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Requiem for a Scream! Let's Discuss Resident Evil: Requiem
2 Playsin 3 days
In this episode, Satsunami takes on a spoiler filled review of the latest entry to the Resident Evil franchise Resident Evil: Requiem! But after all the hype, did it live up to expectations? What worked and what didn't? And why is Satsunami back in the Red Panda Department?! All of this and more in this latest episode of Chatsunami!
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Transcript
Destruction of Red Panda Department
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello Pandalurians and welcome back to Chad Tsunami. My name's Sad Tsunami and I can't believe it's been over a year since the Broly Corporation destroyed the RPD. That's right, the Red Panda Department is no more.
00:00:34
Speaker
But thankfully after a Resident Evil month last October, we managed to bring down the Broly Corporation once and for all. ah Admittedly, there were a few setbacks. There was the Triangle Broly Corporation, Neo Broly, the Lynx, and even a moldy Airbnb at one point. But of course, now that all of them are well and truly gone, I decided to return to the ruins of the Red Panda Department after receiving a totally not shady, please travel alone, tip-off for the podcast. And I don't mean, nothing could possibly go... Um, who the heck are you?
Encounter with Dr. Victor Gideon
00:01:09
Speaker
Oh, forgive me. Dr. Victor Gideon. Why are you here? Look man, I'm just trying to do a podcast over here so if you could stay over there that'd be great, thank you.
00:01:22
Speaker
Now, as I was saying, Do you believe in human evolution? No, sure, just cut me off. I have devoted my life to studying it. While you have devoted your life.
00:01:36
Speaker
Wow, okay, rude. It hasn't been easy, but after much effort, here we finally are.
Discovery of Project Nostalgia
00:01:44
Speaker
I'm the one that brought you here. I know now that you're the one that I've been searching for. Wait a minute, what's this? You're an investigator, right?
00:01:52
Speaker
We'll investigate. Oh, right. Let's see here. Dum-da-dum, property of the O'Brawley Corporation, Project Nostalgia. Wait minute, is this a copy of the new Resident Evil game? This is why you wanted me here. Through you.
00:02:09
Speaker
president can finally be set free. Phase two's about to begin. Would you like to see what's hidden under the hood? Um, yes?
00:02:21
Speaker
Okay, so how do you want me to do this? do you want me to take my time or just race through it?
00:02:30
Speaker
Jeez, okay, fine. I'll take my time. God, for someone who looks like a doctor for the Addams family, you sure are pushy. Put the kettle on, Pandalurians. This is gonna be a long one.
00:02:43
Speaker
I like to think of myself as a fairly nostalgic person, albeit to a fault. I'll hold onto mementos that otherwise should have been thrown away, or think back to what at the time felt like an insignificant moment but on reflection now holds an important place in my mind. From hanging out with friends back in university, to playing that one game for the first time, I look back with a sense of fondness
30 Years of Resident Evil: A Retrospective
00:03:07
Speaker
for each ah of them. As of recording this episode, Resident Evil will be turning 30 this year, Something that indeed makes me feel old realising that I'm somehow older than this franchise. But with that aside, it's no wonder how the series has held such a special place to its fans. From those first steps through the Spencer Mansion and the Raccoon City Police Department, to having your soul leave your body, as Nemesis charges you like you're the last roll of toilet paper during a pandemic.
00:03:36
Speaker
Everyone has a starting point with the series. I spoke about it before in a Resident Evil month, but while my brother had a copy of the original Resident Evil one for the PlayStation, my parents would have never let me near the game, let alone play it myself. Besides, between you and I, I used to be terrified of the trolls in the first Harry Potter game, so but playing this would have traumatised me. And while I've played bits and pieces of the series over the years here and there, I never really truly got into it until the end of 2024, when one of my friends kindly bought me a copy of Resident Evil 4 Remake.
00:04:11
Speaker
After becoming enamoured by the game, I decided to play as many as I could before recording for Resident Evil
Evolution of Resident Evil
00:04:18
Speaker
Month. From the first game, all the way to Village, and the Revelation spin-offs, I could understand why this series was so beloved. Admittedly, that's not always been the case, especially with the shift from survival horror to action horror and then back to horror, which has been met with mixed responses from the fans. Nostalgia is a hell of a thing, especially when it comes to the question of what makes Resident Evil the way it is. Should it be solely about puzzles, resource management, and fixed camera angles? Or should it be more in line with what the fourth game brought to the table, with non-stop action, quips and spectacle?
00:04:55
Speaker
Personally, I believe it solely depends on how you perceive the franchise based on the first game you played. After all, the whole reason it had a genre shift in the first place was due to the fear that the formula mur was getting stale by the third game.
00:05:09
Speaker
And that somehow had a domino effect to lead to someone using a virus to turn into a T-Rex. And if you think of being facetious there, you should really replay Resident Evil 6 sometime, but that aside,
00:05:20
Speaker
I don't think it can be definitively answered.
Anticipation for Resident Evil Requiem
00:05:23
Speaker
At its core, Resident Evil will always orbit around horror. Its roots lay inside the vacant halls of the Spencer Mansion, the ruins of the RPD, and the echoes of a tyrant called Nemesis yelling, STARS! But it's strange because every time the series does try to do straight-up horror, there's this siren call beckoning them to a huge action set piece. Ironically enough, it feels like a dormant virus that lays in wait until the right moment, whether that be through in the now expected lab areas at the end of most games, to the Call of Duty-esque moments where you cathartically let off steam by gunning down the creatures that previously made you feel helpless.
00:06:03
Speaker
But now we have Resident Evil Requiem, a game released on February 27th, 2026. and pretty much spoiled within hours of its release. As a new fan to the series, it was a really cool sharing the hype with fans, as we were drip-fed details about the game. At first, the game seemed to be leaning more towards the survival horror style, similar to that of the Resident Evil 2 remake, this time focusing on a character that was certainly out of her depth.
00:06:31
Speaker
The story would revolve around Grace Ashcroft, FBI analyst and daughter of Resident Evil Outbreaks Alyssa Ashcroft, who would find herself trapped within a building packed with zombies. And the more that we got to see of this game, the more it became intriguing.
00:06:46
Speaker
There was your typical stalking enemy that towered over you as its chains rattled from above, the gigantic chef cleaving away with a knife the size of Grace in the kitchen, and finally, a mass of flesh that tries to eat the player. I have to say, I definitely didn't get RE Village flashbacks with that one. Oh Jesus Christ! So with the stage set, this seemed like it was going to be a return to form. But despite the scarce news about the game, it wouldn't be long until a long speculated rumour was officially announced. That of course being the return of the one and only Leon S. Kennedy. The bane of Umbrella, Zombies, and women with fictional husbands everywhere.
00:07:28
Speaker
Also, it didn't really help that the developers let it slip on the announcement stream that Leon wouldn't be a good fit for this kind of gameplay. Yeah, a bit of a giveaway. It's actually be pretty surprising how the discourse for the game shifted so fast. We went from speculating about how Grace would fit into the story, and the possibility of an Outbreak remake, to how the hell Leon was so damn swole and swoon-worthy.
