MarbleScythe

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For context my brother and I have played nearly ever re game in the main franchise ( we skipped 6 because we just weren't a fan ). I truly think being a previous re fan enhances the experience of requiem greatly. I keep finding bits and pieces within the game that harken back to what I love about previous games, and references which I think encapsulte the franchise as a whole. A lot of the time when franchises do this it's cheesy or empty bait to pander towards nastolgic fans without any real substance, but this feels so heartfelt. And requiem is SO scary, I have not been this scared by an re game since re7 and I think it might be giving it a run for it's money because I am genuinely so frightened throughout Grace's gameplay. But it still has some truly funny moments- the zombies have their own unique little personalitites which can be just as entertaining as it is disturbing, and the little comments the characters make truly highlight the ridicilousness of the franchise ( grace asking herself how they used to get the red gem inlay door open ) . Resident evil is a survival horror series, yes, but it has also always been funny, so seeing little tid-bits of self aware reflection as to the campy silliness of certain aspects of the game just make me so happy.

On top of that is the zombies themselves- I absolutely adore them. I love how certain zombies have their own distinct personalities and traits and voicelines. It's both hilarious and incredibly unsettling, and I am often scared absolutely shitless by even the fodder zombies that are just stumbling about. This has actually set up some really interesting parts of gameplay for me and my brother- because the zombies can also interact with eachother. For instance, we were able to get one of the sound-adverse patient zombies to kill the singing zombie in the bar/lounge using a distraction, which I don't even have any words for how awesome that was. My mind has been blown by just how real each enemy feels, and again that's part of what makes them so damn scary. Because they don't feel like mindless npc enemies stuck in static routine loops that you can easily interpret and bulldoze through, I constantly have to stop and think about how I want to tackle a room, and even when I navigate through it the first time I often have to tackle it in a whole new way on my return because they move around in your absence. THATS AWESOME!!!

Last note- I really enjoyed re1. It is most definitely not a game for everyone and I undersatnd all of the reasons people find it to be insufferable, but I loved it deeply and it has to be one of my favorite games in the franchise so my brother and I went the route of ink ribbons and classic gameplay for Grace. Obviously, requiem is very different from re1, given the high graphics, the lack of fixed camera angles, and the modern phsyics. Yet so much of requiem reminds me of re1, and I mean this in the most positive way. Enemies are difficult to kill, and the way you tackle a room is always a game of strategy as you weigh the risks of confronting enemies and the resources you have available. This is the case for both re1 and requiem. This level of strategy and resource managment is not something that all players will necessarily enjoy, but I personally adore these aspects of requiem so far.

Anywho, I'm super excited to play more requiem, and I'm honestly really happy with Capcom and the direction they took with this game. I can feel just how much love for resident evil as a franchise was poured into the creation of requiem, and it makes me one very hapy duckling :)