Decades after the Raccoon City catastrophe, the traces of the incident continue to haunt those who survived it and those who inherited it.

Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst with a remarkable gift for deduction, is tasked with investigating a mysterious death that occurred in an abandoned hotel.

The case immediately becomes personal: her mother, Alyssa Ashcroft, a survivor of the Raccoon City incident, died several years earlier in that same establishment.

The investigation leads Grace into situations where her analyst's method is no longer enough. Faced with creatures, confined spaces, and limited resources, she must learn to survive in a world nothing had really prepared her for.

In parallel, Leon S. Kennedy is also investigating a series of suspicious deaths. The young policeman who arrived in Raccoon City in 1998 is now an experienced agent, capable of directly confronting situations that leave Grace in a far more fragile position.

Their trajectories gradually bring the series back to the consequences of one of its founding catastrophes.

Requiem does not return to Raccoon City to simply replay the past, but to observe what it has left in those who must still live with it.

Presentation

Resident Evil Requiem organizes a large part of its identity around a contrast: Grace Ashcroft and Leon S. Kennedy do not have the same relationship to danger.

Grace represents the most vulnerable dimension of survival horror. She must observe, save her resources, decide which confrontations are really worth engaging in, and sometimes understand that the best victory simply consists of avoiding a threat.

Leon has a radically different experience. His weapons and close-combat abilities allow him to respond more directly to enemies and naturally shift some sequences toward more action.

Capcom therefore does not necessarily seek a permanent compromise between oppressive Resident Evil and the more combat-oriented one. The game distributes this tension between its two protagonists.

Both can also be controlled in first or third person. This option does not only change appearance: the first-person view brings the threat closer and reduces the perception of space, while third person gives more information around the character.

The heart of Resident Evil nevertheless remains recognizable. Exploration, puzzles, items to find, inventory, and resource management continue to organize a large part of the experience.

Changing protagonist mainly modifies the balance of power.

With Grace, a room can become unsettling even before an enemy appears. With Leon, the same threat can become a problem to face much more directly.

The return to Raccoon City and its legacy finally gives a narrative function to this duality. Leon directly carries the memory of 1998, while Grace belongs to a generation that still suffers its consequences through her mother's story.

Key Takeaways

Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth main entry in Resident Evil.
Grace Ashcroft and Leon S. Kennedy are the two playable protagonists.
Grace favors a more vulnerable, survival-horror approach, while Leon has much more offensive means.
Both first and third person are available, changing the perception of the environment.
Exploration, puzzles, combat, and resource management remain at the heart of the experience.
Raccoon City and its consequences occupy a central place in the story.
The game uses RE ENGINE.

PANACHES Review

Resident Evil Requiem finds a rather elegant answer to a tension that has accompanied the series for a long time: how to make fear and action coexist without one eventually completely absorbing the other?

Capcom here chooses not to ask a single character to constantly support both extremes.

Grace and Leon change the player's relationship to the same universe.

With Grace, entering a room can already be a decision. Resources matter more, space feels more hostile, and avoiding a fight can be smarter than trying to win it.

Leon immediately shifts this balance. His experience and abilities make you more willing to face what stands before you.

This contrast lets both registers keep their personality.

It also works very well with the ability to change camera. First person makes certain threats much closer and reduces the comfort given by a wider peripheral view. Third person, on the contrary, lets you read the space better.

But the best idea of Requiem is perhaps found in its relationship to the past.

The return to Raccoon City could easily have become a nostalgic stroll full of references aimed at longtime fans.

The game rather uses the catastrophe as a scar.

Leon was there.

Grace inherits it differently.

This difference gives meaning to the return: the past is not simply a place the player recognizes, but something whose consequences continue to run through several generations.

Resident Evil now knows certain of its mechanics extremely well. Limited resources, locked doors, spaces that become familiar then unsettling again: the series has long known how to take away and then gradually give back the player's sense of control.

Requiem uses this mastery to vary an essential thing: the person standing in front of the threat.

A monster does not need to suddenly become more dangerous to produce a different kind of fear. It is sometimes enough that the character facing it has fewer ways to respond.

It is in this opposition between Grace and Leon that Requiem finds its clearest personality: two characters, the same universe, but two profoundly different ways of understanding what it means to survive.

Good to Know

Resident Evil Requiem was released on February 27, 2026.
The game is developed and published by Capcom.
It constitutes the ninth main entry in the Resident Evil series.
Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst with a direct family link to Alyssa Ashcroft.
Leon S. Kennedy is the second playable protagonist.
The player can use first or third person with both characters.
Resident Evil Requiem uses RE ENGINE.
The main experience is designed as a solo adventure.

Resident Evil Requiem

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