Resident Evil Requiem

Update: Blogger had a weird glitch and had to republish.

As of 3/3/2026: 

Last night I finished off RE9. I really really liked this one. When I think back on all the modern RE games (since 7), I feel like while they've all been consistently good, some just hit harder than others. I like 7 and 8 but looking back, they just don't stand out in my mind compared to all of the remakes, even 3 (granted I have personal reasons for really enjoying that one but still). RE9 definitely left an impression. 

Mechanically, this is half a sequel to RE4R and half a sequel to RE7/8. At first I thought swapping between Grace and Leon would be rather jarring, going from fast action man to slow paced horror but no. The strong juxtaposition between the two works in the game's favor, both from a gameplay standpoint and a thematic direction.

The story of this game is honestly far more introspective than I expected, especially for Leon. It's nothing groundbreaking but seeing Leon reflect on what he's been through and how it clearly influenced his choices here is really well done. As for Grace, I find her role of a Resident Evil protagonist that is clearly not built for this shit to be really engaging. They kinda did that with Ethan but I found it to be more compelling here and it had a more satisfying conclusion. I know some folks don't vibe with the bumbling "wet dog" personality she has but I think it works. 

I will refrain from spoilers, but there's a moment in the game where it immediately switches from Grace to Leon and the situation presented provides a very clear dichotomy between the two characters. It's something that could honestly only be done with a video game. It's moments like that that make the story and overall narrative much stronger the more I think about it. 

I do have one primary criticism with the game though. While I think it largely succeeds in combining two very different styles of RE gameplay into one package, I do find that Grace and Leon don't hit their full mechanical potential when compared to RE7/8 and RE4R respectively. Grace has barely any weapons and Leon's upgrades/additional weapons aren't super impactful or change up gameplay all that much. That said, I think the game makes up for it by providing some very strong level design and encounters. 

Overall, this is a great game. I'd probably land on an 8.5/10 if I were to give it a number score.