Resident Evil Requiem Is Dividing Fans Before It Even Launches

Seventeen days. That's all that stands between Resident Evil fans and what Capcom is calling the series' most ambitious entry in decades. And yet, somehow, the community is already at each other's throats.

Resident Evil Requiem launches February 27 across PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. It's the ninth mainline entry in a franchise that turns 30 this year, a neat bit of symmetry that Capcom has leaned into hard. The game returns to Raccoon City, brings back Leon S. Kennedy, and introduces a new protagonist in FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Alyssa from 2003's Outbreak. On paper, it sounds like a celebration. In practice? It's become a pressure cooker.

The Camera Thing

Start with the most fundamental question in any Resident Evil game: what perspective are you playing from?

Capcom's answer this time is "both, whenever you want." Players will be able to freely switch between first- and third-person perspectives at any time, marking a departure from recent entries that featured exclusively first-person gameplay. You pause the game, toggle the camera, carry on. Simple enough.

Except fans have been arguing about this since the game was announced. The toggle represents a divide in the Resident Evil fanbase that Capcom is keen to address, and while a toggle sounds like the best of both worlds, there are real concerns about whether Requiem will match RE7's claustrophobic horror while designing around two very different viewpoints.

The director, Koshi Nakanishi, has been fairly direct about why both options exist. The first and third camera angles were included not only to make it easier for some to play from a gameplay perspective, but also to accommodate those who found a first-person perspective too scary. Which is a fine reason. A thoughtful one, actually. And still the internet found something to argue about.

The default setting is first-person in Resident Evil Requiem, so players will have to make the conscious effort to change it. That detail alone set off another round of forum debates about which crowd Capcom is "really" making the game for.

Early preview impressions from Summer Game Fest were broadly positive on this front, at least. The ability to fully swap between first and third-person camera angles looks set to ensure that everyone is happy and no one gets left behind, whether old or new-school fans of Resident Evil. One preview noted the third-person felt closer to the RE4 Remake than the rougher implementation in Village, which will be a relief for a good chunk of the fanbase.

Grace vs. Leon, and Who's Actually the Lead

Here's where it gets genuinely interesting. Players will alternate between newcomer Grace Ashcroft and fan-favorite Leon S. Kennedy throughout the game, with each character bringing unique mechanics.

Grace's sections lean into survival horror. Her missions involve efforts to evade detection from primary antagonist Victor Gideon, and she is pursued by a monster throughout the game, similar to Mr. X and Lady Dimitrescu from previous entries. To avoid detection, players crouch and sneak to make less noise and hide under objects like tables. The monster can also stalk players through walls and ceilings.

Leon, meanwhile, is pure action. His sections focus more prominently on combat, allowing him to use both firearms and melee moves to subdue enemies. In addition to his hatchet melee weapon, Leon can also pick up enemy weapons and use them against their former owners.

New mechanics were confirmed for both. Grace can harvest blood from defeated creatures as crafting materials, while Leon can sharpen his hatchet at will rather than needing a repair from a merchant like in the RE4 Remake. The zombies have also been reworked; they retain parts of their humanity, which shows in their actions and gives players opportunities to analyse situations and choose how to respond. One zombie, for example, may be cleaning glass and not look away, letting players sneak past.

Nakanishi has been candid about the tug-of-war in designing Leon's role specifically. The director stated that Leon Kennedy is "a bad match for horror," adding a twist to his inclusion. A seasoned character like Leon could undermine the vulnerability central to survival horror, yet Resident Evil 4 pulled off that balance by pitting him against overwhelming odds and scarce resources. The team experimented earlier in development with making a "genuine horror game with Leon" but felt that "people wouldn't want to see a timid Leon." Fair point, honestly.

The Characters Missing From the Guest List

Two names keep coming up in community discussions, and not in a good way.

According to prominent Resident Evil insider Dusk Golem, neither Ada Wong nor Chris Redfield is expected to be in the game at all, or at least not in any meaningful way. Dusk Golem has a strong track record specifically within the Resident Evil franchise, and was also the source who first confirmed Leon's inclusion, so fans are taking the report seriously.

Some are fine with this. Others are less forgiving. The broader frustration in Steam forum threads and Reddit discussions centres on what feels like a narrow guest list for a 30th anniversary title. Fans have been vocal about wanting familiar faces, and the idea that a landmark game might sideline Chris Redfield entirely has rubbed a section of the community the wrong way.

Capcom, predictably, has said nothing. The company never comments on rumours, reports, or leaks.

How Long Is This Thing, Anyway

A leak recently made the rounds claiming the main story runs 12 to 15 hours. Cue another round of debates. Dusk Golem, after speaking to a producer, claims that Resident Evil 9 is "roughly" the length of Resident Evil 4 which, according to HowLongToBeat, takes 16 hours to complete its main story with 21+ hours for full completion.

One RE director also weighed in, admitting that estimating playtime is difficult and that fans should expect a "Resident Evil amount of content." Which is either reassuring or a non-answer, depending on your patience for that sort of thing.

The Action vs. Horror Problem

This one goes deeper than any single mechanic or character decision.

Long-time fans are worried the gameplay leans too much toward action, reducing the fear, tension, and survival elements that define the series. The concern is not the action itself, but whether fear and vulnerability still exist. If players always feel in control, horror loses impact.

Nakanishi addressed this head-on in an interview, drawing a direct line from past mistakes. "The general consensus was that [Resident Evil 5 and 6] went way too far in the action direction. The characters, the setting, the enemies were so different. 7 and 8 had their complaints too, with players saying that although the horror-action balance was good, because of Ethan Winters and the Baker family, it isn't the classic series setting. After two games apiece with those kinds of reactions, my feeling was, 'why not do both?'"

Whether Capcom has actually landed that balance is the thing nobody can confirm yet. The January gameplay showcase impressed on a technical level, but the roughly 12-minute demonstration was largely a rehash of previously revealed information, with virtually no new details about the game beyond expanded descriptions of what was already announced.

One notable absence stung in particular. No demo was announced at the showcase, and if no demo releases at all before launch, it will be the first time in decades that a mainline Resident Evil entry launched without one.

The Switch 2 Situation

For Nintendo players, there's a separate grievance entirely. Capcom confirmed that Resident Evil Requiem will only get a physical game launch on Switch 2 as a Game Key Card, not a traditional cartridge. This sparked backlash among fans who took to social media to vent their anger, with some claiming they were boycotting the Switch 2 edition altogether.

It's the same problem that has plagued several high-profile Switch 2 releases. Memory limitations on physical carts mean demanding AAA games increasingly ship as key cards, and fans who collect physical games are not happy about it. If you fall into that camp, PS5 and Xbox remain your options for a proper disc.

So Where Does This Leave Things

Capcom has not made a bad mainline Resident Evil in over a decade. RE7, Village, the RE2 Remake, the RE4 Remake; the studio's recent record is genuinely excellent, and Nakanishi directed RE7, so there's a reasonable case for confidence here.

But the noise around Requiem feels different from the usual pre-launch chatter. The complaints are spread across too many fronts: the camera debate, the missing characters, the action-heavy Leon sections, the no-demo decision, the Switch 2 physical situation, the ambiguous runtime. None of these individually would be cause for alarm. All of them at once, three weeks from launch? It's created a strange atmosphere around what should be a straightforward anniversary celebration.

Requiem has been wishlisted over a million times. The trailers have generated genuine excitement. Raccoon City returning is a big deal for long-time fans. The bones of a brilliant game are clearly there.

February 27 will settle the argument one way or another.