At Summer Games Fest 2025 I got to sit in for a hand-offs preview of Resident Evil Requiem, where I got to see about 20 minutes worth of gameplay, and it felt like a true horror experience. While that demo left me with one major question about the game, the tone and mood feel like it surpasses even Resident Evil 7: Biohazard in terms of horror.
Impressive graphics create a deeply unsettling experience
The demo takes place in a section of what appears to be either a hotel or a hospital. It started with our protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, strapped to a bed and held upside down, while her blood slowly drained into the bottle. I watched as she slowly knocked over the bottle with her blood in it and used the shards to free herself, although not without getting a few cuts. It’s brutal, and even tough to watch in moments, largely thanks to the detail in Grace’s face and her actress’s performance.
After being freed, the game went into its first-person point of view, although at the end of the demo, it was revealed that the game will launch with a third-person mode as well, which felt like it moved and swayed in a way that was more realistic than previous games. It made the horror of sneaking around in the dark hit a little harder.
This part of the game was extremely dark, with only small bits of light here and there, with several of those getting knocked out as Grace explored. She found an exit but needed a fresh fuse to open it. After exploring for a while, Grace found an infected body, which was promptly picked up and eaten by a mutated giant woman, eerily similar to the creature in the film .
Grace was chased by this beast, which broke through walls and destroyed much of what was in its path. We continued with Grace as she found a lighter, a screwdriver, and eventually the fuse needed to escape. Her escape ended the demo, but not before we saw one more chase sequence with Grace. I loved the atmosphere and visuals shown to me in the demo, although I do wish we got to see more in-depth puzzles. Grace did obtain a key during a cut in the demo, which indicates that a more involved puzzle might have been skipped over.
This demo was incredibly captivating and made it clear how much this game has improved graphically over Resident Evil Village. I do have one final question, though.
The demo didn’t feature any combat
During the announcement of Resident Evil Requiem and the intro to the demo, it was made clear that Grace doesn’t have combat experience, so she won’t be pulling off any of Leon’s moves from Resident Evil 4, but Capcom still emphasized that this is a survival horror game. We didn’t get to ask questions, so I wasn’t able to find out, but while I assume Resident Evil Requiem will have combat, I didn’t get to see it.
I am curious how Grace’s lack of combat experience impacts the feel and flow of Resident Evil Requiem. Capcom didn’t allude to this, but perhaps there are more main characters who do have combat experience, or Grace will just pick up a weapon and get to work like Ethan Winters in Resident Evil 7.
Either way, Capcom has been on a hot streak with Resident Evil, and I liked what I saw quite a bit. Resident Evil Requiem arrives on February 27, 2026, on Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 5, and Steam.
