Why has *Resident Evil 9: Requiem* surged to a 96% positive rating?

When a horror game puts both “how to conserve resources” and “whether this wave is worth taking head-on” right in front of you at the same time, it stops being just a collection of scares and starts to feel more like an endgame puzzle, where every move has a cost. What interests me about Resident Evil 9: Requiem this time is not simply its return to horror, but how it places the oppressive tension of survival and the cathartic release of action back onto the same chessboard.

This entry shifts the setting back to the abandoned hotels of the American Midwest and the decaying outskirts of Raccoon City, which is a smart choice because it naturally lends itself to enclosed exploration and gradual emotional escalation. The dual-protagonist structure further amplifies this contrast: players will take control of FBI intelligence analyst Grace and familiar face Leon. The former leans more toward traditional survival horror driven by scarce resources, puzzle-solving, and stealth, while the latter carries the stronger sense of power and the more hardcore combat segments. In terms of strategic depth, this division is not just a simple reskin, but a way of making two distinct rhythms restrain and reinforce each other, preventing a single route from turning into mechanical repetition over time.

From a systems design perspective, it is no surprise that major media outlets have given it high scores. The game officially launched on February 26, 2026, with its Steam positive review rate at one point surpassing 96%, IGN awarding it a 9, and PC Gamer giving it a 92. These results indicate that it has at least delivered on its core gameplay loop, especially in how it integrates the often conflicting elements of “horror” and “action” with remarkable finesse this time.

Visually, the game continues to use the evolved RE Engine, and its environmental detail, character models, and lighting atmosphere are widely considered to have reached a new high point for the series. The article also mentions a brand-new hair rendering technology. That may sound like a minor detail, but once close-up shots become more frequent, it directly determines whether a character feels convincingly alive. In horror storytelling, the greater the realism, the more easily the sense of oppression takes hold; conversely, if facial expressions and materials feel off, even the strongest presentation ends up going to waste.

The issue, however, is that PC players ultimately still have to face the question of performance. Capcom has integrated upscaling technologies such as AMD FSR 4.0 this time, clearly as a safeguard for different tiers of hardware. The current testing direction is also very clear, focusing on the AMD RX 9000 series and RX 7000 series, while covering FSR 4 image quality comparisons as well as real-world tests in 4K, 2K, and 1080P. For someone like me, who cares more about system responsiveness, smoothness in a horror game is not just a nice bonus, because once frame drops occur, aiming, turning, and the rhythm of tension all get interrupted, and the entire sense of tactical interplay falls apart.

If you are a longtime Resident Evil player, my buying advice is very straightforward: if you enjoy exploration, puzzle-solving, and resource management, Grace’s route should be your main point of anticipation; if you prefer Leon-style high-pressure combat, you will not come away empty-handed either. It does not look like the kind of sequel that relies solely on nostalgia to sell itself, but rather one that tries to reassemble the series’ two core experiences into a complete, self-contained loop. For Capcom, if this step lands firmly, Resident Evil 9: Requiem will not be a safe move, but a calculated, deliberate offensive with clear trade-offs and intent.