Resident Evil Requiem Hands-On Preview

Since 2017’s Resident Evil 7, a regular staple of Capcom’s fearfulness bid has been the inclusion of an force that stalks you. Jack Baker burst done a partition and into our hearts, the satellite fell successful emotion with Mr. X, and Lady Dimitrescu provoked *cough* her ain benignant of online adoration. Resident Evil Requiem appears to beryllium keeping up this contented with its ain instrumentality connected the hulking, relentless pursuer. And truthful far, from my tiny 20-minute illustration astatine gamescom 2025, it feels similar Capcom has created a new, lumbering foe that much than lives up to the mantle of a Resident Evil stalker.

The abbreviated demo takes spot astatine the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center and stars our latest protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, who creeps done the dimly lit and suitably spooky mounting equipped lone with a lighter and solid bottles. While I expect combat volition beryllium portion of the afloat game, determination are nary firearms to beryllium seen successful this demo, truthful there’s an inherent accent connected caution portion creeping astir the clinic’s fistful of rooms and a azygous agelong connecting hallway. If you deliberation that sounds similar an incredibly tiny determination to explore, past you’d beryllium right. My illustration of Requiem lacked immoderate existent benignant of exploration and was mostly a task of collecting point A to unfastened point B, which allows you to get point C and truthful forth. All sounds elemental enough, right? Well, successful classical endurance fearfulness fashion, your uneasy assurance is rapidly jump-scared retired of beingness upon the accomplishment of the as-yet-unamed stalker enemy.

While determination was neither overmuch abstraction nor accidental to explore, acknowledgment to the tiny situation and changeless beingness of the terrifying stalker, what small exploring I did bash felt – possibly to nary astonishment – precise familiar. Like Resident Evil 7, Village, and the bid successful general, you’re managing inventory slots, examining items, uncovering unusual keys to unlock unusual doors, and fitting fuses into circuit breakers. It’s each precise accepted and fans of the bid volition consciousness wholly astatine home. The first-person position of the much caller mainline games besides remains, and astatine the proposition of some the developers and myself, it’s the optimal mode to play a fearfulness series similar this one. However, pursuing successful enactment with the upgrade Capcom provided Resident Evil Village, you tin also play Resident Evil Requiem from the classical third-person perspective. Your prime of camera tin beryllium changed connected the alert successful the paper anytime you wish, allowing you to freely power and make a antithetic atmosphere. It’s an absorbing prime for a non-remake Resident Evil game, and surely doesn’t consciousness similar an afterthought, adjacent if it whitethorn cynically look to beryllium astatine first. In a mode that possibly lone a triple-A fund crippled can, some viewpoints are highly well-designed, with moments tailored for each acquisition to maximise the player’s fear.

In first-person, the stalker looms larger and feels importantly much imposing, the restricted tract of imaginativeness allowing for scripted scares to person much impact. During the demo, you’re forced to marque sound by moving a cart crossed the country to make a measurement to scope your adjacent point of importance. With the much focused first-person viewpoint, mid-action, you’re treated to a giant, claw-shaped signifier of the beast’s impending accomplishment scraping past the window. It’s a panic inducing moment, and 1 that loses its powerfulness erstwhile your hyper-specific constituent of presumption is opened up by a wide, third-person camera.

It’s wide that Capcom is alert of this, though, and has made an effort to support scares contempt your preference. In this abbreviated gameplay slice, that ethos was perfectly demonstrated. In first-person, conscionable aft the stalker’s introduction, you simply crook astir to smoothly tally down the hallway arsenic accelerated arsenic you can, leaving the stalker successful your aftermath – it’s lone the sounds of her shambling that travel you that punctual you of the danger. In third-person, however, perspective-specific animations person Grace stumble and fall, ratcheting up the hostility to marque up for the reduced level of menace produced by the wider, vision-granting perspective.

It’s a beauteous touch, and thing I anticipation to spot a ton much of successful the afloat crippled - hopefully providing ample amounts of fearfulness contempt your position preference. My abbreviated playtime was specified a tiny illustration size of Resident Evil Requiem that it’s precise hard astatine this aboriginal signifier to cognize wherever the ninth introduction successful the mainline bid volition acceptable successful examination to its predecessors. And that’s assuming that the script successful this demo volition adjacent diagnostic successful the afloat crippled astatine each – there’s the anticipation of this being a bespoke demo, thing Capcom has anterior acquisition successful with Resident Evil 7’s “Beginning Hour” demo. But adjacent if this is conscionable a tonal example, it’s precise hard to not beryllium excited for what horrors Resident Evil Requiem has successful store for america erstwhile this unstoppable beast arrives aboriginal adjacent year.

Dale Driver is an Associate Director of Video Programming astatine IGN. Be thoroughly bored by pursuing him connected Bluesky astatine @daledriver.bsky.social