Resident Evil 9 Review

Preface

(I’LL PUT A THUMBNAIL IN LATER, I’M HAVING COMPUTER ISSUES AND MOVING BACK TO THAILAND)

This one was a bit rushed since I’m actually running a bit close to schedule and I’ve got to figure out moving and whatnot, so apologies if this feels a bit more rushed than the usual. Anyways, onto the review!

I know Resident Evil doesn’t seem like the kind of game that I would cover considering the previous games that I did cover. However, I’m actually a longtime fan of Resident Evil. I grew up watching my cousins play Resident Evil, and I finally worked up the courage to actually play it myself when Resident Evil 4 came out. I was still scared, but because Leon was so cool and the tone was so campy, I felt quite good playing it. Well, until I ran into the Regenerator at least. The first time I saw one I just flat out didn’t boot up the game again for months.

Anyways, long story short, since then I’ve played every mainline game and many of the spin offs, and I can confidently say I’m an RE fan. I have a lot to say, and I hope you’ll enjoy it!

Introduction

Resident Evil 9 is the newest installment of the Resident Evil franchise. This game returns to more familiar characters and settings after Resident Evil 7 and 8 took a detour to cover Ethan Winters’s story. As mentioned in the preface, I’m a longtime fan of Resident Evil, and I think I’m in a good position to throw my opinion in the ring. I’m also a really big fan of what the REmakes have done for the story and tone of the series, and I’m happy to say that Resident Evil 9 does take a lot of that forward.

As always, I’ll tell you up front that I quite enjoyed Resident Evil 9. Resident Evil 9 uses a two protagonist format, focusing on Grace and Leon. Grace’s sections play like a horror game, similarly to Resident Evil 2 but with additional stealth sections and spookier. Leon’s sections play like an action game, like Resident Evil 4, and is an insanely cool power fantasy after playing Grace’s sections. I think that it does take a lot of the good parts of both styles, and I think they were implemented well. That said, it’s not perfect, and I’ll touch more on that later.

There are four difficulties available in Resident Evil 9. Normal, Hardcore (Modern), Hardcore (Classic) and Insanity, which is only available on NG+. Of the three starting difficulties, I started on Hardcore (Classic) and had a fantastic time. The game felt really tense, and because I didn’t know where things are I had to explore a lot. Funnily, I read that people stopped struggling the moment they got to the Leon parts, but I actually struggled more with Leon parts than with the Grace parts.

Insanity is meant to be a NG+ only difficulty and feels like it expects you to have some bonuses from earlier completions. I… actually kind of hate that. It’s not impossible without it, but it does feel quite oppressive without it especially in the earliest parts of the game. You get your starting gun much later in the area, but once you finally get a gun it becomes a really hard but generally fair experience.

I also watched my friend play on Normal, and I think it seems quite a bit less stressful. The scares and the spooks are still there, but enemies feel more predictable, specifically in regards to how many shots it takes to stagger or stun them.

Story and Presentation

Let’s start on the story and presentation. You play as Grace for a decent chunk of the game, and Grace is a pretty fun character. Grace is an FBI analyst who is sent to a crime scene to figure out what’s going on. Grace is an absolute wreck when it comes to social interactions, and can barely hold a conversation. The job turns out to be a setup targeting her specifically, and she is captured. Grace is actually the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, who was one of the survivors of Raccoon City and one of the playable characters in Resident Evil Outbreak.

Leon, our other protagonist, happens to be investigating a case of Raccoon City survivors dying nearby. He catches wind of Grace being dragged off by the villain, Gideon, and gives chase. Gideon actually starts a T Virus outbreak to try to slow Leon down and manages to lose him, though Leon does eventually figure out where Gideon escaped to. The rest of the story swaps between Leon and Graces’ perspectives, figuring out why Grace is being targeted, and the cure for the cases Leon was investigating.

I do have a few complaints however.

The first problem isn’t specific to Requiem, but I really wish they’d have made a Resident Evil Outbreak Remake. The perfect window for that would have been right after Resident Evil 3 remake, and that would’ve given the audience a much clearer and cleaner connection to Grace. It hurts even more because they made that asymmetrical survivor game and the PVP game in that timeframe if I remember correctly, and both missed the point of the series massively. As it stands now, only people who played the original Outbreak games will know Alyssa, which makes me sad.

Second, why in god’s green earth did they send Grace, the ANALYST, onto a crime scene with no partner? Surely they’d take some precaution even if she has to have some experience with handling weapons and whatnot. I actually thought Leon was actually gonna be her partner in this investigation when I saw the trailers, but apparently she doesn’t even get one. Could you have at least given her one then killed them off?

Third, there were a few story twists they made towards the end of the story that felt like they were trying to give a more hopeful ending. However, this feels like it cheapened some of the emotional impact of the earlier bits in the story, which I’m really not a fan of. To add to this point, there were a few retcons in this game that changed a lot of how you’d realistically perceive a specific character from the older game. I don’t honestly like the changes too much, I can somewhat understand it, but it felt kind of unnecessary.

I think the story in general is fine. Despite my complaints, I generally enjoyed the way that the characters were portrayed and played. Grace was a really fun character and watching her grow from someone who jumps at her own shadows to stepping up and taking charge felt awesome. It did feel like a HUGE amount of character growth for how short the timeframe is meant to be, but it’s not the most impossible thing to happen in Resident Evil.