00:07:52
Speaker
It was reported that the majority of female staff, in particular at Capcom, took a keen interest in refining this look, detailing things like the wrinkles on the back of his neck to make a heartthrob-worthy protagonist. And if you think I'm lying about the wrinkles on his neck thing, seriously, look up.
00:08:08
Speaker
And that's all the marketing became for the next few months, with admittedly some pretty funny TikToks that just year yearned for this new Leon. And while there were certainly some complaints about it, my main question was something more serious. How the hell could he be so swole? Seriously, someone get me his workout routine, a protein shake, and a boulder to punch. STAT!
00:08:29
Speaker
As for the development of the game itself, on July 1st, 2024, it was announced that Koshi Nakanishi would be directing the next Resident Evil game, which would eventually turn out to be RE9. I also want to point out that Nakanishi was also a designer on RE5, and directed the RE games The Mercenaries 3D, Revelations, and most notably Resident Evil Biohazard. Considering his name was attached to one of the most terrifying games of the series, there were high hopes that Requiem would return Resident Evil back to its horror roots. What's even wilder is the fact that it was initially conceptualised as an open-world online game, before the developers rightfully realised that this would be a terrible idea. So thankfully, we got the game that we're discussing today. That being said, one thing I must admit that put me off was when Leon was announced as a playable character, taking what was initially a horror game into a hybrid between survival horror and action horror. Now don't get me wrong, the Resident Evil 4 remake was the game that got me into the franchise, and I've always thought that he was a great, albeit goofy character, but with his over-the-top action vs. Grace's slower segments, would the tonal clash be too much? What also made my confidence waver was the tie-in with both the car make Porsche and the watchmaker Hamilton,
00:09:51
Speaker
Turns out that you could also buy the watches featured in the game for over $2000 and I'm gonna be real here, what type of fan would pay that sort of money for tie-in merch? Admittedly both the watch and the card do look great, but it would take a lot of money to buy both, or over 2000ish Patreon subscribers over at patreon.com forward slash chat tsunami.
00:10:20
Speaker
What? I was kidding. Yes, for legal reasons that was a joke. No, no, don't turn the mic off!
00:10:30
Speaker
All joking aside, while I wanted to be behind the game 100%, I was a little nervous about the potential tone-deafness of the tie-in. Nevertheless, after much to-ing and throwing, I decided to pre-order the game which I'll admit I've not really done in a while. But even when I went to pick it up, I was told by the cashier at the shop that I was really lucky to get a copy because apparently they were sold out completely.
00:10:54
Speaker
So with my hype tempered somewhat, I managed to avoid any major spoilers for the game online, bar one or two minor ones that trust me, we'll get onto soon. But without any further ado, what's the hype warranted? Is this an entry to be remembered? Or do some wish for it to be forgotten?
00:11:12
Speaker
Well, I've been waiting for nearly a month now to actually discuss this game fully. Going forward, this review will contain spoilers for Resident Evil
Introduction to Chatsunami Podcast
00:11:21
Speaker
Requiem. But first, we will be right back after these messages. Welcome to Chatsunami, a Scottish variety podcast that discusses topics from gaming and films to anime and general interest.
00:11:33
Speaker
Join me, your host, Satsunami, as well as the rest of our Chatsunami team for our takes on these very important pop culture topics. Sir, it's clearly a trap. I accept your page! That happens three times in the film. Every time that general goes, don't do this one thing, he goes, do you know what I'ma do? It's the exact thing.
00:11:53
Speaker
It doesn't well. She had the pointy teeth. What was that about? She looked like Bilbo when he wants the ring back. ah She did, didn't she? I just want the lightsaber one more time. Parasite says, no, you will get back into your office and work. No, says the man in Zoom. yeah Trousers are for the working man. You're bursting into your hotel room. Honey, we need to go.
00:12:16
Speaker
Leave the kids. You can milk an audition. Oh, cool. That's the worst thing you've ever said on any of the episodes. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can check us out at our website, chattsunami.com, as well as all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:12:39
Speaker
Stay classy and have banana. This has been chattsunami. I'm sorry. What?
00:12:57
Speaker
Welcome to the trailer for Gaming Views. Think of it as the demo level before the real action kicks off. We're Dan and Dan and every week we're bringing hot takes, breaking news, deep dives and everything gaming related.
00:13:10
Speaker
From the biggest headlines to retro classics, hardware breakdowns and inside scoops on developers, we cover it all. So level up your gaming knowledge, subscribe to Gaming Views wherever you get your podcasts and don't miss out.
00:13:27
Speaker
Welcome back.
Critique of Spoiler Culture
00:13:28
Speaker
Seeing as that giddy man or whatever his name is bogged off somewhere, let's first talk about the reception around the game when it came out. As I said, much like Neo in the second Matrix film, I practically hurt my back avoiding spoilers online. This is something that I've talked about before, but nothing irritates me more than folk who feel as if they have to be the first ones to talk about what happens in a game as soon as it releases. And look, I get it, we live in an age where everyone wants to be a content creator and get the first hot scoop.
00:14:00
Speaker
But when you blatantly post screenshots of things without using spoiler tags, then I'm sorry but you're just an arsehole. I actually unfollowed someone following me on Twitter for this very thing. They kept posting screenshots of a part that I was at, revealing a character's death, all the while laughing about it. I also want to point out that this wasn't targeted at me specifically, but small spoilers or not, this is really childish behaviour, and they should have known better. Even bigger content creators such as most notably Susie from The s Sphere Hunter held off from creating a spoiler filled video for the story despite getting the game early, and for those types of creators I have a lot of respect for them. So here's your final spoiler warning, if you haven't played the game then this is your last chance to either play it or watch a walkthrough. Either way, get a cup of tea or something because it's gonna be a long one. This might be a controversial take, but I always find it odd when people hold Resident Evil storylines to a high standard. Now don't get me wrong here, I believe that some consistency is needed for us to actually care about what's going on, but at the same time, Resident Evil has never really reached the same levels of total horror akin to something like, say, Silent Hill, where minus the funny secret endings, the tone is kept relatively consistent. While the original games did indeed keep that horror aspect, the dawn of the fourth game ushered in a new hybrid of action horror that I often label as the Terminator 2 of the franchise. I've talked more about this in our Terminator month a few seasons ago, but long story short, what I mean by this is I spoke about how Terminator 2 was so good that many of the following entries tried to capitalize on its success to varying degrees. And while RE5 definitely improved on things like the gameplay, we all know how RE6 was received, despite being one of the best-selling entries, but we would never truly be able to shake off that action aspect. Even the more horror-focused ones such as RE7 and 8, you still get to have your Rambo moments of gunning down the monsters that had otherwise been terrorising you. But with that being said, Does the Resident Evil Requiem have the same
Gameplay Perspectives in Requiem
00:16:12
Speaker
issues? Well, yes and no. Throughout the game, you switch perspectives from introverted FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and DSO member Leon Kennedy. Grace's sections are more akin to that of the RE2 remake, while Leon's mirrors the gameplay of the RE4 remake. and honestly, both are bloody brilliant. The story itself is an intriguing mystery, as Grace investigates a string of deaths linked to people who survived the Raccoon City incident in 1998. She is sent to the Renwood Hotel where her mother was murdered, and this results in her getting kidnapped by the walking ASMR track himself, Dr. Victor Gideon. who whisks her away to his own private research facility. Along the way, she must try and survive against a myriad of horrors to find not only what Gideon wants with her, but the secret to a project known only as Elpis. On the flip side, we have Leon, stop staring at my biceps, Kennedy, who unfortunately has been infected by something called Raccoon City Syndrome, which cycles through four very distinctive stages and until the victim ends up dying.
