Resident Evil Requiem arrives Feb. 27, and horror lovers are hoping we're in for another smash hit in Capcom's storied franchise. A short film they just released is a master class in how to get people excited for your game. Longlegs star Maika Monroe is a mother doing the best she can to keep her daughter safe in Racoon City's frightening new reality.
The latest game in the franchise is set decades after the city's destruction and will split its gameplay between Grace Ashcroft, the daughter of RE7 survivor Alyssa, and Leon Kennedy. Grace's segments will be more about classic survival horror, with Leon's stages featuring more combat since he's an experienced veteran of all this crazy zombie nonsense. The contrast between the two should yield an interesting experience.
At one point, Requiem was going to be an online open-world game, but thank the gaming gods that idea got abandoned. Everything does not need to be open-world, especially if it has already had massive success as a survival horror franchise. I mean, was anybody really clamoring for RE to go in that direction?
This is potentially a huge year for RE, as there is a yet another film coming our way. Wait, come back! Weapons director Zach Cregger is helming this offering, so perhaps it won't be terrible. By his own count, he has played thousands of hours of this franchise. This is great. Nothing turns me off more than when somebody involved with a video game movie gleefully brags that they know nothing about the games.
Why do they keep doing these movies? Horror is a hugely profitable genre. The RE films have made Sony more than $1 billion so far. The latest one, simply titled Resident Evil, arrives Sept. 18.