Resident Evil Requiem has surpassed 5m copies sold in less than a week

It seems that even as we head into the warmer petal filled season of spring, all we really want is some gritty zombie horror in our lives.

Earlier today, Capcom revealed that Resident Evil Requiem has already surpassed 5m sales. That’s 5m copies sold in less than a week. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil series as a whole has shifted over 183m units as of 31st December. Think how many dead zombies that is…

According to Capcom, Resident Evil Requiem “successfully elevated the essence of survival horror by heightening the interplay between intense fear and exhilarating action”. As someone who has played a fair chunk of Resident Evil Requiem already, I can for sure appreciate what the studio is saying here. There is a very cathartic emotional release going from the timid and shaking Grace to the roundhouse kicking Leon who knows how to wield a chainsaw with a confidence many a tree surgeon wishes they had.

Capcom also credits its game engine – the RE Engine – for Resident Evil Requiem’s success, as it “allowed the company to deliver visuals in photorealistic detail, including the characters’ skin, teary eyes, and flowing hair, as well as the translucency of light”. There is also the game’s multiple difficulty settings and the ability to switch between first-person and third-person perspectives in real-time, which Capcom said made Requiem more accessible to both returning Resi fans and series newcomers.

The studio noted Resident Evil Requiem had plenty of hype ahead of its release on 27th February, and had received awards at tradeshows such as Gamescom which of course helped raise its profile.

As for the future, the studio said “Capcom remains firmly committed to satisfying the expectations of all users by leveraging its industry leading game development capabilities in order to create highly entertaining gameplay experiences”, which is nice to hear.

To compare Requiem’s numbers, Resident Evil 4 Remake took three months to get 5m sales. Resident Evil Village took five months, while Resident Evil 3 Remake took two years.

We recently awarded Resident Evil Requiem five stars, with our Matt calling it “both a masterful bit of suffocating horror and a nostalgic, fan-thrilling victory lap for the legendary series”. Soon after its debut, Requiem saw the biggest concurrent Steam player count in Resident Evil history.

If you are one of the many currently making your way through Resident Evil Requiem but need a little steer in the right direction, be sure to check out our guides. We even have one on that oh-so-obtuse final puzzle, because seriously Capcom, how were we meant to work that out ourselves?!