Resident Evil Requiem hands-on preview: Absolute bloodbath in series' goriest game

WARNING: The following preview contains depictions and images of violence, horror and gore which some people may find triggering.

Bloody. Brutal. Gory. Immersive. Scary. Tense. All words that immediately spring to mind after beings hands-on with Resident Evil Requiem for a few hours.

2026 marks the 30th anniversary of the Resident Evil series and Capcom's ninth mainline entry so far feels like a greatest hits of the series but in the best way possible.

Playing as developers intend, there are tense third-person action heavy sequences, slower first-person perspective sections dripping with horror and constant feelings of helplessness and dread - and as all good horror games should do, just when you think you've got it all figured out, something new comes up to take you down a peg or two.

After being hands-on with Resident Evil Requiem for around three hours, this is shaping up to be one of the best games in the series.

Leon Kennedy returns as one of the main playable protagonists alongside Grace Ashcroft / Capcom

The preview I got to play was set entirely within a crumbling asylum festered with infected enemies. It started with Leon going into the asylum and the action started imminently with blood quickly flying everywhere.

Fans of gore are going to absolutely love this. Within minutes, I was wielding a chainsaw and causing absolute chaos.

Leon sections in particular and the way enemies can be taken out are nothing short of brutal.

There was a moment where I cut through one enemy with a chainsaw only for them to back away with the weapon still whirring inside of them.

I had to finish them off using a different method before picking up my chainsaw again and wreaking more havoc.

It's bloody, spectacular and downright satisfying. This is easily the bloodiest and goriest game in the series. And this was all within the opening few minutes of the preview.

However blood, guts and action do not take centre stage throughout.

It doesn't take long before blood starts flying when playing as Leon in Resident Evil Requiem / Capcom

Attention then shifted to Grace as she navigates her way through the asylum which acts as a mazy puzzle filled with grotesque twists and turns.

Grace's default perspective is first-person with Leon's in third-person. These can be switched at any time though.

While Leon's sections feel like a tense, gory action game, Grace's perspective quickly switches to survival horror.

As developers have said, Grace's sections have more of the Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil Biohazard feel whereas Leon's sections are more akin to Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 6 and that really shone through in this preview, with Requiem feeling like the best bits of each of those games.

In this section, in which I spent around two hours carefully figuring out the puzzle presented in the house of horrors, I was thrilled and terrified throughout.

You start with barely anything, instantly giving you that sense of helplessness before slowly finding your way and getting vital resources you need to survive and progress.

There are huge, terrifying monsters that block certain paths or mean you have to carefully navigate around them to begin with. They can be taken down but take a lot of resources to do so.

Notably, they look incredibly grotesque this time around, seemingly in an effort to avoid a repeat of how some of the villains in Resident Evil Village were perceived...

Although resources are scarce, your inventory is even smaller, forcing you to carefully manage what you take with you and leave behind. It can really make the difference between life and death.

Speaking of which, some of the death animations... Wow. They leave little to the imagination.

Going off the beaten path, picking up everything you can and finding out every key little detail is essential to progress.

Grace's sections feel like a completely different game / Capcom

As you progress, there is the ability to upgrade certain elements such as carrying capacity and bullet velocity but this costs currency that can only be found by exploring every corner of the asylum.

As it's a Resident Evil game, expect some element of backtracking but going back down the same corridor is scarcely ever the same due to the additional challenges the game presents as you progress.

Crafting quickly becomes essential, making taking down enemies a necessity as their infected blood is used to create items such as ammo, health stims or bioweapons to fully take out enemies, causing them to basically explode without leaving a corpse behind.

The latter feels unnecessary to begin with as it takes up valuable resources on an enemy you think you've already downed but becomes the main component in stopping you ever thinking you've got it all figured out, which is crucial.

It adds yet another element to this section and coming to terms with some of the questionable choices I made along the way added a new sense of dread or tension without ever feeling demoralising.

It made me determined to learn, not repeat previous mistakes and face what I was presented with.

Crafting plays a crucial role in Resident Evil Requiem / Capcom

The final section from this preview reverted to Leon and in part of it, he has to deal with the choices you make as Grace while trying to solve the huge puzzle. It's really interesting seeing how this section played out.

Away from gameplay for a moment, Resident Evil Requiem looks incredible. Character models are fantastic up close and subtle facial expressions are captured perfectly, especially with Grace.

The sound is brilliant too. Music swells in tense, action heavy moments and the sounds from enemies help to give that sense of dread.

Leon's confident and sometimes corny action hero dialogue perfectly juxtaposes Grace's trembling speech when she’s barely able to string a sentence together at first, attempting to come to terms with what’s happening around her.

And as for some of the sound effects when you take out enemies... Crunchy.

Tension levels have not yet dropped having played through three hours of Resident Evil Requiem / Capcom

So far, Requiem feels a bit like a Resident Evil greatest hits but that is by no means a bad thing.

Taking the best parts of one of the best horror series of all time and bringing them all together in one package is a smart move from Capcom, especially with Resident Evil turning 30.

A greatest hits can sometimes lack a bit of originality or bring anything new to the table but there's plenty of fresh ideas for players to enjoy in Requiem so far.

Hopefully it can do what all good horror games should do and maintain the level of fear and tension throughout without feeling stale - and stand as a great game in its own right despite its obvious influences.

Resident Evil Requiem releases on 27 February on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

Elsewhere from indy100:

• New Resident Evil Requiem Leon and Grace gameplay sends hype into overdrive
• Resident Evil Code Veronica Remake update is extremely encouraging

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