The festivities of Summer Game Fest are over for another year. It was the most E3-feeling event in a long time, thanks to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo all having something going on (although a console launch isn’t typically common in June!). I was impressed by quite a few of the announcements found amongst the flood of rogue-likes and games riffing off FromSoftware, but one publisher stood above the rest.
Capcom demonstrated three games in front of the press: Onimusha, Pragmata (it’s real!), and Resident Evil: Requiem. The bombshell reveal of the ninth mainline RE game means survival horror fans like myself will have much to ponder until its next appearance at Gamescom in August.
Clearly, Geoff Keighley and someone at Capcom enjoy coming up with ways to mess with Resident Evil fans! The first glimpse of RE: Village Gold Edition was shown off at the 2021 Game Awards, as Ethan entered the village in third person while the Village part of the medley played.
As for Requiem’s reveal, I’ll admit it: I got worked. I thought Executive Producer Jun Takeuchi’s vague message was all we were getting. That was until Grace Ashcroft and the unmistakable look of the RE engine appeared on my screen. The first minute felt surreal, evoking the dread of an FBI investigation, like something out of Osgood Perkins’ Longlegs. It felt far removed from a world aware of the T-virus or mould monsters. Call it a hunch, the FBI may be out of its depth when dealing with the disastrous effects of bio-weaponry.
Speaking of bio-weapons, nothing is a starker reminder of them than the charred remnants of the Raccoon City Police Department. For the first time since Resident Evil 3, we return to the iconic city inside Arklay County. The return to Raccoon City—well, what’s left of it—was inevitable. It’s no real surprise considering nostalgia is in fashion right now, but I believe it can be a return of substance rather than a cheap callback.
Capcom finds itself in a unique dilemma with the Resident Evil series. The popularity of the remakes has increased the hunger for the classic characters and settings to return. A new generation loves Jill, Leon, Ada and Claire; and older fans feel reinvigorated seeing them again. Yet up until now, Chris Redfield is the only classic character to appear in a mainline Resident Evil title post-RE6. I like Chris, but it’s time for him to share the spotlight with some of the other legendary characters.
It’s a precarious situation. You don’t want a Jill or a Leon appearing for two minutes just to tick a box, yet if Capcom doesn’t get the gang together to explore the fallout of Raccoon City, “missed opportunity” would be an understatement.
As a defender of Ethan Winters, the everyman of the Resident Evil universe, I’m always happy to see new faces. Grace has made a strong first impression, and her ties to the lore of Raccoon City undoubtedly give her more of a chance of winning over the faithful than Ethan did. As a talented yet inexperienced agent, she’s primed to get into all sorts of terrible predicaments.
Grace may not be alone. It’s an open secret that Requiem features another character in a pivotal role. Capcom won’t want to go all in on one marketing beat, so details about who will be joining Grace (it’s Leon, right?) will be revealed shortly. As I’ve just explained, it’s time to insert more of the legacy characters into the heart of the action.
Resident Evil 7 was my first experience with the series, and it introduced me to the riveting genre of Survival Horror. I’ve watched countless people play through the game on YouTube to feel the buzz of surviving the Baker Estate again.
I could write a thesis on the VHS tapes littered around the map. These ramp up the creep factor while also nudging the player towards certain discoveries—a truly fantastic bit of game design that I don’t want to spoil for those who haven’t played RE7!
The game also had a plethora of DLC, including Ethan Must Die, a permadeath challenge where you work your way around the Baker Estate, avoiding traps and picking up randomised loot. It took me many, many deaths to complete it, but memory is power, and remembering where every trap is waiting spurred me on to nail the perfect run.
Resident Evil 7 is the blueprint for modern survival horror. Add in the action of Resident Evil 4 Remake, and it could be the recipe for the perfect Resident Evil game.
Capcom has confirmed that Requiem can be played from both first-person and third-person perspectives. While there is a “recommended” setting, the power is totally in the players’ hands. This is the perfect solution to a fiercely contested debate—some Resi fans are staunchly against the first-person efforts of 7 and 8. To each their own, of course, but I couldn’t disagree more.
I love the third-person camera of the Resident Evil remakes. It excels in combat and feels more in touch with the traditional Resident Evil games. However, Resident Evil 7 is the scariest game in the series due to its presentation. Would surviving the Baker Estate be as daunting if the camera were over the shoulder? I’m not so sure. Horror is all about immersion, and a first-person camera triumphs over all. You can’t jimmy the camera around a corner, and it’s harder to navigate around multiple enemies.
I’m interested in seeing if the “recommended” perspective remains the same throughout the game, or if it changes depending on the scene. The obvious approach would be to play Grace’s segments in first-person mode and Leon’s segments in third-person mode(that’s what I’ll be doing!). I wonder if Capcom agrees.
The limited gameplay shown off at SGF confirmed that a stalker character hunts Grace throughout the Rhodes Hill Civic Care Centre. Some will roll their eyes; I enjoy these segments. They are slender, finely tuned bits of gameplay that break up the exploration, puzzles, and combat. I’d understand the criticism if, for example, Lady Dimitrescu followed Ethan throughout the entirety of Resident Evil Village. In reality, she comes and goes, and finishing her off in a boss fight is a satisfying payoff for all the hiding and running from her you do.
Capcom is declaring that Requiem is the start of “a new era of Survival Horror”, and I believe it. Its confidence suggests what we’ve seen so far is merely a refresher. While I’d happily take more of the same, I’m intrigued by where the series can go after the success of its modern output.
Sometimes, having the best of both worlds isn’t a compromise. In Requiem’s case, the inclusion of both first-person and third-person camera perspectives enables the game to unleash twisted nightmares and Hollywood-style action sequences in equal measure. If the reveal and previews are anything to go by, Resident Evil’s 30th anniversary, headlined by Requiem, is going to be special.