# Resident Evil Requiem Final Preview

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHRzs-CdPEw
Recap page: https://rapidrecap.app/video/aHRzs-CdPEw
Generated: 2026-01-26T16:05:29.41+00:00

---
## Quick Overview

The preview of Resident Evil Requiem, comprising three and a half hours of gameplay, convinced the reviewer that the game absolutely rules, particularly highlighting the inventive combat mechanics in Leon's segment and the intense, resource-driven survival horror of Grace's sections, which strongly evoke Resident Evil 2 and Bioshock aesthetics.

**Key Points:**
- Players can switch between first-person and third-person perspectives for both Grace and Leon at any time in the menu settings, though the game defaults Grace to first-person and Leon to third-person.
- The reviewer spent approximately two and a half hours as Grace and only a small portion as Leon during the 3.5-hour preview, suggesting Grace's sections will heavily feature in the final game's pacing.
- Leon's gameplay feels like "full Resident Evil 4 mode and then some," featuring a hatchet that allows for throwing combos and takedowns, and he encounters an inventive zombie fight involving a chainsaw that spins on the ground.
- Grace's sections strongly resemble Resident Evil 2, focusing on maze-like exploration reminiscent of RE1's mansion, limited 8-slot inventory, and strategic resource management.
- The zombies in Grace's segment are unique because they are 'fresh,' still talking and mumbling about mundane things like cleaning bathrooms, giving encounters a 'Bioshock' sense of personality and eeriness.
- Grace utilizes a new crafting mechanic where players suck blood from bodies to combine with scraps to craft items like bullets, and must solve molecular puzzles to unlock new crafting recipes.
- The game is explicitly not open world, as confirmed by Director Nakanishian, and the overall tone feels more like a continuation of RE2 and RE4 than RE7 and RE8.

**Context:** The video provides a hands-on preview analysis of the upcoming game Resident Evil Requiem after the reviewer played approximately three hours, following previous conflicting feelings after experiencing the initial demo. The preview focuses heavily on differentiating the gameplay styles of the two playable characters, Leon and Grace, within a private medical facility setting designed like the Resident Evil 1 mansion, while also addressing community speculation regarding game mechanics like camera perspective and world structure.

## Detailed Analysis

The reviewer confirms that Resident Evil Requiem allows players to switch between first-person and third-person for both Leon and Grace, though the defaults seem designed to suit the intended pacing. The gameplay is split, though the preview heavily favored Grace's sections, indicating she might be the focus. Leon's segment is pure action, feeling like an enhanced Resident Evil 4, highlighted by a chaotic encounter involving a spinning chainsaw that can injure both the player and enemies, and a new hatchet weapon used for melee combos. Grace's experience shifts the tone dramatically, feeling much closer to Resident Evil 2, emphasizing stealth, tight inventory management (8 slots initially), and intense resource conservation. Her zombies are unique; they are freshly turned, retaining lingering personalities and speaking incoherently, which creates an eerie atmosphere reminiscent of Bioshock's Splicers. Grace also engages in deeper crafting, requiring the collection of blood from corpses and solving molecular puzzles at stations to unlock recipes for essential supplies like ammunition. The antagonist seen, Victor Gideon, is described as goofy, perhaps teetering on a new level of silliness compared to previous RE villains like Salazar or Heisenberg, resembling the Ashford twins from Code Veronica. Despite some lingering story ambiguity, the reviewer expresses extreme excitement for the game, set for release on February 27th, believing Capcom's previous secrecy about the game was warranted.

### Gameplay Perspective and Structure

- Players can switch between first-person and third-person for both Leon and Grace at any time
- The 3.5-hour preview heavily favored Grace (2.5 hours) over Leon (0.5 hours)
- The game is confirmed not to be open world, pacing designed to make sense upon full release.

### Leon's Gameplay Focus

- Leon plays like Resident Evil 4 with added elements, using a hatchet for throwing combos and takedowns
- Features an inventive chainsaw mechanic where the dropped weapon spins on the ground, cutting zombies' feet
- Leon's inventory uses the briefcase interface similar to RE4 but with the UI style of Resident Evil Village.

### Grace's Survival Horror Experience

- Grace's section contrasts sharply, feeling identical to Resident Evil 2, set in a facility resembling the RE1 mansion with key-based progression
- She has a highly restrictive 8-slot inventory, forcing extreme resource management and strategic stealth.

### Unique Zombie Mechanics

- Grace's zombies behave like RE2 enemies with unpredictable movement, including crawling after leg shots
- Zombies retain lingering personalities, talking and mumbling about daily tasks, creating a 'Bioshock'-like eerie personality for each encounter.

### Grace's Crafting and Resources

- Crafting involves a new material, blood, sucked from fallen enemies, combined with scraps to make bullets
- New recipes are locked behind finding lab samples and solving molecular puzzles at processing stations.

### Antagonist Reveal

- The primary antagonist shown is Victor Gideon, described as a Jigsaw-like figure setting traps and orchestrating events, possessing a goofy demeanor reminiscent of the Ashford twins from Code Veronica.

