Now that I’ve had time to regulate my breathing and *ahem* compose myself, I can tell you that my hands on experience with Resident Evil Requiem at Gamescom last week will give my therapist plenty to work on. That’s if I can be vulnerable enough to talk about it. How can a 30 minute demo do such gruesomely beautiful damage to one’s psyche, I hear you say? I will attempt to break this down for you without ACTUALLY breaking down.
Now, if you follow our social channels then you’ll know I champion Resi at any given opportunity. Capcom’s most successful franchise and benchmark for the survival horror genre has given many a sleepless night over the years. I’m looking at you, Resi 7. Damn you, Marguerite Baker! But this… felt different. It’s the same claustrophobic stomach-churner of course, because what is Resi if not anxiety induced pleasure? But if you think our new protagonist, Grace Ashcroft, means Resi has gone soft… Ha-ha-ha.
Our demo begins with Miss Ashcroft awakening upside down, strapped to a gurney, writhing in distress and clearly confused over how she’s gotten into this mess. Upon resourcefully finding a way to break herself free, we begin to explore the room and surrounding halls of our setting. It’s not made clear where we are, though it does appear to be some form of medical wing/makeshift location of horror-manifestation.
One of the key features made available to us on this title is the ability to freely switch between first and third person POV, and as expected, third person does make the tension a *tiny* bit easier to cope with. So naturally I played in first person because I’m here to serve, Collectors! The things I do for you lot, aye…
Grace is clearly weakened from her current state, feeling scared by the way she talks to herself, and her movement is slow and staggered, underlining Capcom’s focus placed on heightening player fear by experiencing our character’s own. How thoughtful of you, Koshi Nakanishi.
Armed only with a lighter and some empty bottles used to “distract” that you find on your exploration, it’s clear why comparisons between this and The Last Of Us have been made. For this guy however, I’d say it’s more like P.T. in the way you’re truly terrified to turn a corner, and with every single sound echoing in your headphones hitting like you’re one step closer to your death. Lovely.
The classic Resi jump-scare arrives in the form of a falling corpse as you open a door, which leaves me shouting “JESUS!” before turning to see the Capcom guy quietly chuckling in my direction. Laugh it up, guy! Though my focus quickly shifts back to the dragging groan in my headphones, and the monstrously sized clawed hand that picks up the corpse like a hotdog and begins to feed. The crunching noise is surprisingly secondary to my fear of this deformed, demonic figure that towers over me. You know when you can literally feel your facial expression slowly change in fear? Yeah, that.
Run.
Of course, run. But Grace, weakened from her recent “medical tests”, is limited in her ability to get hot on her heels. What follows is almost paralysis on my part before being snatched by our stalker… A stalker that makes Mr. X look like a door-to-door salesman… dining at the Grace Ashcroft buffet. Shockingly I survived the bite (I just wanted it to be over, man) and managed to stagger back into the room from which we awaken at the start of the demo. Cornered with nowhere to go, I await the second bite of the protagonist cherry… But with eyes closed, I hear the shrieking pain of the creature as it attempts to cross the threshold, before cowering and climbing up into the ceiling.
There’s something about this room it doesn’t like, and we know it’s not Grace, since it’s had a considerable taste and decided on a second helping.
It’s worth noting I do attempt to distract with an empty bottle upon the next meeting, but I’m wildly unsuccessful before the monster finishes its meal and we’re met with those oh so familiar words:
“You are dead.”
This has been somewhat cathartic to write down, and y’know maybe I’ll cancel that therapy session. After all, February isn’t far away and I’ll have in store more gut-wrenching gore that’ll shake me to my core.
Sorry, I rhyme when I’m nervous.
We hope pre-orders go live soon, Collectors! Keep ‘em peeled…