On Leon’s part, he’s still that badass and snarky pretty boy, though a few decades older. In the overarching story, Resident Evil 9 actually felt like the finish to the arc that they’ve been building for him between Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake, with his struggle on the survivor’s guilt and trying to fix things even now decades on.

There were a lot of absolutely fantastic callbacks and fanservice for people who have played previous games, and I enjoyed them a lot.

Visual and Sound

Visually, I really like the game. As with the remakes, the game leans hard into realism when it comes to looks, but still goes quite extra when it comes to the monsters. Not really much to say on this segment, it’s really pretty and relatively varied. One big compliment I’d like to hand out though is I really enjoyed the little details they put in for the animations. Specific ones with reloading depending on the amount of ammo you have, or when Grace shoots the Requiem the first time nearly knocking it out of her hand. This extends to the zombies in the first area as well, with distinct looks for each type and their own little animations. It was fantastic.

As far as the music goes, I uh, didn’t really notice it so it was probably fine, not good or bad. The voice acting in particular though was great. I really enjoyed the performances of everyone, but Grace was absolutely fantastic, and Leon is amazing as always.

Gameplay

As mentioned before multiple times, the game is separated into two distinct gameplay styles with each protagonist.

In general the game starts with Grace in an area, letting you really get the feel for the layout and being careful inside, then you get to play as Leon and then demolish everything that scared you before. I had a pretty good time with this format since I really enjoy both separately, though I feel like it’s trying to pander to two completely different audiences, so some people will be alienated from having to play parts they dislike.

Grace’s segments feel quite similar to how Resident Evil 2 Remake felt, but with additional stealth and item crafting. These segments were actually my favorite parts by far, with resources being scarce enough that the game feels tense and that each decision matters, but not so scarce that it feels insurmountable.

Towards the middle of the main section with Grace, you’ll get access to a stealth kill mechanic that utilizes a consumable needle item. It allows for you to clear specific enemies out and is great for lowering the level of tension in the playthrough. On second playthrough and beyond though, since you know where you’ll backtrack and where you won’t, the needles make it feel far too easy.

Speaking of though, the needles are craftable, as is ammo and a lot of other materials. The main resource for crafting almost everything is blood, which you’ll be able to find throughout the area. I really like the way this mechanic is implemented, since you’ll have to decide what resources (ammo, healing, stealth kill needles) you choose to craft, and that takes away from the pool of possible other resources.

This is especially prevalent in Hardcore (Classic) and above, where saving requires Ink Ribbons, which are limited and can also be crafted if you want a bit of extra safety. On Insanity though, once you get about a third of the way in, you can craft so much ammo as Grace that it feels like ammo management is no longer an issue. It’s still quite challenging since enemies are much faster and more aggressive and hit like a truck. However, worrying about ammo becomes a non issue.

Next up is Leon. Leon’s segments are much more action oriented and feels significantly closer to Resident Evil 4 Remake gameplay wise, with a RE5 style shop for upgrading weapons.

As with Resident Evil 4 Remake, you can parry just about everything. The knife’s durability is no longer an issue as you can just sharpen and fix it mid fight too. The guns available are also really fun in general, but nothing really to write home about.

On Hardcore (Classic), I actually had a tougher time on Leon than Grace, with me constantly running low on ammo and just barely scraping by for the most part.

On Insanity the enemies become significantly harder to stagger and much more aggressive so you’ll have to learn the moves and the timing to parry them if you want to survive.

On the enemy side, I think that each enemy type works extremely well for both characters in their own way. The bosses are also generally pretty cool and understandable, with interesting mechanics.

I do want to give an extra shoutout here to the zombies in the first area. I really enjoy that they all feel quite unique with their own routines, triggers, and animations that help you figure out what to do. The uniqueness does disappear once you get to the later parts especially when playing as Leon, which is a bit unfortunate.

The map is also fantastic, but I think that that’s to be expected from Capcom at this point. The first area specifically reminds me a lot of the RPD from Resident Evil 2 Remake, which is the gold standard in my opinion. Unfortunately, like with the zombies, the areas become less interesting in the later areas too.

Conclusion

So, what do I think? I think Resident Evil 9 is a fantastic addition to the series. I really enjoyed that it evolves the gameplay while keeping both styles that people liked, though that itself makes it so the game feels like it’s pulling in two different directions.

I really enjoyed all of it, but I enjoyed Grace’s segments the most. Resource management, having to quickly make decisions to fight or run, and not knowing what’s coming next feels like what I want most from Resident Evil.

If you’re a longtime RE fan I think it’s a must play, since it pushes the story and gameplay forward. I actually do like Resident Evil 2 Remake and Resident Evil 4 Remake more though, but I think more so due to how fantastic those two were rather than a knock on Resident Evil 9.

If you’re a new player to the series, I don’t think this is a good one to start with. You’ll be a bit lost story wise, and gameplay wise having the two different styles can give you a weird expectation if you try to play previous games. My suggestion would be to maybe look into RE2 and RE4 remakes first, for story and gameplay familiarity. If you’re a fan of only horror or only action, this game might not be for you due to the other segment likely being a lot less interesting to you.

I hope this helped you make a decision on whether you wanted to buy the game or not! Let me know if it did, or what I could do better otherwise!

I hope you’re having a fantastic day, and I’ll see you next time!