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Currently Playing: Resident Evil Requiem Is A Disjointed (If Fun) Mess

Resident Evil Requiem is all over the place, both gameplay and story-wise. Requiem is the messiest game in the series since 6. But it can be a fun mess, if disjointed. • PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/boulderpunch • ONE-TIME DONATIONS: https://ko-fi.com/boulderpunch • DISCORD: https://discord.gg/2AfRXbM2hg DISCLOSURE: Capcom provided me a review key for Requiem. UPDATE: Capcom announced on March 4th, 2026, the game hit 5 million sales after one week of release. Looks to be the fastest selling title in the series yet. Going into Resident Evil Requiem, I had grave concerns. Split the survival horror and action-heavy gameplay and place them in one game? A game that is divided that way surely will not stand, will it not? Where both sides don't receive the level of polish and care required? Why not continue the route they took with Resident Evil Village and take another attempt at merging the two approaches? I had concerns that Requiem would feel like a disjointed mess. Like a game frankensteined together from scrapped ideas. And after completing Requiem? Yes, I did find it to be a disjointed mess. And yet...there is still plenty of fun within. They did manage to pull off the split better than expected. There are some of the highest highs of the RE Engine era of Resident Evil. After a slog of a prologue, once you get settled into the Care Center, the game takes off. Well, after an uninspired stalker section that Capcom needs to drop moving forward. The survival horror stretches with Grace in the care center are fantastic. The greater emphasis on Zombie AI and how they interact with one another added a fresh, welcome layer. There are some great tweaks to the layers of decision making and resource management. Of course, the quality does drop off as Requiem progresses. Nothing new for the franchise. Where it made me wonder had they went with a sole survival-horror focus, how the game could have looked. As great as this stretch is, it felt like they only dipped their toes in the water with what they could do with enemy types. And on the action side of Requiem? There was an early encounter that won me over. You know, they may be able to pull this gameplay split off. Which, they did. To an extent. But not to the level I was hoping after that early game encounter as Leon. His stretches are a bit paint-by-numbers. There are a few tweaks from the remake of 4, but nothing that's a major leap forward. The combat still lacks much of the punch and rewarding nature found in the 4-6 era back in the day. So while Requiem can have some of the highest highs of the RE Engine Era, it also has some of the lowest lows. More in the back half. The game's pacing loses its momentum and can come to a grinding halt. There is an uninspired stalker section that Capcom needs to let go of moving forward. They've had their time in the sun - time to move on. There are too many walking simulator stretches that will put a damper on the game's replayability. There's a severe lack of puzzles. And the plot of Requiem? Oh boy. Now, the plot of Resident Evil has always been a mess. But Requiem takes it to a whole other level. Plot contrivances run amok. The character split between Grace and Leon leads to hampering some of Grace's growth as a character. Unclear character motivations. But worst of all is how much Requiem decides to muck around with past established lore. Ones that make an already convoluted lore sink even further. A back half that ramps up on nostalgia that rings hollow and uninspired. Resulting in the game limping over the finish line. Which is nothing new for the series, but not to this extent. This split of gameplay and lackluster story results in Requiem lacking a strong identity. However you felt about Resident Evil 7 and Village, they had their own distinct, strong identities. That is lacking in Requiem. If they focused on one gameplay choice instead of splitting, or took another crack at merging like they did with Village? I would have liked to see how that Requiem would have looked. Requiem is the messiest game in the franchise since Resident Evil 6. But it is messy in a different way. 00:00 - Prelude 05:07 - The Opening of Requiem 09:08 - Gameplay of Grace Ashcroft 24:05 - Gameplay of Leon Kennedy 30:21 - Major Beats & Sections of Requiem 01:24:42 - Further Talk on Plot & Lore 01:36:34 - Where does Resident Evil Go From Here? 01:40:36 - On Future Additional Content For Requiem & Conclusion 01:45:11 - Post-Video Q&A Additional Footage: • Amnesia: The Bunker • Clock Tower • The Evil Within 2 • Resident Evil (1996) • Resident Evil 2 Remake • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis • Resident Evil 3 Remake • Resident Evil 4 (2005) • Resident Evil 4 Remake • Resident Evil 5 • Resident Evil 6 • Resident Evil 7 • Resident Evil – Code: Veronica • Resident Evil: Revelations 2 • Resident Evil Village • Resident Evil Zero #boulderpunch #residentevil #residentevilrequiem