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Like every other survival horror enthusiast on the face of the Earth, I absolutely cannot wait to get my hands on Resident Evil Requiem. I’m looking forward to getting to know Grace Ashcroft, I’m eager to learn more about the new enemies we’ll face, and I’m excited to see an older, more mature version of Leon Kennedy in action. But honestly, the biggest reason I’m hyped for Resident Evil Requiem is that it looks nothing like Resident Evil Village.
Hold the pitchforks and tomatoes for a second and hear me out: I love befanged, big-bosomed vampire ladies, creepy castles, and deadly werewolves as much as the next person. Gothic horror is one of my favorite genres in media, and on paper, Village was the perfect game for me. But as much as I tried, I struggled to enjoy the game because I struggled to buy into its story. I think Village was a really good game, I just don’t think it was a really good Resident Evil game.
Historically, Resident Evil has always been more of a sci-fi horror franchise than a fantasy-horror one. While I don’t fault Capcom for trying something new with Village, the end product felt more like a 10-hour showcase of Universal’s classic movie monsters than a chilling sci-fi adventure, and the latter is what I’m looking for when I pick up a Resident Evil title. To their credit, the game’s writers do explain how these fantasy-horror creatures exist in a world that doesn’t run on magic. The werewolves are a result of gene-splicing, and Lady Dimetrescu is the product of a blood disease and a parasite. But the bottom line is I still ended up in a boss fight with a bunch of floating porcelain dolls controlled by a ventriloquist, sans any actual strings.
This sort of thing would have worked fine in a game based on something like Bram Stoker’s Dracula, in a world where the “how?” doesn’t matter all that much. But as ridiculous as the Resident Evil franchise can often be, I can only suspend my disbelief so far, and playing Village felt like eating a peanut butter and turkey sandwich — the ingredients were great on their own, but when blended together, they left a bad taste in my mouth.
From what we’ve seen so far, Resident Evil Requiem looks like a return to the franchise’s sci-fi roots, following FBI agent Grace Ashcroft and everyone’s favorite former RCPD rookie, Leon Kennedy, as they try to unravel the mystery behind the death of Grace’s mother, former investigative journalist Alyssa Ashcroft. Yes, there will surely be some ridiculous monsters for players to fight, but I get the feeling these baddies will have a better, more realistic backstory than “a parasite turned me into a sexy goth vampire lady.”
I’m not saying Resident Evil games need to be perfectly realistic, because they don’t. Honestly, the franchise is often at its best when the plot goes off the rails. Resident Evil 4 was incredible despite its fever-dream storyline, and Resident Evil 5 saw Chris Redfield punching a boulder out of his way with bare fists in a moment that was undeniably iconic. I’m not saying Resident Evil needs to overexplain itself at every turn. I’m just excited to get back to a version of the franchise where “how?” is a question worth asking, and a question the writers actually bother to answer in a manner that feels believable.
