Resident Evil Requiem preview: Requiem for a nightmare

It’s a fantastic year to be a survival horror fan, and we’re not even out of January yet. One of the most anxiously awaited titles in the line-up is Resident Evil Requiem, and based on a hands-on preview I attended, I’m happy to report that the latest addition to the franchise is looking incredible so far.

From genuine scares to stunning visuals, Requiem looks every bit as exciting as Village was. Fear not – we’ll be keeping this preview spoiler-free.

The Escapist recaps

• Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, 2026, giving Resident Evil fans a new harrowing experience to sink their teeth into.
• I attended a hands-on preview event for Requiem, where I played about three hours of the game, experiencing both Grace and Leon’s perspectives.
• Despite featuring dual protagonists, Requiem manages to feel cohesive throughout.
• Visually, Requiem is a feast for the senses, with intricately designed monsters that mimic their former selves, along with memorable set-pieces and boss encounters. 
• Both combat and crafting felt solid in the Requiem preview. Grace and Leon have strikingly different approaches to fighting, with Leon being more seasoned and Grace feeling more panicked in her movements. 

A new era for the undead

Attending the preview for Resident Evil Requiem meant getting to spend three hours or so with Grace and Leon, spending more time with the former than the latter. The preview wasn’t particularly story-heavy – so don’t worry, no spoilers here – but it provided a perfect glimpse of the dual perspectives, combat, and crafting. 

My playthrough began with Leon, and the old man still has it, showcasing his combat prowess in cramped hallways and cluttered rooms.

Unlike Grace, Leon feels like a weapon in his own right (as he should after doing this for so long). Fights feel smooth and punchy, with some sensational finishing moves and the option to grab weapons from downed foes. And, yes, the one-liners are back – but it remains to be seen if there’s anything quite as iconic as ‘Bingo’.

After stomping on a good portion of zombie skulls, the preview took us to a section featuring Grace, dramatically switching the tone.

Unlike Leon’s action horror-oriented sections, Grace’s gameplay was much more of a classic survival horror experience, requiring her to stealthily deal with enemies and work with limited resources.

One element that really shone with Grace’s gameplay was the fresh spin on crafting. In Requiem, you can craft by collecting and analyzing infected blood. There are some buckets of blood dotted around, but you’ll predominantly collect blood directly from felled enemies, meaning picking and choosing your battles is essential.

The majority of my time spent playing as Grace focused on running away from enemies and hiding – the enemy AI was largely solid, but there were a few instances where creatures seemed to be baffled by doors – and selectively taking out mobs to gain access to puzzle items or new areas of the map. 

Exploration felt rewarding, with a fair selection of items scattered across the map. There were just enough items to make it feel worthwhile exploring extra rooms, but not too many that it made the game feel too easy or unbalanced for a standard difficulty run. 

Two perspectives, but one cohesive experience

I’ve always been a big fan of dual campaigns in games, but finding out that Requiem would have two perspectives in one story did admittedly make me worried that it’d feel disjointed or clunky (see Resident Evil 6’s multiple perspectives). 

Thankfully, I was way off the mark; switching time between Leon and Grace felt smooth, and from what glimpses of the story I got, it made sense with narrative and pacing as well. 

Something that helped here was being able to toggle first and third-person perspectives for both characters. It’s a small feature in the grand scheme, but you can choose to stick with the standard mode for each character – first for Grace, third for Leon – or toggle first or third-person for both of them.

Being able to see the same monsters through (literally) different eyes was also fascinating, particularly considering how unique Requiem’s zombies are. There’s a much more sorrowful edge to these monsters; they have emotive faces, they vocalize more than their predecessors, and some make efforts to copy their actions from their human lives. 

I won’t spoil exactly how to defeat each monster, but there are smart clues woven into the behaviours of some zombies in Requiem that’ll help you manage them efficiently. 

These zombies felt significantly scarier than their predecessors, too, largely thanks to the sound design surrounding them. I wasn’t expecting to hear anything other than garbled growls while exploring dark hallways, so I found myself genuinely jumping when new monsters would shamble into earshot. 

Visually, Requiem was a delight. There were no performance issues, glitches, or hiccups to note when playing through the preview, and the game looked and sounded consistently impressive. 

There were a few set-pieces that stood out. In one instance with Grace, I ran into a new room and stumbled across an elegant banquet. Instead of ornate dishes and crystal glasses, the table was splattered with corpses and viscera, with zombies chowing down on leg joints and internal organs gleefully. 

The contrast of the goriness with the beautifully candlelit room was intense, particularly when I realized there were more zombies in the room than I’d initially counted.

There aren’t always moments in survival horror games where I want to stop and take screenshots, but Requiem frequently made me stop and marvel at the scenery while exploring – much to the delight of the zombies trying to bite my face off.

The Resident Evil Requiem preview left me anxiously counting down the days until I can get back into the game. Finding the right balance between action horror and survival horror isn’t easy, but there couldn’t have been two better characters to tackle the dual genres with. Resident Evil fans are in for a treat when February rolls around. 

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