Resident Evil Requiem Preview: Capcom's horror titan looks promising on Switch 2

It all begins in a ruined medical clinic. My instructions are simple; I must escape. Somewhere in the darkened corridors lurks a monster, the same beast that the world was introduced to in the very first trailer for Resident Evil Requiem. Now we're sneaking around the same premises, and before I've even caught a glimpse of my forced roommate, its sinister presence hangs in the air like a palpable sensation.

The demonstration I was given lasted just over an hour and focused on the horror elements of Requiem. Grace, the character I played, had no way to defend herself, so my best hope for survival was to run for my life and hope that a good hiding place would appear further ahead. Here and there, I found empty glass bottles that could be used in desperate attempts to distract the monster, but as a rule, vigilant caution was a much better tool for staying alive. This was done from either a first or third-person perspective, which I was free to switch between during the hour. The demo's horror theme made it obvious to me that it was through Grace's own eyes that the experience should be enjoyed for maximum immersion, but I have no complaints when it comes to playing with the camera over my shoulder. Perhaps it wasn't as scary, which probably suits some people better.

The layout itself was familiar to me, having played quite a few previous instalments of the Resident Evil series, and in the demo, Requiem appears to be a mixture of the second and seventh parts. It's scary and vulnerable, with a murderous pursuer hot on your heels, while at the same time there's a lot of backtracking where key items open up new paths in places I've already progressed through. This means I constantly have to keep track of where I've been and what items I need to look out for in order to open new areas in a previous room.

I tend to be quite slow when I take on this type of gaming experience. I want to soak up the atmosphere, contemplate the details of the surroundings and tackle the task with as much immersion as possible. That's why I was slightly behind the other previewers as we sat side-by-side in the darkened room, but as time went by, I began to hear terrified cries in the darkness as the monster sank its claws into my poor colleagues.

Finally, it was my turn to come face-to-face with the beast, and I must admit that I too joined in the terrified chorus a number of times before the hour was up. Beforehand, Capcom representatives urged me to study the monster's patterns and exploit its weaknesses to my advantage, and when I quickly figured out that the creature was noticeably sensitive to light, I was able to breathe a sigh of relief. My sense of security lasted for about ten minutes before it became clear that my pursuer did not like being outsmarted and therefore found a way to pull the plug on the few ceiling lights that were still in use. So the balance was restored once again.

Since the presentation took place at Nintendo, it was naturally a docked Switch 2 that was parked in front of me, and on a technical level, I have to praise Capcom for their work on Requiem. The demo was mainly played in dark areas of the game, but graphically it's not far off the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, at least from what I've seen without having actually played those versions myself. The frame rate was also consistently stable, which helped keep the immersion intact and free from unnecessary technical distractions.

Beforehand, I hardly thought I could be any more excited about the launch of Resident Evil Requiem, but the brief moment I got to spend with the monster in the ruined clinic was enough to raise my personal hype meter another notch. I may be a little biased, because this is the kind of gaming experience I'm really passionate about, but from what I saw of Capcom's ninth instalment, there's no doubt that this is going to be good, even on Switch 2. Probably really good, in fact. We'll know for sure on February 27. But if you're still hungry for more, we remind you that you can check out our impressions of the title on PS5 Pro here.