At Summer Game Fest this year, I was given the opportunity to go behind closed doors to gain information about Resident Evil Requiem. During this behind-closed-door event, I was anticipating just getting some information about the game, as well as a breakdown of the SGF/Reveal trailer (which I will link below). However, much more transpired than I anticipated. I am honored to share what I learned about Resident Evil Requiem.
Reveal Trailer:
Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth mainline entry of the franchise. Players will assume the role of Grace Ashcroft. Players who played Resident Evil Outbreak will recognize the last name. Our protagonist is the daughter of the female lead of RE Outbreak, Alyssa Ashcroft. Grace will be facing her fears as she returns to Racoon City, the place where her mother supposedly died. During the presentation, the game director stated that Resident Evil Requiem will return to the survival horror formula while changing it up. They kept stating, they want the game to be “addicting fear”. A gameplay trailer was also shown to those who attended.
Towards the end of the reveal trailer, we see Grace strapped down to a device, yelling for help. The gameplay trailer picks up right after this. It shows Grace calming herself down, looking at the environment, and planning a way to escape. During this process, she notices that her blood is being taken from her via a syringe and a blood jar (made of glass). This is where Grace uses her FBI skills to escape. Grace grabs the cord, pulls it until the blood jar falls and breaks on the ground. From there, she pulls it up and uses it to cut the bindings holding her down and escapes.
The game shifts to first-person view as Grace is walking around this location, which appears to be the Wrenwood Hotel, given the context clues of the reveal trailer (I could be wrong here). Grace moves slowly while breathing heavily, which shows clearly that she is very scared and cautious. During her movement, Grace encounters areas that are completely pitch black, so she does not investigate due to how dark it is. Eventually, Grace gets to a door that is shut, which prompts Grace to find a fuse to open the door.
During the exploring, Grace comes to where the fuse is located, but needs to find a screw driver. However, she does find a lighter, which will illuminate the dark paths. Grace backtracks to a room that she could not previously explore due to how dark it is. Grace uses the lighter, which provides some light, enough to explore the dark room, which appears to be a storage room of some kind. As she continues to venture through this room, Grace finds a dead body, which appears to be infected somehow (cause of death), and a key.
Suddenly, a large monstrosity creature appears out of nowhere, hiding in the darkness, eats the dead body, and begins to chase after Grace. This creature is huge, both in length and width. My first assumption is that it could be Lisa Trevor, but that only raises more questions. Regardless, this creature can move quickly to catch Grace. Additionally, the creature can move through open doors and travel through the ceiling. It is quite frightening. Grace is basically in escape mode, trying to find where to go and what to do.
Eventually, Grace unlocks a door and finds a screw driver. However, as she leaves, the monster intercepts Grace, leaving her to run to the starting point of the presentation, where she is restrained. Grace waits there for a bit, then ventures back out again to run to the fuse. Once the fuse is obtained, Grace runs to the fuse box to escape. During this whole moment, this large creature has been constantly giving chase. This added to the sense of urgency. Everyone in the theater watching this was fully immersed. Some people were literally gasping too during the whole demonstration.
Eventually, Grace reaches the closed shutter, inserts the fuse, presses the button, and immediately begins crawling under the shutter, not waiting for it to rise fully, as this monster was right on her heels. During Grace’s crawling through the shutters, Grace stops and begins screaming as the screen fades to black. It is assumed that she did not fully escape from this, but who knows what her fate may be.
From here, there was one more thing shown to the crowd in the theater for Resident Evil Requiem. The game loads back up, and it is showing the option menu. At this point, the options are scrolled through until it gets to a particular option is reached. This option is for viewing the game from Grace’s perspective. It is revealed at this point that players can shift the gameplay from First Person view to Third Person view at any point during the game as they toggle it back and forth. At this point, the theater yelled a variety of cheers, such as “HELL YES, LET’S GOOOOOO”. I know I certainly cheered here.
This also let me think, how would this work in Resident Evil Requiem? If you can switch on the fly, does the game adapt to the setting? Time will tell how this will go. Regardless, the gameplay does live up to the promise of returning to the horror roots. I am excited to see more of this game as it gets closer to the February 2026 release date. If Resident Evil Requiem does a successful transition back to the survival horror routes, this would be a bold change-up in the formula. I am here for it.
Special thanks to the Capcom team for the opportunity to view this gameplay trailer and write about it.
- Until next time, mgs2master2 out!