Games Inbox: Is Resident Evil Requiem worth getting?

The Friday letters page hopes the rumours of Sony dropping PC support are true, as one reader is curious about a possible Pokémon annoucement today.

Games Inbox is a collection of our readers’ letters, comments, and opinions. To join in with the discussions yourself email gamecentral@metro.co.uk

Surviving the weekend
Very excited about Resident Evil Requiem coming out on Friday, especially with the talk of it being the best one since Resident Evil 4. I didn’t enjoy the last two first person games all that much, but I have liked the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes, so I hope it’s at least as good as those.

The Metacritic score is 88 at the moment, so that seems very encouraging and right in line with GC’s review. I think I’ll buy a physical copy and play it this weekend, that way I can enjoy it before spoilers are impossible to avoid. Plus, I can sell it on if I don’t think it’ll have any replay value. Although I’m curious to see what DLC will be announced, because if the combat is like Resident Evil 4 I would be interested in Mercenaries mode.

At 30 years old I’d say Resident Evil has a pretty impressive track record – even Mario and Zelda have a few clunkers in their backlog. So yeah, it seems to me Requiem is going to be worth a punt. Here’s looking forward to a fun and spooky weekend.
Badgerman

Multiple choice
Given your discussion about what Monolith Soft are working on next I’m curious to see what the new Gen X version of Pokémon might look today, if it’s announced. I haven’t played a Pokémon game since the DS days, but I did used to like it and would be interested if a new game looked like anything other than a cheapskate janky mess.

I’m not particularly confident it will but I’ll give it a chance. Like everyone else I’m a little bemused at Nintendo’s approach to the Switch 2 and I can’t tell whether everything’s going according to plan, from their point of view; whether they’re just winging it; or if the whole thing is a complete disaster. It literally could be any of those three and we have no way of telling.
Janson

Worst case scenario
Just seen that Netflix is not going to be buying Warner Bros., but instead it’s Paramount. That is really bad news because their deal is like the EA thing, where it’s all bound up in debt and Saudi money. When the deal goes through, suddenly they’ll be in huge debt and they’ll be making cuts everywhere.

You don’t need me to tell you that gaming is going to look like an easy choice to get rid of, so I really worry for everyone involved. The best bet would be if they sold off the whole game division but because they use IP like Batman and Harry Potter I’m not sure how that’d work.

I think NetherRealm will be out the door pronto though, especially after Mortal Kombat 1 flopped. If they go somewhere that appreciates them that’d be fine by me, but I doubt it’ll be that clean.
Tom Meadows

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Point of no return
I’m seeing some rumours that Sony is beginning to think that putting all its exclusives on PC isn’t a good idea after all. I’ve been hearing the same for months now but didn’t dare believe it, as I definitely think it was a stupid idea.

Exclusives are one of the main reasons people buy a console so why would you remove that just for a small number of extra sales on PC? No PlayStation game seems to have sold particularly well on PC, except for Helldivers 2, so Sony has really gained nothing from the idea.

Make your live service games multiformat if you like but normal exclusives should be console-only. I think even Xbox is beginning to realise that now but it’s really too late for them to U-turn. Sony should switch plans before they’re in the same position.
Ishi

Pros and cons
I remember the days of multiformat magazines giving reviews for each format with a particular game. I think giving the differences between the Switch 2 and PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X it would not be possible to have a score for the Switch 2.

I opted, after some thought, to get Final Fantasy 7 Remake on Switch 2 rather than PlayStation 5 and I have to say I’ve been incredibly impressed graphically. Resident Evil Requiem is likely my next purchase (probably as a collection on Nintendo Switch 2) but does the graphical lessening make for a poorer experience and should I go for the PlayStation 5? Or is there not much in it for the benefits of handheld play?
Catcave

GC: We try to answer that exact question in our article on the Switch 2 version today.

Money men
Very interesting to read that console gaming is actually increasing in popularity quite nicely but mobile is flatlining. That’s not the first time we’ve heard that in the last few years and while it seems like good news, for those of that like real games, I think it’s probably having a nasty knock-on effect for everyone.

If mobile isn’t showing any growth then it’s not going to attract investors and investors aren’t likely to draw much of a distinction between mobile and console/PC. We already know they’ve got less investment because of TikTok and OnlyFans and whatever, so I think gaming in general just looks like too much trouble to all these venture capitalist vultures.

It’s a boring answer for most people but I think most of the problems we’re seeing right now, especially from Sony and Microsoft, are actually down to video games not attracting money from outside sources like they used to.

Gaming used to be the new hotness and a growing market and whatever but after Covid everything’s been going downhill and the more money people pull out the worse it gets.

I don’t know what would pull them back, in but console gaming would have to be doing a lot better than mobile for them to even consider it. I worry that they’ve just written gaming off for the time being and that can’t be good for anyone in the industry or anyone that just wants some cool-looking games that have had a ton of money poured into them.
Supes

Get ready
Pre-installed Resident Evil Requiem, spent 45 quid of Microsoft rewards and paid 20 in cash money – bloody Barry Burton bargain!

Stuck my location down as New Zealand, so I’ll be playing it this evening (Thursday).

Rub-a-dub-dub, Leon S. Kennedy in the tub!
big boy bent

The right catch
Just recently, I’ve started to get the itch to pick up a new Pokémon game but the last time I played one was Pokémon Yellow and very briefly Pokémon Black.

To be honest, I don’t know where to start even after hours of reading reviews and video footage of the last few Pokémon games.

I do know that I favour a linear experience with turn-based battles and I’d really like shared experience amongst my Pokémon and quality of life improvements like being able to swap out pokémon with ease.

I have briefly considered Pokémon: Let’s Go, (but it forces motion control controls on me in TV mode that I cannot do for any length of time due to carpal tunnel), Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Pokémon Sword. However, the reviews for Brilliant Diamond and Sword are not that favourable.

Regarding Arceus and the footage I have seen it just seems overwhelming in scope to me and to a lesser extent with Scarlet and Violet. Regarding Z-A, I really don’t like the lack of visual information, partly due to a poor memory.

I don’t want to make the wrong pick because I will be buying full price from the eShop and that’s why I might consider FireRed, due to the lower price.

Whilst I will be waiting to see what gets announced on the 30th anniversary, I’m still ready to pull the trigger on picking up a Pokémon game now

What would GC advise?
Charlie H.

GC: We’d advise waiting for the Pokémon Presents today and the review of Pokémon Pokopia next week. That said, you can’t really go wrong with FireRed/LeafGreen: it’s relatively cheap and it’s a remake of the very first game, so a great example of the original formula.

Inbox also-rans
Personally, I’d much rather have Wolfenstein 3 than Quake 5, or whatever it’d be now. I’d be very curious how far Bethesda would let MachineGames go, in terms of a critique of where we are today.
Knox

Just to add to the anniversary list but Stardew Valley is 10 years old today. I think there’s a livestream planned later, although I’m not sure what might be announced.
Lupe

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The small print
New Inbox updates appear every weekday morning, with special Hot Topic Inboxes at the weekend. Readers’ letters are used on merit and may be edited for length and content.

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