There are few franchises as iconic, memorable, and far-reaching as Resident Evil. A horror staple since the days of the original PlayStation, it’s become an instantly recognisable brand, its zombie action extending through multiple genres and platforms into cinema, TV and beyond. Alongside being an excellent new entry in the series – see our review here – Resident Evil Requiem continues the series foray into new territory, arriving day and date on the Nintendo Switch 2, alongside a Resident Evil cavalcade that includes the two most recent mainline entries – Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village.
We’ve all been wondering how Capcom would manage in bringing their latest premier game to the distinctly less-powerful Switch 2, but, once again, this is a showcase for the adaptability of the in-house RE Engine, and for the development team’s smart choices when approaching Nintendo’s hybrid console.
You start out as Grace. An FBI analyst, she’s tasked with investigating the latest in a series of strange deaths. These bodies have been found looking decidedly unhealthy, covered in dark bruising, and are all tied together as previous survivors of the Raccoon City ‘incident’. You know the one. What’s perhaps a little hard to swallow is that the latest of these deaths has been found at the Wrenwood Hotel, the place where her own mother was murdered. I’m no expert in HR, but I feel like Grace could put in a grievance for being sent back there. On her own. With only a flashlight and a gun for company. Requiem would have been a much shorter game, and involved more HR meetings, though, so we’ll look past it.
Resident Evil Requiem gives you a batch of options for how to view and play both Grace and Leon’s sections. The recommended setup has you playing Grace’s more investigative, atmospheric and horror-filled levels in first person, before switching to a third-person over-the-shoulder viewpoint for Leon’s bombastic action sections. You can choose to completely ignore Capcom’s recommendation, but it feels very natural to shift between the two, especially when Grace’s storyline is so much more personal and immediate – it really benefits from the first-person viewpoint.
It is clear that there is some visual trickery and upscaling in effect from the moment you start Resident Evil Requiem on Switch 2. All of the cutscenes are in-engine, so you’ll immediately see the telltale shimmer of anti-aliasing around Grace’s hair, and curved surfaces. Character models are less detailed than what you’ll see on other platforms, reflections are screen-space instead of ray-traced, and some building and area textures appear to have been dialled back too. For all of that, Requiem is still a great-looking game on Switch 2, and, most importantly, I found myself thoroughly immersed in the story and its action. While I was meant to be looking for visual quirks and downgrades, I soon stopped. What Capcom have produced here is remarkable.
The goal here is 60fps, and Grace’s sections do a good job of generally hitting that target. They clearly benefit from being in more confined areas, and Grace’s slower pace, but they’re also very lighting-intensive, with flashlights, broken lights and naked flames playing out believably, ramping up the sense of danger and the cloying atmosphere perfectly. It all feels very impressive, and only heightens the immersion. As with elsewhere, there are compromises if you look for them, so sometimes you’ll see jagged, pixellated edges to the flashlight beams during cutscenes, but in action, it’s either less noticeable or it’s not there at all.
Leon’s missions don’t stick the 60fps landing, and they can come closer to 40fps at times. A lot of that comes down to the size of the environments, the number of enemies or bystanders on screen, and Leon performing the seasoned, action hero role in comparison to Grace’s inexperienced, investigative tech analyst. It’s a bit of a shame that there are no overarching graphical options or the ability to opt for the consistency of a locked 30fps, but ideologically, the Resident Evil team have always preferred an unlocked frame rate in previous titles on previous generations – it can be more responsive, but you can end up with a juddery feeling if things dip too low. Even so, Leon’s sections still play very well don’t really come close to 30fps from what we’ve seen and tested.
The real saving grace (pun intended) for the Switch 2’s cross-platform ports is the availability of DLSS, and while it’s being pushed pretty hard to upscale for a 4K output, it’s impressively accomplished with an acceptable level of softness to the display. If anything, it works with Requiem’s art direction to a surprising degree, and there’s still a clear cinematic quality to how everything looks. Undocked, there’s the added bonus of built-in VRR to smooth performance out further. Handheld feels just as steady as docked play, and there are points where you’ll wonder what kind of ritual sacrifices Capcom had to make to get there.
It’s a shame that there are no mouse controls in the Switch 2 version of Resident Evil Requiem, as I think it would work really well across both Grace and Leon’s sections. At least we live in a time where it might be added further down the line. Capcom still make use of a couple of the Switch 2’s tricks, and HD Rumble 2 makes a startling difference to the way that scenes and sections feel. Through the opening areas, you can feel the rumble of a passing subway train, initially strong and obvious and then diminishing as it heads off, while the steady pitter-patter of the rain, or the accompanying blast of lightning, adds a layer of immersion well beyond the visuals. It’s definitely another selling point.
While there aren’t currently mouse controls, there are gyro motion controls, and if you’re looking for a bit more precision when aiming, it’s a handy inclusion. There are further aim assist settings too, if you’re not that great at hitting zombies in the head, with these turned on automatically for the Casual difficulty, or being a toggle in the Modern and Classic options.
Resident Evil: Requiem on Switch 2 is a stunning port that once again showcases what Nintendo’s handheld hardware is capable of.
