Just terrific. A wonderful fusion of the thrilling action elements you might have found in RE4-6, with the heart-racing terror and puzzle systems of 7, 1 and 2. Requiem is the best of both worlds and it was a spectacular ride, with a surprising amount of real heart to its emotional core. Capcom find just the right amount of nostalgia from the series to dedicate to beloved protagonist Leon S. Kennedy, keeping you invested across the mystery and character-building dedicated to new protagonist Grace Ashcroft, who easily has one of the best VA performances I've ever heard in a game - congratulations to Angela Sant'Albano! Just fantastic stuff, wonderfully atmospheric and gripping throughout.

I do think there's some minor critiques worth mentioning: the pacing does stutter in the latter half of the game and there's not a huge amount of replayability here (I did play it through four times to both complete all difficulties/acquire all achievements and get the hidden secret puzzle sorted), so know that you're going in to enjoy the ride as it is. But there are some meaningful changes that make the higher difficulty a worthwhile challenge, along with some fun cheats to unlock that can make it a more relaxed experience too.

Moreover, Zeno and Victor are just average villains. Nothing too impressive or intimidating in and of themselves. But, I'll be frank: it's Resident Evil NINE - where else do we reasonably expect the creators to go at this point? I'm fine with antagonists that serve a middling role in the narrative, they're interesting enough and the enemy variety is great elsewhere.

But I loved it and while it's not my favourite Resident Evil game (RE4 forever!), it's terrific and I think it's a near perfect entry point for newcomers that want a real sense of what the series is all about from a gameplay perspective. But you certainly want to play 2 (at least) before a game like this to get the most out of the narrative, characters and Easter eggs.

One last thing, if you're arachnophobic like me, you'll have a real tough time in a couple of sequences (as of writing, no accessibility mode for this!). I used a mod after my first playthrough to make the spiders appear as pairs of trousers, but here's a list of every moment spiders appear, so you're prepared:

- When Leon approaches the building next to the bridge/overpass, after he enters the cobwebbed area in Raccoon City (you have to go through a gate): the boss intro cutscene.
- The chase sequence with the boss - it bursts through a wall then knocks you through another/pursues you till you close a door on it after breaking through cobwebs.
- The spiderlings appear in an upstairs section, once you round a corner into a room. Some will already be visible once you get upstairs and see the open hallway, but more appear once you go through it and into the next room.
- Immediately after that room, the boss peeks through a hole in the wall and then disappears.
- Upstairs after the ladder: the boss arena, where it climbs down from the roof.

- Then, later: while exploring Raccoon City you can backtrack towards the initial area you were in when you arrive (pre-cobweb area). You do this by going through a gate with a generator, not far from the crane that takes you back to base camp. As you re-enter the subway, near the area where the boss' body is, you enter a train car and 4-6 spiderlings appear from the windows. After this point, in standard difficulty (at least, I'd assume casual as well), there are no more spiders.

- However, on Insanity Mode, once you pass through the Orphanage as Leon (after another boss fight), you'll descend down and eventually cross a small bridge/collapsed platform after exiting a sewage pipe. This leads you into a damaged subway station: there are two sets of spiderlings here. One is an initial group that you'll see on your right as you enter and the second are further down the steps when you move past the first group. When that second group appear, however, you'll be halfway down the steps and two spiderlings will spawn behind you as well. So, you're best off just clearing the first group, then going down till the second lot appear, turning around to get the two that arrive and then backing up to take the second group out at distance.

Happy to provide this information, I know how powerful and unpleasant that sense of anticipation can be and the nasty shock I got from seeing the final appearance yesterday (even with this mod!) was something I wish I'd known about.

Just terrific. A wonderful fusion of the thrilling action elements you might have found in RE4-6, with the heart-racing terror and puzzle systems of 7, 1 and 2. Requiem is the best of both worlds and it was a spectacular ride, with a surprising amount of real heart to its emotional core. Capcom find just the right amount of nostalgia from the series to dedicate to beloved protagonist Leon S. Kennedy, keeping you invested across the mystery and character-building dedicated to new protagonist Grace Ashcroft, who easily has one of the best VA performances I've ever heard in a game - congratulations to Angela Sant'Albano! Just fantastic stuff, wonderfully atmospheric and gripping throughout. I do think there's some minor critiques worth mentioning: the pacing does stutter in the latter half of the game and there's not a huge amount of replayability here (I did play it through four times to both complete all difficulties/acquire all achievements and get the hidden secret puzzle sorted), so know that you're going in to enjoy the ride as it is. But there are some meaningful changes that make the higher difficulty a worthwhile challenge, along with some fun cheats to unlock that can make it a more relaxed experience too. Moreover, Zeno and Victor are just average villains. Nothing too impressive or intimidating in and of themselves. But, I'll be frank: it's Resident Evil NINE - where else do we reasonably expect the creators to go at this point? I'm fine with antagonists that serve a middling role in the narrative, they're interesting enough and the enemy variety is great elsewhere. But I loved it and while it's not my favourite Resident Evil game (RE4 forever!), it's terrific and I think it's a near perfect entry point for newcomers that want a real sense of what the series is all about from a gameplay perspective. But you certainly want to play 2 (at least) before a game like this to get the most out of the narrative, characters and Easter eggs. One last thing, if you're arachnophobic like me, you'll have a real tough time in a couple of sequences (as of writing, no accessibility mode for this!). I used a mod after my first playthrough to make the spiders appear as pairs of trousers, but here's a list of every moment spiders appear, so you're prepared: - When Leon approaches the building next to the bridge/overpass, after he enters the cobwebbed area in Raccoon City (you have to go through a gate): the boss intro cutscene. - The chase sequence with the boss - it bursts through a wall then knocks you through another/pursues you till you close a door on it after breaking through cobwebs. - The spiderlings appear in an upstairs section, once you round a corner into a room. Some will already be visible once you get upstairs and see the open hallway, but more appear once you go through it and into the next room. - Immediately after that room, the boss peeks through a hole in the wall and then disappears. - Upstairs after the ladder: the boss arena, where it climbs down from the roof. - Then, later: while exploring Raccoon City you can backtrack towards the initial area you were in when you arrive (pre-cobweb area). You do this by going through a gate with a generator, not far from the crane that takes you back to base camp. As you re-enter the subway, near the area where the boss' body is, you enter a train car and 4-6 spiderlings appear from the windows. After this point, in standard difficulty (at least, I'd assume casual as well), there are no more spiders. - However, on Insanity Mode, once you pass through the Orphanage as Leon (after another boss fight), you'll descend down and eventually cross a small bridge/collapsed platform after exiting a sewage pipe. This leads you into a damaged subway station: there are two sets of spiderlings here. One is an initial group that you'll see on your right as you enter and the second are further down the steps when you move past the first group. When that second group appear, however, you'll be halfway down the steps and two spiderlings will spawn behind you as well. So, you're best off just clearing the first group, then going down till the second lot appear, turning around to get the two that arrive and then backing up to take the second group out at distance. Happy to provide this information, I know how powerful and unpleasant that sense of anticipation can be and the nasty shock I got from seeing the final appearance yesterday (even with this mod!) was something I wish I'd known about.