Resident Evil Requiem features terror in first and third-person views

Resident Evil Requiem was a big highlight from Summer Game Fest’s onslaught of announcements and trailers. The horror franchise’s ninth mainline installment is taking players back to the devastated and iconic Racoon City, this time playing as FBI agent Grace Ashcroft. It releases on February 27 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.

I got to see an off-hands theater presentation of the game at Summer Game Fest Play Days. What I saw definitely felt in line with the direction the series has taken with Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village.

Honestly, the vibes were most aligned with RE7, at least in this demo. There was a big focus on terror, with Grace stumbling around a decrepit medical facility, looking for a means of escape in a first-person perspective.

Multiple perspectives

Now, let me jump to the end of Capcom’s demo right now. Because they did show us that players can select between a first of third-person camera. So if you prefer that more immersive vibe of RE7 or Village, you can go first-person. But if you’re more into the classic third-person perspective, that is an option.

However, the menu does note that the game recommends the first-person camera. Again, that makes sense, since Requiem is very much still in that RE7 mold.

We also saw some other classic Resident Evil elements. For much of the demo, Grace was chased by a corpse-eating monster, something that looked like some kind of giant, misshapen medical patient. If you’re familiar with Mr. X from Resident Evil 2 or Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil Village, you get the idea here.

Fight or flight

What we didn’t see much of was action. Capcom did note that while Grace has some firearm training, she is not a combat expert. That doesn’t mean that the game won’t feature action, but I’m not expecting as much shooting as we got in Resident Evil 4’s remake. I’m not sure if it’ll even have as combat focus as Resident Evil Village.

But that’s a bit of a question mark for now. The same goes for the game’s scope. The demo took place in a relatively small area, but I expect that Requiem will cover a lot more ground. I’m not sure if Capcom is taking Resident Evil full open world, but it’s likely we explore more of Racoon City than this one facility.

I’m excited to learn more about Requiem in the coming months before its release next year. Capcom has done great work with Resident Evil since the soft reboot of 2017’s RE7. I’m not expecting the good (and terrifying) times to end any time soon.