Resident Evil Requiem is notable for being the first game in the series to offer both the first- and third-person perspectives that modern Resident Evil games have been bouncing back and forth between–at launch, anyways. Although Resident Evil Village has the option for both perspectives, the third-person mode was added afterwards in a free update and, as such, feels more clunky and bolted on at times. This isn’t the case with Requiem, in which both first- and third-person feel extremely well considered and designed. Even the moments where they are kinda awkward, there’s a fun charm to it I can’t help but like anyways.
Having spent a lot of time seeing this game from all angles, I have a lot of respect for the amount of work, time, and money Capcom must have spent so that both of these perspectives would work. Many animations and cutscenes are altered to allow for both perspectives, and I can’t imagine any of this was easy to do.
By default, the game has all of Grace’s sections in first-person and Leon’s in third. This makes a lot of sense, as the swap helps make the two characters feel more distinct and their chosen perspectives appropriately match their gameplay rhythms: Slow-paced survival horror for Grace, and fast-paced action horror for Leon.
Based on my experience, playing the game for the first time with these default settings is the best way to get what feels like the intended experience the devs want. And yet, swapping them is a great way to add novelty to repeat playthroughs, something the Resident Evil series has always been great at. Requiem is no exception, with its brutal Insanity difficulty. But that’s a different topic for a different day. For now, let’s get to how these two perspectives alter the game’s overall experience.
Grace
Let’s start with Grace and her first-person perspective. As the more fragile of the pair, Grace’s gameplay is all about stealth and avoiding the numerous monstrosities trying to scare the shit out of you. The situations naturally feel more tense when playing in first-person because of how it grounds you in the space. It just hits way harder when you have Grace pull out a lighter and desperately try to illuminate what’s in front of her–you’re playing from her eyes. And seeing the lighter stretched out right in front of you rather than obscured by her body in third-person makes this first-person more useful, too.
This perspective also better showcases all the little details in the Rhodes Hill Care Center, the starting area of the game. I find myself looking at objects on shelves and desks much more while in first-person. The game is quite beautiful and first-person feels designed to best appreciate that beauty–and how disgusting it is.
Because Grace’s gameplay is built around stealth, peaking behind corners and hiding feels more natural in first-person and even offers advantages you lose slightly in third-person. In first-person, you can crack open a door just a little bit to take a peek inside–something that doesn’t work quite the same in third. You can hide behind a shelf in both views, sure, but getting to observe a zombie chief slamming his knife on the same piece of meat between the shelves is more effective and intense through Grace’s eyes.
While I am clearly an advocate of playing Grace in first-person, I have gone through the game a second time in third and I think it’s still a good way to experience the game, if that’s your preference. After all, the Resident Evil 2 remake is also in third-person and that game is a god damn masterpiece, so it’s not like this is some radical new format for Resident Evil. The game completely works this way. As I said before, there is a lot of effort put into third-person; new animations don’t feel like a tacked-on option the way they were in Village.
Leon
I just spent a lot of time convincing you why Grace should be played in first-person, but when it comes to Leon, I don’t feel I have to sell you on why default third-person perspective is the way to go. It just feels natural and correct, in the same way it’s been natural and correct since 2005; not much has changed on that front for the last two decades. So, let’s instead talk about the odd ball choice: First-person Leon.
The idea of playing RE’s fast-paced combat in first person is actually not as new as it might seem. After all, Village has whole sections that emulate Resident Evil 4’s rhythm and still plays great. Plus, both Resident Evil 4 original and its remake have VR modes, meaning this isn’t even the first time experiencing Leon in first-person. It works here in Requiem as well. Sure there are some trade offs, like how first-person limits your field of vision when compared to third. And while this is something I consider a positive for Grace’s sections, it is more of a disadvantage for Leon’s combat-oriented gameplay. Yet that disadvantage does not impact the experience as much as you’d think. In fact, it kind of works.
And yet there is an elephant in the room, and that’s the strange decision this game makes to center the gun’s scope–as if classic Doom never went out of style. This is actually how Grace also works as well, but she only has one weapon type, a pistol, so it feels more natural. And considering her combat is a bit less frequent and slower paced, it’s more understandable as to why they went with that. But in Leon’s gameplay, the whole thing looks a little goofy. Not bad. Just goofy.
It would have probably been better for them to have the guns angled from the side in a more modern way. That’s exactly what both Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil Village do. But nope. We get centered guns. And yet, for as strange as this choice is, I think it gives the whole thing a weird charm. I kinda love it.
More disappointing, however, is how often Leon’s sections break first-person perspective regardless of if you have it selected. Things like melee prompts, gun finishers, and hatchet parries all switch out to third-person. It would have been cool if the game fully committed to first-person for Leon, but really it doesn’t even do it for Grace, so I suppose that’s not entirely surprising. It’s a minor complaint, but it is my biggest disappointment with the mode switching as a whole. I wish when you picked a mode, it stayed completely in that perspective. It’s what I really like about RE7 and Village–they fully commit to being in first-person. Requiem wants both, so it compromises in some ways.
With all that said, I’m curious what mode you’re planning to play Requiem in. There’s really no wrong choice, and even having that choice in the first place is a fun novelty you don’t get in many games. Probably because it’s really expensive to do. Something tells me to not expect this to become a standard feature in Resident Evil games going forward.
