There is a very specific feeling that only Resident Evil can give you. It is the moment where you open a door, step into a dark corridor and immediately regret every decision that led you there. The music fades, the lighting shifts just enough to make everything feel wrong and suddenly your brain starts warning you that something horrible is waiting around the corner.
Nearly thirty years later Capcom still knows exactly how to deliver that feeling. Resident Evil Requiem might be the most unapologetically fan serviced entry the series has ever produced and honestly I mean that in the best possible way.
This is not a game that tries to hide what it is doing. Requiem constantly reaches back into the history of the franchise and pulls pieces forward for longtime fans to enjoy. Sometimes the nostalgia is subtle but most of the time it absolutely is not. The game knows the people showing up for Resident Evil 9 have likely been here for years, so it leans into the things that made the series iconic.
Leon’s campaign is where that really becomes obvious. Leon has been one of the defining characters of Resident Evil since Resident Evil 2 and Requiem treats that legacy like a playground. His story constantly pulls on moments that echo earlier entries in the series and it often feels like the game is deliberately guiding players through a twisted celebration of Resident Evil’s past.
The most obvious example of that is returning to the RPD. At one point Leon finds himself moving through the ruined remains of the Raccoon Police Department again. Anyone who has played Resident Evil 2 will instantly recognise the layout, the corridors and the general sense of dread that hangs over the building. Even though the place has clearly suffered since the events of the original outbreak, stepping back into those halls carries a strange familiarity.
Capcom absolutely knows what it is doing with that moment. Walking through the RPD again instantly pulls players back to one of the most iconic locations in survival horror and the game wastes no time reminding you why that building became so memorable in the first place.
And just when you think you have the lay of the land… A brand new MR X shows up and punches Leon right in the stomach.
Leon eventually crosses paths with a masked operative known only as The Commander. Anyone familiar with Resident Evil lore will notice the similarities immediately. The gas mask, the red lenses and the ruthless efficiency in combat all point toward a very familiar inspiration.
The resemblance to HUNK is impossible to ignore.
The game never outright confirms the connection but it clearly knows players will make it. For fans who have followed the series for years the encounter feels like one of those deep cut references included specifically for people who know the history of Resident Evil and the strange collection of characters that have appeared throughout it.
All of that builds toward the game’s biggest throwback moment when Leon descends into the ARK facility hidden beneath the ruins of Raccoon City. The underground Umbrella research complex feels like classic Resident Evil territory. Secret labs, questionable experiments and the overwhelming sense that absolutely nothing created down there should have ever existed.
Naturally things spiral out of control.
Then… a Nemesis.
Taken individually any one of those moments would feel like a simple nod to the past. Put together though they turn Leon’s campaign into something closer to a full celebration of Resident Evil history. You return to the RPD, you get hunted by a Tyrant, you clash with a character that clearly channels HUNK and you finish things off battling a Nemesis the ARK facility beneath the ruins of Raccoon City.
If you have been playing Resident Evil for years it often feels like a greatest hits tour through the franchise.
Thankfully the game still works even when you strip away the nostalgia. The core gameplay sticks closely to the survival horror formula the series has refined over decades. Ammo is limited, healing items are precious and every encounter forces you to think carefully about whether fighting is worth the risk or if conserving resources might be the smarter move.
That tension keeps the experience engaging even when the story starts leaning heavily into its more dramatic moments. Resident Evil Requiem still thrives on that balance between creeping horror and explosive chaos that the series has spent years perfecting.
And yes, the story absolutely leans into Resident Evil’s usual brand of melodrama. Shadowy organisations appear, bio weapons spiral out of control and characters continue to make decisions that would never survive a basic risk assessment. It is messy, dramatic and occasionally ridiculous but that chaos has always been part of the franchise’s charm.
Resident Evil Requiem may not completely reinvent the series but it does something that feels just as satisfying. It celebrates everything that made Resident Evil what it is today while still delivering a tense and entertaining survival horror experience.
For longtime fans that kind of fan service could easily have felt lazy or cheap. Instead it feels like Capcom tipping its hat to the series and to the players who have been here through every outbreak, every laboratory meltdown and every absurd mutated monster the franchise has thrown at us.