Resident Evil: Requiem Review (Switch 2 Version)
By Kevin Hoskinson
Entertainment Editor
For being the ninth mainline entry in the franchise, Resident Evil: Requiem is firing on all cylinders. It’s hard to keep the momentum going after 30 years, but somehow Capcom has found a way to keep the magic alive. It hasn’t always been smooth sailing but the last few years has given us some of the best storytelling in the saga of Resident Evil. Starting with part 7, we got a new perspective in terms of gameplay and story, and it reinvigorated everything. The follow up, RE: Village (8), continued to evolve while still managing to give us everything we love. Now we have Requiem, one of the best games I’ve played all year.
In the game you take on the role of dual protagonists; Grace Ashcroft and series mainstay Leon Kennedy. Grace is a young F.B.I. agent who gets pulled into a case that is above her paygrade and Leon is trying to figure out how she is involved. It’s a very cool dynamic, with her being the missing piece of a puzzle and him investigating what the puzzle is. They each have their own unique play styles too, giving us a fun blend of what the series is built on. Playing as Grace is a true survival horror experience along with limited resources. Leon leans more towards more traditional action elements, with him often facing hordes of zombies. It’s a good balance of both and while I preferred the horror that harkens back to RE 1&2, it was nice to be able to bash some heads while playing as Leon again.
The game is great, but what I really want to talk about is how it performs on the Switch 2. This is one of the most impressive ports I have ever seen on a Nintendo system as of late. It’s not even a port really, it was released the same day as every other modern generation system. While Nintendo prides itself on being innovative they aren’t always the best when it comes to keeping up with the processing power of other systems and graphical quality. This system doesn’t change that but compared to the previous Switch it’s a heck of a lot better. Even though it struggles to keep up when there is too much going on at once, the performance is solid throughout, especially in docked mode. I spent most of my time playing handheld and had no issues except for the occasional stutter in textures and frame rate.
Resident Evil: Requiem is a blast and I can easily recommend it for any system. It offers some good scares while also being action packed and offering a compelling story. Getting to play as the two protagonists is fun and never gets old. If you are a fan of the franchise you have probably already picked it up, but if you are on the fence, this is your sign to play it ASAP.
Rating: 4 Pastrami Nations out of 5.