00:17:17
Speaker
After hunting down Gideon to his care centre, his path crosses constantly with Grace, as the duo seeks to find out what Elpis is, all the while interacting with familiar faces and locations. But before I did dive into the story, which I would admittedly argue is probably the weaker part of the game, let's talk about the presentation. As of this review, I have played through the game around six times now. A couple of hours ago, I finally 100%ed the game, and now it's over, I can sit back and finally relax. Knowing that I've completed it, I am done, and without giving too much away, I can see why they don't let you play on insanity mode right off the bat. as it spoils a lot of the enemy variants, all for the sake of a harder challenge. But with that being said, there is no way in hell I'm replaying that mode. One unique aspect is that the game can be played in both first and third person, with Grace being recommended to be played in first person, while Leon should be played in third. Now I've played through both and I can safely say that I definitely prefer this. For some reason, Leon's first-person view slightly reminds me of the way that you play in a first-person POV in GTA V, and I've got no idea why. In addition, while appreciate that they added a stumbling mechanic for Grace in third-person, It gets really old fast when you find yourself launching yourself across the room unwillingly, as zombies look on with secondhand embarrassment. Granted that's limited to a couple of scripted events, but yeah, for anyone who's played Insanity and has ran right by the fuse box, I feel your pain. I feel your pain guys. But that's my own personal view, and there's absolutely no right or wrong way to play this game, despite what others may say. But in terms of overall gameplay, this is so damn fun to play. As I said, gar Grace's gameplay is more akin to the RE2 remakes, with limited item storage that can be expanded upon by acquiring hip pouches. Also returning, similar to RE7, is the antique coins, which can be used during the game to get bonus items which will in turn help. you. That being said, you aren't like the rest of the seasoned veterans of the franchise. You can't parry or do backflips, instead sticking to the shadows and trying not to alert anything that could take you out in one hit. Even when you stun an enemy, you have no way to deliver a finishing blow and you can only feebly push them to the ground. But unlike the last few entries, these zombies have a cool twist to them. As promoted in the run-up to the game, certain zombies have retained their memories and as such go about their daily business. You have the butler who continually turns off the lights, and the maid who won't stop scrubbing any mess that she finds, and the singer with main character syndrome who wanders the halls in search of an audience.
00:20:09
Speaker
I can relate. There's even a zombie who is blind but furiously swings their IV stand at anyone who makes a noise. And while these enemy types are only localised to the Rhodes Hill care centre, it helps to amp up the atmosphere and just makes you appreciate get how detailed the game is. These aren't just scripted events either. For example, a new weapon introduced into the game is a hemolytic injector that Grace can stab an enemy with if she successfully sneaks up on them. When she does this, they explode into a bloody mess, and I mean that in the most literal of senses. It's a rather gory game to be honest, and holds nothing back. But funny enough, if you do this in the vicinity of the maid zombie, she will rush out in a frenzy and start trying to clean it.
00:20:54
Speaker
Alternatively, for tougher enemies, you can use the zombie who hates noise by luring him towards your target. Weirdly enough, he can surprisingly take out even the toughest of enemies with a few swings, which has become a favoured tactic amongst players. As for the singing zombie, well, this one is fascinating. She acts almost like something out of Left 4 Dead, wandering the halls and singing to herself if she spots you. She'll let out a piercing scream that attracts other zombies to your location. One nice detail I also find pretty cool, albeit disturbing, is that when she wanders towards you, she makes a heart gesture with her hands before trying to bite you. It's a sinister touch that shows you that the zombies are still lucid enough to remember their past lives, with one even apologising when you kill them. Then there's two main enemies that stalk the halls, the chef and Chunk. When exploring the centre is Grace, you must first enter the West Wing, where a behemoth of a zombie is chopping away at something in the kitchen. He mumbles preoccupied to himself as he goes from station to station. In order to bypass him, you must first push a vat of what I'm labelling as murder soup while not being spotted in order to create a path for yourself. In my first playthrough, i stupidly got spotted while pushing it, and the chef ran right into it for a moment. Initially, I chuckled to myself here, thinking that I'd outsmarted the chef.
00:22:18
Speaker
My victory and clean trousers were short-lived, however, when he grabbed the trolley of murder soup and threw it to the side. The enemy AI in this game is so damn clever at times, and it makes every playthrough that much more terrifying, as you can't predict what they're gonna do next.
00:22:35
Speaker
The good news is if you manage to avoid him for long enough, then you can use a hemolytic injector on him to dispatch of him
Unique Zombies and Gameplay Dynamics
00:22:42
Speaker
fast. It also doesn't help that he changes his patrol areas depending on the items that you collect. Chunk is another story, however, and one that reminds me of the grown-up version of the baby from RE8. His gimmick is that, yes, he is indeed chunky, and he's unable to fit through certain doors.
00:23:00
Speaker
His whole body takes up the entire width of the hallway, so there's no way that you're going to be able to sneak by him. What's more unfortunate is that if you thought you could just stab him once in the back with the hemolytic injector, then think again, because it takes up to three of them. Yep, count it, three, just for them to explode. This means that on your first but playthrough, you're constantly weighing up the pros and cons of what to do do. you try to take these enemies down knowing that you'll have no ammo for the next encounter? Or do you sneak by and hope for the best? One exploit that i found out about, and I find it really funny,
00:23:35
Speaker
is that some weaponless enemies can't hurt you if you don't look at them. I think this is more for the first-person point of view, but I have no idea how someone weaponized NUH-UH, but somehow they did. One more enemy that wanna touch on here is one that I never thought I would have to deal with since RE1, that being blisterheads. So for those of you who don't know, if you didn't kill a zombie by either shooting off their head or burning them in the first game, then they would return to something called a Crimson Head. As the name suggests, they would don bright red heads and they would charge you, unlike the slow, stumbling zombies of before. And when I say my soul left my body when I entered one of those hallways only for one of them to largely charge me, it was terrifying. Blisterheads, however, of our are more like the theatric cousin of Crimson Heads. They loudly announce that they're going to transform like a Dragon Ball character, writhing in pain as they grow an engorged mass of red flesh around their head.
