Resident Evil Requiem’s Insanity Difficulty Is a Big Waste of Potential

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One of the things fans love about Resident Evil games is how much they offer for repeat playthroughs, with options like new weapons, different storylines, camera angles, and difficulty levels. Resident Evil Requiem tries to follow this formula, but it unfortunately falters in a few areas, especially on its hardest difficulty. While the ‘Insanity’ setting sounds intimidating, it doesn’t actually add much to the game and doesn’t live up to its potential, similar to the awkward third-person perspective when playing as Grace.

Insanity mode in Requiem changes where enemies appear, makes them faster, moves items around, and forces players to use Ink Ribbons to save during specific sections – all while making enemies more difficult. While these ideas have worked well in other Resident Evil games, they aren’t executed effectively here.

Resident Evil Requiem’s Insanity Mode Is Too Safe

In horror games, changing up enemy appearances – especially on harder difficulties – is a really effective way to build fear. It keeps players on edge by disrupting what they expect, and that unpredictability is key to a truly scary experience. Knowing a safe haven might not be safe anymore creates real tension, and it’s a great way to make a replay of a game feel fresh and frightening.

The ‘Requiem’ update moves a few zombies to different spots, but there aren’t many changes, and some of them actually make the game less enjoyable. Because most zombies remain in the same locations, the game doesn’t feel significantly different, losing the excitement of unpredictable enemy spawns. The added detail to the bulldozer scene is a good addition, but there aren’t enough creative changes like that, or entirely new situations. This makes the Insanity mode feel too familiar and repetitive.

Several of the new enemy placements feel poorly designed, like the zombies on Insanity who constantly shoot. The game’s combat didn’t need more of these aggressive, armored enemies. While some item locations have changed, the differences are small and don’t significantly alter the key item hunts. For example, finding handgun ammo in a different spot, like a parlor cabinet instead of a syringe location, doesn’t really change how the game plays, as most items are still found where they always were.

The game’s remixes aren’t very effective, and this is especially true with The Girl, the frightening stalker in Requiem. While incredibly scary during your first time playing, she becomes a minor annoyance on the Insanity difficulty. She consistently appears in the same predictable locations – like the jail hallway after checking the power socket, or the grate near the bloody conveyor belt. This predictability diminishes her initial terror, revealing how scripted her appearances are. She initially felt similar to the Xenomorph in Alien: Isolation, but unfortunately, she’s far less complex and reactive.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard’s Madhouse difficulty struck a good balance between challenge and fairness. Because there are fewer enemies than in Resident Evil: Revelations 2, their absence from usual locations is more unsettling. A new, terrifying creature introduced near the basement stairs is especially frightening because it catches you off guard. The game also cleverly requires you to find coins to unlock important items, which encourages you to explore every nook and cranny. What’s even better is that the coin locations change depending on the difficulty level, adding to the replay value on Madhouse.

Resident Evil 7’s hardest difficulty, Madhouse, significantly alters enemy behavior and movement. For example, Jack Baker, the game’s main antagonist, can pursue you through more areas of the mansion compared to easier difficulties. This simple change dramatically increases the tension and forces players to rethink previously safe spaces. These difficulty-based adjustments make Madhouse consistently more frightening and engaging than the Insanity mode in the DLC, Requiem.

Resident Evil Requiem’s Rewards Trivialize Its Hardest Difficulty

Despite being called ‘Insanity’ mode, the game can actually be surprisingly easy due to the ability to unlock unlimited ammo. Skilled players can achieve this by completing a full playthrough and then a speedrun on the easiest difficulty, effectively making Insanity quite simple on their first attempt. Leon benefits from an infinite rocket launcher, allowing him to easily defeat enemies, while Grace’s powerful Requiem ability (or machine pistol at the end) makes her a formidable and almost unstoppable force.

The game feels too easy to become overpowered, unlike other Resident Evil titles where unlocking powerful upgrades requires effort. Previous games, like RE7, made you truly earn infinite ammo by completing difficult challenges. The Resident Evil 4 remake and Resident Evil Village also require significant work – a perfect playthrough or expensive, weapon-specific upgrades – to achieve similar power. While Capcom often offers shortcuts to these upgrades through in-game purchases, the way upgrades are handled in Requiem makes this practice even more problematic. The game’s upgrade system is short and unbalanced, meaning even if microtransactions were added, they wouldn’t feel fair. Currently, Requiem doesn’t have these purchases, but if they were introduced, they’d be even more frustrating because it’s already so easy to become overpowered.

While Requiem is enjoyable, it doesn’t quite measure up to other Resident Evil games because it doesn’t consistently reward players and its hardest difficulty isn’t challenging enough. Recent Resident Evil titles are designed to be played multiple times, but Requiem’s easy access to infinite ammo and the lack of variety on the hardest setting make it less replayable, especially with no Mercenaries mode. Games like the RE4 remake and RE7 show how a truly difficult mode can enhance the experience and encourage progression. Having unlimited powerful weapons is fun, but it should be something players have to work harder to unlock.

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2026-03-08 20:42