But wait… I don’t like horror? How a Horror Game became my Game of the Year for 2026

Rating: 9/10

I know, I’m just as surprised as you to see that title but it’s true, Resident Evil: Requiem is my Game of the Year for 2026. Well at this current stage at least. So how did I, a girl that avoids horror media with a ten foot pole find myself engrossed in the terrifying yet thrilling world of Resident Evil?

Disclaimer: This Review will delve into some spoilers in the game, if you’d like to go in blind I’d recommend skipping this review until you play the game.

Resident Evil: Requiem is Capcoms latest installment into the Resident Evil franchise and it is everything you want and more in a video game. (Image Credit: Capcom)

Before we start, I should say I know I say I don’t consume horror media, and for the most part that’s true. So Maddie, if you read this, please know that I will not go to the movies to see a horror film with you. But all jokes aside it’s true that I consume very little horror media with there being one caveat to that rule. Resident Evil.

I have been a fan of the story of Resident Evil for a very long time and I’ve seen many playthroughs of the various installments in the franchise, but I was always too scared to pick up the controller and play it myself. I did think about it when Resi 8 came out in 2021 but 17 year old Jaya didn’t love the idea of playing a game where you can (and would) lose limbs. So my consumption of Resident Evil would stay at a distance, where I could control the volume and the environment I was in but there still be progression in the story. With Resi 9 however that all changed, this time I would be the one in control of the story.

In Requiem, throughout the first half of the game, you mainly play as Grace Ashcroft, a young FBI analyst who has been tasked with investigating mysterious murders. which links back to her mother’s murder eight years prior. (Image Credit: Capcom)

Let’s start with what I loved about this game - spoilers it will be a lot. But my biggest thing that I loved throughout my entire playthrough was Grace Ashcroft (Angela Sant'Albano) and everything she added to the story. I’ll delve a little bit later into how I think she was the perfect counter to Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides). But first I just want to applaud Angela Sant’Albano for her magnificent performance. Never have I ever felt so tense while playing a game. I truly felt like I was Grace. I was completely immersed in this world, so much so that there were multiple occasions where I hadn’t realised that hours had passed by. And what was meant to be a ‘short gaming session’ quickly turned into a ‘four plus hour endeavour’.

The next thing I loved was the ability to switch between third and first person, which is a new feature added to the Resi games. Never have I been more grateful to not be locked into a camera perspective, because I genuinely do not think I would have been able to get through certain Grace if I was forced to play in first person.

The difference that a simple perspective change makes truly is immense, and Capcom plays with that beautifully. There is truly nothing more horrific than a massive cleaver-wielding zombie chasing you down a hall when you have nothing but a flimsy knife and a shoddy little handgun to protect yourself. And yes, that was the moment when I decided that for me to progress further with the game, I needed to switch to a third person for both Leon AND Grace.

But it’s more than just camera angles that truly make this game such an excellent horror game. Everything from the sound and set design to the scattered resources truly make you feel like you are trapped with no way to escape (Image Credit: Capcom).

When people talk about Resi games there’s often the same critique, “amazing start, mediocre middle and it’s a 50/50 on the finish.” With Requiem while I do believe that the first half of the game is the stronger half narrative wise that doesn’t mean that the second half is lacklustre by any means. In my nearly 13 hours of gameplay I never felt like sections overstayed their welcome and importantly I believe they struck the perfect balance between horror and action.

Now, I said that Grace was a perfect counter to Leon before, but what do I truly mean by that? Well of course, like many I was driven to pick up this game because of Leon. So I was interested to see how this split perspective would work. I had two main theories going into this game, either 1) They would overuse Grace which made Leon feel like fan service rather than an actual character. Or 2) they would rely too much on Leon which ultimately makes Grace feel like an underdeveloped side character. I am happy to say they did neither of those things.

The reason I think Grace - and by the same measure, Leon works so well in this story is because of how they are utilised throughout the game. Just when I wanted to be sucked out of the nightmare that Grace was experiencing boom Leon section, here you had a wide range of tools, much more in the way of ammo and healing and it was basically a fun palate cleanser that didn’t feel like unecessary filler because the narrative still worked. But there of course reaches a point where you want a little bit more of the horror and the mystery that you’ve slowly been uncovering with Grace and bam you find yourself back with Grace. It’s not easy striking a balance between these two wildly different characters because they both serve different purposes. For Grace this is the worst day of her life and you can truly feel that in every scene she’s in, whereas for Leon this is just another Tuesday. I think if capcom had relied too heavily on Leon we would have ended up with a Resi 6 situation just with better graphics. So in all honesty, even though there were times where I was joking around with my friends begging for a Leon section when the Grace sections got a little too overwhelming I am glad that the game was structured how it was.

“For Grace this is the worst day of her life and you can truly feel that... Whereas for Leon it’s just another Tuesday”

While I do think the first half of Requiem is stronger the sheer breadth of emotion I felt when I was playing as Leon during the second half in Racoon City section was unmatched (Image Credit: Capcom)

I will not talk about the motorbike, I will not talk about the motorbike, I will not talk about the motorbike.

Ok so did you guys know that I got to experience the coolest moment in videogame history when Leon drove a motorbike up a skyscraper and jumped off the other side not knowing if he was going to land on solid ground, and I do not know if I’ll ever experience a moment quite that cool ever again in my life.

But Raccoon City is probably my favourite part of this whole game, you could truly feel a tonal shift and this was no longer a ‘mindless action palate cleanser’ but in all honesty, a very good depiction in what the impacts of PTSD has on a person. Throughout the entire game up to this point Leon has been cracking jokes and making witty one liners to everyone he has had the pleasure of meeting. But with Racoon City that all changes, especially once you arrive at the police department. You can truly see the toll that the last 30 years has taken on Leon, there are no jokes, no retorts to lighten the mood. And the line where Leon says "Hey, Lieutenant Branagh. Kennedy... reporting for duty.” I genuinely did feel a couple of tears fall which is something I DID NOT expect to happen when I picked up this game.

Now for the sake of being fair, I guess I should talk about the slight quips I have with the game that keep it from being a perfect 10/10 and my main “annoyance” (I say annoyance in quotations because really it’s the smallest of issues and probably just due to my skill level/lack of experience in playing these games) is sometimes the camera angles in third person were a little janky when you were trying to shoot in big boss fights and the variation of time it took to reload a gun depending on which gun it was sometimes was a little inconvenient when you were fighting for your life. But seriously, for those to be the main annoyances I have with the game is really saying something about the high calibre that Capcom has delivered.

I’m not going to delve into the story too much more, as I think the impact of this story is best experienced with the less you know about it, but I’ll just say this: they really do stick their landing, and while I was sitting through the credits with the magnificent soundtrack echoing in the background, it was then that I knew Requiem was something special and an experience I wouldn’t forget anytime soon. Capcom has once again cemented themselves as one of the greatest videogame companies of all time, and I cannot wait for what they have in store next for this universe.

I’d like to give a special shoutout to my friends Antonio and Bryce. Antonio, for the many hours sitting in a voice chat with me giving me the courage (and to be honest incentive) to keep on going, and Bryce, you not only sat in the voice chat from time to time but it really was you that was the push I needed to finally commit to playing this game. Thank you both!