In its first gameplay demo, Capcom showed us why Resident Evil Requiem is a ‘bold evolution’

Capcom says Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth instalment in the esteemed horror series, marks “a bold evolution for the franchise.” In a behind-the-scenes demo shown to VGC after its announcement last week, we got to learn a little more about the direction the series is headed.

Requiem stars Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of Resident Evil Outbreak’s Alyssa, an FBI analyst investigating a series of mysterious deaths in Raccoon City, nearly a decade after it was bombed in the events of Resident Evil 3.

There’s suggestion Grace might not be the only character to feature in RER, and that lines up with Capcom’s comments that it will feature “a return to true survival horror… fused with high stakes action”, but the demo we were shown focused entirely on the singular hero, and those survival horror roots.

According to director Koshi Nakanishi (Resident Evil 7), unlike past Resident Evil protagonists, Grace has little combat experience, which means players will watch her learn and grow as the game progresses. This vulnerability is emphasized in the opening of the media demo, when Grace awakens strapped to a hospital gurney, covered in sweat and struggling to cut herself free using a smashed bottle.

Requiem, initially at least, looks like a familiar successor to the first-person games RE7 and Village, with Ashcroft trapped in some sort of gothic hospital. As the player progresses further through the dimly lit corridors, with flickering lights casting unsettling shadows across the environment, it’s clear that in this section at least, Requiem really does feel like the traditional survival horror we were promised.

The tension builds and builds as Grace fumbles with locked doors and empty fuse boxes, and it’s notable how scary the sequence feels, despite the fact that the player has not encountered any enemies whatsoever in nearly ten minutes.

The use of tight corners and atmospheric lighting evokes the feel of Hideo Kojima’s PT demo. Nakanishi says that, visually, he wanted to push realism further than ever with this game, and as Grace whimpers through a pitch-black locker room, with only a lighter illuminating the scenery, it certainly feels like he’s achieved that.

The first twist arrives with a jump scare: a corpse falling from an opening door. Upon closer investigation – and the surely intentionally comedic line, ‘he’s dead!’ – a monstrous arm appears from just off camera, with Grace’s glance upwards revealing a grotesque, Grudge-like monster with protruding eyes and of colossal height.

“Nakanishi says that, visually, he wanted to push realism further than ever with this game, and as Grace whimpers through a pitch-black locker room, with only a lighter illuminating the scenery, it certainly feels like he’s achieved that”

The creature gives chase in a sequence reminiscent of encounters with Mr. X and Lady Dimitrescu, though there’s suggestion that this AI monster may be integrated more elegantly and dynamically than in the last two numbered RE games. The game’s director says he wants Requiem to offer more “unpredictable horror”, and as Ashley makes it back to the bright lights of a safe room, she can hear the monster’s movement outside, and eventually above our heads.

A time skip to later during gameplay has the player returning to the same dark corridor where they first encountered the monster, in search of a screwdriver that can be used back in the safe room to obtain a locked power fuse. The sequence again ramps up the tension with fantastic lighting and audio, with the threat of another creature appearance hanging over every interaction.

Back in the safe room, once the fuse is successfully removed, the lights go out, and the creature appears once more. A frantic dash to the other side of the building, with Grace scrambling to insert the fuse into an electric gate and escape her pursuer, concludes with a fade to black.

It’s a bold, polished introduction to the next Resi instalment, with one final flourish: the demo again time skips to another hallway sequence, only this time the player pulls up the pause menu, navigates through various options, until they reach the setting for ‘viewpoint’ and switch it to third-person.

It turns out that at least one of Resident Evil Requiem’s bold evolutions is that the game can be played in both first and third-person viewpoints, and from the brief snippet of gameplay we were able to glimpse, it looks just as good as you’d expect from a classic Resident Evil title. I expect there are more significant reveals to come, but as introductions go, Resident Evil Requiem is off to a strong start.