Games You Beat in 2026: RIP to our backlogs

[toxicitizen]

Resident Evil Requiem

 

I tried to take my time with it but I finally got to the end last night. One thing that always bugs me on my first run of a new RE game is that I'm always stressing out about how short it might be and worrying I'm going through it too fast. Especially this time since there were pre-release reports that it was 16+ hours long but as reviews started coming out that started going down to 12, 10 and even 8 hours. That must have been the in-game timer because my completion screen said about 10h30 but on Steam I have 17h, which accounts for the times I died and lost progress. I probably would've finished it faster if I hadn't played on standard classic but daddy needs his ink ribbons. 

 

For Grace's sections: no notes, 10/10, classic RE Mansion experience. Exactly what I want out of Resident Evil. The Rhodes Hill Care Center in particular was amazing. There's just something about the way the RE engine is lit that makes these environments such a joy to explore. The main Baker house in RE7 was the same way. You'll round a corner and at the end of a dark hallway there's a light revealing a door with a weird handle or something that you can't open yet but it's setup in a way that makes it so intriguing that you're already looking forward to finding out what's on the other side. If they're actually working on another RE1 Remake, I kinda hope it'll be first-person because it's so perfect for that style of gameplay.

 

The one thing I'm not really a fan of is playing hide-and-seek with a monster you have no means of defending yourself against but thankfully that was only the case for a short section at the beginning. Also, what the hell was that orphanage section? Those kids genuinely creeped the hell out of me lol. Replaying it on subsequent runs is gonna be tedious, though.

 

For Leon's sections: I was getting a little frustrated early on because of how for every hour I played as Grace I'd only get like 15mins as Leon but these sections were paced so well that I can't really hold it against the game. It helps that you get plenty of playtime as Leon later on. 

 

Also, if it hadn't been for all the glowing reviews, I would've been really worried early on because Leon's combat gave me strong RE6 vibes. But I think Max Dood said it best: Leon's sections in Requiem kinda feel like an apology tour for RE6. This is what they were trying to do at the time, it just really didn't work. They really nailed it this time, though. 

 

All tension goes right out the window the second you switch to Leon, but when I was exploring the ruins of Raccoon City I just didn't care because that TLoU-like gameplay loop was just so much fun. I kinda wish that section had been longer than just the one zone, though. I could easily see a full game set in the ruins of Raccoon City with a proper vendor and everything. Everything that came after was great, don't get me wrong, but once you go through that gate you're on rails until the end of the game. Even the short visit to RPD is pretty linear unless you go out of your way to find the few hidden items.

 

I also loved how they went out of their way to cram as many callbacks as possible in there. When a certain someone showed up, I got so excited even if it was just for a short section. And I think this kinda ties into my main issue with the game. There's a lot of really great ideas but I feel like a lot of them could've been executed better. Not that they were executed poorly, I just feel like there was potential for something even better and meatier in the second half of the game.

 

So yeah, overall I feel like the game was fantastic but I can't shake the feeling that some of it could have been executed better. Also, I need more content. It's kind of a bummer that there isn't a proper NG+ or even a Mercenaries mode in the game. I'm sure the inevitable single-player DLC is still a ways off, so hopefully Mercenaries is coming sooner but the fact that they still haven't said anything about it is a little worrying. For now, I'll have to settle for unlocking stuff in the bonus store and trying out Insanity mode.

 

Also, if the rumors are true, I'm excited to go back to yearly Resident Evil releases for a little bit. Getting RE2R, RE3R and Village within a 2 year span was great and it made the longer waits for RE4R and Requiem more painful.

Edited March 6 by toxicitizen

[MetalCaveman]

Resident Evil 4 Remake

 

OG 4 is my absolute favorite RE game ever, and while that didn't change after playing this one, I still liked it quite a bit. The cheese is still here, sure, it's different cheese, but it's still here.

 

Really neat that there's now another tier of upgrades, so if you have a weapon you like, there's no need to replace it for a "better" one, you can just keep investing into that one.

 

Couple of things I didn't like, but these are mostly nitpicks, the lake section felt a bit needlessly long imo, the Chicago Typewriter has been replaced with the VASTLY inferior Chicago Sweeper, weaker, worse accuracy, have to pay a good amount of pesetas to get infinite ammo, etc. They really butchered my boy . The removal of the Laser is pretty lame too imo, finally, I prefer OG 4 Ada voice lol.

 

Grade: A

 

Resident Evil 4 Remake Separate Ways

 

This one I liked more than the base game, possibly even more than OG Separate Ways lol.

 

Grade: A+

[Mister Jack]

Witchfire

 

Well, I beat all the currently available content which is everything except the actual witch at the very end. Still took me 60 hours so I'm counting this one as beaten for now. This one started off rough for me but that may be partially my own eagerness to push forward as soon as I could. There's no recommended level for each map in the game and I was getting ground into dust for a good while at the beginning. It's not completely my fault though since your movement speed is also tied to a stat so when you're just starting out you straight up will not be fast enough to evade some enemies, which kind of sucks if you ask me. It's also much more efficient to pick the perk that makes enemies drop increased temporary exp rather than the one that makes them drop more exp crystals, which took me a while to figure out. However, once you're over that hurdle and you start to understand what the game expects from you it becomes really addictive. There's always some new mechanic, weapon, or item to discover as well as hidden areas and subquests within the currently five available maps. This isn't a cover or arcade shooter either. You absolutely must get good at dodging bullets and melee strikes with the dash if you're going to survive, but all the enemies telegraph their attacks pretty clearly so it's a matter of learning what to look for and not letting yourself get too distracted by an enemy right in front of you. God knows it took me a lot of practice and frustration but eventually it just clicked and I started taking out whole groups in a matter of seconds. The payoff for your investment of time and resources is very satisfying. The variety of weapons and spells gives you the opportunity to try a lot of unique builds too. I tried out everything but eventually favored a poison build with a summon that draws aggro. It must also be said that with so much buildup and effort to reach the witch's mountain lair, the actual labyrinth at the end did not disappoint. It felt appropriately epic for a confrontation that the game spent 60 hours hyping up. Of course, the actual boss isn't out yet so we'll see what comes of that, but everything leading up to her at the end was great. If I have one major criticism I hope they address it's that the balance of some weapons is definitely off. Some guns stand head and shoulders above the others and a few are barely even worth using. The crossbow with the seeker arrows that take out multiple targets is hands down the best heavy weapon in the game by a country mile. Compared to that, the stun gun that can temporarily stun bosses isn't even worth mentioning, especially when several bosses will summon mooks during their fight. Hopefully they can address that, but either way I can see this one really taking off when it hits version 1.0.

Edited 7 hours ago by Mister Jack