At the Tokyo Games Exhibition 2025, it was announced that this is the latest game in the game resident Evil series, Resident Evil Requiemwill come Nintendo Switch 2 except PlayStation and Xbox console. And, if you’re wondering how the game can be played on a less powerful console, I have good news: I’m able to do some hands-on time with the demo of TGS.
Now, the first thing to note is that I play games in handheld mode of the Switch 2. So I can’t talk about the look or feel when docked and placed on a TV screen. That said, the handheld experience is great. Honestly as smooth as silk – no frame rate drop or any type of lag. While that resolution is almost certainly different from its home console brethren, I can’t see the difference on the screen of Switch 2.
As for the content of the presentation itself, you play Grace Ashcroft and then hang upside down in the room and get overwhelmed with blood. After cutting the scene, you will be left to explore your direct area – this is more than 3 rooms and a corridor with metal doors blocking the only way out. The atmosphere is great in this dark and claustrophobic environment. You can flip and turn off the light switch throughout the process, but the lights often flicker, casting shadows and seducing eyes.
But what impressed me the most was the logical flow of the presentation. A room is too dark to explore, so you keep moving forward until you find the locked door. Next to the door is a fuse box, which is missing. There is a key in the nearby drawer that you can pass by on the way to the gate. In that room you will find a locked fuse box and a lighter – of course, this will make you think about the “too dark room” you encountered before. All of this is saying that the game makes you need to go and tell what you need to look for through environmental stories. You don’t need waypoint or grace to talk to yourself to give you a hint. I never felt lost or confused – well, until I met a monster.
Throughout the demo, you are hunted by a giant monster woman. Obviously, grace cannot fight it and must run away and hide. However, the map presents some challenges. There is no loop to escape endlessly. There is only a dead end to hide in it and hope the monster just decides not to follow you.
The layout of the map also means that the monsters cannot move – while terrible (because it can be scattered from it), it also breaks the incredible pause. For example, I encountered a monster in a room on a dead end with a key item inside. I ran away, looking at the entrance to the corridor leading to that room – waiting for the monster to pass by so I could sneak past it and return to the room. However, the monster never came. So, eventually, I gave up and returned to the room just to find the empty one. Even though the facts were huge and there was no other possibility to exit that room, the monster somehow disappeared, which brought me out of the game.
Another moment I spent in the game also involved monsters. In a script event, it knocked on the car I had been moving (it turned out to be hiding behind). This made me tucked into a corner by the box, with a trolley on one side and a monster on the other. Literally, I couldn’t move – I remember sighing angry when I gave up my running position until the monster decided to bite my head, not just weird. Fortunately, this did not kill me, but created enough gaps to get me away and escape.
All in all, I love this demo. As a horror game, good jumping fear and general atmosphere of the environment are great, especially when playing the first person when designing. But most importantly, the horror is amplified because I don’t control the situation, but feel powerless – I can’t do anything except running. Personally, I can’t wait to play the full game next year.
Resident Evil Requiem Planned to be released on February 27, 2026 PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.
