I adored Resident Evil 7. After the series’ identity had slowly taken on water over the course of the last decade or so’s mainline entries and spin-offs, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (to use its full name) reminded us all why Capcom is the king of modern horror gaming. It managed to do two very important things: pay tribute to the origins of Resident Evil whilst also laying the foundations for what was to come over the next decade. It’s an iconic game, a statement of intent for Capcom, and – as of the release of Requiem – we’re still feeling the impact of it now.
Requiem’s fantastic newcomer, Grace Ashcroft, could not exist without Resident Evil 7. The 2017 game took inspiration from films like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, The Evil Dead, and Saw, to give us this incredibly grounded, genuinely intimidating sense of place and dread. It was all set in one location, we were given a main character who was – intentionally! – underpowered and fragile, not a “superhero” like the impossibly power-scaling, boulder-punching Chris Redfield.
After the excesses of Resident Evil 5 and Resident Evil 6, Ethan Winters’ fraught journey through a couple of really terrible nights in rural Louisiana were a tonic; a slower-paced affair that somehow managed to raise your heart rate higher than anything in Resident Evil 7’s gung-ho predecessors. I think we’ve seen that same cadence in Village into Requiem. Once scrambling on his hands and knees, staring unbelievably at his re-attached hand, and using about half a clip of ammo to fend off a deranged Jack Baker, Ethan became the very superman he was designed as a foil to in Village. But I think that was the point: let us spend the first half of the game hiding from Lady Dimitrescu, and then let us go on a rip-roaring rampage in the second half to let off some steam. It’s more Cabin in the Woods than Texas Chain Saw Massacre, more Alien vs. Predator than Alien.
In the interceding years, post-Resi 7, we’ve also had the remakes (the best of which is Resident Evil 2 Remake, fight me). These games are a bit more balanced in their approach to action/survival, but still veer more towards using guns, flamethrowers, chainsaws and hatchets to dismember the shambling undead. By the time Requiem came along, the Resident Evil faithful were ready for something different. Another tonal reset – but not a total wiping clean of the slate, a la Resident Evil 7.
Enter Grace Ashcroft. Not only is she a fantastically well-timed new addition to the Resi protagonist pantheon, but she’s also one of the most well-crafted characters in the series (at least, as far as first-game impressions go). From the opening hours of the game, you know three essential things about her: she is petrified by everything she is doing, she is completely out of her depth, and she will not back down or run away from anything. That’s your killer Resi character triptych right there. It makes for a compelling horror protagonist (she’s as scared as you are!) but a valuable asset for the narrative (nothing will stop her pressing forward).
The writing and establishment of her character is compounded by two important things: firstly, her performance. Good grief. Someone get Angela Sant’Albano an award, ASAP, please. The 25-year-old American/Italian actor plays a blinder in this game. And it’s her first video game, too! It’d be easy for Grace to come off as one-note as she wanders around the hospice that makes up much of the game’s first half, but she doesn’t: her fear is multi-faceted, laced with (and sometimes even undermined by) her determination, her absolute, consuming need to see this thing – whatever the hell it is – through to the end. Sometimes defiant, sometimes placid, sometimes so emotionally overwhelmed as to become numb, I believed every single word and shaky tremor out of Grace’s mouth. And that’s no easy feat when you’re operating in a world as gratuitously barmy as Resident Evil’s.
Now’s the time to acknowledge the Leon-shaped elephant in the room. His sections in Requiem are fine. I think the game would be better without them, even if it was shorter and focused entirely on Grace. But I think his role is important; if Requiem had been one long, protracted Grace level, I think I may have had a cardiac episode. Leon – and his somehow simultaneously moody and camp way of doing things – is a foil to Grace, a pressure valve let off just when things are setting to get unbearable. Because Ethan Winters was a bit more handy with a gun and a knife than Grace was, Capcom could find segments of Resident Evil 7 in which to let him ‘off the leash’ a bit, so to speak. Grace doesn’t have that same opportunity, whether or not she’s handling Leon’s girthy, eponymous weapon.
So, this Requiem DLC then. I hope it’s just Grace. The back half of Resident Evil Requiem is its own thing. A perfect counter and tonic to that would be another Grace section that digs a bit deeper into the character we’ve been shown so far. I think (given the nigh-unanimous praise for the game so far), Capcom is aware of how much people love the first part of 2026’s first proper GOTY contender. Give me another house to explore. Make another horrible thing chase me (nope, not bored of that yet). Let Angela Sant’Albano go off, pour as much sauce as she wants into Grace, and really establish this white-haired heroine as a staple of the universe going forward. God knows she’s earned it.
The only downside is that we’re going to be waiting a while. “It will take some time, so we ask for your patience,” Resident Evil Requiem’s director Koshi Nakanishi said about the DLC. But that’s fine: apparently we’re getting some sort of bonus mini-game in May. That’ll have to do for now.
