Switch 2 players got a fresh gameplay showcase at today’s Nintendo Direct for Resident Evil Requiem, which launches later this month. The ninth mainline entry heralds the series’ 30th anniversary by returning to its roots in Raccoon City, this time with players controlling both newcomer Grace Ashcroft and veteran legend Leon S Kennedy.
As Grace, players will need to sneak through enemies and conserve what limited resources she has, offering a tense return-to-form for the survival horror franchise. As Leon, players can go toe-to-toe with monsters roaming the halls, using his arsenal of handguns, rifles, hatchet, and hand-to-hand skills, as well as his ability to pick up enemy weapons. How you play as one character will affect the other’s scenario. The game also features first- and third-person cameras that can be switched at any time, and various difficulty modes, including one where Grace will have to use ink ribbons in order to save.
The Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller: Resident Evil Requiem Edition will also launch the same day as the game. Later this summer Nintendo will release the first-ever Resident Evil amiibo – one of Grace and one of Leon.
Resident Evil Requiem releases on Feb 27, 2026, on the Nintendo Switch 2 (Game Key Card), PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Steam, Epic Game Store, and GeForce NOW.
Author’s Note: Keen-eyed readers might notice in the Nintendo Direct video that no attacks actually land. Gunshots intentionally miss their mark, and there’s some clever cutaways whenever actual violence is about to occur. I played a little bit of Resident Evil 2 on the Switch and don’t recall any censored violence or gore there, so I don’t think RE9 is going to be toned down here, otherwise they wouldn’t have gone out of their way to shoot off-target for the Direct presentation. Still, it’s something that jumped out at me watching the Direct, and I wanted to give my two cents.
