Resident Evil Requiem: 10 Tips That Will Save Your Life Early

Resident Evil Requiem landed on February 27th and people are already losing their minds over it in the best and worst ways. The best: it's genuinely one of Capcom's most ambitious entries in years, blending the claustrophobic horror of RE2's police station with the action-heavy chaos Leon Kennedy has become known for. The worst: players are dying over and over in the opening hours from mistakes that are completely avoidable with a bit of foreknowledge.

Requiem features two playable characters with incredibly distinct playstyles , which means the muscle memory you built in RE4 Remake might actually work against you in certain sections. Whether this is your first Resident Evil or your ninth, here are ten things you should know before you get too deep.

🧟 1. Grace and Leon Are Basically Two Different Games

This one sounds obvious but it really isn't until you experience the whiplash firsthand. Requiem constantly switches between the perspectives of Leon Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft, and each character demands a completely different mindset.

Grace represents the game's horror elements. Her inventory is classic Resi, starting with only eight slots. Leon has significantly more weapons in his arsenal and leans into combat. When you're playing as Grace, think RE2 Remake. Conserve, evade, only shoot when you have to. When you're Leon, you have more room to play aggressively. Mixing up these approaches will get you killed fast.

🔄 2. Master the Quick Turn Immediately

One of the first things you'll be taught is how to quick turn, and it's there for a very good reason. By pressing circle and holding back on the thumbstick, Leon and Grace swiftly turn to face the opposite direction, letting you run from immediate threats without fumbling with the camera mid-panic.

This move gets overlooked because it feels like a tutorial throwaway. It isn't. You will use it dozens of times. Practice it in calm moments so it becomes automatic when something is two feet behind you.

🗺️ 3. The Map Is Your Most Useful Tool

The level design in Requiem is intricate, and it's easy to lose your bearings in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center or the vaster Raccoon City. The map is your best friend. Any locked door you encounter or item you leave behind is automatically noted on your map.

More importantly: any items you've passed by but failed to pick up will appear on your map. Anytime you're about to leave a room, check your map first to see if you've missed anything. Green Herbs are tiny and easy to walk past. The map catches them for you.

💊 4. Save Constantly. Seriously.

Resident Evil Requiem doesn't have many automatic save points, and dying during a combat encounter may send you back much farther than you'd expect. Anytime you pass by a safe room, take the extra few seconds to save.

On Standard Modern difficulty, there are no ribbon requirements, so there's genuinely no reason not to save every time you walk past a typewriter. The game punishes complacency and rewards paranoia.

🔦 5. The Girl Has One Big Weakness

One of the most terrifying encounters in Grace's chapters involves a relentless stalker known as The Girl. Unlike regular zombies, she's not an enemy you're meant to fight head-on in the early game. She's fast, aggressive, and can appear from unexpected places including ceiling openings.

Her main weakness: bright rooms damage her and force her to retreat, so run toward well-lit areas if she's chasing you. Once you know this, encounters with her go from "pure panic" to "manageable panic." There's a difference.

🎯 6. Aim for Heads, Then Melee

After a shot or two to a zombie's head, you'll be prompted to melee them. This will push them to the ground, and they'll take a few moments to get back up, during which time you can put 3-4 more bullets in their head to finish them off. This beats having to aim at a moving target.

Hitting specific weak spots like heads or knees staggers opponents, which opens up opportunities for follow-up actions, whether that's a melee attack or injecting an enemy with a Hemolytic Injector. Don't just spray bullets. Set up your shots.

🪓 7. Leon's Hatchet Does More Than You Think

Leon comes equipped with a powerful hatchet for slicing through zombies. While it's great for melee finishers and conserving ammo, it's also a critical defensive tool that can be used to parry enemy attacks, including attacks from large bosses. However, you need to sharpen it every chance you get, because both attacking and parrying will rapidly deplete it.

Don't ignore the sharpening prompts. Losing your parry tool mid-boss fight because you forgot to maintain it is a painful lesson that you ideally learn here, not in the heat of battle.

🎒 8. Manage Inventory Using Crafting, Not Just Storage

Your inventory will be exceedingly limited, especially in the opening hours. Don't be afraid to backtrack and store items in safe rooms. Leaving behind even a single healing item or ammo stack could make the difference between surviving an upcoming battle and dying.

Here's the smarter move: head into the crafting menu and use materials to craft an item that takes up less space. Crafting clears up inventory slots on the fly. Also worth knowing: you can turn any Makeshift Knife into Scrap through the crafting menu, which gives you flexibility when you don't need it as a weapon.

🧠 9. Use Enemies Against Each Other

In Requiem you can trick or mislead enemies to ensure safe passage. Turn on a nearby light and certain enemies will walk over to switch it off, creating a safe route down a nearby corridor. Flushing a toilet will prompt a maid enemy to investigate. Patients wielding IV poles can even swing them into groups of other enemies if you lead them correctly.

This stealth and manipulation layer is one of the most underutilized mechanics in the first playthrough. Most players go straight to shooting. The ammo savings from environmental manipulation are significant, especially in Grace's sections where every bullet genuinely counts.

🔁 10. Some Areas Only Work for One Character

Throughout Requiem, there will be stages where both Grace and Leon walk through the same space at different times. When playing as one character, you might not be able to access a room, open a cabinet, or use an item. Sometimes something only works for Grace. Other times, Leon can use his hatchet to pry open a door that Grace couldn't budge.

Don't assume a dead end is permanent. Make a mental note or drop a map marker and revisit it when you're playing the other character. The game is interconnected in ways that reward paying attention.

One More Thing: Check Your Difficulty Setting Early

Resident Evil Requiem allows for a Casual game mode for those who want to enjoy the story and puzzles without the stress. The Standard Modern difficulty is reasonably balanced with plentiful ammo and healing items. Requiem also offers adjustable perspective settings. While the game nudges you toward first-person camera for Grace's sections, the third-person option gives more situational awareness, which is useful when you're trying to avoid detection.

There's no shame in adjusting the perspective or difficulty to match how you want to experience the game. Requiem is a good enough story that getting stuck and frustrated early would be a waste of what's waiting further in.

It's been out for less than a week and people are already hitting walls on the final puzzle, debating endings, and arguing over whether Leon or Grace has the better sections. That kind of discourse is a good sign. This one has legs.

So, have you jumped in yet, and are you surviving or just barely holding on?