There is a mansion with several locked doors. All of them, you believe, are very dark and infested with zombies. Screaming, large, heaving zombies with blisters on their faces running after you with cleavers and chainsaws in their hands. This is what most of us are given to believe, is Resident Evil. Because all the residents are…evil. Most of us are correct.
Obviously, all of these locked doors must be opened, and all of these zombies must be mutilated in as many creative ways as you possibly can. It’s the only way you can get the spanner, which opens the basement door. And of course, the basement’s the only way to get the key to the admin room. And then, you must go to the admin room, because it has the code to the safe in the chairman’s office. That contains one of the three mystical keys you need to unlock the front door — just one, yes. There’re files and diaries scattered all around with clues, I’m sure you’ll figure out how to get the rest.
Resident Evil Requiem, the 9th major game in the series, released last week. I finished this game in two days, and I am genuinely considering replaying it right now. It gives you the best of both worlds — you get to play as two incredibly different characters. First, there’s Grace. Grace is constantly shocked at the situation that she’s in, and at no point comes to terms with the idea that zombies exist. I spent most of my time running away (because I just couldn’t craft or find enough bullets), and hiding under tables. She’s sometimes a bit annoying, because she breathes very noisily. And that can get a bit panic inducing, because what if the zombies hear me? And I don’t have enough bullets or knives to defend myself? She’s also a bit short — so in close combat you have to do the whole move of raising the gun above your head before shooting. Which isn’t efficient movement, when two zombies are screaming in your ear. But, Grace is also kind of the soul of Requeim, in that she’s a genuine, sweet person, and also is the person you play as in the interesting puzzle solving bits of the game!
And then there’s Leon. You can’t not love Leon. His sleek beautiful hair billowing as he runs up to big monsters, his dismissive quips against the disgusting trolls he encounters. He’s funny and he doesn’t even know it. I have a huge crush on him. I will probably replay this game just to play more Leon. Leon’s parts of the game are a lot more action heavy, and less standard “horror” because of how incredibly overpowered he is with an SMG and a shotgun. They are also the fan service bits of the game, because people who are familiar with RE, have a long standing association with this character. I totally understand why. Without spoiling anything — this is what I can say. Despite Leon being significantly weakened by the t-virus, he takes a lot of large monsters down, and I enjoyed every single one of these boss battles.
I’ve probably already lost a few readers at this point; because nobody really wants to play something that’s advertised as a “horror” game. But I’m going to be honest with you here — Resident Evil is really not that scary! Sure, there are bits of the game that can give you a rush, because there are jumpscares, and the monsters look disgusting and gory. But there isn’t much else to really frighten you in the game. The game is set in a reality so distant from ours, that you can’t help but laugh at some of the situations you are in. There’s actually a monster called ‘Chunk’, which looks like an overgrown baby. It keeps yelling “don’t laugh at me”, as it gently lumbers through corridors. I actually laughed a lot. There’s a lot of comedy here for those who are willing to look past the blood and gore.
The game is currently available on most platforms, including the PlayStation, Xbox, PC, and Nintendo Switch. I received a review copy for the PlayStation 5. It’s an obvious buy for fans of the Resident Evil series, and is recommended for those who enjoy fighting zombies.