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Resident Evil Requiem producer Masato Kumazawa discusses how the game pays homage to both the horror and the action of the series’ past
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Sam Desatoff
“The Resident Evil series has always offered the fear of survival horror, and the exhilaration and catharsis that comes from overcoming that fear,” Masato Kumazawa, a producer on the upcoming Resident Evil Requiem, told us.
Most major entries in the series ebb and flow in this way, with players forced to contend with limited resources and bullet-sponge enemies in claustrophobic settings before engaging some enormous monstrosity in a climactic battle. Killing Nemesis in Resident Evil 3 is only as satisfying as it is because you spend the entirety of the game running from him. You’re told you’re too weak to overcome him until you’re given a massive railgun as a reward for slowly picking your way through an infested Raccoon City, scrounging for resources and dodging zombies. In Resident Evil 2, Leon and Claire have to defeat William Birkin several times before he stays down, lending a sense of insurmountability to the next inevitable encounter. Because of this, finally taking him down is extremely satisfying. This sort of power fantasy has always been baked into the series.
Resident Evil Requiem, launching on the Epic Games Store on Feb. 27, builds on this legacy of tension and release; in fact, developer Capcom has made this formula the centerpiece of the game. A showcase last month revealed that Requiem will feature dual protagonists: newcomer Grace Ashcroft and fan-favorite Leon Kennedy, with the two serving as a sort of dyad representing different aspects of Resident Evil’s history.
“In this title, our goal is to deliver two completely different gameplay experiences—horror and action—through our two protagonists, Grace and Leon,” Kumazawa said.
To make good on that premise, Resident Evil Requiem will play out in sections, hopping back and forth between Grace and Leon as the story progresses. It’s a deviation from the classic Resident Evil games, which have players choose between two separate scenarios when booting up a new save file. But rather than being forced to pick between characters, Requiem will tell one interconnected story.
“Requiem lets players experience a single unified story in which Grace and Leon alternate throughout the narrative,” Kumazawa explained. “The reason for this approach is…we wanted to deliver an experience that intensely moves players’ emotions by having them alternate between fear and action.”
Grace’s sections will pay homage to the survival horror roots of the series, and all the exploration, scarce resources, tense enemy encounters, and creepy atmosphere therein. Hers is a deliberately paced journey more in line with Resident Evil 7 and the Resident Evil 2 remake. Think along the lines of exploring the Raccoon City Police Department or the Baker house, finding keys, scrounging for ammo, that sort of thing. This is the classic Resident Evil formula established in those early games.
Meanwhile, Leon will lean heavily on the action and gunplay, the kind made popular by Resident Evil 4. These sections are all about the combat, throwing several enemies at the player at once. It’s Capcom’s hope that these two disparate styles of gameplay coalesce into something that will appeal to all fans of the franchise.
“We wanted to deliver an experience that deeply moves players’ emotions, combining two completely different gameplay experiences—horror and action—into a single package,” Kumazawa said.
However, this setup wasn’t the vision from the beginning, Kumazawa told us. Rather, as Requiem began development, Leon was the only protagonist, but it ultimately felt unbelievable to the team that Leon wouldn’t eventually grow accustomed to his environment, lessening the impact of the horror elements.
“In horror games, it’s common for the tension to fade as players become stronger or simply grow accustomed to the fear as they progress,” Kumazawa explained. “With that in mind, this title focuses on maintaining contrast and rhythm by strengthening various elements—such as the variety of fear experienced through Grace, and the broad range of action available when controlling Leon.”
Capcom also considered the sheer number of catastrophes Leon has endured in the overall Resident Evil lore at this point. They eventually came to the conclusion that, given his past, Leon would simply not be phased by a proper “survival horror” scenario. Leon, after all, survived the zombie apocalypse in Raccoon City, rescued the daughter of the U.S. president from a village of plague-ridden cultists, and made it through the world-shaking events of Resident Evil 6. For Requiem, the developers needed fresh blood to terrify, someone who would fit better into the slower-paced horror segments the team had drawn up. Enter Grace Ashcroft.
The last two mainline games in the series—Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village—featured Ethan Winters as the protagonist, who we never got to see outside of a first-person perspective. This was a deliberate choice, Kumazawa said; Capcom wanted Ethan to be a reflection of the player themself, and be as unobtrusive as possible. The result was a high level of immersion. With Ethan as a sort of “camera character,” as Kumazawa put it, players were better able to place themselves in the games’ terrifying scenarios and imagine their own hands getting mangled over and over.
Leon and Grace, however, exist on the other end of the spectrum. They’re full of quips, callouts, and commentary on the situations unfolding around them, making them feel more expressive than Ethan. It’s also one of the reasons Leon is a fan-favorite Resident Evil character. Lines like “Where's everyone going? Bingo?” have become beloved and oft-quoted, and Requiem appears to be leaning into the camp of classic Leon. Their talkative nature also serves to drive home the particular emotions Capcom is aiming for as the narrative jumps back and forth between action and horror.
“Grace, who embodies the fear-focused side of the game, is intentionally portrayed as one of the most easily frightened characters in the series,” Kumazawa explained. “By giving her fearful animations and voice reactions, we wanted players to feel scared along with her.”
Leon, meanwhile, is all about snappy comebacks and one-liners while “effortlessly taking down enemies,” Kumazawa continued. The hope is that his more buoyant and playful personality allows players to feel a sense of “liberation and exhilaration as they break free from the fear.”
In many ways, Requiem’s dual focus on horror and action is a love letter to the series’ past; the buildup and release have always been part of Resident Evil’s DNA, after all. But Requiem is unquestionably its own beast, with more pronounced boundaries between its two styles of gameplay. It will be interesting to see how it plays out when Requiem launches on the Epic Games Store on February 27.
“I’m most excited for players to experience some of the most dramatic emotional ups and downs in the entire series so far, thanks to alternating between Grace and Leon’s differing gameplay styles,” Kumazawa said. “I hope [players] enjoy the contrast of tension and release.”
You can pre-order Resident Evil Requiem now on the Epic Games Store.