It is hard to believe that a decade ago it seemed like Resident Evil might be a dying franchise. The last mainline installment, Resident Evil 6 in 2012, had not been well received by the fans and, even worse, Capcom had released Umbrella Corps in 2016, one of the most reviled games in the series. Then Resident Evil: Biohazard arrived like a godsend in 2017, returning the series to its survival horror roots and revitalizing the brand. This was the game that first got me into series, and what a time to become a fan because ever since then, Capcom have been on a roll. Over the years, they have released Resident Evil: Village and numerous remakes, which are considered among the best video game remakes of all time. Well, now we have another banger with Resident Evil: Requiem, the ninth mainline installment.
Resident Evil goes back to the Umbrella well with RE9.
After finishing my first playthrough, I am excited to say that Requiem is definitely in the top five best Resident Evil games. It does a truly fantastic job of blending the survival horror of Biohazard with the over-the-top action of 4. The story follows FBI Agent Grace Ashcroft (Angela Sant’Albano), the daughter of one of the previous game’s protagonists, Alyssa, Tasked with investigating a mysterious disease tied to the Raccoon City Incident, Grace finds herself kidnapped by Umbrella scientist Dr Victor Gideon (Antony Byrne) and must survive his care facility of horrors.
You have to wonder how these crazy looking, mad scientists keep getting people to help with their potentially world ending experiments.
Grace’s segments of the game are pure survival horror, and I found myself screaming many a time when faced with terrifying zombies. What makes these zombies so unique is that they retain parts of their personalities from when they were alive. A massive zombie chef tries to cook human flesh, a maid cuts herself repeatedly on glass trying to keep everything clean, and some zombies even apologise for trying to hurt you when they are killed. It makes them not only scary but also pretty pitiable. But the true horror of Grace’s segments is The Girl, a hag-like monstrosity with a weakness to light that pursues Grace throughout the facility.
The Girl is Resident Evil‘s scariest stalker enemy since the baby in Village.
With Grace’s limited stock of weapons, every fight with the undead could be her last. It is a good thing then that she is not alone because the one-man army Leon Kennedy (Nick Apostolides) is also investigating Gideon, with Sherry Birkin (Eden Riegel) acting as his handler. Leon’s segments of the game are when the over-the-top action comes into play and, I have got to say, after a few hours of hiding in the dark terrified as Grace, it is such a relief to kick zombie ass as Leon, shooting them, hacking them up, and cutting them apart with a chainsaw. I never thought the survival horror of the series could blend so well into the action and yet Capcom achieved this.
How Leon is still doing roundhouse kicks on zombies in his 50s is unknown to me. Not complaining though. Rule of cool, and all.
They even provided different styles of gameplay for different playthroughs, with the choice between first or third person for both Grace and Leon. I went with the recommended first-person for Grace and third-person for Leon, which felt perfect for their playstyle’s differing atmosphere. Just as perfect was the game’s use of nostalgia, which can be a slippery slope. Too much and it will feel like the game is just pandering to fans for cheap points, rather than doing something new. Thankfully, Requiem offers plenty of new with that old, and the old content is lovingly handled.
Returning to the RPD was just one of many nostalgic moments in Requiem.
Well, I have spent so long lathering this game with praise, you have to be wondering if I have any problems with it. A few, but I really had to think about it for a bit. For starters, I think we can all agree that there was one antagonist who deserved a boss fight but did not get one. Along with this, there is one segment of the game which reminded me of the cannon section in the Resident Evil 4 remake. Since that was my least favorite section of that game, you would be right in assuming it was my least favorite part of Requiem as well. Finally, there is one reveal towards the end that feels like a bit of a copout, but it was a convenience that made me smile so I can let it go. And that is it for my issues. The rest of the game is so good that it overwhelmingly overshadows any bad.
The game looking fantastic also helps matters.
Resident Evil: Requiem is one of the best Resident Evil games. The story is investing and the gameplay styles of Grace and Leon blend perfectly. I know it is only March, but it would not surprise me if Requiem ended up topping a lot of best games of 2026 lists. And, with new story DLC probably dropping at some point, the game is only going to get better. If you are a Resident Evil fan and have somehow not played this yet, hurry up and do so. It is one of the series’ best.
All of us, in some way, have experienced grief. Whether it be over the loss of a family member or friend, grief is part of the human experience. There are many ways we can deal with this grief, both healthy and unhealthy. Yet, I have not seen a video game explore the concept in such a profound way before as Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. With many AAA games falling below the mark recently, AA studios have risen to the challenge to fill in the quality gap. Directed by Guillaume Broche. Expedition 33 is the latest video game to fill in that gap.
The world will have truly gone mad if this game is at least not nominated for Game of the Year.
Set in an alternate universe, the island of Lumière is facing certain oblivion. Every year, a mysterious gigantic figure, known as the Paintress, paints a number upon her monolith. The people that age then disappear in an event known as the Gommage. With the Paintress counting down, it will not be long before everyone in Lumière has passed on And so, every year, a group of expeditioners are sent out to kill the Paintress, so that the people of Lumière can hope to grow old again. The game follows, you guessed it, Expedition 33 on this mission.
“She’ll never paint again,” a character states, perfectly summarizing many of the character’s goals.
On the journey is our main character Gustave (Charlie Cox), his adopted sister Maelle (Jennifer English), the intelligent Lune (Kirsty Rider), and the optimist Sciel (Shala Nyx). They are also joined by a mysterious former Expeditioner named Verso (Ben Starr), his hilarious friend Monoco (Rich Kebble), and the giant friendly creature known as Esquie (Maxence Cazorla). Together, the seven travel across the land, befriending Gestrels and fighting Nevrons in numerous fantastic battles. Expedition 33 is a turn-based game, and it is already one of the best in the genre if you ask me. Every character feels unique to use with their various different skillsets. Not only that, but the dodge and parry mechanics are riveting. There is a lot of challenge in getting the timing down for certain bosses strikes but, when you can parry an eight-hit attack you feel like a god.
It feels very similar to the boss fights of Elden Ring, in that way.
Speaking of the bosses, they are all mostly excellent, as are the soundtracks accompanying them. This is made all the more impressive by the fact that the game’s composer, Lorien Testard, had never worked on a video game before. This is a common theme with Expedition 33. Many of its developers are newbies to the industry, with a lot of them having been discovered by complete chance. This makes the existence of Expedition 33 nothing short of a miracle, and I would highly encourage you to look into the history of the game just to see how it all came to be. Much like the composer, the game’s main writer, Jennifer Svedberg-Yen, had also never written for a video game, and this makes the excellence of her writing all the more inspiring. The reveal of why the Paintress does what she does is excellent and perfectly set up throughout the narrative. That narrative also does a fantastic job of building up the characters, especially Maelle and Verso, who are already among some of the most morally complex characters in video games.
I am going to remember Maelle’s journey for a while.
And then there are the themes. As I stated at the beginning of this review, Expedition 33 is a game that centers around grief and what it can drive people to. This results in multiple emotional moments, the standout of which is the ending. No spoilers here, but it had me questioning the morality of characters in such a way that I have not experienced since the ending of the original Last of Us. It is an ending I have already seen multiple debates about online, arguing over which character, if any, made the right decision.
Expedition 33‘s conclusion really makes you think.
As of right now, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is my game of the year. The gameplay is enthralling, the music is spectacular, and the writing delivers an emotional and beautiful message about grief. I cannot wait to see what Sandfall Interactive does next in the gaming world. If their future titles are anything like Expedition 33, we may have another legendary studio on our hands.
THE REVIEW MONSTER 