00:24:37
Speaker
The way they weave from side to side before mauling you is bloody terrifying, and the only way to deal with them is to shoot them until they go down, or use a hemolytic injector on a downed or stunned zombie. In other words, blow up the zombie before it has a chance to turn. Another interesting, albeit weird, addition for Grace is the ability to collect infected blood. This allows you to combine it with other items for things like ammo, and even more hemolytic injectors. There's also a challenge you can do where it awards you for not collecting blood, and while it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, it still left me confused about why the whole blood mechanic was even an addition in the first place. It becomes a game of juggling resources and planning routes before you collect the obligatory MacGuffins to escape the centre. Unfortunately, it's a shame though, because minus one or two exceptions that i will touch on later.
00:25:30
Speaker
The majority of zombies from this point become your general stumbling ones once you leave the centre, some even with spears and... a few with guns, which I must admit I wasn't a fan of. These ones are mainly limited to Leon's levels, mind you, and he pretty much gets all of the boss fights in the game.
00:25:47
Speaker
Weirdly enough, there is one zombie you meet, I wanna say twice throughout the story, that have massive pulsing, shoot me here spots on their body, where if you shoot them near other zombies, it'll release release a gas that transforms them into blister heads. While I admire encouraging the player to think twice before shooting, it did remind me of the inappropriate gas zombie from RE6, and if you know what I'm talking about there then I am so sorry for bringing it all back up.
00:26:15
Speaker
To be honest, i think it was definitely a design choice, as Leon the steamroller Kennedy blasts through enemies so fast and encourages the player to dispatch of enemies quickly before they're overwhelmed. The contrast between Leon and Grace's sections are quite possibly one of my favourites. While I can see why people may have issues with the length of certain levels, to me it's a wonderful fusion of what makes both the modern and the classic games so iconic. In addition to the action, Leon also sports a hatchet.
00:26:46
Speaker
Rather than his trademark knife from 4, which while I still don't understand why they changed it, it becomes a total necessity throughout the game as it allows you to parry attacks. Unfortunately, Apparently it does get a little silly about how effective it can be. You can even parry an RPG round, which puts the game on par with the silliness of Chris Redfield's boulder punching in 5. Now before I go on, there is one enemy of Grace's that I need to talk about, and that of course is the girl. Firstly, I want to apologise, as when I first started playing this game, I referred to her online as the Hag. since I assume that's what everyone, Capcom encoded, had collectively decided to call her. Sadly, this is not the case, so a big old my bad for that one. The girl is such a well-designed stalking enemy, and one that admittedly had people speculating about her origins. Some said she was a mutated Alyssa Ashcroft, while others suggested Lisa Trevor had risen from the grave, or, well, mansion explosion in this case. Well, none of these were correct.
00:27:49
Speaker
It didn't change how utterly terrifying she was, and it's something that ironically enough was also done to great effect in the RE2 remake. Much like Mr. X, you can hear her before she arrives, building up that tension as you scuttle for a safe place to hide. Sometimes it's not even possible as she'll either throw away the tables you're hiding behind, or even learn from her mistakes. One of the big things she's weak to is light, something that you quickly find out when you encounter her, and she chases you back into the safe room. In the first instance when you get to the safety of a well-lit room, she tries crawling in, only to howl in agony as she burns under the light. But sinisterly enough, the second time you try to lure her in, she remains outside, learning her lesson before crawling into the ceiling. It's an unbalanced game of cat and mouse at the start until you get a weapon to defend yourself. But even then she's unsettling, with a fix to the grin and long appendages as she asks you to play with her. Also it doesn't help that if you try to lure her into that room too much then she'll break the lights in the room, leaving you with essentially no place to hide. I would personally say she's up there as one of the more iconic stalking enemies of the RE franchise. Once you get the Requiem gun and recognise her power, patterns. She becomes a lot more manageable but let me tell you, the first time you're trapped in the basement with her trying to restore power, it is terrifying.
00:29:13
Speaker
One minor nitpick that I would have against the AI of the girl is if you play the game in insanity mode then she becomes like Sonic the Hedgehog and I don't know how she catches up so fast but it is both terrifying and then when you get caught enough times, very frustrating, but again that's more to do with the level of difficulty as anything up to casual is manageable.
00:29:34
Speaker
As for the weapons of the game, while Grace is limited to pistols, makeshift knives, and the aforementioned hemolytic injector, Leon is practically a walking arsenal. From shotguns to rifles, he is packing most of the firepower which can be upgraded by collecting combat points. While this does feel a little bit arcadey, I still think it's a fun mechanic that rewards certain play styles. The only exception which Grace gets to use for most of the game is the Requiem, aka Leon's personal hand cannon. I do appreciate how, seeing as Grace is only an analyst, she's a lot more shaky when it comes to using her weapons. and This goes especially for the Requiem, which has one hell of a kickback. On the flip side, Leon handles his weapons with a relative ease, making them both seem very distinctive gameplay-wise. This is also noticeable with the HUD used, for both Grace, which borrows from the RE2 and RE3 remake, RE4 remake layout. I could go on for hours about the attention to detail here, but it does subconsciously place you into the mindset of becoming the hunted versus the hunter. And speaking of... This is by far one of the best-looking ARRI games to date that is dripping in atmosphere, from Grace's first steps through the rainy streets of Renwood to the dilapidated hotel where her mother suffered a tragic fate. The atmosphere is built up in incredibly, and by zooming in, you can see every raindrop fall on Grace's shoulders. This then is shown by the attention to detail on the Rhodes Hill care centre, with the main waiting areas white and sterile, evoking a sense of security. Meanwhile, slivers of light illuminate the wooden panels in the hallways, making you more reluctant to venture into the darkness. even the medical areas feel lived in, with the operating rooms stacked with medical tools and chemicals, where the patients' beds are drenched with a sickening amount of blood. I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this, but I would go as far to say this is the best section of the entire higher game, between leftover files that you can read to the pictures left behind. Each area tells a story, and it certainly reminds me of the Spencer Mansion at times. From the audio design to the cries of the zombies chasing you, everything is crafted to perfection. There's also a neat little mini-game that you can play that allows you to decipher blood samples, which in turn gives you the recipes to craft the extra items. As mentioned before, the basement of the facility is also extremely well crafted, with chains dangling from the ceiling, and zombies clanging against their jail cells. Admittedly there's some over the top areas such as the literal grinder that dispatches of zombies for you, but that's another thing. Maybe it's because I had to spend 15 minutes there so that I could complete a specific challenge for it, but once again, that's a different story.
00:32:29
Speaker
One place I haven't touched on, which you don't really reach until halfway through the game, is the ruins of Raccoon City. And while the devastation of the bombs set off there varies from game to game, it felt like an eerie blanket of nostalgia draped over me as I navigated the desolate streets, from Kendo's gun shop to the RPD. It was a nostalgic gut punch, The only minor thing I would levy against it is maybe how barred the main landmarks. Traversing it wasn't overly interesting, however, I'm not really sure how they would get around that considering the whole city is nothing but grey rubble. But on a first playthrough, it can get a little annoying going back and forth. I also didn't realise that you could lower the crane on my first playthrough, wistfully staring at it going, wow, I wish there was some way to pull that down, but that's less of a game critique and more of a me not being observant enough. I'm just glad that the game does reward you for the most part, for taking time to explore.
