Resident Evil Requiem is Terrifying! Hands-on Preview

At Gamescom 2025, we were invited to an exclusive hands-on with Resident Evil Requiem, the latest entry in Capcom’s iconic series that has constantly found a way to reinvent itself, be it the shift from the fixed camera perspective in the original games, to Resident Evil 4’s third-person shooter style, and more recently, the first-person duology of RE7 and Village.

This time around, we were treated to a slice of gameplay as newcomer Grace Ashcroft, who finds herself tied up and having blood drained from her arm. As a massive fan of Resident Evil Outbreak, Grace being the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft (playable in those same games) already has me excited about her as a protagonist, but after this short snippet with her, I’m even more sold. As we’ve come to see from the latest trailer at Opening Night Live, the stakes are high for her, with all of the ties to her mother, and being in her shoes dials the horror up another level.

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The attention to detail on Grace’s face immediately caught our attention. Image credit: Capcom

Fortunately for us (and Grace), she manages to wrestle free from the bed in which she’s tied and can begin looking to find out where she is and how she gets out of there. What followed was a captivating experience as we tried to help Grace escape her surroundings.

The first thing we noticed was just how great Requiem looked, strapped down as she awakens. You could see the sweat on Grace’s head as she tries to make sense of the situation she finds herself in. I also noticed just how incredible the lighting system was, as you can now turn on specific lamps to illuminate certain parts of the surroundings (and they can also be broken later) before you get access to a Lighter shortly after. It’s clear to see that a lot of work has gone into the lighting to set the tone of Resident Evil Requiem’s darker approach, and based on this showing alone, it most certainly succeeds at it.

The demo starts simply enough; you are all alone, looking for a way out, and you’ll soon come across a shutter that requires a fuse, which just so happens to be missing. Sounds familiar, right? What’s different is that Grace has no means in which to defend herself at this point, not even a flashlight. Not long after exploring one of the rooms, you’ll come into contact with an infected body, before a terrifying encounter with a massive new creature.

There are many theories floating around about this new, terrifying creature, and I couldn’t help but speculate about it being Lisa Trevor from the original Resident Evil (this is not confirmed, and just speculation). It’s been a long time since we heard anything about her, but the screeches sound eerily similar. Of course, there’s just as much chance this could be the fate of poor Grace’s mother, as the blonde hair alludes to.

Regardless of the identity of your unwelcome guest, you’ll immediately need to flee to prevent suffering the same fate as the bodies you just found, and as mentioned above, you’ll quickly discover that Grace really doesn’t have a way to fight back, so hiding and using bottles to distract this hulking monstrosity is the name of the game. You’ll immediately need to dash away and try to get to safety, and be it in first-person or third-person, it’s equally terrifying (although we preferred third-person). As you scramble away, a brief detour to the initial room Grace found herself in, lit up like a Christmas tree, is enough to have your stalker reeling and retreating, bringing a brief respite.

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Just who is this terrifying new creature you encounter in the Gamescom demo? Image credit: Capcom

Unfortunately, to get the item you need to make your escape, you’ll need to move a cart in the room you just fled from. In typical horror fashion, no matter how slowly you push this cart, a bottle will drop to the floor and smash, a noise that will alert the creature who you spot moving towards your location. We were pleased to see that getting caught by this monster didn’t always lead to instant death. We were able to take a chomp or two at times, but get caught enough, and it’s game over for poor Grace.

It’s only a small slice of what to expect in Requiem, and regardless of what perspective we chose, now easily selectable in the game’s menu at any time, the sense of fear and terror was there, and something that reminded me of the fear I felt playing the original Resident Evil. Grace fits right in as a Resident Evil protagonist, her circumstances and story already captivating us, and this gameplay has us excited for the full release.