Resident Evil fans could barely contain themselves when Capcom unveiled the next major installment in their beloved horror franchise: Resident Evil Requiem.
The announcement trailer shown at Summer Game Fest was just a taste of what players will experience when they’re actually dropped into the game itself, though.
Capcom gave me the opportunity to witness some gameplay from Requiem at an invite-only event at Summer Game Fest – and it goes full send on scares from the jump. This could just be the perfect blend of action and horror.
Resident Evil 9 is a sharp turn from Village
Where Ethan Winters was a fairly impervious protagonist who could one-shot a werewolf with half a handgun, Grace Ashcroft – the apparent daughter of Outbreak’s Alyssa Ashcroft – is far less skilled in combat. Being an FBI agent, she’s familiar with guns and is quite resourceful in stressful situations, but director Koshi Nakanishi warns us that she’s completely out of her depth when sh*t hits in the fan.
Resident Evil Requiem seriously brings the scares
From what I saw at the 2025 Summer Game Fest theatrical showcase, Grace awakens upside-down in a medical gurney, where she’s been bound and hooked up to a blood bag. After a brief freakout, she’s able to cut herself free and finds herself trapped inside what appears to be a ravaged facility of sorts with no weapons and (presumably) no idea how she got there.
The atmosphere of Requiem is instantly suffocating; even though I wasn’t playing, I immediately felt terrified of what could be lurking in the darkness, making what was to come even scarier. I could hear Grace’s panicked breaths in my ears as she navigated pitch-black hallways that could have been hiding all manner of creepy creatures. It was dead quiet, and every noise was dreadfully loud. When footsteps pitter-pattered in the distance, the hair on the back of my neck stood on end.
Our first look at Resident Evil Requiem was nothing short of hair-raising.
Eventually, Grace makes her way to a kitchen and opens a door, out of which a corpse tumbles onto the floor. As she bends down to check it out, a massive, clawed hand comes into frame, panning up to show a hulking monster with huge teeth that wants nothing more than to chomp our protagonist into mincemeat.
This enemy is huge, as if a haggard, elderly woman were stretched and skewed in Photoshop. Her eyes are bugging out of her skull, which is disproportionate to the rest of her hulking body. She’s got an appetite for human flesh, and you’re the next meal on her menu.
CAPCOMThe first – and only – monster we saw in the Summer Game Fest Showcase was massive. In this section of the game, Grace can’t fight – but she can flee.
Resident Evil 9 offers first and third-person from the get-go
There’s no option but to run. Grace — whose running speed is agonizingly slow from what I saw — must flee from the ravenous behemoth, which is seemingly the cause of all the wanton destruction in the facility. If she’s too slow, the monster will catch up to her and gnaw a chunk out of her shoulder. While Grace is able to heal herself using healing stims, it’s currently unclear if these are craftable.
Resident Evil fans will feel right at home. Players must hunt around areas to find items, solve puzzles to proceed, and either fight or flee from enemies. Here, Grace had to find fuses and keys to make her way through the facility.
What kind of enemies, however, remains to be seen, outside of the big monster I saw. We do know that players will be able to switch from first-person to third-person view at any point during the game off-rip. Combat is currently an unknown element, as I only saw Grace in flight mode.
CAPCOMPlayers can switch between first and third-person view at any point in Resident Evil Requiem.
It’s great to get freaked out by a Resident Evil game again; after the action-packed events of Village, Resident Evil 4 Remake, and Shadows of Rose, Requiem marks a true return to the ‘horror’ roots that were so expertly on display throughout Resident Evil 7: Biohazard. And while Biohazard was plenty scary, Requiem is downright terrifying.
Of course, I only got a very small snippet of what’s to come for this highly anticipated title. There are still so many unknowns – but from what I’ve seen thus far, things are already looking thrillingly terrifying.
Resident Evil Requiem releases on February 27, 2026, on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC.
