- Primary Subject: Resident Evil Requiem (RE9) – Insanity Difficulty Mode
- Key Update: Resident Evil Requiem’s Insanity difficulty is the game at its best. Turning every familiar thing into one unpredictable mess, and I love it.
- Status: Confirmed
- Last Verified: March 11, 2026
- Quick Answer: Resident Evil Requiem’s Insanity mode dramatically increases difficulty with faster enemies, deadlier encounters, and altered item placements, creating a far more chaotic and intense survival horror experience.
Resident Evil: Requiem is one damn good game. It has the perfect mix of equal parts horror and campy action, which the series has always been known for. From Grace’s horrifying Alien: Isolation-esque missions to Leon’s motorcycle-riding shenanigans, Requiem is the ultimate love letter to every Resident Evil fan out there.
After finishing the game’s main campaign, being the completionist that I am, I immediately booted up my second playthrough on Insanity, the game’s hardest difficulty. I’ve had my fair share of Resident Evil experience when it comes to the series’ toughest challenges, particularly Village’s “Village of Shadows” mode as well as Resident Evil 4 Remake’s Professional mode.
I thought I already knew what to expect, but boy, I wasn’t prepared.
Insanity in Resident Evil: Requiem is the game at its absolute best. If you thought the amount of jumpscares and cheeky enemy placements that director Koshi Nakanishi pulled in Modern and Classic difficulties was rough, you are not prepared for the chaotic mess waiting for you in Insanity mode.
Grace’s Insanity Mode Is Amazing, But Terrifying
While everyone can unanimously agree that Grace’s sections in Modern and Classic difficulty are scary, Insanity is a different beast. Everyone knows that the game’s first major section, the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, is where the game embraces its survival horror roots. Grace is defenseless, and a stalker known only as “The Girl” is ready to devour her flesh at a moment’s notice.
While everyone knows that light is her clear weakness, Insanity adds a different twist to this stalker by making her faster. During the first few minutes when Grace is trying to get the screwdriver from the office, the Girl is already one step ahead of you, moving faster than you could ever expect. Make enough noise and you are bound to invite this grotesque beast to your location.
Running away barely fixes anything either, as the Girl can seemingly teleport to another area, priming you for a jumpscare. When I grabbed the screwdriver and bolted through the hallway, she was already there waiting at the corner, even though I was sure she had just been chasing me from behind. I had to juke her out of the way by using distractions, and pray that its AI is dumb enough to notice I’m already sneaking past her.
The entire Rhodes Hill sequence becomes even more terrifying. Grace’s starting gun is not found where it normally should be, and puzzle items like the first Quartz are hidden deeper inside the Manager’s Office.
Enemy placements for the Chunk and the Chef remain the same, but they are noticeably faster and can catch you off guard at any moment. While I was scrambling for my life looking for Grace’s handgun, slain undead instantly transformed into Blister Heads, waiting to lunge at me around a corner.
To top it all off, the final encounter with the Girl in the clinic's basement is no easy feat, either. She takes multiple Requiem shots to the head before she is incapacitated, which is far different from the one or two shots needed on Modern and Classic difficulty. By the end of that sequence, I was completely out of breath and had to take a break before seeing what surprises Capcom had prepared for Leon’s side of the story.
Leon’s Action-Packed Sequences Now Require More Thinking
Playing as Leon has always been about feeling like John Wick. The sheer amount of combat experience he has is obvious, and taking down enemies using his hatchet and arsenal of weapons usually feels effortless. That is, until the game throws a few twists into his action-heavy sequences.
The very first section during the Elbridge encounter already signals that Leon’s segments are going to get nastier. When you expect regular undead roaming the streets, the first zombie you encounter turns out to be a Blister Head, and it takes multiple shots just to bring it down for a hatchet finisher.
That sniper section where Leon helps Grace enter the church was no easy task either. Just when I was feeling confident about my aiming and ammo management, the game placed two suspiciously dead zombies beside Leon’s balcony. I already knew what was about to happen. After firing a few shots at the zombies chasing Grace, those two “obviously not dead” bodies suddenly transformed into Blister Heads, turning what felt like an action sequence into full-blown horror. Even though I expected it, it was still a cheeky move to place those monsters right beside me.
Leon’s Raccoon City sections, on the other hand, are mostly standard, except that the gun-wielding BSAA zombies deal far more damage than usual. I’ve had moments where I was completely caught off guard after taking a few shots to the chest. I managed to find a nearby Med Injector to stave me off from an early doom.
Boss encounters like the Titan Spider and the Tyrant are also far more intense. They soak up a ridiculous amount of damage, even with my unlimited Requiem ammo. It is still doable, sure, but I cannot imagine the sheer suspense of playing through this mode without that little cheat code. Call me a scrub if you want, but I just wanted to see how this game mode works before attempting a full Insanity run from scratch.
Perhaps my favorite moment from Leon’s Insanity run is the boss fight with Hunk, Resident Evil’s version of the Grim Reaper. On normal difficulty, this fight is fairly easy, but Insanity turns it into a serious challenge. Hunk deals far more damage if you fail to parry his attacks successfully. Then, once you finally defeat him, backup soldiers suddenly arrive and can easily catch you off guard.
Insanity mode in Requiem is one of the best Resident Evil experiences I have ever had. The only other time I felt something similar was in Resident Evil 3 Remake’s Insanity mode, where Nemesis became an absolute force to be reckoned with thanks to his faster movement and larger health pool.
It is a shame that Capcom locks this mode behind completing the main game first, but that has always been the case with the series’ hardest difficulties, especially with Resident Evil Village’s Village of Shadows mode.
Moments that felt like a cakewalk on normal difficulties turn into chaotic situations where you never know what might happen around the next corner. Capcom has experimented with this idea before, but Insanity mode in Requiem is easily its best iteration yet.
I cannot wait to see what comes next for the series’ hardest modes. With a story expansion already confirmed by Capcom, I am excited to see what new twists they bring to this already challenging game mode.
If you haven’t tried Insanity yet, give it a shot. But consider this your warning.
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