00:33:27
Speaker
Sadly at the end we do get the trademark, umbrella, laboratory under the city, and while maybe not the worst I've ever seen, it doesn't change the fact that once again they decided to whip out the old reliable ending. Admittedly once you know what to do it's not overly long to complete, but it still doesn't help.
Critique of Requiem's Challenges
00:33:46
Speaker
So is there anything I don't like about the gameplay? Eh, kind of. Again, mileage may vary on my opinion here, but I did notice that the game can unfairly hurt you when you're in in unskippable animations, like climbing away on a half-ladder as Leon. Even playing as Grace, it's easy to get grabbed at what you may think is a safe distance to be near zombies, but trust me, it's not. but my major gripe about the gameplay is just how forced some of the puzzles feel. Again, I'm not alone in this, but there was one part in the east wing of the care centre where a body is strapped down to an operating table with a level 2 ID band under one of the medical restraints. But instead of cutting the restraints with a knife, you have to find two fake organs to bring the body back to life so that you can retrieve it.
00:34:31
Speaker
I know why a lot of these puzzles exist so that the game can go on, but it just kinda breaks your suspension of disbelief. Fun fact about that part though, apparently if you leave him for 20 seconds as he chases after you, he'll eventually die by himself, as his new organs can't support him. It's something I thought was an incredibly small thing that they didn't have to add, yet they did anyway, which is incredible. Another thing was some sections that felt like padding, something that unfortunately is common with a lot of RE games. Go here, then go back and retrieve X to combine with Y and then stuff it in a chicken and you can get the golden key to get out. While the game and fans alike have noted that these types of puzzles can be a tad redundant, the meta commentary on the game's part falls flat.
00:35:17
Speaker
You can't put the puzzle in the game and then complain about it right after, even if it is a cheeky nod to the audience. And yes, I was one of those people who disliked that part of Raccoon City where had to find three parts of the detonator. While it's cool you can approach it in different ways, it does drag a little. This can also be extended to the box puzzles that you need for the trio of Quarces to escape. Again, who is designing these places after Spencer imprisoned his own house designer? In these challenges, you have to find clues around each room to decipher which code to input. Which, for very specific reasons, have Braille on them. Didn't know Gideon to be a champion of accessibility, but good on him guess. That aside, you have to put in what is a combination of a Sun, Star and Moon symbol into a four pattern sequence. One weird thing that I did notice too is that when you do the second pattern, you have to get a bottle with corrosive liquid in it that'll melt off a lock so that you can solve it. Doing so after collecting the first one will trigger a cutscene with Dr Gideon, but if you do this puzzle after the basement level, you can bypass that cutscene entirely. Not sure why, but pretty neat for any speedrunners. But in the final box to solve, the symbols are worn off and only the braille remains. Now instead of trying to do it herself through trial and error, Grace decides to retrieve the blind girl she just met earlier and asks her to do it. Now I know why they did this, it was to move the plot along and set up the next set piece, but it just seems really unnecessary when we've seen that messing up the sequence has no negative consequences, so why wouldn't we at least attempt it?
00:36:55
Speaker
Which now brings me onto the story of the game, which if I'm entirely honest is a bit of a mixed
Praise for Voice Acting and Characters
00:37:01
Speaker
bag. Overall this plot is riddled with nostalgia, and while I think it does a good job delivering, there are one or two moments that on reflection don't really hit the mark. But one thing that is certainly perfect is the voice casting. Grace is played by Angela Santalbano, and I'm gonna say it now, that this person deserves all the awards. While I did see a few folk complain about how overly scared she seemed, I think the performance went above and beyond in that respect. Even though she is a part of the FBI, it is so refreshing to see a character who is completely out their depth plunged into the world of Resident Evil. little bit like Ethan Winters in RE7, minus of course the homicidal mold wife.
00:37:40
Speaker
On the flip side, Nick Apostolides nails it once again as Leon, by giving him a more world-weary tone compared to his cautious optimism in the RE2 remake. Unlike Grace, Leon sounds exactly as you'd expect someone with his experience to. Coupled with suffering from Raccoon City Syndrome, his desperation to find Gideon comes through perfectly. And speaking of Gideon, I don't know what the director was telling Anthony Byrne that day, but he absolutely kills it. While he has some over-the-top moments, his calm, sophisticated tone is somewhat refreshing from the manic ones that we've had in the last two games. He was cool and calculated, disregarding anyone in his way so that he could achieve his master's goal. And even when he lost his cool, it did set you on edge with the expectation that something was going to go down.
00:38:29
Speaker
Not to mention his physical stature as well, tibbering over Leon and choking him with ease before tying him up. Wait a goddamn minute, who put the fanfiction in here? Was it? It's actually in the game. Oh my.
00:38:42
Speaker
Yeah, there's an odd scene where Leon's restrained while Gideon circles him, stroking his hair aside and admiring the scars on his body caused by syndrome. It kinda reminds me of that one scene in Skyfall where Javier Bardem's character Silva flirts with Bond in and a similar fashion. Now, on the one hand, if I was a mature adult analysing this scene of course, it's pretty uncomfortable as while I don't think flirting is obviously the main goal here, Gideon seems fixated on him like some kind of test subject. his voice drops to a low, soothing whisper, taunting Leon until he inevitably breaks free. But on the other hand… Well, I think this clip from a Revelations review sums it up best. Doomed Yowie's happening right before my
00:39:29
Speaker
ah But going back to the story, things kick off when Grace is instructed by her boss at the FBI to investigate a body, which eventually turns out to have been planted at the hotel, sharing the same Raccoon City Syndrome symptoms with the previous bodies found in the case. On reflection, i find this a really odd plot point, as Grace's boss knows for a fact that her mother was killed there, yet sends her alone. And while he does give her a fair chance to say no, and while we eventually find out later that it's just another shadowy organisation that pulled strings in order for Grace to be there, she still needs to return to work with the same Bollus. And I don't think he... So...
00:40:10
Speaker
I think we need to have a chat about workplace safety, talk is really gonna fix it. When she arrives, we're showing everything that we need to know about her. She's well-meaning, yet severely awkward at interacting with others, which is a trait she unfortunately picked up by having to move around so much with her mum. I have to admit, even though it was short-lived, I really liked the brief flashback moment Grace and Alyssa shared in the hotel, where Grace is on her laptop. Another fun fact,
00:40:36
Speaker
If you use free camera to look at her screen, then you can see she's actually on Reddit looking up conspiracy theories about the events of RE7. Again, the details on this game is excellent. Although speaking of details, i do find it odd out in the promotional material for this scene. They list the objective as follow mum. Well, when the final game is changed and to something along the lines of escape from the hotel, no idea why they changed this.
00:41:02
Speaker
What follows is, shockingly, the demise of Alyssa to an assassin which, considering the series' usual reluctance towards killing off their legacy characters, is pretty shocking. It's an effective opening for sure, and paves the way towards Grace's journey. While she starts as scared and vulnerable, it's really cool watching her character growth.
