Resident Evil Requiem Switch 2 Review: Leon and Grace Play a Best-of RE Mixtape

Call me a lapsed Resident Evil fan. Life got in the way, and I haven’t taken the plunge into the depths of my favorite survival horror series ever since Resident Evil 5 way back on the PS3. So I was simply unprepared for the level of quality and care that went into the franchise’s latest offering, Resident Evil Requiem, which is an unholy marriage of the slower, methodical RE2 gameplay with the action-packed zombie blasting power fantasy of the RE4 variety. Divided into two halves and featuring dual protagonists, this seemed like a winning formula to bring many of the series’ best elements together into a polished experience. But with over 20 titles in the RE canon, there’s always the danger of repetition, and of relying too much on nostalgia at the expense of new ideas. As a returning fan of the older games, I was cautiously optimistic, and my first impressions were filled with praise.

The Beginning of the End?

The story this time around sees you taking control of a stuttering FBI agent, Grace Ashcroft, who’s sent on a mission to investigate a mysterious death at an abandoned hotel. Grace isn’t fast, can hardly hold a firearm without wobbling at first, and has a very limited inventory. She doesn’t even have a dedicated melee move aside from pushing down stunned zombies. Thanks to the excellent vocal and motion-capture performance by Angela Sant’Albano that conveys her vulnerability and terror at each happening, playing as Grace is appropriately terrifying. It’s especially effective given the circumstances and horrific creatures Grace must deal with.

I am loath to spoil anything but the most basic of the story beats, but suffice to say that both Grace and an older but no less badass Leon Kennedy come face-to-face with Victor Gideon, a former T-virus researcher who worked under the now-late Oswell E. Spencer. Gideon is large, powerful, and smart. He’s a formidable foe with no moral scruples and whose actor gives an appropriately outsized performance. While you’ll get a couple of short chances to play Leon in the game’s first half, the bulk of the gameplay is dedicated to Grace, who’ll be spending a lot of time navigating one the best self-contained sections in the entire Resident Evil franchise, the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center.

One Hell of A Haunted Hospital

After the game’s opening hour or so, starting out as Grace at Rhodes Hill is a seriously heart-pounding affair. You’re severely underpowered with very few items at your disposal, and some of the zombies you’ll be dealing with have unique aspects to their behavior that will need to be accounted for. I can’t tell you how many times I discovered better ways to do things or had a flash of inspiration mid-encounter and stopped to reload a past save. While you are searching for artifacts and an escape here and utilizing environmental clues, there unfortunately aren’t many real puzzles to be had.

The game rewards those who play it smart, and is for the most part very accommodating to multiple playthroughs (a couple of longer forced flashbacks aside). Grace does have a coup de grâce in the form of the Requiem pistol, a veritable hand cannon gifted to her by Leon. Ammo for the Requiem is very hard to come by, so it’s recommended to save it for only the most dire of circumstances. Grace gains the ability to craft utilizing blood, which is an ingenious way to incentivize backtracking and taking out foes carefully. Later on, dispatched foes can return even tougher than before. It is no exaggeration to say that Rhodes Hill provided some of the best and most effective survival horror gameplay I’ve ever played.

No One Quips Quite Like Old Man Leon

The second half of Resident Evil Requiem puts you in charge of Leon in Raccoon City, and that’s where the game’s fear factor fades in service of an action-packed power fantasy. Instead of managing inventory and counting bullets, you’ll be taking charge of the situation with heavy arms such as shotguns, rifles, machine guns, grenades, and Leon’s trusty hatchet, which can parry and sneak attack, but needs to be kept sharp to be effective. Of course, headshots are still the name of the game, and all bosses do have obvious weak points. Sometimes it’s the environmental elements that need to be mastered, which greatly rewards repeat playthroughs.

Both Leon and Grace have the ability to ‘craft’ and upgrade their loadouts from drops. While Grace can make items that give her permanent buffs, Leon can buy and repair body armor, snag bullets and Med Injectors, as well as modify and upgrade his stash of weapons. The game defaults to a first-person POV for Grace and a third-person POV for Leon. I get motion sickness from first-person games, so I opted mostly for third-person with Grace, but there was one lengthy section that was quite dark, so I opted to go first-person for a while. One of my biggest wishes for games like this is an FOV slider, so I can determine how far back I want the camera to be and how little I want it to move. I understand that some may see it as a bit of a cheat, but to me it is an accessibility issue, and I don’t really care if it affects performance.

Play This On Your Strongest Possible System

I snagged Resident Evil Requiem on the Nintendo Switch 2 as a part of the incredible limited-time deal that bundled RE7, RE8, and RE9 together for $90. I was also curious as to how well the Switch 2 would handle such an intensive game, especially since it was targeting 60fps, with occasional dips into the 40s and even mid-to-high 30s. A part of me was wishing for an option for a performance mode that locked the framerate to 40 or even 30, but honestly, I was often so caught up in survival that I wasn’t really paying attention or noticing frame drops. While the first half of the game fares very well in almost every scenario, there’s a heck of a lot more dynamic lighting and particle effects during Leon’s section that felt unoptimized; it’s mostly noticeable while moving the camera around, which tends to happen in corridors. Perhaps this is something that can be fixed in a patch.

