Capcom Resident Evil Requiem: Everything You Need to Know

If you are searching for Capcom Resident Evil Requiem, you are probably trying to figure out whether this latest entry is actually a return to classic survival horror or another action-heavy Resident Evil game. The answer is more interesting than a simple yes or no. Resident Evil Requiem deliberately splits its experience between two very different protagonists: FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and veteran agent Leon S. Kennedy.

That difference is the key to understanding the game. Grace’s sections emphasize fear, limited resources, exploration, puzzles, and avoiding enemies, while Leon brings heavier weapons, melee combat, and the aggressive survival-action style associated with Resident Evil 4. Capcom released the game on February 27, 2026, making it the ninth mainline Resident Evil title.

After playing through the game, the most useful way to look at Requiem is not simply as “Resident Evil 9.” It is Capcom’s attempt to combine two different eras of the franchise without forcing every character into the same gameplay style.

What Is Capcom Resident Evil Requiem?

Resident Evil Requiem is a survival-horror and action game developed and published by Capcom. It returns the series to Raccoon City, the setting at the heart of some of Resident Evil’s most important events.

The game follows two protagonists:

• Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst and newcomer to the series
• Leon S. Kennedy, one of Resident Evil’s most recognizable returning characters

Grace has a personal connection to Raccoon City’s history through her mother, while Leon returns to the place where his own bioterror nightmare began. Capcom described the game’s title as having several layers of meaning, including a remembrance for Grace’s mother and the people affected by the original Raccoon City disaster.

The game is therefore doing more than bringing back a familiar location. It uses Raccoon City to connect the franchise’s past with its newer direction.

When Did Resident Evil Requiem Release?

Resident Evil Requiem launched on February 27, 2026. It is available for:

• PlayStation 5
• Xbox Series X|S
• PC
• Nintendo Switch 2

The PC version launched through Steam, where it has maintained an overwhelmingly positive English-language user rating.

Why Raccoon City Matters Again

Raccoon City is more than a nostalgic location.

For Leon, the city represents the beginning of his career in biological-threat situations. He entered the original incident as an inexperienced police officer and left it fundamentally changed.

For Grace, however, Raccoon City is something she understands largely through investigation and family history. She does not have Leon’s combat experience or familiarity with monsters.

That contrast gives the setting two meanings.

For Leon: Raccoon City is unfinished business.

For Grace: Raccoon City is a terrifying mystery.

This is one of the smartest choices Capcom made. Instead of making every character react to the setting in the same way, Requiem lets their personalities determine how the environment feels.

Capcom’s director has also explained that the development team intentionally wanted to return to the overarching narrative surrounding Raccoon City and the Umbrella Corporation after the Winters-focused stories of Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village.

Grace Ashcroft: The Horror Side of Requiem

Grace is arguably the most important character for understanding what Capcom wanted from the horror side of the game.

She is not another super-soldier.

She is an FBI technical analyst who finds herself in situations far beyond what she is comfortable handling. That vulnerability changes everything from exploration to combat.

When Grace is frightened, the game communicates it through her behavior. Her breathing becomes more noticeable, her hands can shake while aiming, and her reactions make encounters feel less like a shooting gallery and more like a genuine survival situation.

Why Grace Feels Different

With Grace, your first instinct should not always be:

“How quickly can I kill this?”

Instead, ask:

• Can I avoid this enemy?
• Do I really need to spend ammunition?
• Is there another route?
• Do I have enough healing supplies?
• Is this enemy actually worth fighting?

That creates a very different rhythm from Leon’s sections.

Grace’s inventory is also deliberately restrictive. In the hands-on material, she began with a small inventory capacity, meaning players had to make decisions about what to carry and when to return to storage.

This is classic survival-horror design, but Requiem gives it a modern presentation.

Leon S. Kennedy: When Resident Evil Becomes Action

Leon represents the other half of the game.

If Grace makes you nervous about opening a door, Leon makes you wonder how many enemies are waiting behind it.

His gameplay takes strong inspiration from the modern Resident Evil 4 formula. He has stronger weapons, more combat options, improved melee abilities, and considerably greater confidence in dangerous situations.

His signature melee weapon is no longer simply a knife. Leon uses a hatchet, which can be sharpened and used for powerful attacks, parries, stealth takedowns, and certain environmental interactions.

He can also use firearms such as pistols and shotguns, while his inventory resembles the grid-based organization associated with the Resident Evil 4 remake.

