Kotaku is mad that Resident Evil feels like Resident Evil. In 2026.

I need to speak to the manager of games criticism because Kenneth Shepard just complained that a Resident Evil game feels like a Resident Evil game. That's literally the tagline. That's the franchise. You bought a ticket to the zombie show and you're mad there are zombies.

'Capcom has touted Requiem as a fulcrum point' — Kenneth uses the word 'fulcrum' in a review about shooting zombies, which tells you everything about the energy we're dealing with here. This is a man who wanted Resident Evil to become a deep meditation on mortality, generational trauma, and perhaps the human condition. Instead he got dual protagonists and herb-mixing. My heart bleeds.

The review criticizes the game for 'playing it safe' and 'retreating to established formulas.' You know what else retreats to established formulas? Every single Resident Evil game since 1996. That's not a bug, Kenneth, that's a thirty-year-old feature. Complaining that RE doesn't innovate enough is like reviewing a pizza and writing 'unfortunately, it's round again.' The mechanics work, the dual protagonist system sounds fun, and yet somehow Kotaku managed to make a perfectly good game sound like a chore. I'd like a refund on the three minutes I spent reading this.