00:41:22
Speaker
During her time in the care centre, she's forced to flee from the girl, and eventually meets Leon before adopting her new baby for the game, The Requiem Gun. Oh, then a blind girl called Emily, but mainly the gun. All joking aside, the dynamic between Grace and Emily is really sweet, as when we first meet her, she's trapped inside a glass cell, beside another glass cell with a conspicuous tunnel that has been dug into the wall. Eventually Grace is forced to bring Emily to help solve one of the puzzles, which in turn leads to the child being kidnapped by the girl.
00:41:52
Speaker
And it's rather unsettling as it's clear that this isn't the first time the creature's done something like this, as shown by the collection of its dolls. The words RESCUE EMILY probably send shivers down a lot of Requiem players' spines, but for good reason. While I shouldn't really compare, I did chuckle when the game asked you to jump down a hole, and I got Silent Hill 2 flashbacks. But after escaping the basement, and me joining a collective of people who thought that her leg genuinely got cut off by the elevator, Grace nearly escapes with the help of a helicopter pilot named Harry Reid, only to realise that he will soon become Harry Deed.
00:42:27
Speaker
After reuniting with Leon and eventually taking down the girl, she basks in a job well done, or she watches poor Emily mutate. Despite her pleas, Leon is forced to take Emily down, leading to Grace throwing down the Requiem and running away. And for me, this is where the story goes from intriguing to a little bit silly. As the nostalgia zombie starts chomping at the player, as Leon starts to have a coughing fit that prevents him from going after Grace, Gideon is somehow waiting for her at the top of the stairs. And this is something that really annoys me about the story. It's stated that Elpis is a significant project, and Grace is somehow the key to unlocking it. Yet when she's fleeing for her life against a horde of zombies, Gideon is just kinda like, well, what can you do? i get that otherwise it would make a boring story if she stayed strapped down to a hospital bed the entire game, but narratively it makes no sense. And speaking of segways, let's talk about the other villain introduced called Zeno. Now, I'm sure I share the same sentiment that this guy looks exactly like like a white-haired version of Albert, Severnmeret, Wesker. There's no denying the resemblance there. As of this episode, and as far as I'm aware however, there's no real official confirmation about his origins. All we know is that he acts, looks, and has the same powers as him, so it's heavily implied that he's a clone of some kind.
00:43:51
Speaker
This is a major issue with the plot, as Gideon and Xena will do that old trope of, enter a room, laugh about Elpis, never clarify, and then leave. I mean, for God's sake, the man has a portable T-Virus gun. Where was that in the Umbrella's brochure of buyable products? This then leads to quite possibly one of the most divisive parts of the story. Well, it has been fairly Grace-centric so far. This is where Leon's turn to shine comes, as he takes his Resident Evil branded Porsche into Raccoon City to hunt for Grace and the Umbrella Bunch. But the story kinda stalls here when you're forced to find three parts of a detonator left behind by the BSA, and for those of you who don't know who they are, they are essentially the main counter-bio-terrorism organisation in the series. I've heard a few people ask why Leon can just shoot the explosives to get through, and I think the main reason is because it's a C4 type of explosive that only works via a detonator. Huge shout out to my many hours of Call of Duty Modern Warfare for that useless info. But with that being said, pretty strange that the place is littered with exploding red barrels yet they were somehow too good for the BSNA to use on that gate. On the other hand, I will admit that while I was annoyed with it the first time round, I find myself appreciating on subsequent playthroughs. It's a massive sandbox to let loose in, and take out as many zombies as you like after all those hours of cowering away his grace.
00:45:18
Speaker
Pretty cathartic for sure, but I understand how some may find that it drags on. Something else that is also really neat is the nods to the city's past in the franchise, with umbrella billboards everywhere and newspapers pleading for the citizens to flee. There's even a somewhat morbid treasure trail of letters that you can find written by a young girl to her mother, and yeah, this is the one thing that I'm not going to spoil because it is so damn heartbreaking, but it certainly adds to the atmospheric storytelling. But with that being said, we even get a fight with a giant spider. Which I'm sure new fans were probably shocked at, but as someone who knows those big buggers from the original games, I was actually surprised that they added one as a boss. Wasn't expecting to be blastin' She-Lob, but here we are. After collecting all three parts of the detonator, we get to what my Red Panda lawyer has deemed as the rule of cool. This is where, no matter how nonsensical or silly something is, if they look cool while doing it, then it's allowed. And I'm not gonna lie, this is visual drunk food, and I eat up every single bite. We see Gideon giggling as he tries to blow you up on his motorcycle with an RPG. We have hellish hounds trying to snap at you at the sides. And this is all while you're riding a motorcycle through the ruins of Raccoon City.
00:46:34
Speaker
I don't care what people say. That shot of him launching into the air overlooking the crater in Raccoon City will forever forever be burned into my mind. It is single-handedly one of the silliest, yet coolest moments of the franchise. We of course get the quote-unquote demise of Victor Gideon, as he falls to his supposed a death while his bike blows up, and Leon says his iconic dad joke. He eventually makes it to the Raccoon Police Department, where I will admit I got a little choked up over it. While it's clearly based off of what it looked like in the second game's remake, I spent so much time wandering its halls, and to see it as nothing more than a burnt-out shell was bittersweet.
00:47:13
Speaker
It was good to be back, sure, but not to see it in ruins. There's so many cool nods to the original too. from the Welcome Leon sign and the star's office, to Wesker's questionable photo of Rebecca Chambers, which I'm sure has had more appearances than the actual character at this point. I also love the really cute cameo by the one and only Tofu running by the window. And for those of you who don't know who Tofu is, well, he's just that. A big block of Tofu with the Stars beret squeaking by. If you also complete Barry Burton's treasure hunt, you can also search a locker belonging to one Jojo that is full of old Capcom games, including the original Resident Evil. But then it leads to quite possibly one of my least favourite parts of the game, which I'll go on record as saying it's worse than the three-part detonator segment. Once you catch up with Grace and Zeno, you overhear them talking about an experiment carried out by Umbrella, with the hopes of transferring the memories of one
Memory Transfer and Flashbacks
00:48:07
Speaker
person to another. If I'm understanding correctly, and believe me, I could be wrong, but Gideon and Xeno believe that Grace is a perfected clone from an experiment that involved cloning young girls and experimenting on them.
00:48:19
Speaker
This leads you to play as one of these girls in a flashback scene called Chloe, who has to navigate the Raccoon City Orphanage. And while I was definitely spooked the first time I played it, Repeated playthroughs just expose how formulaic it all feels. There's nothing you can really do differently other than follow the same path, hide in the same spots, and then wait for the kids to despawn.
00:48:41
Speaker
And look, I get it, this is Resident Evil. But how did the scientific goal go from memory transfer to an army of lobotomised red-eyed demon children that can tank a bullet to the face? What were they gonna call this one? Project Children of the Corn? What's worse is, how the hell do you deal with something like that?