Leon’s Combat Philosophy

Playing Leon rewards a much more aggressive approach:

1. Stagger enemies with firearms.
2. Close distance when appropriate.
3. Use the hatchet for melee attacks or parries.
4. Control groups rather than focusing on only one target.
5. Use the environment and available resources efficiently.

One particularly interesting weapon is the Requiem revolver, which delivers substantial stopping power but has limited ammunition capacity. That makes it powerful without completely destroying the game’s resource-management element.

Grace vs. Leon: The Biggest Difference

The simplest comparison is this:

Feature	Grace Ashcroft	Leon S. Kennedy
Main style	Survival horror	Survival action
Combat	Limited	Powerful
Resources	Scarce	More generous
Inventory	Small and restrictive	Larger grid-based case
Melee	Basic/limited	Hatchet and advanced attacks
Enemy strategy	Avoid or distract	Fight and control
Atmosphere	Fear and vulnerability	Tension and adrenaline

This isn’t just a character swap.

The two campaigns are designed to make you feel differently.

That is one of Requiem’s biggest strengths.

First-Person or Third-Person: Which Is Better?

One of Requiem’s most useful features is its flexibility with perspective.

You can experience the game in first-person or third-person, rather than being locked permanently into one viewpoint.

First-Person

First-person is particularly effective with Grace.

You lose some awareness of what’s happening around your character, which makes dark corridors and unexpected encounters more stressful.

It also makes Grace’s physical reactions more noticeable.

If you want maximum tension, first-person is the better starting choice.

Third-Person

Third-person gives you greater awareness of your surroundings.

That can make exploration easier and is especially useful during Leon’s combat-heavy sections.

It also lets you appreciate the character animations and movement more clearly.

My practical recommendation: play Grace primarily in first-person and Leon primarily in third-person on your first run. Then experiment with the opposite perspectives during a replay.

One of Requiem’s Most Interesting Mechanics

One of the game’s less obvious strengths is the way Grace and Leon can affect the same spaces.

If you return to an area with the other character, certain changes can remain.

For example, enemies defeated by one protagonist may remain defeated when the other enters the same location, while resources collected earlier can also affect what remains available.

This creates an unusual relationship between the two campaigns.

Imagine Grace entering an area where she barely survives because she cannot defeat a powerful enemy. Later, Leon arrives and has the weapons and experience to eliminate that threat.

The location has effectively changed meaning.

That is more interesting than simply giving two characters separate levels.

Three Details That Make Requiem More Interesting Than It First Appears

1. The characters change how you interpret the same environment

A corridor that feels almost impossible with Grace can become a combat arena with Leon.

This means the level design isn’t only about geography. It is also about character capability.

2. Some enemies retain traces of their former behavior

Requiem introduces infected enemies with behaviors connected to their previous lives. That can make encounters less predictable because you aren’t always dealing with creatures whose only purpose is to attack immediately.

This is a clever horror technique: observing an enemy can sometimes tell you more than immediately shooting it.

3. The horror works partly because Grace is not prepared

A common mistake in horror games is making the protagonist too capable.

Grace solves that problem.

Her vulnerability isn’t merely a story detail. It affects combat, movement, resource management and even the way you approach a room.

That makes her campaign feel fundamentally different from Leon’s.

Combat and Resource Management Tips

If you’re starting Requiem, don’t treat ammunition as something you are supposed to spend constantly.

With Grace

Prioritize:

• Avoiding unnecessary fights
• Exploring carefully
• Conserving healing items
• Using environmental distractions
• Learning enemy behavior
• Returning to storage when necessary

A powerful weapon doesn’t automatically mean you should use it.

Sometimes the best victory is simply reaching the next room alive.

With Leon

You can be more aggressive, but don’t become careless.

Use his melee abilities to conserve ammunition when safe. His hatchet can become an important part of your combat rhythm, especially when you learn enemy attack patterns.

Also pay attention to weapon upgrades. Leon’s arsenal uses familiar weapon-stat concepts such as power, stability, precision, rate of fire, reload speed and ammunition capacity.

Difficulty Options and Replayability

Requiem also gives players different ways to approach its difficulty.

Casual mode is designed for players who want to focus more on the story and puzzles, while higher settings increase the survival challenge. One particularly nostalgic option brings back limited saving through ink ribbons, echoing older Resident Evil games.

