Resident Evil Requiem Beginner's Guide — 15 Essential Tips

Starting Resident Evil Requiem (RE9)? This complete beginner's guide covers everything you need to know before your first playthrough — from difficulty selection to save strategy, parry mechanics, and the 15 most common mistakes new players make. Spoiler-free.

Picking the right difficulty

Resident Evil Requiem has four difficulty options, plus a hidden Insanity mode. Choosing the right one for your first run dramatically affects the experience.

Grace vs Leon — what's the difference?

RE9 features two playable characters with completely different skillsets. The story alternates between them automatically.

// GRACE ASHCROFT

• Blood Crafting — uses the Blood Collector to harvest Infected Blood from enemies, then crafts ammo, healing items, and Hemolytic Injectors (instant-kill items)
• Safe-cracking — only Grace can open the 5 locked safes in the game
• No weapon upgrades — her weapons are fixed at baseline stats
• Stealth-focused — many of Grace's encounters are designed around avoidance, not combat

// LEON S. KENNEDY

• Weapon upgrades — uses Credits at Supply Boxes to improve weapon stats up to Tier 3
• Hatchet finishers — performs powerful hatchet executions on staggered enemies
• Heavy weapons — access to shotguns, sniper rifles, assault rifles
• Combat-focused — Leon's sections feature most boss fights and intense combat sequences

Save strategy and missables

Resident Evil Requiem is completely linear. There is no chapter select, no free-roam after credits, and no way to revisit areas once you progress past a point of no return. This makes save strategy critical.

// THE 12-SLOT MANUAL SAVE RULE

You have 12 manual save slots. Use them all. The recommended save strategy:

1. Save at the start of every new area. If you miss a collectible, you can reload to that exact point.
2. Save before any boss fight. Mistakes happen — having a clean retry save prevents 30-minute losses.
3. Save before puzzle inputs. The Roulette Wheel easter egg, for example, has a random element. Save first, retry if needed.
4. Rotate your saves. Don't overwrite the same slot — keep at least 3 different points so you can backtrack further if needed.

// MISSABLE COLLECTIBLES

Several collectibles are missable if you progress too far:

• Mr. Raccoon Memoriam #5 (Medication Room) — requires Level 3 Wristband, missed by most first-time players
• Mr. Raccoon Memoriam #9 (Private Lab) — last chance before Leon's chapter starts
• Mr. Raccoon Memoriam #25 (ARK Operations Room) — last chance before Victor Gideon
• Files in story-locked rooms — many areas seal permanently after story progression
• Optional bosses (Chef, Chunk #1) — disappear after their respective story beats

Combat fundamentals

// THE PARRY SYSTEM

The Hatchet parry is the single most important combat mechanic in RE9. Master it early.

1. Press L1/LB just before an enemy attack lands. Successful parries stagger the enemy and create a damage window.
2. You can shoot OR melee finish after a parry. Don't feel locked into using the Hatchet counter — shooting immediately also works and conserves stamina.
3. Most enemy attacks are parryable. Exceptions: thrown objects (cars from Mr. X), leap attacks, and electric/elemental attacks.
4. Tutorial parry unlocks "Untouchable" trophy. Auto-unlocks during the opening sequence.

// HATCHET FINISHERS

When an enemy is staggered (low HP or post-parry), a Hatchet finisher prompt appears. Press it for an instant-kill execution. Three hatchet finishers unlock the "Chop Chop" trophy. Comes naturally in the early game.

// AMMO MANAGEMENT

Ammo is tight on Standard and brutal on Insanity. Conserve it:

• Don't shoot retreating enemies — they're not a threat, save the bullet
• Use the knife for low-HP zombies — finisher animation is faster than reloading
• Save Requiem Bullets for boss weak points only — never waste them on standard enemies
• Craft as Grace — the Blood Collector + Scrap creates pistol ammo and Hemolytic Injectors

15 essential tips for new players

Common beginner mistakes

What to do after you finish

Completing the main story unlocks several post-game features:

• Insanity difficulty — selectable from New Game
• Special Content Store — buy new weapons (Matilda IMP, Clatter Carbine, Ghost Grudge)
• Infinite Ammo unlocks — including Infinite Requiem and Infinite RPG (does not void trophies)
• Concept art and bonus cosmetics — viewable in Special Content menu
• The Final Puzzle — multi-step NG+ puzzle involving Marie's Doll and the Severed Hand RNA sequence

For Platinum trophy hunters, the typical path is: Casual or Standard first run for story → 100% collectible cleanup → Insanity speedrun with Infinite Requiem.

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