...for a handheld.
Capcom had a lot to
show off at Tokyo Game Show 2025, and I was lucky enough to play the Nintendo Switch 2 version of Resident Evil Requiem. As I reflected on
the horrors I witnessed, I came away impressed with its performance.
However, I'm left with a few lingering questions that would stop me
from picking up this version.
The Resident Evil Requiem demo was the same one that was at Gamescom 2025, but here it
was playable on Nintendo Switch 2 for the first time and only in handheld
mode. If you're familiar with the demo, then skip ahead to the next
paragraph. The demo begins with protagonist Grace Ashcroft waking up
upside down strapped to some kind of medical-looking bed (perhaps
after a bender with Leon the night before!). You'll explore rooms
and hallways going between light and dark areas flipping light
switches, the game's way of telling you: "Light is important!"
In proper Resident Evil fashion, you'll need to find the right items and where to put them in order to proceed, all the while avoiding the new (?)
stalker enemy. Neat!
After beginning the
demo, strangely, the first thing that stood out to me was how good
the HD rumble of the Joy-Con 2 felt. That's not something that I
usually even notice, but here it felt detailed.
The game looks great on
Switch 2, much better than I expected. The colors looked vibrant and
really popped. I played with HDR turned off, as that was the default
setting. I was worried about how much detail would be lost, but
without doing a side by side comparison I couldn't tell. Grace's
hair did look lower resolution from memory, but I feel like on its
own, it doesn't look overly compromised. You can still see the pores
on her face in the opening scene. The wrinkles on her shirt and the
texture on the walls make me feel there's still a good level of
detail.
Some of the edges on
Grace looked blurry when the camera was zoomed in. Additionally, some objects
had a strange outline or glow, like on the medical equipment pictured above.
However, it wasn't as noticeable to me during normal gameplay.
I played using the third person perspective, and there's a moment in the demo where the camera
changes from third to first person, and it was able to do
that seamlessly. I didn't notice any loss of visual fidelity up
close.
As I mentioned,
lighting will play a major role in Resident Evil Requiem and you'll need to
use light to keep the stalker enemy at bay. How the Switch 2 will
handle lighting was a big concern, but after seeing it in person, I
feel like there is a good contrast between light and dark and
shadows. The Switch 2 feels capable of delivering atmospheric
lighting, necessary for a game like this. I thought the red light
cast over Grace looked excellent, as did the dark shadows on the
pillar in the background.
What didn't look great
was the light from the window, which was very pixelated from a
distance and even worse up close. Watching comparisons of the PS5
and Switch 2 ports of Cronos the New Dawn, god rays were removed from
the Switch 2 version of that game, so it's nice they're still
included in RE9 and maybe Capcom can clean them up before the final
version.
RE9 Requiem on Switch 2
also appeared to run at a stable framerate and I didn't experience
any slowdown during gameplay. The only exception is rotating an
object in the 3D viewer seemed a little choppy.
From what Capcom showed
on the Switch 2, it was very impressive but there is still a lot we
don't know. The demo is set indoors, with small rooms, tight
hallways and only one enemy. We have yet to see how it will handle
larger, more open environments, especially if rumors are true of RE9
having an open world. We also don't know about docked mode
performance, and in what format RE9 will be released, digital, key
card or physical. We'll likely find out soon before the Feb. 27 release date.
And as a bonus to
everyone who was able to play the demo, Capcom was giving out a
Biohazard Requiem bag. (Perfect size for your guidebooks!) And they
also gave a plastic fan. The booth itself was massive, and displayed
a trailer that even had some information about when the game will
be set, 30 years after the destruction of Raccoon City, and hinted at the mysterious "Elpis."
Around the corner was a
statue of Grace with the stalker's hand. They even had at least 2
zombies roaming about.
So do you plan on
getting RE9? And if so, on which platform? Before this I was 100%
on PS5, but as a busy father, the portability of Switch 2 seems like a
worthwhile trade off for a version that looks this good. But I'll
wait for more information about before deciding.
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