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Resident Evil Requiem:
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Grace Ashcroft is an FBI analyst and is highly regarded by her boss. So much so that the next investigation he is appointing to her is to resolve a series of murders, where all the victims have the same type of marks on their skin. The last corpse was found in an abandoned hotel in the city of Wrenwood, the same establishment where she saw her mother slain several years ago. Despite the terrible memories, she bravely takes on the case. As she slowly makes her way through the silent, damaged building, her heart pounds louder and her breathing grows heavier. She is scared, but that is only the beginning of Resident Evil Requiem!

Resident Evil Requiem is a third-person action and survival horror game developed and self-published by Capcom on the 27th of February 2026 on the Steam platform. The game is also available on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2.

As a big fan of the series, I couldn't wait to play this game, and I must say that I was blown away straight from the start. And the more I played it, the more I liked it. The fine balance between the survival horror and action in this game is just perfect, thanks to the mixed gameplay provided by the two main characters, Grace and Leon.

On one hand, you'll need a more cautious approach while playing Grace. Leon, on the other hand, will be more action-based. The first area, Wrenwood, is all Grace until Leon makes his entrance towards the end. In two of the main areas you'll visit, you'll be regularly swapping between the two characters. The Rhode Hill Chronic Care Centre will see you mostly playing Grace, and it will be a 50/50 split in the ARK area. The Raccoon City area will be all about Leon and full of action!

The other differences between the two characters are the ability to hold items in inventory and the requirements for crafting new items. Grace will start with a small number of slots in her inventory. The number of slots will increase by two each time she finds a hip pouch. Three hip pouches are in the Rhode Hill Chronic Care Centre. One is in the Parlour Room, but you'll need some antique coins to acquire it. The others will be somewhere in the Clinic. Make sure to investigate all the rooms thoroughly for these coins and other goodies. Leon's inventory slots are far bigger than Grace's and can store larger weapons and more items. It is essential to know that Grace can store and retrieve items in the safe rooms, but Leon can't!

The crafting system is simple and easy to use. Grace needs one important element to be able to craft some new items - infected zombie blood. Access infected blood by using the blood collector on dead zombies or in buckets full of blood, and yes, the apparatus can only hold a certain amount of blood. Every time you craft something with Grace, you’ll need to refill the collector with more blood.

For Leon, gunpowder is the important item for crafting.

The zombies are really good in this game, ranging from human to monster-sized. Some zombies keep the same habits as before they got infected. The maid and the cook at the Clinic are great! The cook is chopping meat in the kitchen, and the maid is trying to clean toilets full of blood. I also like the soldiers with the machine guns in Raccoon City.

The combat is good; rewarding and constant all the way through. You'll encounter different zombies throughout the game. You have limited ammunition and melee weapons all the way through. However, it will feel more pronounced at the Rhode Hill Clinic, and it will be imperative to parry attacks effectively, then follow up with a kick or a push. That will allow you to flee or create space, giving you more time to better aim whichever firing weapon is at hand. If you push/kick a zombie towards another one, it will also move backward, very cool!

The Raccoon City area is full of action, but not over the top, which is great! I thoroughly enjoyed it as it has a couple of surprises. The motorcycle chase was fun, and I also liked the part where Leon revisited the Police station where his career started in Resident Evil 2!

There are two boss fights, one for each character, and they are decent enemies; it took me a couple of goes to kill them. The second one was quite challenging, I must say!

The graphics are stunning, and the chilling atmosphere is incredible from start to finish. It probably reached its peak while playing Grace. However, her continuous whimpering began to irritate me after a while. Leon was my saviour every time I played him. The story was great, and it fit brilliantly within the series. Great voice acting overall, but sometimes it was not synchronised properly with the characters' mouths in some of the cutscenes. The puzzles were average, but apart from that, it was smooth sailing!

Positives:
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+ Sensational graphics and atmosphere
+ Great story
+ Perfect balance between survival horror and action
+ The combat is good and rewarding
+ Good voice over
+ Achievements and trading cards

Negatives:
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- A few synchronisation issues in some cutscenes (mouth & voice)

Resident Evil Requiem: I waited patiently. I played it extensively, and I loved it immensely!

9/10

Note: This game was not received for free; I purchased it through the Steam store. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!

