The “climbing game” genre surprisingly dense, from strictly mechanics based to games that use it to facilitate a story. Cairn is at the summit of the genre. I recommend it to people who enjoy more hardcore games and those who like stories about connections and the human condition. The mechanical aspect of Cairn is engaging and unforgiving and gives you a sense of improvement throughout the climb. Beyond the satisfying gameplay you see meaningful development of Aava as a character. She’s someone who starts to come off as rude and dismissive but becomes softer after encountering other climbers on the mountain, but her initial character remains intact as someone with a singular passion and focus. I do wish they provided a little more closure to some supporting characters but ultimately this is Aava’s story. The mountain Kami itself becomes something of a character as well. Depending on the route you take you’ll find remnants of people who used to thrive on the mountain as well as remains that it has taken as victims. Beyond simple climbing there are systems that deepen the gameplay like cooking food with different buffs and bandaging individual fingers to keep your grip strength up. Taking little breaks to take care of yourself and watching cutscenes for the plot are good for pacing and kept me engaged.

Requiem is an effective attempt to unify the classic Resident Evil gameplay that old fans enjoy and the newer, more grounded format that the series has become since RE7. It is still your classic Resident Evil fare: large explorable areas with puzzles that require continuous exploration of the map even after you’ve seen everything that’s not behind a locked door. The atmosphere is deeper than ever and this new spin on which character you play affecting the gameplay gives it much more variety and better pacing than the other games. Both experiences are different enough to be independent to each other and yet their cohesion strengthens the game as a whole. I did have some problems with Raytracing crashing the game at launch, but hopefully down the line that will be fixed. That was the only technical issue I had and the game still looked incredible besides.

As Grace, you are vulnerable and must be crafty to be the most effective. The first half or so sees you navigating a Care Center with the modern inventory system and first person perspective. It’s closely related to Resident Evil 7 and Village in that way. You mainly find or craft what you need to survive, or perhaps spend those antique coins laying around at the Parlor. As the game goes on, you will then play more as Leon, an ultimate throwback to classic games. His gameplay is in third-person. He still has his attache case you cram everything into like it’s a Tetris minigame. These sections are less survival horror than Grace’s and more action-packed and over the top, playing like the earlier third person games. In some parts of the game Leon’s and Grace’s paths cross and you’ll play the same areas as both characters. It was cool to see that the stronger zombies Grace can only hope to avoid are instead torn to shreds when you encounter them as Leon, someone who has had so much more experience with the terror of Umbrella Corp. I do wish there were more sequences in the game where both characters are involved in the gameplay though. There is one segment that sees you playing as Leon, covering Grace with a sniper rifle from afar while she makes an escape. It’s cool to see the person you’ve been playing as until then but the sequence feels scripted. If they continue with using multiple characters I hope there is more interactivity between the two during gameplay. Maybe you’d have to protect Grace when you play as Leon like it was in Resident Evil 4, or play as Grace to work some convoluted puzzle while you watch Leon rip and tear to give you time.

Another compelling aspect of both characters is their unique camera perspectives. By default each character adopts their own perspective, but what’s interesting is that you have the option to change it yourself to fit your preference. Play both characters in first person to add immersion to the whole experience, or do the whole thing over the shoulder for something more cinematic. It can be used to add more replayability because the game really does feel different depending on how you play. In previous games it was either always designed that way or added later as an afterthought. In Requiem, the camera options feel like they were designed for both from the start.

To me, Requiem is the best of the modern entries by far. It has the best visuals and the story is more closely tied to the Resident Evil mythos as a whole. I recommend it to nearly everyone who enjoys survival horror and even the die-hard fans of the series who may have lost interest as the story has strayed further from the older characters and Umbrella.