Overall, I was very impressed by the game’s performance, as close-ups conveyed character very nicely, the cinematics and lighting were far beyond what I’d expected to be possible from Switch 2, and on my 52” 4K TV, I could hardly tell that the game was upscaled with DLSS until I looked carefully at the screenshots afterwards. While Grace’s hair can appear wiry and there’s occasional graininess, there’s a minimum of dithering, and shadows and textures hardly ever appear blocky, even in handheld mode. This was more consistently pretty and visually ambitious than something like Final Fantasy VII Remake Intergrade, which I played recently on Switch 2. Models and textures are more consistent here, if not perfect. Boss battles never felt cheap or ruined by the game’s hiccups, and I personally never felt like the performance was affecting my gameplay. Even so, if portability is not a factor, I would definitely pick this game up on PC or PS5 Pro.

Not Perfect, But There’s So Much to Love Here

Perhaps the biggest complaint I have about Resident Evil Requiem as it currently stands is the lack of a Hardcore mode. There’s Casual, which is the ‘game journalist’ difficulty, then Normal (Modern), Normal (Classic), and once you beat the game for the first time, Insanity. Insanity is just far too punishing to be fun for anyone but true masochists. You’ll die in two hits if you’re lucky, and zombies move quickly and erratically, making aiming really tough. The two Normal difficulties have dynamic scaling, where they’ll get easier or harder depending on how poorly you’re doing and how many times you die. So if you’re blazing a trail and doing great, the game will grow gradually more challenging until you die. But the next time you try, it’ll be a little easier. I really love that concept, but I would also love to see it applied to a slightly higher difficulty, something in between the Normal and Insanity levels, like what Hardcore used to be. Normal (Classic) does gatekeep typewriter ribbons and even challenges you with creating your own. It also has the potential to be a tad tougher than a Normal (Modern) playthrough via its slightly more difficult level of dynamic scaling.

I have a few other minor quibbles with Resident Evil Requiem. At release, we don’t yet have a Mercenaries mode. Also, the first half with Grace is a 10/10 experience, and it provides hands-down one of the best survival horror experiences I’ve ever had. It’s grounded, carefully-crafted, and you never feel safe. However, once Leon subs in, the game shifts radically in tone and gameplay to typical third-person shooter gameplay in well-lit city sections and with generally less enemy variety (bosses aside), and I was left missing the tension in the Grace sections. There are many standout moments in Leon’s half and it is still very solid, complete with enjoyable throwbacks to older titles, but the game never achieves that level of dread again, even when you switch back to Grace later on. It plays more like a highlight reel of Leon’s greatest hits, complete with a silly chase sequence.

There’s no shame in saying that this game peaks in the first half, especially since the second half is lots of fun in its own right, and stronger than most games. It’s also funny to me how the story and setting alternates between serious and ludicrous, in typical RE fashion, but the added realism of the grounded stuff makes the silly moments more jarring.

CAPCOM’s flagship franchise is still running strong

I am beyond happy that Resident Evil is still chugging along strongly even after 24 games and three decades of quality titles. Even when it covers familiar ground, it manages to iterate in ways that are surprising and challenging, with the RE Engine powering up the performance to provide cinematic-quality cut-scenes and unforgettable moments where you feel like you’re in a literal hellscape.

Resident Evil Requiem delivers in every way that counts. It’s terrifying when it needs to be, provides compelling characters, drops them into unforgettable settings, and keeps you on your toes with gripping combat. Story-wise, much is revealed in this game, and it seems like the threads are wrapping up. But like the dreaded T-virus, I hope that Resident Evil continues to grow, evolve, and surprise for another thirty years or more.

Verdict: 5 / 5 (Fantastic)

PROS

Some of the best survival horror gameplay of all time in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center
Both the slow, methodical RE2 gameplay and the fast-paced, brutal RE4 gameplay are adequately represented
Grace and Leon make great protagonists that you want to root for, and Victor Gideon is a strong antagonist

CONS

No Hardcore difficulty between Normal and Insanity
No FOV slider, and no ability to pick a locked frame rate
Lack of a Mercenaries mode (so far)

What I’ve Played

Beat the game on Normal (Modern) difficulty in 15 hours
Finished 35/50 Challenges
Played a little bit of Insanity mode

About the Author – Joseph Choi

Filipino-American gamer, professional shepherd and farmer, author, and filmmaker/videographer living in Central California. First consoles were the Game Boy and Sega Genesis, and I’ve been gaming since then, with a focus on Nintendo and Sony consoles.