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I Hate This Place:
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Welcome to the Rutherford Ranch and its surroundings! A place that our protagonist Elena knows very well, as she used to play there with her friend Lou in her youth. But it's also a strange place, to say the least. Near the ranch, an odd cult with followers who seem to have fallen on hard times worship a god known as the Horned Man. Also, there are rumours that illegal experiments are being performed on people in military bunkers, most likely on the cult followers. And to put icing on the cake, the entire area is infected with terrifying monsters and ghosts. For Elena, what matters is to find out what happened to her mother, who disappeared many years ago. What would you say if you were in her shoes? Probably . . . I Hate This Place!

I Hate This Place is an isometric survival horror game with stealth elements and a touch of investigation, developed by Rock Square Thunder and published by Feardemic on the 30 of January 2026, on the Steam platform. I take this opportunity to thank both the developer and the publisher for providing me with a free key through my curator's Steam groups.

The game starts with Elena and Lou in the woods. After insisting on showing Elena a place nearby, both arrive in an area where a large symbol is displayed on the grass. Lou initiates a ritual that doesn’t go to plan, vanishing into thin air in the process and leaving Elena alone from that point onwards. The fun starts as Elena enters the first bunker.

As Elena does not have many weapons at this point (a gun with limited ammunition and a baseball bat), and the bunker houses a fair few monsters, stealth will probably be your best bet. Most of the monsters will react to sounds, so they'll hear her if she runs or walks on broken glass. Thankfully, she can squat and move slowly. If she makes a little sound, and it will over quickly. Make sure to check her inventory; if she carries cans, she can use them to lure the monster away by throwing them in the opposite direction. After clearing the bunker, you'll be able to access a map of the area and start multiple quests.

This brings me to the exploration aspect of the game. The area is of average size. As you meet NPC's, new quests will arise, and Elena will discover new places which will appear on the map as she reaches them. If you decide to follow a specific quest, red question marks will appear on the map to give you hints as to where you might find a person or where to go next. There are plenty of things to find in the world, such as safe houses where you can save your progress and blueprints. You need the blueprints to build stations where you can craft all sorts of items to help Elena survive this ordeal. Make sure to check the bins and destroy the wooden crates, as they contain goodies to collect. However, she needs to be careful about how many goods she carries at any given time, as it will slow her down in the early stages of the game. It becomes irrelevant later on when she can craft the military bag. It's a bit of a shame because I like the fact that she was impeded by carrying too much. I like the day and night sequences all the way through the game, which increase the spooky atmosphere.

Most of the crafting stations will take place at the Rutherford Ranch. Make sure to pick up all the blueprints as Elena visits places; you’ll need them to create stations, then craft food, weapons and other goodies. It will take one day in gaming terms to erect a station. You can also craft certain items in the safe houses as long as you have the right number of required elements to do so.

I find the combat system mostly adequate, especially with the firearms (gun, rifle, submachine gun, shotgun) and throwing items such as grenades, Molotov cocktails, and dynamites. But I don't like the feel of the melee weapon (baseball bat), as I had a bit of a hard time adjusting the direction; maybe because I used the mouse and keyboard only.

I enjoyed the monsters I encountered during my gameplay, but I must admit that they were not difficult to kill, especially in the later stages of the game. There were only a couple of serious encounters with so-called bosses, and only one was a decent foe!

I found the story engaging from start to finish. I also enjoyed the few puzzles and riddles thrown at me. The investigation was a surprise, and it came when Elena needed to find out what happened to some of the characters. She revisited the location where the character was killed. Then, the room or area turned red, and, armed with a lamp to destroy the incoming ghosts, Elena needed to collect several pieces of evidence and deduce what happened.

The visuals and the eerie feel of the game are very good. I also liked the voice acting, and I must admit I enjoyed my time playing that game, which I finished in 12 hours. Does this game offer good replayability? I am glad to have had the opportunity to play it, but I won't play it again. Twelve hours of gameplay doesn’t warrant the 44 Australian dollars.

Positives:
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+ Great visuals
+ Good voice acting and story
+ Good selection of weapons
+ Simple and easy-to-use crafting system
+ The game runs very well
+ Achievements

Negatives:
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- Needs a bigger variety of monsters
- Fights with both bosses were too easy
- The asking price is a bit high
- Quite a short game
- No trading cards as yet

I Hate This Place has great visuals and runs beautifully. It’s a bit short for the asking price and it needs to be more challenging.

6/10

Key provided by the developer/publisher through my Steam Curator groups for review purposes. Any opinions expressed are entirely my own!