Dear Capcom, Please Don’t Let Requiem Become Another Resident Evil 6

I’ll always remember my first time sitting down with Resident Evil 6. I was a super cool teen at the time, so to afford a copy I traded in loads of old games I didn’t play. Sadly, it wasn’t worth the sacrifice. At the time, Capcom was eagerly chasing the action-packed excess of Western franchises like Call of Duty and Gears of War, convinced this is what fans wanted, meaning its flagship series left the survival horror that made it so special behind.

The sixth entry has its defenders, and even I can garner up some positive things to express about Leon’s campaign. But the game is ultimately an overstuffed and underdeveloped mess of convoluted narrative and mechanical ideas. It aims to be so grandiose that it loses sight of its own identity. Gunplay feels worse, few characters are fleshed out, and set pieces are ripe with bullet sponge enemies and excessive quick-time events. It’s a mess, and precisely why Capcom essentially rebooted the series five years later with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.

And ever since, we’ve seen this universe grow with returning characters, new plotlines, and a gameplay formula that values both action and horror in equal measure. But with Resident Evil Requiem next year, I hope it doesn’t veer too far in the wrong direction.

Leon Kennedy Is Going To Be A Huge Part Of Resident Evil Requiem

Unveiled at The Game Awards last week after months of rumours and speculation, Leon Kennedy will indeed be a playable character in Resident Evil Requiem. He will share the spotlight with Grace Ashcroft across a singular campaign in which their playtime is equally split. That means for half of the game we will be playing as an anxious bookworm, and the other features an action hero with a love of excessive firepower and cheesy one-liners.

This won’t be two separate campaigns like in Resident Evil 2, but a consistent journey in which I imagine Grace and Leon will eventually meet up and work together before heading to the ruins of Raccoon City. Whatever they are searching for must await them there, since it has featured prominently in every single trailer and doesn’t appear to be where the narrative begins. Umbrella might have gone under, but its evil continues to permeate across the globe.

Grace is a relatively timid woman who wasn’t trained to wield massive firearms or take out an army of the undead, so much of her gameplay will be spent hiding from horrors with her only ever confronting them when there is no other choice. But this is also how players first knew Ethan Winters, a man thrown into extraordinary circumstances in which he needed to defend himself. I can see Grace learning to fight back throughout the campaign until she is able to stand alongside Leon during the climax. The majority of Resident Evil protagonists experience this arc, and why should Requiem be any different?

But I hope this dual protagonist approach doesn’t inadvertently abandon the survival horror potential this game has, because there is such a delicate balance to be struck. We’ve seen the series fail this before, and since Village and Resident Evil 4 both had evident love for all things action, Requiem could easily make the same mistake. But both of these games also understood something that Resident Evil 6 didn’t — characters and story in this series matter, regardless of how action-packed the gameplay becomes.

Resident Evil Requiem Could Easily Be The Best Of Both Worlds

Leon’s reveal last week was predictably badass. When he stepped on screen, he wasted no time roundhouse kicking zombies in the face and blasting them in the head with a laughably massive pistol. This isn’t his first rodeo, and our boy knows just how serious this threat truly is. But that doesn’t stop him from delivering dad jokes or using a silly amount of dry shampoo to keep his luscious locks in order. Leon is going to be a hero of unparalleled power, and I can’t wait to take out hordes of biohazard beasties with him.

But one of the things that Resident Evil 4 did so well — both the original game and its more recent remake — was balance action and horror. Yes, you were capable of blowing away all enemies you came across, but there was a consistent anxiety present whenever a group of villagers were walking towards you. Did Leon have enough space and ammo to take them on? Fast reflexes and intimate knowledge of combat mechanics were needed to come out on top. Later on, when you stumble upon foes like the Regeneradors, this feeling is amplified tenfold. You were incredibly powerful, but at the same time you never felt safe.

Resident Evil 6 had so many enemies and so much ammo that it felt like you were mowing down bullet sponges and pulling off silly karate moves all the time, not to mention that way too many characters and campaigns meant you never truly felt invested in any of them.

I’m confident that Requiem can strike the same balance, but it could so easily fall into the wrong direction and deliver a game that isn’t scary and doesn’t offer enough action to make up the difference. Maybe I’m still dealing with PTSD over Jake’s campaign in Resi 6, and I am worrying over nothing, but I love this franchise the most when it manages to offer up a mixture of spine-tingling horror and adrenaline-fueling action in equal measure. We know it can do both, so don’t let us down, Requiem.

Resident Evil Requiem

Released

February 27, 2026

ESRB

Mature 17+ / Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Strong Language, In-Game Purchases

Engine

RE Engine

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