whole new path of stories to tell, pulling in all the loose parts we thought would further derail it. Stunningly presented with fun and snappy controls, the ability to use the different views between characters and more, makes it a game that puts replayability at the top of its list on what it wanted to deliver (4 runs completed with a 5th starting soon).
And because it doesn’t care to present our protagonists as anything they’re not, we get the best version of our favorite boy back. Along with an incredible performance from Angela Sant’Albano as Grace. Honestly, they will hopefully clean up the Awards season. They deliver a brilliant turn as a person who would probably act like you in the throes of the apocalypse. Unsure. Afraid of everything. Stuttering. But they’re also brave. Cool. And also finally touches on how do people get around with all these funky keys for doors.
If you can handle the horror, you need to experience Resident Evil: Requiem. It’s that simple.
There's nothing more to it. The more you read about Resident Evil: Requiem, the more it takes away from the experience. Because it wants you to become like the zombie:
Feast yourself on it. Gorge on this incredible title they've delivered. And when you're done, you too will be left wanting. Crawling across the barren landscape hoping Capcom will deliver more soon.
