Source : the age
There are times in this sport where your hands and chest are genuinely going to hurt because a brilliantly executed jump scare or shock enemy behavior breaks your belief that this is just a game of hokey simulations. However, this is also a love letter to a well-known series that hits all the information that fans will anticipate, including silly mysteries that call for you to turn pedals or find healthy combinations in scientists ‘ information and the return of an enchantingly funny and lovely character despite having a zombie-killing action star.
Requiem is a collision between the two design schools that Capcom developed to revitalize the company after its initial manage became stale and boring more than ten years ago. Resident Evil will turn 30 next year. When at their best, the games have always been usable high-budget B-movies, and this one is a dual function, dichotomously divided between two main characters and two genres of scary.
Grace Ashcroft, a newcomer to the FBI, is a very unpleasant agent who has been abducted by a ghastly doctor who believes she has unique genetic characteristics. She was abducted in 1998 by her mother in strange circumstances. The levels are tense, play-with-the-lights-on horror mazes with few weapons and an emphasis on escape. Grace’s part of the game follows Resident Evil Biohazard ( 2017 ) and Resident Evil Village ( 2000 ).
The 12-hour journey has two main parts, and each one has the feel of a small sequel. As you wander through a gothic intensive care facility, crafting supplies and planning properly as you learn about the monstrosities stalking the halls, how to destroy them, and why they might come up, you see through Grace’s eyes. Her weak breath and whispered pleading ratcheting up the tension as you creep near, a gothic aggressive care center.
As well as Capcom’s usual grotesque visual splendor, creaking floorboards and thumping footsteps give you as much information ( and dread ) as the limited visibility from your lighter or torch. This is where the audio design really shines. It’s a massive facility with ostensibly elegant rooms, cold medical wings, secret labs, and a filthy, wet industrial basement. This, combined with numerous rampaging giant enemies, makes it feel like a fantastic extension of the Baker house from Biohazard.
While Grace chooses what weapons she can carry, she also stores items for later, saves her game on vintage typewriters, and creates zombie countermeasures using blood samples, Leon always has a full arsenal. He can roundhouse kick a head off and has a hatchet that can block chainsaw swings. Both game styles are enjoyable, but since they’re essentially playing the same game, neither one feels particularly on par with the best of their predecessors.
On Grace’s end, not keeping them throughout makes the upgrades and rewards you receive from exploration less valuable. I left a lot of resources in a specific area of the care center and intended to return once I had dumped my items, but I failed to do so until the next scene, which I did. There are plenty of callbacks here for fans of the series, and I enjoyed going back to previous locations and hearing his action hero quips as well. However, RE4 is full of big set-piece moments, despite only four or five of them.
The return of the Raccoon City story also brings some of the worst practices of the anime, including a confusing, confusing plot full of absurd words and anime drama. The main section of the game is not affected by this much, but it does give the connective tissue an overwrought feel as the game moves forward in a direction that needs to explain Grace’s past, pay off Leon’s, and navigate three decades of expanding codswallop.
I can’t deny that some of the schlocky DNA of Resident Evil made some of the nonsense come out on top of my face. However, this kind of thing is a part of the schlocky DNA of the game. These games have a lot of concepts and details ( I really like how the character makes a big play of checking a new clip when you try to reload your gun, but you already have one ), but not so much narrative subtlety ( Leon’s enormous revolver is called Requiem, and the game’s subtitle is only slightly deeper than that ).
The Requiem developers have a clear understanding of what works for the series, in contrast to the car crash of Resident Evil 6, which occurred the last time Capcom attempted to piece all its pieces together. Moments of intense, unpredictable horror are balanced by quiet in a quiet safe room, which combines items to solve puzzles or make healing injections, and examining maps to determine routes. It’s all right and functions just as well as it ever did.
Zombies are more terrifying than in the older games because they have been infected with a modified virus that allows them to retain aspects of their human memories and behaviors ( which also makes them more varied ), but they also evoke the classic shamblers. Every one of them is dangerous, and managing your resources and avoiding panic is how you can get past them.
While there is a difference between finding keys through ducts as Grace and customizing weapons or using chainsaws as Leon, a lovely reverence for the series completes the ensemble. Even the narrative ends on a satisfying note, wacky though it gets in the third quarter.
Disclosure: Capcom gave me a digital copy of the game to review.
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Tim Biggs is a writer who writes about consumer technology, technology, and video games. Use X or email to connect.