00:48:59
Speaker
Even the ones that they thought were dead weren't. I'm beginning to think that Umbrella brought their downfall on themselves with this tomfoolery, and honestly it just feels more like a spooky, creepypast film rather than a well thought out horror. But once we're brought back to the present day, Leon fails to rescue Grace, and Xeno reveals his powers, which not only matches Lesker's Ouroboros from r e five But he also reintroduces an old friend, or rather i should say a similar one, that of course being the tyrant colloquially known as Mr X. This leads to a chase through the RPD, culminating in a boss fight where once again you have to kill on And while I thought it was cool bringing back such an iconic enemy, it does make me laugh to think of how Xeno and Gideon cooked up this scenario.
00:49:47
Speaker
Hmm, how do we stop Leon from messing with our plans in Raccoon City? I've got it. We just send in the same tyrants as before. You mean the one Leon killed before?
00:49:59
Speaker
Well, I already ordered the damn thing with a free trench coat. I can't send it back. Minor side tangent that I've never really liked the connections as an antagonist, as they have practically the same resources as Umbrella yet are somehow bigger and better. It's like, we get it, they're evil. You don't need to show them kicking a puppy to make that point as well.
00:50:20
Speaker
This then leads you to the climax of the story, where after fighting yet another familiar villain in plant form this time, you end up in Umbrella's underground facility known one as the Ark. where once again the game takes a turn for the admittedly weird. It's at this point that you're ambushed by a group of elite guards, and the game briefly turns into a shooter. While all this is initially cool to have some variety, I don't appreciate how they have the ability to shred your health down with pinpoint accuracy, although one hidden detail that I never even considered was during your second run-in with them, you're accosted by a group of soldiers, with one holding a riot shield. Now if you're like me you can do it the boring way and run round until you slap his cheeks with the shotgun, or you can shoot a nearby tank which releases licker to help you dispatch of them. Honestly the replayability of this game is astounding, but I must say, nothing prepared me for a boss fight against the one and only hunk who... Hold on, I'm getting a call.
00:51:18
Speaker
ah Oh, I see. Thank you. My mistake. The commander who dresses exactly like another character, fights like another character, and has Raccoon City Syndrome like, yeah, come on guys, this is Hunk. And for those of you who are confused about what a Hunk is, he was the squad leader for the Umbrella Security Service, and was known as the Grim Reaper for his ability to survive otherwise unsurvivable missions.
00:51:47
Speaker
He's certainly a fan favourite which is why it's so confusing that they parry the platypus to him by removing his helmet and calling him the commander. One thing that is interesting is that once you supposedly kill him, his body despawns from the game, unlike other enemies, leaving fans to speculate that he may still be alive. You know what?
00:52:07
Speaker
Sure, stranger things have happened in the series. Leon and Grace meet up one last time, where despite Xeno's efforts to try and capture the duo, they manage to escape with Leon's time ticking down. You then take control of Grace to navigate the facility, where you come across the classic enemies of the franchise, the Lickers. These are admittedly a pain to navigate around, but they're not unmanageable. Although I do sympathise with anyone trying to get the achievement where you have to cut off their tongue mid-attack. For anyone still at keep going. I believe in you.
00:52:38
Speaker
This then leads to one of the more controversial parts of the game, and I promise I'll try to be as fair as I can. So Grace finally watches a video that Alyssa hid in the hotel. What i do find amusing is how this old facility has a working floppy disk player, but that's beside the point. On the video is a clip of Alyssa interviewing none other than Oswald Spencer himself. He seems to be remorseful about what he's done in life, is a somewhat atonement for his sins. He's adopted a child whom we find out was Grace all along, untouched by any experiments,
00:53:09
Speaker
and apparently has nothing to do with those nightmare-fueled children from before. This would then lead him to asking Alyssa to look after her. And I'm gonna be honest, even the Resident Evil community is confused by this. Some argue that Grace was indeed a successful clone, while others argue that, as per the actual ending of the game, this was all a big red herring, and Grace was just a normal child, adopted by one of the most evil people in the in-game universe. Even Gideon admits this at the end as he argues with his BFF Xeno that there's not only zero links between Emily and Grace, but also that Spencer's research was incomplete.
00:53:46
Speaker
You know, if only there was some kind of blood test they could have done at the start of the game to triple check they weren't just wasting their time. Yeah, but what do I know? As for Spencer's redemption, this is something that I also have mixed feelings about on the one hand. This is one of the worst people in the universe of Resident Evil, the man who helped fund Umbrella and unleash bioterrorism across the world. We also can't forget that he imprisoned his house architect, who starved to death trapped under the house while trying to escape, while his family were brutally experimented on. The same one that led the development and the release of the T-Virus, as well as a bunch of copycat companies. In addition, This was a guy who was heavily into the whole eugenics subject, proclaiming himself in RE5 to have the right to be a god because of his work to Albert Wesker, eventually leading to his demise. The game even tries justifying it as Spencer becoming senile in his old age, Which admittedly is a bit of a cop-out answer. For me personally, I feel that while he expresses regret, it isn't so much toward what he's done as it is instead of what he hasn't achieved as a result. The phrase, for the greater good comes to mind, and no doubt he assumed that all of this suffering would have yielded a new age for humanity.
00:55:03
Speaker
Unfortunately, we all know that isn't what quite happened after Umbrella's disbanding in 2004. With the catastrophic failure of the Raccoon City outbreak, and the subsequent bombing orchestrated by both the US government and the connections, it's no wonder he became a broken man.
00:55:18
Speaker
And while with the game also admits it, there is no justification for what he's done. His only redemption is to release Project Elpis, which at this point is seen to be the ultimate super-duper bioweapon that goes even further
Elpis: Cure or Bioweapon?
00:55:32
Speaker
beyond. For anyone O'Fay with Greek mythology, you'll know that Elpis is Greek for hope, which was also the only thing left in Pandora's box after every other unfortunate thing was released into the world.
00:55:43
Speaker
And while they do explicitly say this several times in the game, it's still a really neat touch. Then again, considering the AI system of the Ark is literally called Noah, Resident Evil isn't exactly with the master of subtlety. Of course, this leads to the grand finale where we find out that Elpis is not the bioweapon that Xeno and Gideon hoped for, but instead a cure that eradicates all bioweapon strains entirely. And as much as I'm sure there's a virologist out there pulling out the hair of the implausibility of it, come on, it's still a Resident Evil game.
00:56:17
Speaker
Unfortunately, another minor gripe I have with this moment is that you're given a choice between destroying Elpis or releasing it. This is honestly just as bad as the RE7 choice between Mia vs Zoe all over again, with one choice being the clear canonical ending, where the other is just there.
00:56:33
Speaker
If you destroy Elpis, then the Ark is destroyed, Leon is killed, and Xeno falls into the depths of the facility, while Grace cries about being unable to do anything. Even if you end on this note for the first time, the game will literally takes you back to the menu like, Hey champ, wanna try again?
00:56:51
Speaker
I don't know, it just seems rather redundant. Now in the true ending, Xeno steals a vial of Elpis and injects himself, only to realize it's a cure that robs him of his powers. He is soon joined by a one-armed Gideon, who at this point was considered dead and berates him for being nothing more than an imitation before decapitating him with his newly formed tentacle arm.
