The unveil of Resident Evil Requiem was undoubtedly the crown jewel of every announcement and trailer shown at the Summer Game Fest showcase, and we were lucky enough to catch the first bit of gameplay during SGF Play Days. It’s bound to turn heads when it comes out next year.
Before delving further, it should be stated that I’m hardly a Resident Evil fan, but after what I saw, I might be inclined to try this one out.
If it wasn’t made obvious in the trailer, Resident Evil Requiem brings the series back to its survival horror roots. The demo began with the game’s protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, fastened to a hospital bed and I.V. Upon coming to, she breaks a nearby bottle with her momentum and cuts herself free. It’s here where we find that the game is in first-person, much like Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the other games making use of the RE Engine.
The room that Grace woke up in is quite posh, but once she ventures outside of the room, it’s a totally different atmosphere. From the pitch black darkness to the faint noise of footsteps behind you, the classic Resident Evil dread of something sinister being just around the corner is definitely there. Obviously, at the start you don’t have much in your inventory, so a good portion of this demo in the game looks like it’s a reintroduction to what made the series interesting early on.
Meet Grace Ashcroft.
As Grace walks through the hallway, you can hear her breathing as the lights creepily flicker. She tries flipping a switch to turn the lights on, but they don’t work, so she slowly continues on. A creepy horse statue can be seen along the wall at the end of the hall, and a caged entry can be seen on the right as she walks. What you think is a hotel is more akin to that of an asylum. Eventually in another room, Grace finds a lighter and a key and uses it to open one of the locked doors in the previous hallway.
Upon entering that room, we find out that at least in that scene, Grace is in a ward. She then goes into a really dark storage room and a zombie comes out of nowhere. Frightened, Grace hardly moves as we can also make out a giant hand on the side of the screen that she doesn’t see. The zombie found earlier is laying there motionless, and Grace feels its throat and says “he’s dead.” No, really?
Eventually, we find that the big hand earlier is that of a monster’s who eventually chews up the zombie’s head. Grace makes a break for it back to the room where she found the lighter, and eventually the next scene shows that we’re back in that room where we found the zombie with more blood everywhere. As Grace inspects the room, she sees a toolbox on a high shelf that she can’t reach. She finds a cart nearby and uses that to climb and access the toolbox, where she finds a rusty screwdriver. As she makes her way out, the monster confronts her, and a chase begins. The player is actually hurt during this rush, but it’s quickly healed using and a health injection upon getting back to the room.
After some time, Grace goes back out and uses the screwdriver to open a fuse box near the caged door and inserts the fuse she found earlier to bring back power to that elevator as we hear the monster quickly head our way again.
The RE Engine has kept Capcom on one, especially when it comes to mainline Resident Evil games.
That’s where the demo ended, but Capcom had one more thing to show.
They paused the game and tabbed over to a few places to show that you can switch the camera mode to third-person mode. This led the crowd of other journalists and creators we were with to pop as no Resident Evil game since Resident Evil 7 gave players the option to play in third-person.
Despite just being announced, Resident Evil Requiem is planned for a February 27 release next year on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC. We’ll definitely be ready to review it when that time comes.
The unveil of Resident Evil Requiem was undoubtedly the crown jewel of every announcement and trailer shown at the Summer Game Fest showcase, and we were lucky enough to catch the first bit of gameplay during SGF Play Days. It’s…
The unveil of Resident Evil Requiem was undoubtedly the crown jewel of every announcement and trailer shown at the Summer Game Fest showcase, and we were lucky enough to catch the first bit of gameplay during SGF Play Days. It’s bound to turn heads when it comes out next year.
Before delving further, it should be stated that I’m hardly a Resident Evil fan, but after what I saw, I might be inclined to try this one out.
If it wasn’t made obvious in the trailer, Resident Evil Requiem brings the series back to its survival horror roots. The demo began with the game’s protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, fastened to a hospital bed and I.V. Upon coming to, she breaks a nearby bottle with her momentum and cuts herself free. It’s here where we find that the game is in first-person, much like Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, the other games making use of the RE Engine.
The room that Grace woke up in is quite posh, but once she ventures outside of the room, it’s a totally different atmosphere. From the pitch black darkness to the faint noise of footsteps behind you, the classic Resident Evil dread of something sinister being just around the corner is definitely there. Obviously, at the start you don’t have much in your inventory, so a good portion of this demo in the game looks like it’s a reintroduction to what made the series interesting early on.
Meet Grace Ashcroft.
As Grace walks through the hallway, you can hear her breathing as the lights creepily flicker. She tries flipping a switch to turn the lights on, but they don’t work, so she slowly continues on. A creepy horse statue can be seen along the wall at the end of the hall, and a caged entry can be seen on the right as she walks. What you think is a hotel is more akin to that of an asylum. Eventually in another room, Grace finds a lighter and a key and uses it to open one of the locked doors in the previous hallway.
Upon entering that room, we find out that at least in that scene, Grace is in a ward. She then goes into a really dark storage room and a zombie comes out of nowhere. Frightened, Grace hardly moves as we can also make out a giant hand on the side of the screen that she doesn’t see. The zombie found earlier is laying there motionless, and Grace feels its throat and says “he’s dead.” No, really?
Eventually, we find that the big hand earlier is that of a monster’s who eventually chews up the zombie’s head. Grace makes a break for it back to the room where she found the lighter, and eventually the next scene shows that we’re back in that room where we found the zombie with more blood everywhere. As Grace inspects the room, she sees a toolbox on a high shelf that she can’t reach. She finds a cart nearby and uses that to climb and access the toolbox, where she finds a rusty screwdriver. As she makes her way out, the monster confronts her, and a chase begins. The player is actually hurt during this rush, but it’s quickly healed using and a health injection upon getting back to the room.
After some time, Grace goes back out and uses the screwdriver to open a fuse box near the caged door and inserts the fuse she found earlier to bring back power to that elevator as we hear the monster quickly head our way again.
The RE Engine has kept Capcom on one, especially when it comes to mainline Resident Evil games.
That’s where the demo ended, but Capcom had one more thing to show.
They paused the game and tabbed over to a few places to show that you can switch the camera mode to third-person mode. This led the crowd of other journalists and creators we were with to pop as no Resident Evil game since Resident Evil 7 gave players the option to play in third-person.
Despite just being announced, Resident Evil Requiem is planned for a February 27 release next year on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, and PC. We’ll definitely be ready to review it when that time comes.
by Danreb Victorio
