Requiem is a celebration of the entire Resident Evil series. It’s not a perfect game, but it comes pretty close. It’s like a virus created with all the research done in each game of the series. If you’ve kept up with the series like I have, then your infection will mutate into something that could be called a new appreciation.

This story centers on Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst haunted by the traumatic death of her mother right in front of her; and Leon Kennedy, a cool guy with a deep connection to the Raccoon City incident. Grace is sent to investigate a crime scene in the same hotel her mother was murdered in and gets taken by an ex-Umbrella scientist of the name Victor Gideon. Leon is already hunting for Gideon, so he and Grace team up for an investigation into what’s going on. Their journey starts in Wrenwood, but ultimately ends up in the iconic Raccoon City, which is mostly ruins at this point. As a Resident Evil plot goes, this one attempts to connect events from throughout the series and it does so pretty well. Grace’s tie-in is a little strange at first, while Leon feels like a real return home. This balance is explored in other aspects of the game as well.

The gameplay for Grace is first-person horror (akin to RE7 and 8), while Leon is more action oriented (RE4, 5, 6). Familiar puzzles with obscure keys and emblems (a la RE1, 2, 3) are found throughout Grace’s sections along with typewriter save stations (if you play Classic mode). Every game within the mainline series is represented in the design aspects here. Grace also has the added mechanic of creating injectors to blow up zombies. It’s pretty wacky to see her stab a zombie for them to implode, but the catharsis it brings after sneaking around some of these monsters is undeniable. Some of them have their own personalities, making them more dynamic than standard zombies from throughout the series. They’re a mixture of Ganados and the standard zombies really. There’s a chef, just chopping meat with a giant machete, a singer whose voice carries throughout the area and a couple more. While they do have some character, I would’ve been just as happy seeing more mutated infected. There are a few, like The Girl and Chunk which get used many times, reducing their impact overall. Despite their usage, as Grace, I was never ecstatic to see them. With Leon though, these creatures didn’t stand a chance. While switching between these two playstyles could come across as jarring or ruin the pacing, I found the frequency at which they swapped to be spaced out well. There are some longer stretches where you play as one or the other, but just when you think you’re getting tired of that playstyle, it switches back over. It works really well for this game and I’m not sure it would work for any other title.

As a huge fan of the series, this game is a great love letter to the fans. One of the story decisions near the end felt somewhat cobbled together, but otherwise, this adventure was essentially perfect. Capcom took notes about what worked throughout the many iterations of the series and combined that knowledge into this experience. From the jaw-dropping ridiculousness of RE6 to the terrifying surprises of RE7, Requiem fires every bullet in the clip of Resident Evil at full power. This game is for the fans, and you’d definitely not get as much out of it if it were your first game in the series, and I think it’s special for that. A game in a series like this should try to respect its existing player base, rather than cater to new players. Because of its longstanding presence in my life and the threadweaving done with the story here, Requiem might be my favorite Resident Evil game yet.