A Big Resident Evil Fan's Hopes For Requiem

Imagining the perfect return to Raccoon City

Resident Evil 9: Requiem launches in February and as always, fans are abuzz with opinions, observations and theories. Is the ‘new’ stalker enemy actually Alyssa Ashcroft or Lisa Trevor? Will we be seeing Leon again for the first time in canon since RE6? Will the game actually have combat?

Unfortunately… I don’t have the answers but what I can tell you is what I’d love to see from the game.

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Return To Spencer Mansion

We know RE2’s RPD is returning, why not take us to the Mansion too?

While the first game in the series, obviously, birthed the franchise and is looked back upon fondly, Resident Evil 2 and 3 tend to be the objects of nostalgia more since their remakes were incredibly successful and the original RE2 on the PS1 was this franchise’s Ocarina of Time moment: the point at which it crossed from being just a popular IP into the kind of series that lives forever, gets into top 10 lists and inspires generations of game makers after.

Now, I’m not going to choose between RE2 Remake and REmake on the Gamecube, that’s like choosing between your 2 children but what I will say is that I prefer the Spencer Mansion to the RPD building and REmake being the best game in this entire franchise according to many (including myself) it’d be awesome to revisit the Spencer Estate in what is almost certainly going to be the final game of the current Resident Evil era.

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Fresh Ideas For The Stalker

The stalker is a Resident Evil trope that has existed since before I was even born. It was immensely popular in RE3 Nemesis but since Jack Baker in Resident Evil 7, Capcom have put a stalker/stalker section into every single Resident Evil game, to the point where it’s getting a bit old.

I hope Requiem has the good sense to make this stalker unique and provide some horrifying lore and unique mechanics because otherwise? It just looked like Jack Baker again in terms of gameplay, albeit far more terrifying.

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Bring Back Puzzles

Resident Evil 7’s lame shadow puzzles.

The mainline Resident Evil games, for the past 8 years now, have all contained some of the lamest, easiest puzzles going; the remakes have had some nice brain teasers but neither have lived up to the series’ past. Both the quality and quantity of puzzles has gone down dramatically, something that my playthrough on RE2 on PS1 lately has hammered home.

I imagine puzzles’ dubious reputation among gamers, that genre’s very small player-base and the push for modern Resident Evil games to be more naturalistic has encouraged Capcom to do away with the hilariously elaborate head scratchers but puzzles are a huge part of Resident Evil’s identity, I’d love to see them have a bit of a renaissance.

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A Real Protagonist

The modern era of Resident Evil has failed to produce any new, iconic characters for the franchise.

Lady Dimitrescu was largely known for her appearance and character design (I’m trying to put this diplomatically) and died early in Resident Evil 8: Village so she won’t be returning; Ethan Winters: the protagonist of RE7 and RE8 had all the personality of a Square Crank.

Judging from the footage we’ve seen so far, Alyssa Ashcroft seems to follow the Ethan Winters template of being a protagonist with poor cardio, endlessly swearing and shivering and cowering in reaction to the environment. I really hope she gets some development beyond this because Capcom have been relying on Chris, Leon, Ada and co. to carry this franchise for decades and every time you reintroduce these characters, you know they’re in zero danger.

RE Requiem if you put Leon in front of the stalker

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Crimson Heads And Lickers

The Licker and the Crimson Head are to B.O.W’s (Bio Organic Weapons) that are intrinsically linked with the original Raccoon City outbreak. Off the top of my head, I can’t remember the last Resident Evil game Lickers appeared in besides RE2 and Crimson Heads appeared exclusively in REmake, so I think it’s about time we got to see these classic monsters again.

The Lickers’ blindness and sharp hearing (which we’ll pretend Sony didn’t rip off with The Last Of Us’s annoyingly more famous ‘Clickers’ literally a letter off) along with their massive damage would fit well with the increased emphasis on stealth. Furthermore, Crimson Heads bring a level of planning and preparation to the game that modern RE fans probably aren’t accustomed to.

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New Toys

The trusty Beretta M92FS pistol, a staple of Resident Evil.

Weapons in the survival horror entries of Resident Evil are more tools than offensive equipment; you don’t win combat encounters by standing in front of the enemy and firing, rather, you win the combat encounter 5 minutes beforehand when you choose the right ammunition and weapon for the job at the item box.

All of that being said, it’s been forever since Resident Evil introduced some new weapons or really shook up the formula; you start with the knife, then get a handgun, then get a shotgun along with some other power weapons.

I’d love to see some more unorthodox choices like Code: Veronica’s crossbow with exploding arrows make a return, or force us to specialise our loadout a bit more; survival horror is all about choices and I’d love to be put in more situations where I have to pick between a shiny new offensive option or something like a side-pack to carry more items.

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Classic Mode

Fixed camera angles and tank controls are synonymous with the Resident Evil franchise and with classic survival horror as a whole. While many ‘people’ feel these techniques are antiquated, a lot of classic survival horror fans like myself would love to see this style of gameplay and presentation return.

The chances are almost 0% but I’d love-and be willing to pay for-the option to play a modern Resident Evil game in this fashion. Quite a few modders have developed proofs of concept as shown in the video above.

The angles… the atmosphere… I’d pay for this, Capcom.

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Rebecca, Jill, Claire And Barry, Not Leon and Chris

Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield are undoubtedly the most popular Resident Evil characters, both of them have multiple entries where they feature as playable characters (RE1, C:V, RE5, REV, RE6 and RE8 for Chris, RE2, RE4 and RE6 for Leon) they are so popular that the entire rest of the classic cast have been neglected.

Rebecca hasn’t been seen since the events of the first game and last appeared in the early 2000’s in RE0, Claire and Barry have been absent since RE: Revelations 2, Jill hasn’t been seen since Revelations 1 either, if we’re going back to Raccoon City we should get as many of the classic characters back as possible but I’m feeling a bit Chris and Leon-ed out.

There are the CGI films but come on, that doesn’t count.

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Don’t Be Shit

Let me introduce you to the Ferrari cycle: a concept every Formula 1 fan will be aware of.

I bring this up because funnily enough this is exactly how it feels to be a Resident Evil fan as well; in the space of 12 months, this franchise can go from feeling like it can’t get any better, to hitting the rock bottom.

RE2 Remake single-handedly revived classic survival horror in the first-person, streamer bait era, then a year later, RE3 Remake arrives, destroys the character of Jill Valentine, cuts 2/3rds of the game and charges full price for a 3 hour campaign.

In 2002, REmake launched: the best game in the series in my opinion, wowing critics and fans alike and to this day stands as the pinnacle of remakes in this medium. Later in the very same year, Resident Evil 0 launched with the most abysmally stupid plot ever printed on discs, atrocious item management and horrendous backtracking.

I wouldn’t describe Resident Evil 8: Village as rock-bottom but compared to Resident Evil 7 and especially RE2 Remake, I found it to be a pretty bland experience loaded with ineffective horror tropes and too much copying of RE4’s homework; according to Steam, I haven’t touched the game since January 2022, that’ll tell you how unimpressed I was, I’m always replaying these games.

So Capcom, continue the cycle, let this be the ‘We’re so back’ game.

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I hope you enjoyed my mini-post this Wednesday, I’d love to chat in the comments and don’t forget to like and subscribe to Scanlines’ Journal for more, this month is a big Resident Evil binge.

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