Resident Evil 9: Requiem

Leon survived zombies. Leon survived cults. Leon survived bioweapons. Leon is older. Leon is wiser. Leon: "I'm getting too old for this." Grace appears. Leon: "Not again." The universe: "No." Some people get a quiet retirement. Leon Kennedy gets another Resident Evil game.

[h1] A Real Love Letter To The Franchise [/h1] [h3] Also My 100th Review On Steam [/h3] Resident Evil Requiem is, in my opinion, the best Resident Evil game ever made. As someone who has been a long time fan of the franchise since getting the ‘Claire Disc’ from my uncle back in 2002 for the Play Station 1 for Resident Evil 2, I can confidently say that this game beats the Two Remake and Four Remake hands down. Both of those other games are phenomenal in their own right but this one just incredible. Capcom have never been too solid on their storytelling, but with this combined with Pragmata we could be seeing a much stronger era in narratives from the developers. RE9 mostly puts us in the shoes of Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft (Who you might remember as the journalist -lockpicker- from the Resident Evil: Outbreak spin off series), who is thrust into a conspiracy in the shadow of Umbrella and needs to make it out alive. You will be familiar with her gameplay if you’ve enjoyed Resident Evil 7 & 8 (Village), as her missions take place in a first person point of view where you have minimal means to defend yourself and the game is far more survival horror. Where it is better to dodge and stealth around enemies than to actually try and take them head on. And what I would also like to note about Grace is her character. For me it is so refreshing to have a character who is actually scared and aware of the things that are going on around her. She is terrified for 99% of this game and it’s so nice to see, even during the gameplay you can hear her scared breathing and her hands shaking, not just in cutscenes and then it’s back to a stone-faced gameplay performance. Utterly brilliant. Leon, on the other hand, his part of the game takes on the role of exactly what you’d expect from the Resident Evil Franchise from 4-6. It’s a much more run and gun action survival horror than Grace’s missions. Although it would be difficult to convince an audience that Leon would really be scared of anything. Playing as Leon is great, a strong change of pace from Grace’s narrative and it is so much fun to play. It’s definitely on par with the Resident Evil 4 Remake in terms of gameplay and of course he’s still as sassy as ever. Throughout the game you will also notice that there are staples from other games which have crept their way in, just little nods to previous entries; a design choice here, a bit of dialogue there. A long term fan of the franchise will be able to pick up on these little references no problem and a newcomer to the series will simply enjoy them for what they are regardless. Overall, Resident Evil Requiem is the best entry into the franchise, made with love and care from the development team at Capcom and I honestly struggle to see how they can top this going forward, as they might just have peaked. 10/10 – I’m glad I chose to hold off on playing this to make it my 100th Review on Steam.

Incredible game. Not perfect, but a ton of fun and they really nailed a lot for me here. At times certain parts were ehh with pacing, and some parts I'd be fine never playing again [spoiler]*cough cough* the orphanage [/spoiler] but I still had a great time with it. Very satisfying being able to play as Leon further into his years after having been through so much, and Grace is a great character and I personally preferred her sections due to how they actually had me so tensed up and anxious at times. Capcom is absolutely on fire and deserves the praise lately, I'm loving this era of gaming. Can't wait for whatever they cook up with the dlc, will be an easy day 1 purchase. Came for Leon, stayed for the rest. ( ͡o ͜ʖ ͡o)