RESIDENT EVIL REQUIEM

Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth numbered mainline entry, developed and published by Capcom on RE Engine and directed by Koshi Nakanishi (Resident Evil 7). It follows Grace Ashcroft, an FBI intelligence analyst — and daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, a survivor of the Raccoon City outbreak — who is sent to investigate a body found in a condemned hotel. The same hotel where her mother died eight years earlier.

Her investigation intertwines with Leon S. Kennedy, now decades older, who is working the same case from the action side. The story revisits the hidden truth behind the 1998 Raccoon City incident, roughly thirty years after the T-virus outbreak — the furthest point in the series timeline.

Announced in July 2024 and fully revealed at Summer Game Fest 2025, Requiem was originally conceived as an open-world multiplayer game before pivoting to a conventional single-player experience. It shipped as the first RE built natively for ninth-generation consoles.

Both characters can be played in first-person or third-person — switch any time. First person maximizes dread in Grace's chapters; third person suits Leon's combat choreography.

Requiem released to critical acclaim — a Metacritic metascore of 89–93 depending on platform (PS5 89 / PC 92 / Xbox Series X|S 93 / Switch 2 90) puts it in the franchise's top tier behind only the 2005 RE4 and its 2023 remake. Critics singled out its dark tone, atmosphere, and the rhythm of alternating vulnerability (Grace) with power (Leon). Capcom reported 5 million copies in the first five days; the game reached 8 million by July 2026, making it the fastest-selling Resident Evil ever.

For series watchers, the significance is bigger than one game: it closes the loop on Raccoon City three decades later, brings Leon back as a co-lead, and settles the question of whether mainline RE still "does" slow horror after Village's action swing. Answer: yes, by alternating both.