That makes the game more accessible without removing the harder experience for longtime fans.

Replayability also comes from understanding how Grace and Leon interact.

On a first playthrough, you may simply survive.

On a second playthrough, you can start thinking strategically:

• Which enemies should Grace actually fight?
• Which resources should be saved?
• Can Leon make better use of an area later?
• Which perspective works best for each section?
• Can you optimize upgrades and inventory space?

That turns familiar sections into something closer to a puzzle.

Is Resident Evil Requiem Scary?

Yes, but its horror is deliberately uneven.

Grace’s sections are the frightening part.

Leon provides a release from that tension, but his encounters can still be dangerous.

This creates a useful rhythm:

fear → relief → action → tension → fear

Capcom’s developers have specifically discussed using Leon’s more action-focused sections to create breathing room while allowing Grace’s portions to push the horror further.

That approach works because constant horror can eventually become exhausting.

The contrast makes the scary sections more effective.

Common Mistakes New Players Make

Fighting everything

You don’t need to kill every enemy, especially as Grace.

Spending powerful ammunition too early

Save high-damage resources for situations where they provide a real advantage.

Ignoring inventory organization

A badly organized inventory can become a bigger problem than an enemy.

Treating Grace like Leon

This is probably the biggest mistake.

If you play Grace as though she has Leon’s combat ability, you will waste resources and create unnecessary danger.

Never changing perspective

If you dislike first-person or third-person at first, experiment with the other option. Requiem was designed around both perspectives rather than simply adding one as an afterthought.

Is Capcom Resident Evil Requiem Worth Playing?

For Resident Evil fans, the answer is strongly positive.

The game has received favorable critical and player reactions. GameSpot awarded it an 8/10, while its Steam version has maintained an overwhelmingly positive English-language rating.

The bigger question is what kind of Resident Evil experience you want.

Play it if you want:

• A return to Raccoon City
• A new protagonist with a more vulnerable perspective
• Leon S. Kennedy’s return
• Survival-horror exploration
• Resident Evil 4-style combat
• First- and third-person options
• Resource management
• A story connecting different eras of the franchise

You may be less impressed if you wanted a single, completely consistent gameplay style from beginning to end. The deliberate contrast between Grace and Leon can sometimes feel like you’re moving between two different Resident Evil games.

But that contrast is also what makes Requiem memorable.

FAQ

Is Resident Evil Requiem Resident Evil 9?

Yes. Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth mainline Resident Evil game. Capcom positioned it as a major return to the Raccoon City storyline while continuing the broader narrative of the franchise.

Who is the main character in Resident Evil Requiem?

There are two central playable protagonists: FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and veteran agent Leon S. Kennedy. Grace focuses on survival-horror gameplay, while Leon provides a more combat-oriented experience.

Is Resident Evil Requiem scary?

Yes, particularly during Grace’s sections. Her limited combat ability, scarce resources and frightened reactions make these portions much closer to traditional survival horror than Leon’s action-focused gameplay.

Can you play Resident Evil Requiem in third person?

Yes. Requiem supports both first-person and third-person perspectives, and you can switch the perspective rather than being permanently locked into one style.

What platforms is Resident Evil Requiem on?

The game is available on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC and Nintendo Switch 2. It launched in February 2026.

Do I need to play previous Resident Evil games first?

No. Capcom designed Requiem to be approachable for newcomers who have never played Resident Evil. However, players familiar with Leon, Raccoon City and the franchise’s history will recognize considerably more connections and references.

Conclusion

Capcom Resident Evil Requiem succeeds because it understands that Resident Evil has never been just one type of game.

Grace represents the vulnerable survivor: limited resources, frightening enemies, exploration and uncertainty. Leon represents the experienced veteran: stronger weapons, melee combat, confidence and controlled aggression.

Putting those two experiences into one game could easily have become messy. Instead, Capcom uses their differences as the central design idea.

The most important thing to remember is simple: don’t play Grace like Leon. Let Grace’s fear and limitations shape your decisions, then enjoy the cathartic change when Leon gives you the tools to fight back.

For longtime fans, the return to Raccoon City gives the story emotional weight. For newcomers, Grace provides an accessible way into the franchise. And for players who enjoy both horror and action, Requiem offers a rare combination that lets each style make the other feel stronger.

That balance is ultimately what makes Resident Evil Requiem one of the more interesting modern entries in Capcom’s long-running survival-horror series.