With Resident Evil's 30th anniversary creeping up like one of the iconic survival horror series' signature stalker enemies, anticipation for the franchise's next entry, Resident Evil Requiem, is mounting. But more than just marking three decades of building dread, Requiem represents the series' ninth mainline entry – and one that's promising a number of evolutions for the goosebumps-raising property.

During a recent playable demo of the game, I got to experience a few of Requiem's new, frightening features firsthand. For starters, I had the pleasure of getting behind the quippy one-liners and zombie-poppin' pistol of fan-favorite protagonist Leon S. Kennedy. He's been touted as the game's more combat-focused hero, and our time with the seasoned DSO agent definitely didn't disappoint our trigger fingers. 

Building a better chainsaw battle

Unfolding in Arklay County's Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center – a creepy, historic hotel/sanitorium – the preview finds Kennedy patiently waiting to meet with a doctor. When the physician finally arrives, however, he's wearing a blood-soaked lab coat and wielding a massive chainsaw. Upon suddenly impaling his nurse with the power tool, the deranged doc turns the buzzing blade on Leon, who deadpans, "I think I want a second opinion."

Chainsaw-brandishing baddies are, of course, nothing new to the series, but Requiem is giving the familiar enemy encounter a fresh edge. Kennedy now carries a hand axe, which can be used to deflect the saw's rotating teeth. Between attacks, I’m also able to sharpen the axe with an intuitive, albeit tension-ratcheting controller input, readying it for the next, spark-emitting parry.

Alternating between blocking with the axe and firing bullets, I’m able to disarm the doctor. But the roaring chainsaw keeps going, spinning and grinding on the floor. I attempt to grab it, but learn a hard lesson when it cuts hard into Leon's leg. Worse than that, another enemy picks it up as I retreat. Things essentially devolve into a deadly game of hot potato, with the spud being subbed by a gas-powered tool of destruction. 

I eventually got the saw, and the situation, somewhat under control. I leverage the blade and Leon's pistol — which now targets limbs to slow approaching threats — to distance the bioterrorism agent from what's become a sizable swarm of zombified hospital employees spilling in from all sides. 

With a bit of breathing room between us and the flesh-craving docs, nurses, and orderlies, I’m able to further experiment with the hand axe, as well as take Leon's new finishing moves for a test drive. With a powerful strike, the former is planted deep into targets' skulls, finishing them off, while the latter sees Leon forcefully putting skulls between walls and his beefy boot before crushing them like a virally-infected grape. Both moves are absolutely brutal, resulting in obscene amounts of gore spurting from the enemy's neck like a viscera volcano.

Survival horror at its finest

With the hospital wing essentially reduced to a slaughter house, I’m introduced to Requiem's second protagonist, FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft. And by "introduced," I mean Leon barely rescues her from a towering, grotesque terror that makes Beowulf's Grendel look like a playful puppy dog. I won't spoil the specifics of the heart-stopping encounter, but suffice to say it concludes with the two heroes separated, and the player taking control of the survival-focused Grace. 

She's tasked with finding her way out of the facility, which leads to an expertly crafted stretch of survival horror gameplay that'll be familiar to longtime fans of the franchise. Trapped in the old hotel portion of the building, Grace must navigate a complex series of interconnected rooms and hallways, clever conundrums, and plenty of locked doors. Toss in some incredibly atmospheric lighting, immersive audio work, and infected threats lurking around every corner, and this section of the story would be terrifying even if I were armed with an infinite-ammo grenade launcher.

Of course, that's not the case, as Grace is plagued with the same scarce resources and limited inventory slots previous Resident Evil prostagonists have suffered. But thanks to Requiem's new crafting system, which uses infected blood as a primary resource, the odds aren't entirely stacked against her. In fact, given how often I free foes of their plasma, it's a pretty plentiful ingredient, present in large puddles and even buckets. 

Using the blood, along with other resources, like scrap, Grace can fashion ammo, health items, shivs, and an injector that's used for stealth kills and to keep fallen freaks from mutating into something more monstrous. New crafting recipes can also be found and unlocked, but they first need to be analysed with a special medical device located in labs.

It's a layered, rewarding system that requires a bit of organization and strategic planning, but it won't save your bacon every time you meet a monster eager to use your spine like dental floss. Requiem introduces enemies that retain qualities from their previous lives and – based on our pulse-spiking encounters with them – they're more unpredictably scary and dangerous than your run-of-the-mill undead.

Previously-employed zombies 

Among the nightmare-conjuring creeps I meet are a hulking cook who still wields his carving knife with skill, but now wants Grace on his chopping block. There's also the maid who apparently cleaned a mirror so aggressively that its glass shards became a permanent part of her face. I later proved this theory when she snuck up behind us and violently scrubbed Grace's pores as if she were desperately trying to remove red wine stains from white linens.

Other favorites include the still-spirited singer – whose enthusiastically shrieking vocals leave Grace disoriented and trembling, unable to properly aim her pistol – and a construction worker who giddily weaponizes his loader vehicle against Grace in the facility's garage. Our scariest encounter, however, comes courtesy of an infected displaying no obvious clues to its previous life or employment. It was apparent though, that the massive, blobby menace was a stalker-type threat who'd ensure I wouldn't be able to catch our breath for the remainder of the demo.

Attempting to take down this bulbous mass was futile, as the few bullets I had whenever I met it would barely dent its scaly, mutated skin. Thankfully, the bulging baddie sometimes became its own worst enemy, getting temporarily stuck in doorways or slowed because it had to squeeze through narrow corridors. As Grace, I could only run for our lives – after nearly jumping out of our seats – whenever this horrifying threat appeared from seemingly nowhere. 

Stopping a stalker

But as Leon, who I returned to shortly before the preview's conclusion, this enormous terror became less a persistent stalker to avoid and more a boss baddie to finally face and deal with…permanently. And so the demo's remaining minutes reunited us with Grace's biggest threat – or at least a close relative of it – but not before allowing Leon to loot a combat shotgun with ample ammunition. 

Placed in a confined, attic-like space, I found ourselves not only uncomfortably close to the creature Grace had to previously run from, but I was now actively pursuing it. The first time I caught up with the humanoid blob, it literally grabbed Leon like a PEZ dispenser and swallowed his head whole. Being far more cautious after that unceremonious demise, I eventually brought the beast down by alternating between close-up blasts to its oversized noggin' and aggressive axe swipes to its ugly face. 

With the final blow landed, I pressed on and were rewarded for our efforts by finding our first grenade pick-up. While relieved to add the explosives to Leon's inventory, I also finished the preview with some creeping apprehension. It seemed Requiem couldn't possibly put us in the path of a threat scarier than the one that still had pieces of Leon's head stuck in its gnarly teeth. But then why would the game give us grenades if I wouldn't soon need to use them against a monster far more frightening? 

Pre-purchase Resident Evil Requiem today on the Epic Games Store.