Preview: Resident Evil: Requiem - One of the best Resident Evil games yet?

Resident Evil Requiem is one of the most anticipated games of 2026. Whether it's because it's a new instalment in an increasingly popular series, the return of fan-favourite Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist or because it's one of those games that generates endless curiosity about how it will perform on Nintendo Switch 2, what is undeniable is that Capcom's title is attracting a lot of attention. With all that pressure, added to my eagerness to play the full game, I faced countless zombies (well, infected) in a preview session where, for three hours, I was able to explore the secrets hidden in the ninth instalment of the main Resident Evil series.

Two protagonists, two play styles

Although I can't talk directly about elements of the story in this title, I can say that during the part of the game I was able to try out, I played some sections where you control Leon and others where Grace Ashcroft, the other protagonist of this title, takes the lead. As mentioned during the last Resident Evil Showcase, the moments where Leon is the protagonist are action-packed; right from the start I had to defeat a doctor equipped with a chainsaw, which also helped me see the numerous and explicit death screens in this title. It was a battle in a fairly confined space with numerous infected constantly appearing, but far from being a tense situation, thanks to Leon's skills in hand-to-hand combat, defending himself with his Knife Hatchet and even using the chainsaw that the aforementioned doctor "lends" us, this section of the game was very satisfying and action-packed. Later on, I was also able to try out a boss fight with Leon taking care of a large infected with a clean shotgun blast.

However, everything changes when we get to play as Grace. Showing her inexperience in these types of situations, we start with a weapon with a single bullet and have to dodge numerous infected around every corner. When we find more weapons and ammo, things don't get any better, as Grace does less damage with firearms and must find knives with limited durability to defend herself. For at least 45 minutes of the approximately two hours that the section I tried with Grace lasted, I was almost out of ammo and had to dodge infected who kept attacking in the most unexpected ways. For example, an infected connected to a blood bag used the IV stand to attack as if it were a bat, a cook used a dangerous butcher's knife that was practically an "instakill", a singer stunned you with her screams while draining your health, not to mention the classic "zombie bite".

Later on, the situation continued to worsen, but I learned to craft items by combining resources hidden in different rooms on the stage. This helped me to get some more ammo and healing items, but it's not as easy as it sounds, because to craft these items, we need to use blood. Grace has a blood extractor that she can use to obtain various samples from defeated enemies or at certain points, such as a bucket full of blood in a room, for example. In a way, it's similar to the scanner in Resident Evil Revelations, but instead of giving us an item when we reach 100% of the scan, we accumulate blood that we use to a greater or lesser extent in the combination of items. The list of items that can be crafted increases thanks to a mini-game/puzzle that requires certain key items to work and helps us obtain useful items such as a permanent health upgrade for Grace or make her atacks more effective.

Speaking of puzzles, during our adventure with Grace we see numerous doors that require certain keys to open, as well as classic logic puzzles to open a secret compartment and obtain an item or key. It should be noted that inventory management for carrying ammo, weapons, keys, and healing items is very important, because our protagonist has a very limited inventory (8 items limit in contrast to the "infinite" slots in Leon's briefcase, which returns in this instalment), although similar to what happened in Resident Evil 2 Remake, we will find various hip pouches that will help us have a little more space. The similarities with RE 2 Remake do not end there, because there are certain enemies that play the role of Mr. X and will chase us and block our path at certain moments. In fact, at this point in my impressions, I can say without fear: The part I played with Grace gives the same feeling as the first visit to the Raccoon City Police Department in RE 2 Remake, where every encounter was a life-or-death fight and you constantly found closed doors with a horrible feeling of uncertainty, while the parts where I controlled Leon felt more like the final stages of Resident Evil 4 Remake, where you can face everything without fear.

The RE Engine at its finest

In terms of performance, everything ran perfectly, whether you played in first-person or preferred the third-person over-the-shoulder camera. It's worth mentioning that I tested the game on the PS5 Pro version, where the reflections, clothing details, and faces of both living and "undead" characters were of incredible quality. This is the game that best exploits the RE Engine in terms of graphic quality, whether for the settings, lighting, or characters. This version featured ray-tracing and for those moments where darkness and our infallible flashlight take centre stage, the use of this technology was very noticeable. I was also able to enjoy my entire gaming session with headphones, so I could appreciate the game's excellent voice acting, as well as the various nuances and good use of sound effects and other audio elements that helped me become totally immersed in the gaming experience.

To conclude these impressions, I must add that what I have played of Resident Evil Requiem seems to me to be the perfect balance between tension and action, revisiting ideas from older titles but giving them a twist, such as the appearance of enemies that revive after being defeated, like the "Crimson Heads" from the remake of the first Resident Evil. Capcom seems to have done its homework to find out what fans of the 30-year-old Resident Evil franchise like best, and if the final product continues along the lines of what we saw in our preview session, it will be one of the most beloved Resident Evil games among players and quite possibly one of the strong contenders for game of the year.