We're Back in Raccoon City with Grace... and Leon!

The news was in the air, to say the least: Leon Scott Kennedy will be one of the protagonists of Resident Evil Requiem, returning with a central role in Capcom's horror saga more than twenty years after Resident Evil 4. Capcom itself confirmed this after months of rumors, whispers, and denials during the Resident Evil Requiem Showcase on January 15, revealing numerous details about the game. But that's not all, because in recent days we were invited by Plaion, the Italian distributor of the game, to try Resident Evil Requiem firsthand for a three-hour test. Perhaps it's superfluous to say, but we didn't need to be told twice. 

Leon is the Hand

And neither did Leon, to be honest (excuse the pun), showing up all lively and in shape as never before for the first section of our hands-on test. The polygonal model is one of the first elements we encounter in this portion of the game, tailored specifically for the preview, and it couldn't have started better: obviously, we can't count polygons and frames by eye, but judging by the final rendering, there are quite a few polygons in Leon's model, which boasts a highly detailed face, and therefore particularly effective in acting, and long hair whose physics and movements are truly very convincing. We're not at a beauty contest, true, but the impression is that next-gen is really beginning... finally! 

Gallery

Our Leon, then, seems to have returned to Raccoon City. For what reasons and with what intentions we don't know yet, but we find him inside what appears to be a care institution, full of rooms, halls, and corridors... just like a large mansion. The references to the series' mythology, in short, seem to be all there from the beginning.

Resident Evil Requiem, the podcast

And it's equally clear that Resident Evil Requiem intends to raise the bar for spectacle and violence, combining the two elements. Leon's encounter with the mysterious doctor he was looking for (forgive us, we were asked to remain as vague as possible) results in a treacherous attack by his assistant, which we repel by picking up a chainsaw and sending streams of blood everywhere. Just enough time, however, to notice how convincing the movements of the “patients” are as they stagger through the rooms, before the encounter/clash with Grace catapults us into the next section. 

Grace the Mind

If we just experienced Leon's exploits in third person, now as Grace, the action shifts to first person: the two modes are freely selectable, but pre-set for the two characters. The shift to first-person perspective helps make Grace's experience even more unsettling, as she appears to have been first kidnapped and then dazed by the effects of drugs. As FBI agent Grace Ashcroft (does that ring a bell?!), Resident Evil Requiem becomes much less action-oriented, closer to other first-person horror experiences. Grace cannot rely on Leon's physical strength and weapons, so it's advisable to move slowly, always keep your ears open, and pay attention to catch the slightest sound of footsteps amidst moans and other strange, chilling creaks. Of course, the puzzle component is not missing, with locked areas and various objects scattered throughout the rooms to retrieve in order to proceed. 

Too bad that on Grace's path (and therefore ours too) there are a couple of infected of considerable size, almost immune to Grace's (few anyway) small-caliber bullets. From their appearance, Grace's escape attempt turns into a game of labyrinth and minotaur. And it's interesting to note that to escape these two large creatures, it's possible to use small openings or lit areas, but our strategies must take into account the reactions of the infected: yes, the beasts, with a bit of effort, can break down doors, tearing down pieces of wall and dusty rubble to clear the way, while other infected are able to search for switches and return the environment to the most favorable darkness. In other situations, however, you can get by with a bit of ingenuity, retrieving the necessary objects to compose a kind of biological weapon that allows us to get rid of an infected with a single sting, by sneaking up on them.

No Requiem, Resident Evil is Returning

The final session of our test finally brought us back into Leon's shoes, highlighting how much the tension accumulated in Grace's section needed to be released. And what better opportunity could Resident Evil Requiem offer than a gigantic infected to take down, this time utilizing all of Leon's physical abilities and his supply of large ammunition? With Leon, Resident Evil Requiem returns to its more arcade origins, making evident the alternation and complementarity between the different sections, where tension and reaction alternate, regulating the game's pace.

But this is not the only link that unites the different souls of Capcom's game: in the part of the game we were able to try, the environments are shared, which means returning to places already visited with another character to further expand them by exploiting the peculiarities of each protagonist. The question, at this point, is whether the entire game will be able to maintain both this delicate balance between the innovative and traditionalist impulses that have traversed the series' various forms over time, and the high technical standard seen in our test that enhances both horror and frantic action, but the answer is now just around the corner: the release on PC, PS5, Xbox Series, and Switch 2 set for February 27.

In short, although the title of this ninth official chapter sounds a bit like a dirge, Capcom's action-horror saga is in excellent health and the imminent Resident Evil Requiem (from what we've seen) is poised to be one of the highest points reached by the saga in its now decades-long history.