21 February 2026

FYI, Technically 3 Resident Evil Games Are Releasing on February 27

By newsgame

As most survival horror fans are aware, Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth mainline entry in Capcom’s iconic zombie franchise, is launching on PC and current-gen platforms on February 27. With it, the IP is expected to continue the hot streak that began with 2017’s Resident Evil 7, although Resident Evil Requiem is poised to be a much more ambitious and generation-melding experience, blending the first-person and new-protagonist emphasis of the Ethan Winters games with the third-person action of the remakes.

More than this, series mainstay Leon Kennedy is making his way back into the fray, starring in Resident Evil Requiem alongside newcomer Grace Ashcroft, daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from Resident Evil Outbreak. The game will allow players to switch between first-person and third-person, although the default setting will be first-person for Grace’s segments and third-person for Leon’s—a clear manifestation of the “new” Resident Evil meeting the “old” one. It’s fitting, then, that the two most recent, non-remake entries in the series, Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village, are coming to the Nintendo Switch on the same day as Resident Evil Requiem. Finally getting these great contemporary horror titles on a Nintendo platform is great for a lot of reasons, not the least of which being their newfound accessibility to a new audience.

Why Switch 2 Users Should Play Resident Evil 7

After Resident Evil 6, Capcom was in something of a difficult spot. Reception to the flagship’s most recent entry had been mixed to say the least, and its cultural significance had waned somewhat in the wake of bombshell success Resident Evil 4. Thankfully, the developer made the best decision it could have under these circumstances: it took a big swing with a new idea, and it paid off greatly.

RE4 plunged the franchise head-first into the action-survival-horror space, arguably pioneering the sub-subgenre, and although the quicker and more streamlined pace worked there, it lost its luster in subsequent releases. Put plainly, audiences were longing for a Resident Evil experience that was actually scary. This is precisely what RE7 accomplished, and it did so through a few different means.

For one thing, players were no longer thrust into the shoes of an international special agent as they had been in the three most recent games: Ethan Winters is very much a normal man, simply looking for his wife, who had been presumed missing. The game takes a page out of Silent Hill’s book in this way, making players feel vulnerable through an “average Joe” protagonist, entrenched in a deeply personal, and therefore more emotionally affecting, mission.

Aside from Ethan himself, Resident Evil 7’s shift to first-person had some immediately scare-inducing effects. Naturally, it’s easier to feel immersed in a creepy, Louisianan mansion when you’re seeing it through the protagonist’s eyes directly. On that note, the disturbing, disgusting, and tragic story of the Baker family at the center of RE7 adds an extra layer of intimacy to the story, which makes for compelling depth and heightened horror, as the impact of death and monster-transformation are more emotionally concrete. This is something that the game’s sequel, Resident Evil Village, loses sight of a bit, but it’s still equally worth playing.

Why Switch 2 Users Should Play Resident Evil Village

Many of the praises heaped upon Resident Evil 7 apply to Resident Evil Village, though this more recent game is a considerably more outlandish and action-oriented romp. It has moments of tense, atmospheric horror, including a particularly infamous infant-related scene, but most of Village is designed around large combat encounters, thematically distinct levels, and Lycan-inspired monsters.

Village lacks the narrative simplicity of Resident Evil 7, and is a bit less scary as a result, but it’s not necessarily worse. It certainly gives players a lot to do, feeling more like an amusement park with different, high-production attractions than a single, tightly-constructed experience. It brings a bevy of new ideas to the table, and that’s worth plenty on its own.

Resident Evil Village and its Shadows of Rose expansion serve as the finale to the short-lived Winters saga, which is itself largely responsible for what Requiem turned out to be. The more serious and cinematic tone, the pivot back to horror fundamentals, and the option to play in first-person helped make the Winters games successful, which in turn impacted the creative trajectory of the franchise as a whole.

It’s unlikely that Resident Evil 7 or Resident Evil Village will wind up having a significant, direct effect on the events of Resident Evil Requiem. But even so, the influence of those games can be felt in the overall design, style, and tone of Requiem—at least based on what we’ve seen so far. So, if you’re a Nintendo Switch loyalist who missed out on these two games due to hardware limitations, it would behoove you to check them out when they launch alongside Requiem later this month. They put Resident Evil back on the map for a reason.