The survival horror action of Resident Evil Requiem is varied in the game’s story based on what difficulty you play on, with resource management and enemy durability being tied to the challenge you set for yourself. However, even on the hardest settings, many players have noticed that the Leon sections of this game’s campaign are far easier to get through compared to past entries in the series. This would be a key flaw of Resident Evil Requiem, but the inclusion of a free new mode may give players the skill test they want.
Despite a new mode being the latest addition to Resident Evil Requiem, developer Capcom has already announced plans for more extensive DLC later. A story expansion is expected to give players more chapters of the game to go through after the credits roll, perhaps adding new layers of challenge the main campaign lacked. The hunger for survival horror game content has never been higher, so it’s no surprise that the latest entry in the Resident Evil franchise would gain fresh features or story.
Selectable from the “Extra Games” menu of Resident Evil Requiem, the new mode Leon Must Die Forever is part of a free DLC drop for the game. This game type allows players to enter roguelike runs through multiple stages from throughout the campaign, trying to eliminate enemies and get through scenarios before time runs out. Getting through 20 stages and defeating the final boss Victor Gideon is the key to victory, but the road to that goal isn’t an easy one.
Clearing stages and defeating enemies earns Leon XP, which you can spend to enhance abilities, firearm damage, or other features to get stronger throughout a run. Players can also give themselves more time on the clock by hunting down golden Midas Spinners, a type of spider roaming around each stage. Stages are divided into areas from the story, such as the Care Center and East Racoon City Streets, but progress isn’t always straightforward since some stages don’t lead directly into one another.
Nine total stages in Leon Must Die Forever mode will take you to the end of a run. Yet, players must be careful to find a glowing door to take them from one stage to the next, after fighting through waves of enemies and scrounging for limited resources. Despite ammo being fairly abundant from defeated foes, the ramping difficulty of this mode is incredibly fast, testing your reflexes and battlefield awareness to gather what you need. Unlike the campaign, the difficulty levels of Resident Evil Requiem are consistent in this mode, providing a unique experience.
Leon Must Die Forever‘s difficult loop comes from the limitations in the game mode, as it restricts certain mechanics that are available all the time in the story. For example, you don’t have the option to sharpen Leon’s hatchet in this mode whenever you have a free moment. You only have a limited number of parries from the moment you start a stage, forcing you to save them for big moments to survive against an enemy or save yourself from certain defeat. Glowing green hatchet icons on various stages give you some sharpness back, but these are never guaranteed.
At the same time, some enemies in Leon Must Die Forever can only be killed in specific ways. Glowing blue enemies must be parried with the hatchet, while foes with a red glow only go down from explosives or a melee attack. Defeating enemies will grant Leon Enhancer Points, or modifiers that make these restrictions easier to handle, but even those bonuses are tied to random abilities. Weapons themselves are hard to find on a stage too, locked behind random spawns in crates you destroy.
The resource management of Leon Must Die Forever mode is leagues ahead of the complexity in Resident Evil Requiem‘s usual story. On top of the usual survival horror mechanics, players have to take clock management, ability modifiers, weapon restrictions, and stage progression difficulty into account when going through a run of this mode. The randomized parts of this roguelike minigame create additional layers of non-traditional gameplay, building a marriage of luck and skill that players might struggle to find.
Other mainline Resident Evil games have included alternate modes, but Leon Must Die Forever is uniquely qualified to address the difficulty problem of Resident Evil Requiem. Time limits and skill trees almost give this mode an arcade feel, with all the coin eating difficulty of a cabinet game from Capcom’s earliest days. It might take you multiple runs to even reach the final boss of Leon Must Die Forever, let alone beat it. The tight gameplay loop in place for this mode is varied enough to keep drawing in players, but also consistent enough to test combat mastery frequently.
For fans of the series who were looking for an extra challenge, this mode provides not only some enhanced difficulty, but also plenty of new rewards to earn by playing. Multiple pieces of special content are unlocked by playing Leon Must Die Forever mode in Resident Evil Requiem, giving fans a good reason to play beyond just a simple chance to fight off more infected.
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