《Resident Evil 9: Requiem》 Game Introduction

Capcom’s brand-new survival horror title Resident Evil 9: Requiem is set to launch soon. This latest entry brings sweeping, transformative changes to the nearly 30-year Resident Evil franchise. It carries forward two core lineages of the series while overhauling gameplay and design on a massive scale, aiming to reignite veteran players’ tense nerves once again.

This masterful entry weaves together the slow, deliberate, resource-management-focused survival horror spirit of the series’ early works—an ethos reinforced in Resident Evil 7 and the Resident Evil 2 Remake—while retaining the taut, action-driven pacing of the Resident Evil 4 Remake. Its dual-track design strikes an unprecedented balance between atmospheric dread and responsive gameplay.

Talkative Undead

Zombies stand as the iconic symbol of Resident Evil, yet the infected encountered in Requiem represent a stark evolution. Far more than mindless shambling corpses, they retain fragments of their human personalities and old habits from before their transformation.

Producer Nishi Ishi revealed that most of these zombies were infected by the virus only recently, leaving residual linguistic and behavioral memories intact. During hands-on gameplay tests, developers witnessed pairs of zombies shambling side-by-side, spouting disjointed, nonsensical dialogue at one another as if rehashing mundane daily conversations from their past lives.

Previous Resident Evil titles have featured fleeting moments of vocalized undead dialogue: the iconic “itchy, tasty” line scrawled in the caretaker’s diary from the original Resident Evil, or the quiet apologies uttered by zombified Brad Vickers in the Resident Evil 3 Remake. Requiem, however, marks the first time talking zombies are baked into the game’s core design philosophy.

Retained Personalities & Routines Shape Every Encounter

The zombies’ lingering human identities directly inform combat and level design. Each undead retains the occupation and behavioral patterns they held in life, making every confrontation feel unique. For example, a janitor zombie endlessly scrubs bloodstains in bathroom areas. If players sneak past them on their first meeting, they may cross paths again later in hallways, still fixated on their “cleaning” task.

A towering chef zombie haunts the kitchen, obsessed with preparing his “dinner.” Should players evade him via stealth, future run-ins will see him become a far deadlier threat.
Another female zombie wanders while humming and spinning in circles; upon spotting the player, she lets out a piercing shriek that draws every nearby infected. Medical records recovered from the asylum reveal she was diagnosed with schizophrenia in life. Zombies also wield objects tied to their former routines as weapons, including wine bottles and IV drips.

Zombies as a Harvestable Resource Pool

One of Requiem’s most radical overhauls ties resource acquisition directly to downed zombies. One of the two protagonists, Grace Ashcroft, can extract blood from defeated undead to craft ammunition and other vital survival supplies.

Prior Resident Evil entries framed zombie kills as a net resource drain with no tangible payoff. Requiem flips this formula entirely, letting players replenish vital supplies mid-fight—though the process carries inherent risk. Syringes used for blood extraction occupy limited inventory slots, and drawing blood takes valuable time, creating intense pressure when swarmed by enemies.

Notably, the game automatically marks locations where players leave unharvested blood supplies on the map, allowing players to circle back and collect them later.

Fully Revamped Crafting System

Gone are the days of purchasing recipes directly from merchants; Requiem’s crafting progression system is far more layered and involved. Grace must gather lab samples across the Rodstein Sanitarium and analyze them using specialized machinery. Samples take up precious backpack space, and analysis requires solving molecular arrangement minigames to unlock new recipes.

As players progress, these puzzles grow exponentially more complex. GameSpot described this “extra layer of resistance” design as a device that amplifies the game’s pervasive sense of survival desperation.

Stealth as a Core Gameplay Loop

Stealth is no longer a niche, occasional detour in this entry—it is fully integrated into Grace’s core gameplay loop. Compared to the linear stealth segments of Resident Evil 4, Grace boasts far greater freedom of movement. Players can lure enemies by throwing glass bottles, manipulating environmental noise, and even leveraging the unique quirks of individual zombies to navigate threats.

Players can strike piano keys or smash pottery to draw hostile attention, yet Grace lacks a standard silent instant-kill takedown ability. The sole exception is an ultra-rare purple syringe, capable of instantly neutralizing regular zombies. This item is extremely costly to use, however, making it best reserved for critical, make-or-break scenarios.

Simultaneous Multiple Pursuer Encounters

Following iconic antagonists like the Tyrant, Lady Dimitrescu, and the Baker family, Requiem introduces scenarios where multiple high-threat stalker enemies hunt the player at once. Demo footage showcases towering, blind female giants lurking in shadow, alongside massive, wall-clinging abominations that block tight corridors. GameSpot noted Capcom has fused signature traits of the franchise’s most memorable pursuer villains and unleashed them on players all at once.

Dual Protagonist Distinct Playstyles

Resident Evil 9 returns to the dual-protagonist format of past titles, with sharply differentiated gameplay identities for Grace and Leon. Grace’s gameplay leans into the slow-burn survival horror of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 7, while Leon’s segments channel the action-forward survival combat established in Resident Evil 4.

Players shift from Grace’s tense, creeping stealth to Leon’s fast-paced, weighty gunplay, delivering a stark shift in pacing. Leon benefits from a larger backpack capacity and superior combat prowess.