Resident Evil Re9uiem review: Two for the price of one?

Styled as Re9uiem, this is the ninth installment of the Resident Evil franchise that is hitting its 30th anniversary. What better way to mark it than taking the series back to its roots in Racoon City? Re9uiem is the crossroads and celebration of all the different evolutions of the series rolled into one.

From the humble beginnings as a survival horror puzzler and action adventure gunplay to its recent foray into first person horror, Resident Evil Re9uiem wraps signature, genre-defining horror with pulse-pounding action and 2026 has got its first game-of-the-year contender. 

A mysterious string of murders lead FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft to the site of her mother’s gruesome death. Just as she is about to learn the truth, she is abducted by a scientist from an umbrella corporation, to be experimented on in his house of horrors. Meanwhile, Leon S Kennedy, from Resident Evil 2, is on the hunt for this scientist. Both Grace and Leon’s paths are headed towards a convergence, leading to the now-destroyed Racoon City and the festering secrets it has held for the last 30 years. 

Resident Evil Re9uiem is two storylines and gameplay types colliding into one. Let us start with Grace, a mild mannered analyst, abducted and left in this facility of horrors. The gameplay and story shifts into the first game’s eerie puzzles with the survival mechanics of Resident Evil 7 Biohazard. There, the family you encounter is truly terrifying, but Re9uiem’s monsters are leagues ahead in nightmare fodder.

Every Resident Evil has a signature monster that constantly hunts you through levels, such as the imposing Lady Dumitrescu in the last game. This one has several and none more fearsome than The Girl. Googling this does not make The Girl any less scary and the fighting part is how unpredictable the designers have made her. Grace’s segments are usually experienced from a first person view. It is immersive, and quite frightening, so if you lack the stomach, switch to the third person view.

Then, there is Leon, who represents the action horror side of the series, and controls the game in the same way he did in Resident Evil 4. Fast gunplay, heavy axe attacks and parries, limber zombies and lots of blood and gore. Every mechanic is perfectly balanced and the first scene where we are introduced to Leon sees traffic pile up as you rush to stop an outbreak from spreading.

The visceral intensity of it is a refreshing break from the quiet jump-scare-filled torridity of Grace’s segments. The only thing breaking both their paces is the hilarity of the healing items which you pick up as pots of coloured herbs to mash together to create absurd medicinal balms. Chomping down green herbs in the thick of action is classic Resident Evil. 

As these two characters’ stories collide in the most satisfying way, expect a lot of gore. Capcom has been fine tuning its RE Engine, responsible for producing some of the most fleshy, and gory visuals. Zombies look macabre and as people turn, their skin crumbles and decays, with sinews hanging off the bone.

The first-person view is quite immersive; curtains billow in the breeze, shadows move and the furniture and wall hangings are designed to creep you out. The scariest part is the use of light and this is tied into The Girl’s most effective scares. It goes without saying the sound design is excellent and yes, the source of most of the jumps. Though, Grace’s overreaction to just about everything is a jumpscare in itself. 

Horror does not get better than Resident Evil Re9uiem. While the two protagonists are excellent in their compelling narratives, the monsters steal the show. What is interesting is how there is a social media element to this game, as people find hidden clues, puzzles, references and even some oddities.

Re9uiem is what everyone will be talking about, so you better head out right now to buy an XL pack of adult diapers and then, one of the best games of this year.