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Who to game series Resident Evil looks, the first thing you see is the Gothic and neoclassical architecture, drizzly European cities and Western main characters. But just beneath the skin is a typically Japanese form of horror, a fear of the excesses of a militarized and commercialized science that can only lead to the loss of our humanity. And yes: a bit of soap, that too.
With the new Resident Evil Requiem – now officially part nine – Capcom wants to put an end to its very first storyline, about the immoral multinational Umbrella from the first parts. Umbrella developed bioweapons that turned people into monsters. At the time of Requiem it no longer exists, but Leon S. Kennedy – hero of parts 2 and 4 – still has to live with the consequences. When his path crosses with that of young FBI agent Grace Ashcroft, he is forced to battle his monsters one last time.
Requiem uses perspective cleverly. The young, frightened Grace has been kidnapped and taken to an abandoned hotel – if you play her, you look straight through her eyes. She gradually learns to fight against the nightmares in her path, but often finds herself running through dilapidated halls in search of a safe place. You hear her sobs, her sharp breathing – you are right there in her fear.
Grace en Leon
With Leon you look over his shoulder. He is an action hero, who hardly reacts when people are bloodily murdered before his eyes; the player is mainly watching emotionally. It is effective, creates distance when you switch from Grace to Leon. And where bullets are so rare with Grace that you take every shot with some reverence and fear (what if the next monster is even worse?), with Leon the adrenaline flows especially when you can have fun with a machine gun again.
Continues Requiem smooth and as you would expect from a Resident Evil. You search through dank, disturbing areas for the items you need to move on. There are twists and revelations about the main characters that put the story in a different light. There are bosses full of weak spots to shoot at. And of course the game exudes an eerie devastation, a sense of an old world wearing away and rotting away.
Requiem is a slot, the makers did not want to innovate with this game. What the game does is bring the story of Umbrella and Leon to an end as neatly as possible. It succeeds well in this, it is difficult to put the game down. Afterwards, however, little remains in your mind, it is just too neat.
Still: who Requiem plays well, defeats the evil scientist and brings humanity back to the world. That’s fine, you think afterwards. And isn’t that the definition of a successful ending?
