Resident Evil Requiem vs Village Why I'm Still Not Sold

Resident Evil 9 is now officially called Requiem. It looks exciting but it still feels like it's stuck in the shadow of Resident Evil 7 and 8.

Resident Evil has gotten really confusing. There are so many wild things now Ethan and Mia, the Bakers, vampires, werewolves, dragons, mind powers, living dolls, bug people and even a killer like Jigsaw. The games switch between first-person third-person DLCs online modes and special editions. Between Resident Evil 7 and 8 the story has become messy and hard to follow. Capcom is full of creative ideas but the series has lost what made it special. That’s why fans love the Resident Evil 2 Remake it’s simple and grounded. Resident Evil 9 (called Requiem) looks smaller in scale than Village but the first trailer still has some worrying signs.

Resident Evil Requiem takes the game back to Raccoon City which is now destroyed. It brings back Alyssa Ashcroft a character from Resident Evil Outbreak who was briefly mentioned in RE7. The trailer shows the Raccoon Police Department (RPD) building and some zombies. The title screen at the end uses a font that looks like the one from the 2002 Resident Evil 1 remake. It also looks a lot like the cover of the original Silent Hill.

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These small hints suggest that RE Requiem might be more serious than RE7 and Village and closer to the old-style Resident Evil games. But if you're feeling negative it might seem like RE9 is bringing back old ideas instead of doing something new.

That seems likely. It's been almost 30 years since the first Resident Evil game came out. With so many games spin-offs, shows, movies and books plus lots of other horror games copying its style it's hard to imagine a developer creating something completely new. Revisiting popular characters and locations from the series feels like the easier and more expected choice especially if you’ve seen how big games are usually made.

What’s worrying is that even in just a short three-and-a-half-minute trailer Resident Evil Requiem already feels like it has too much story. The best Resident Evil games 1, 2, 3, and 4 had simple plots: get out of the mansion, escape the city, defeat Nemesis save the president’s daughter.

The first Requiem trailer shows a character with a dark past. A hooded killer suffocates someone with a plastic bag. The tagline says requiem for the dead nightmare for the living. The game seems very serious and dark like The Evil Within or other scary games like Layers of Fear or Visage.

Resident Evil used to and still should have a fun silly side. It’s full of over-the-top violence cheesy drama and wild moments. Remember the old warning before the game started: This game contains scenes of explicit violence and gore? Or Leon’s funny action lines in the original RE4 trailers like Monsters. Huh. Guess after this there’ll be one less to worry about? That kind of simple bold style actually makes the game clever and unique.

If the choice is between a new Resident Evil 9 that isn't perfect but tries something different or one that just repeats old ideas for easy fan service then yes the new and different one is better.

I just want a Resident Evil game with fun unique gameplay but still keeps the silly horror-movie feel of the old ones where the heroes are cool the monsters are gross and wild and the story is simple. Requiem doesn’t seem like that yet but I’m hopeful Capcom will surprise me.