Resident Evil Requiem

Platforms: PC, PS5, Switch 2, Xbox Series X|S

Upon firing up Resident Evil Requiem for the first time, it recommends you control its new protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, from a first-person perspective, while playing returning hero, Leon S. Kennedy, from a third-person angle. The suggestion is made to ensure fans are fully immersed in the former's nerve-fraying stretches, but still have a front row seat for the latter's enemy-eviscerating action sequences.

But the ninth mainline entry in Capcom's seminal survival horror series is being modest, as there's much more to its dual-protagonist premise than being a mere "feature" that perfectly frames the frights and fights.

On the surface, FBI analyst Ashcroft's sections are incredibly tense, dread-inducing affairs that'll feel (un)comfortably familiar to fans who've suffered scarce resources, limited inventory space, and doors that are locked from the other side. Similarly, those who've braved the franchise from behind fan-favorite Agent Kennedy's hand-cannons will be right at home blasting through hordes of undead or rearranging their ribcages from behind a buzzing chainsaw blade.

Much as with the unseen horrors lurking in Requiem's shadows, however, it's the subtler, nuanced elements of this set-up that'll keep your spine tingling and trigger finger itching. Ashcroft and Kennedy's sections aren't simply separated into fright-fuelled and action-focused, respectively. Rather they're brilliantly, seamlessly, and organically interconnected, regularly bleeding into each other — often literally — to deliver a highly cinematic,  intertwined tale of terror.

Set three decades after Resident Evil 3, the plot sees Ashcroft’s FBI agent investigating  suspicious deaths at the same run-down hotel her mother was murdered in eight years previously, meanwhile Kennedy is on the trail of yet more malfeasance from the Umbrella corporation. Without spoiling a story that's brimming with narrative bombshells, Requiem is at its most imaginative, heart-pounding best when it allows you to experience the same, or similar, moments from both perspectives. At one especially harrowing point, for example, Grace is relentlessly stalked by a massive, blob-like man-child that she's only barely able to evade because its bloated body occasionally gets wedged into tight spots.

Requiem's masterful implementation of its main characters is its standout feature, but that only scratches the surface of its deliciously decaying flesh.

Leon later faces a similar threat, but the encounter unfolds more like a boss battle. Where Grace has no choice but to run from the bulbous beast, Kennedy actively pursues it, using his shotgun and hatchet to ultimately reduce it to a pulsating mass of blood and gore. But again, neither encounter is cut-and-dried, as both sections are packed with equal amounts of action and anxiety.

Requiem's masterful implementation of its main characters is its standout feature, but that only scratches the surface of its deliciously decaying flesh. It also sports an incredibly atmospheric, endlessly immersive presentation that borders on photo-realism, as well as several fresh elements — like the ability to craft items using infected's blood.

The use of dual protagonists might have been a risk, but it elevates the gameplay — and goosebumps — to deliver one of the series' strongest, most cinematic chapters yet and an easy contender for the year's best horror game.