00:57:12
Speaker
Despite going on to then starve Grace in the abdomen, she is still able to inject Leon who finally fights Gideon at his full strength. One of the other minor nitpicks I have with this boss fight is it's not as creative as it could have been. We find out in the second phase of the fight that Gideon has been infected with the Nemesis parasite which turns him into fleshy blob similar to that of the RE3 remake, and while it's not the worst direction, It just seems like a bit of a letdown considering how iconic his original design is. Once defeated, Leon and Grace are eventually saved by the Hound Wolf Squad, the same ones left by Chris Redfield. Except this time he's nowhere to be seen. We also learn that Emily is alive despite mutating earlier, and is eventually cured by using Elpis. In a surprisingly happy ending, Grace adopts Emily and becomes friends with Leon.
00:58:03
Speaker
Oh, and a mysterious end of credits scene where two mystery people go around killing BSAA soldiers, but I'm sure that'll be the hook for either future DLC or a setup for the future games.
00:58:16
Speaker
There's actually a really cute change to the main menu when you complete the game, showing that Grace has an image of both her and Alyssa on her desk, as well as her and Emily. What i will say is though, these pictures have a somewhat uncanny valley feel to them if you stare long enough. I've seen the textures that they used for the pictures at the start of the game featuring Grace and Alyssa, and it looks like they've just edited stock photos with their faces on them. It's not a game-breaking thing, but it does make you raise an eyebrow when you look at them for long enough. Now there's one character I haven't mentioned yet who was heavily speculated to be in the game. And it's one that encapsulates my main issue with the story as a whole. That, of course, is Sherry Birkin.
00:58:58
Speaker
Daughter of William Birkin, who you may remember as the engineer of the G-Virus from Resident Evil 2. Sherry's exposure to the virus means that she got regenerative capabilities, as shown in RE6. Throughout the game, Sherry becomes Leon's logistical support, a somewhat Hunnigan 2.0.
00:59:16
Speaker
And while i do think she's a good character, and it's nice to see her again, something about it all rubs me the wrong way. It's because later it's revealed that she too is also suffering from symptoms of Raccoon City Syndrome.
00:59:28
Speaker
Which then begs the question, where the heck is everyone else who was there? This isn't the first time Capcom have done this with her legacy characters, mind you, nor will it probably be the last. I can understand that too many characters would dilute the focus of the story, but I find it odd that there's no real mention of Claire Redfield, the one who was also at the RPD and the events of RE2, and seeing as these games want to adhere to the remake continuity, I never understood why Sherry seems to put so much praise on Leon for rescuing her.
00:59:57
Speaker
when it was Claire who did all the heavy lifting in that game. Yet for someone who played a significant role in the charity organisation Terrasave, and no doubt would be suffering from the same symptoms, where was she during all of this? The same goes for Jill Valentine, who I'm sorry cannot catch a break. The last time we properly saw her in a game was the RE3 remake, and while I have my thoughts about that game, she's pretty much being sidelined. Even Ada Wong is suspiciously absent. It's funny enough she was supposed to be in Resident Evil Village, but was ultimately cut. While I think the story flows fine as it is, long-term fans of the series will definitely feel they're absent. While there's currently no details, Capcom have confirmed that a photo mode in a new minigame will be released in May 2026, with further details of a new story mode.
01:00:45
Speaker
So until then, maybe these characters will be introduced again, and we don't get another Call of Duty-esque sequence with Chris Redfield. I mean, I love the guy and all, but he's already been in the last four mainline games at some point since five. Give someone else a go Capcom. But the question remains, despite the flaws of this story, does the game itself still work?
Final Thoughts on Requiem
01:01:06
Speaker
Absolutely it does. Despite my issues with the game, I would go as far as to put in my top 5 RE games of all time. Visually, this game is stunning, and the detail put into into it by the developers is a marvel to behold. While you're not overly popular, I still appreciate that they included first and third person POVs into the mix, and it certainly changed things up.
01:01:27
Speaker
One quick thing that I want to mention as well is the bonus content. such as the Apocalypse and Noir outfits, which look incredible in both characters. What i also love is, depending on what outfit you wear, the cutscenes will change slightly. For example, if you wear a costume as Leon with no gloves, or a scene with Grace without glasses, then the game won't recycle the same animation as if they're taking off a phantom glove or glasses, updating it to be different. Another cool detail I noticed while playing in Grace's Noir outfit, which personally is one of my favourites, is that when you're strapped in upside down, the excess part of her belt has its own physics and will also hang upside down, which is such an unnecessary yet really cool touch.
01:02:10
Speaker
That being said, I'm still unsure as to why they included a Lady Dimitrescu outfit. I've spoken about this on a review of Resident Evil Village, but as much as I think the voice actress did an amazing job,
01:02:22
Speaker
And her character is genuinely interesting. She's not really in the game for long, so why put so much emphasis on her after the fact? But that's a discussion for another day. Resident Evil Requiem for me is the perfect fusion of everything I love about Resident Evil. From the survival horror that makes you tremble in anticipation, to the spectacle of the action.
01:02:45
Speaker
It is a game wrapped in a nostalgic package, all the while feeling new at the same time. As a whole, it is a celebration of the franchise. And I wouldn't have played the game six times already if I didn't truly believe that this was a good game. Admittedly, one annoying thing that I've been noticing from the community is people who seem hellbent on putting down others for not completing the game on the hardest difficulties.
01:03:08
Speaker
I even got this when I proudly speedran Requiem in under four hours, only for people to complain that it wasn't done in insanity mode. What i will say is that Requiem, in my personal opinion, shouldn't be someone's first RE game. While there's nothing inherently wrong with playing it, I believe you can get so much more out of playing the others before it. For brevity's sake, playing the remakes of RE 2 and 4 is probably enough to get you accustomed to the characters. But with that being said, it doesn't hurt if you want to start from the very first remake and then play all the way through. Requiem at its heart feels like a love letter to the franchise 30 years on, while it may be imperfect. That's exactly what makes Resident Evil so beloved. And while yes, I do have my gripes with the game looking back, I truly believe that was a brilliant entry to the franchise, and I cannot wait to see what they do next. But what did you think? Is Resident Evil Requiem the perfect celebration of the franchise? Or is there more that could have been done?
01:04:08
Speaker
Whatever the case, feel free to reach out and let us know. But as always, thank you all so much for listening to my review of Resident Evil Requiem. If you would like to listen to more episodes from myself, as well as our Resident Evil Month, then you can listen to us on Chatsanami.com, as well as all good podcast apps. A huge shout-out to our Pandalorian patrons, Robotic Battle Toaster, Ghosty, and Cryptic 1991. Thank you so much for the support. And if you like bonus... early access and behind the scenes content, then please check out our Patreon page, patreon.com forward slash chat tsunami. This podcast is of course a proud member of the Popat Collective. For more information, check us out at our Twitter slash X page at popatcollect. But as always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.