12 Things To Know Before Starting Resident Evil Requiem

Resident Evil Requiem is basically two games in one, and both its protagonists have different tools and rules to follow as you swap between them over the course of its campaign. With that in mind, we have a few tips that should come in handy as you head back into Capcom’s horror series on February 27.

If you can’t enter a room, assume it’s for the other character

Throughout Resident Evil Requiem, there will be stages where both playable characters, Grace and Leon, will walk through the same space. When playing as one character, you might not be able to access a room, open a cabinet, or use an item. The game does a decent job of using flavor text to communicate when you won’t find a solution to these problems with your current character, but that doesn’t mean these locations and items are useless. Sometimes something only works for Grace, or Leon can use his axe to pry open a door. Just remember these oddities when you inevitably walk near them again as a different character.

The map is very generous about marking supplies

When playing as Grace, supplies are limited and can be the difference between getting through a room with all limbs intact and meeting an untimely demise. Luckily, if you’re running low on bullets or herbs to heal with, Requiem’s map is pretty generous about marking those items even if you don’t see them when you’re passing through a room. There were several points when I opened up the map and saw that I’d overlooked an herb in a different room and went back to grab it before heading into an area full of zombies. So if you’re ever hurting for healing or bullets, just open the map and you can probably find some stashed away somewhere.

Try to have a knife at all times for collecting purposes

One of the collectibles you’ll find in Requiem are dancing raccoon bobbleheads hidden around various areas. You’ll hear them rattling if you’re in the right room, but you’ll have to destroy them with either a bullet or a melee weapon to “collect” them. With Leon, this is pretty simple because he always has his hatchet on hand. For Grace, whose sections are defined by scarcity, simply striking a collectible could cost you. Don’t waste a bullet if you don’t have to. Grace is able to craft a makeshift knife out of scraps you’ll scoop up while exploring. Not only is it helpful for fighting off zombies that get to close, but they can also be used as a quick melee attack to strike both enemies and the raccoon collectibles without wasting ammo.

If you have arachnophobia, this game is not for you

No need to get into spoilers here, but if you have a debilitating fear of spiders, I’m sorry to say that Resident Evil Requiem has an entire segment that will make your skin crawl. Just something to be aware of until someone inevitably makes an arachnophobia mode mod.

Use the crafting menu, not items

There’s a whole crafting section of the pause menu, and it streamlines the mechanic of combining items to get something better. If you so choose, you can use the inventory tab to do some trial and error and try to find recipes, but the crafting tab makes this much more simple by listing not only the recipes you know, but automatically listing what you have the components for. Old Resident Evil heads might like the feeling of manually sifting through your inventory, but if you want to save time and headache, there’s a whole menu for you.

It’s better to stun an enemy than kill them as Grace

Because ammo is so limited in Grace’s sections, you’re better off using what little resources you have to stun an enemy, rather than wasting bullets trying to take them out. A few shots to the head or kneecaps will typically put a zombie in a stunned state, which will allow you to shove them to the ground and run past them. It’s not a permanent solution, but it’s a more strategic one that will benefit you in the long run when you have more bullets to use.

Get upgrades before you leave an area

In some sections, you’ll be able to secure upgrades for things like your health, damage output, and inventory space. For Grace’s segments, these are things you have to find in locked rooms or in areas that have them in secured cases you’ll unlock by inserting coins you find. These upgrades won’t be available to you in future acts, as Requiem changes locations a few times over the course of the story. So if you see a permanent upgrade behind a locked door, try to unlock it before you progress the story too far.

Don’t neglect your storage case as Grace

Grace’s inventory is much more limited than Leon’s. Whereas he has a case that you can manage by repositioning items so they’ll fit, Grace has fixed slots for various items. She’s able to place items in storage cases found throughout each area, however, and if you’re not using an item such as a weapon you don’t have bullets for or a component for a recipe you don’t have every piece to, stash them away so you don’t have to discard items you might still want to use due to lack of space.

Don’t forget the quick turn

I completely spaced on the quick turn for most of my first playthrough of Requiem, even though it’s usually part of my muscle memory for these kinds of games. Don’t make my mistake. If you need to quickly turn around to either run away or reposition yourself in a scrap, pressing back and either circle or B will make Leon and Grace do a 180, rather than slowly turning to run away.

Defeating enemies with one character might help you as the other

Part of the whole “Grace and Leon share the same space” deal is that taking out zombies as one can help the other more easily get through an area when you swap over. More often than not, you’re playing as Grace first in an area, so it can sometimes be better to leave an enemy for Leon and his superior firepower to handle, but if you find something particularly annoying and want to take it out before you proceed, the other character will no doubt be grateful you did.

There’s one benefit of first-person for Grace

Requiem is playable in both first- and third-person, and the game recommends you play Grace’s sections in first person and Leon’s in third. I played both in third-person because that’s just my general preference in most games, but there is one slight advantage to playing in first-person for Grace. When you play in third-person, Grace will stumble as she runs away from monsters to amp up the drama, but this detail doesn’t play out in first-person so you aren’t disoriented as she falls down. I’ve seen some folks say speedrunners will probably opt for first-person because this will shave off a second or two of time because you won’t have to get back up off the ground during those sequences. 

Either read up on Resident Evil 2 or watch a walkthrough

If you’ve come into the Resident Evil series recently or Requiem is your first game in the series, it’s worth playing Resident Evil 2 beforehand, or at least reading or watching a summary or walkthrough. Requiem has pretty direct callbacks to a lot of old Resident Evil lore, but none is more prevalent than its connections to Resident Evil 2, and being aware of Leon’s past will help drive some segments home.