Resident Evil Requiem : Changing the Perspective

Capcom officially announced the next mainline entry in the Resident Evil franchise at the end of this year’s Summer Games Fest Showcase. Titled Resident Evil: Requiem and releasing on February 27, 2026, it is the official follow up to 2021’s Resident Evil Village and the latest Resident Evil game since 2023’s Resident Evil 4 remake. During their announcement, Capcom touted Requiem as the biggest and most ambitious Resident Evil entry yet, and one that’s going to be both the scariest and the most meaningfully action-packed entry yet.

During Summer Games Fest Play Days, we got to see an 18-20 minute hands off, behind closed doors, extended demo of the game. For a franchise that usually picks a lane between survival horror or action, hearing Capcom describe this latest entry as one that specifically does both is certainly peculiar. Based on the demo we saw, we didn’t see how that blend will ultimately pan out, but we got to see a glimpse of the “scary part,” at least. And let me tell you, it’s certainly poised to deliver on that part.

In the demo, you play as Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of Resident Evil: Outbreak protagonist Alyssa Ashcroft, as she’s escaping captivity from an as yet unknown captor. While you see Grace in her entirety during the cutscene, the game immediately switches to the first person perspective that’s been a staple of the mainline entries since Resident Evil 7: Biohazard . On the tone and vibe of the next 18-20 minutes, the vibe absolutely captured the slow, dreary, dreadful nature of Biohazard more than the action-packed, fantastical Village.

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However, easily the biggest announcement of the demo was the fact that Resident Evil Requiem will be the first to let the player toggle between first and third-person perspectives. And from the brief sequences we saw, it can be switched in real-time, with gameplay proceeding exactly as you would expect. While we need to wait until we go hands-on to know for sure, it seems that Capcom has solved the age-old debate once and for all.

As the first Resident Evil entry for this generation of consoles finally untethered from last generation, Resident Evil Requiem showcases an improved photo-realistic level of fidelity for the series. Powered by the RE Engine and running on a PlayStation 5 Pro, per Capcom’s representative, the dark, enclosed environment that Grace slinked around in looked absolutely stunning, with the level of detail really standing out once a terrifying creature entered the environment and started chasing Grace around. The sequence felt like a marriage of Biohazard’s slightly grounded visual style mixed with the sense of dread in Village’s House Beneviento set piece.

While the demo didn’t showcase how combat will work (and I hope we get to see more of that with the claims that they want this entry to also be the most action packed one yet), from the spooky side of things, the sequence delivered in spades, and it makes me excited to see how the package comes together as both their scariest and most action-packed entry yet. Look forward to more coverage of Resident Evil Requiem as we lead up to its release on February 27, 2026

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