From Tokyo: Capcom released Resident Evil Requiem on 27 February 2026 to record-breaking sales. Within five days, the ninth mainline entry in the franchise had sold 5 million copies worldwide, making it the biggest launch in the series' history. The critical response has been largely enthusiastic, with most reviewers awarding it strong scores and positioning it as a worthy celebration of Resident Evil's 30th anniversary.
Yet beneath the commercial success and headline praise lies a creative problem that speaks to broader questions about franchise ambition: Resident Evil Requiem struggles to reconcile what it is supposed to be.
The game features FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, a new protagonist who investigates mysterious deaths involving survivors of the original Raccoon City incident, working alongside returning agent Leon S. Kennedy.Gameplay time is divided almost equally between both characters, each delivering fundamentally different experiences.
Grace's sections continue the first-person survival horror approach of Resident Evil 7 and Village, where players evade enemies carefully; Leon's sections are action-oriented like Resident Evil 4, where he engages enemies head-on. This structural contrast was intentional.Director Koji Nakanishi described it as moving from a hot sauna to a cold bath; the tense sections with Grace contrast with empowering action-filled sections with Leon.
The execution of each half commands genuine praise from critics.Reviewers commend the dual-protagonist setup, noting that Grace thrives on tension-driven survival horror while Leon deploys heavy firepower and one-liners.One critic noted the game pulls off the seemingly impossible task of satisfying both styles in just 10 hours, with every puzzle, corridor, and burst of action feeling necessary rather than padded.
Yet this is where the tension emerges. While each protagonist's campaign works individually, the jarring shifts between fear and empowerment fracture the overall narrative. When a critical story moment occurs—such asGrace's young ward Emily transforming into a monster, a scene meant to create shock and emotional weight—the impact dissolves when Leon immediately arrives to resolve it through gunfire. The emotional stakes built through Grace's careful evasion collapse under Leon's overwhelming firepower.
This structural problem mirrors a previous Capcom stumble.Resident Evil 6 (2012) attempted a similar multi-campaign approach, splitting distinct gameplay styles across different storylines. That game became a franchise low point, widely criticised for abandoning survival horror in favour of action-thriller spectacle. Capcom spent the subsequent decade rehabilitating the series by returning to horror fundamentals in Resident Evil 7 and Village.
The counterargument is compelling:Game Informer called Requiem "Resident Evil at its finest," arguing that the duality of the word "Requiem" speaks to Capcom's success in harmonising the disparate parts of the franchise's past.Another reviewer noted that being composed of disparate styles could have been messy, but Capcom pulled off both intimate horror and action within one consistently entertaining package.
The commercial reality validates Capcom's gamble. By offering something for longstanding fans of both the action era (RE4, RE5) and the horror revival era (RE7, Village), the publisher hedged against alienating either audience.Nintendo Life's review praised the dual protagonist setup and the blend of action and survival horror.
Yet the question remains: is this a triumph of franchise strategy or an admission of creative indecision? Requiem succeeds because each half is genuinely well-crafted. Capcom's technical execution is sound, andthe game uses RE ENGINE to deliver visuals in photorealistic detail. But craftsmanship alone does not resolve the core tension.
The centre-right case for Requiem rests on pragmatism: Capcom faced genuine pressure to satisfy competing constituencies. After six years investing in horror-first design, abandoning that direction would alienate core players. Yet action-focused revenue and accessibility matter too. Rather than choosing a lane and accepting losses, Capcom chose commercial pragmatism—delivering two quality experiences that happen to occupy the same game.
The progressive criticism carries weight as well: creative compromise often dilutes rather than strengthens. A game that knows precisely what it is, even if that choice disappoints some, can achieve thematic clarity and emotional resonance that a divided approach struggles to reach.
The evidence suggests both are partially correct.Critics were divided on pacing and consistency in some sections, even while praising the balance between survival horror and action. Requiem works well enough that most players will find substantial value in whichever half appeals to them. It also reveals the practical limits of trying to serve all constituencies within a single narrative.
For the gaming industry more broadly, Requiem offers a lesson in the cost of franchise fragmentation. Resident Evil has splintered across multiple gameplay philosophies over three decades. Rather than choosing which core identity to champion, Capcom built a game that acknowledges all of them. The result is commercially successful and creatively uneven—a franchise learning to compromise, and discovering that compromise rarely produces elegance.