00:00Resident Evil Requiem is only a month away, and, after going hands-on with a highly anticipated
00:06horror title, we're here to tell you that Leon is back, and more powerful than ever in this
00:12gruesome and gory mainline entry. GamesRadar's Jasmine Gould-Wilson has been adamant since day
00:18one that our boy Leon would return in Requiem, and it's clear she's not stopped thinking about
00:24him and his luscious blonde hair since. Just head to our website and read her preview to see what
00:29we mean. Despite that distraction, we're here to tell you five things you need to know before playing
00:35Resident Evil Requiem. Well, that's my cardio for the week. Surrounded by the blood splatter mush of
00:42four crimson heads, the line is simply too good not to jot down. Moreover, it proves that playing as
00:48Leon is a far cry from the anxiety that haunted me during my first hands-on with Capcom's latest.
00:54The rookie cop-turned-badass Division of Special Operations Official has never been more lethal.
01:00Now, pushing 60, he's more James Bond than Survivor Horror Hero. If words could kill,
01:06Dr. Victor Gideon would already be dead, but Leon's hatchet does the talking just fine on its own.
01:12Parrying chainsaws isn't even the slickest it gets for this new and improved hero. He'll now simply
01:18scoop him off the ground after hacking up the original wielder. Checkmate, Dr. Gideon.
01:22Clad in yet another stylish jacket we'll all be lusting after. He strides into the palatial
01:28building, with its central staircase and branching upper landings affording it more than a passing
01:33resemblance to the original Resident Evil's Spencer Mansion, like he owns the place. His swagger says
01:39it all. Three-day stubble and a smattering of fine lines aside, this is the same Leon Kennedy we know
01:45and love. Kept waiting in the hall by Dr. Victor Gideon, an evacuation alarm begins to blare and a
01:52chainsaw wielding orderly with a curious black infection stumbles towards Leon menacingly.
01:58Nasty blighters like this are still one-hit kills and the death animations are grisly,
02:02yet perhaps overly long, delights. I could start blasting, sure, but Leon's trusty hatchet isn't
02:09just his new melee weapon of choice. It turns him into a hack and slash master, and I hack infected
02:14to mulch, cutting down any who tried to pick up the chainsaw as it falls to the ground. Leon needn't
02:19stick to just the hatchet, able to wield that chainsaw for himself this time around. It's
02:24incredibly satisfying to swing it into the grabby hordes, slicing and dicing as buckets of black-red
02:30viscera erupt from their ruined corpses. He heads over to a bolt-locked door to cut through the metal,
02:36chainsaw in hand, and I walk out into a corridor just in time to see where my last preview left
02:41off,
02:42with grace in peril from her hulking pursuer. Stumbling terror isn't Leon's speed, however,
02:47leaving a pulpy mess of the horror stalker as the two protagonists collide. Briefly. Unable to even
02:53make it through two-truths-and-a-lie introductions, the pair are separated by metal grating, with Leon
02:59getting promptly knocked out by Dr. Gideon himself. I have a moment here to catch my breath and take
03:05stuck. The sight of Leon speaking through a divider at his female co-star brings back memories of
03:102019's Resident Evil 2, with FBI forensic analyst Grace Ashcroft standing in for Claire Redfield.
03:16It's at this moment where my preview session splits off into Grace's first-person perspective for a
03:22couple of hours, as she tries desperately to find a way out of the facility. If you've seen Capcom's
03:27official promotional material, you'll know Grace is not wielding John Wick moves or witty one-liners.
03:32She's not a veteran of Rezzy's labyrinthine environments and monstrous ever-present threats.
03:37Our aim was to deliver a gaming experience that alternately immerses players in the most
03:42terrifying horror and the most thrilling action, producer Masato Kumazawa told GamesRadar,
03:48therefore maximising both the terror felt when transitioning from action to horror segments,
03:53and the exhilaration experience when shifting from horror to action segments.
03:57To this end, as Leon's counterpart, we introduced Grace, an easily frightened character who was
04:03experiencing a biohazard situation for the first time. We're also assured that the stalker enemy,
04:08and associated helplessness of the player character, is just one small part of the overall experience.
04:14Back to Leon, and despite the clobbering, he's in the right place to visit a doctor next time we
04:20cross paths. What's more, the lengthy cutscene could shine a little light on Elpis,
04:24the reason for Leon's journey to Rhodes Hill in the first place.
04:28That shadowy black mark you might have already glimpsed on his throat?
04:32Umbrella's curse, Dr. Gideon calls it, tracing Leon's neck with an uncomfortable tenderness as
04:37the DSO agent wakes up, hands tied behind him just in time for a villain monologue.
04:42This is where the doc administers his treatments, Gideon says.
04:46Leon glances up at him through impossibly perfect hair. The silent treatment, I hope.
04:51But Leon's too action hero to be tied down for long, breaking free and firing his handgun as the
04:57doctor scurries away. Quite how this curse will impact Mr. Kennedy throughout Requiem remains to
05:03be seen. But if the Raccoon City survivor meets a bad end, then we all riot. Got it?
05:09I've never felt as powerful in a Resident Evil game as I do as Leon. Especially when the dreaded
05:16Crimson Head Zombies make an appearance. The mutated infected you might recall from the terrifying
05:212002 Resident Evil remake. The infamously hard to kill blighters are back and just as lethal.
05:28But don't worry about setting fire to them. Leon can down the suckers with a shotgun shell or two to
05:33the brain. Followed by another head smash attack with that trusty hatchet to finish them off for
05:38good. Despite Leon being able to flatten these red-faced devils, the nostalgia factor drummed
05:44up by just thinking about the way they tormented us back in the GameCube era of gaming. Yes,
05:49one of the writers here is old and no, we won't reveal which one, hammers home just how long
05:53Resident Evil has been going as a series. Requiem's release coming 30 years after the original
05:59PlayStation game was always going to establish it as a celebration of the franchise. But including
06:05enemies like Crimson Heads alongside Grace's panic-ridden segments is Capcom demonstrating
06:10to us all how truly horrifying this series is and why we love Resident Evil for it. Then when you
06:16add
06:16Leon and his ability to chainsaw through foes, it's easy to see Requiem as potentially the ultimate
06:23Resident Evil title. However, we'll have to wait for the game's full release on February 27,
06:292026 to see if it sticks that incredibly demanding landing. So, will you be playing Resident Evil
06:36Requiem? Are you ready to feel the fear as grace? What about annihilating monsters as Leon? Let us know
06:42and stick with GamesRadar for the biggest and best games of 2026.
