It’s no secret that Resident Evil Requiem is a looker, featuring stunning visuals that would make the next horror game green with envy. With detailed character models and a world teeming with tension and a dreadful atmosphere, Capcom’s latest title is just begging to be played on the best hardware possible.

And by the best hardware possible, we don’t mean that Resident Evil Requiem is only playable there! In fact, thanks to the RE Engine, Requiem is one of Capcom’s most accessible PC ports yet, being able to run decently on even graphics cards from years ago, despite it looking like the best the series has looked.

The first of our four‑part series proved that even a four‑year‑old GPU like the RTX 3050 could deliver a smooth, cinematic experience at 1080p High settings. That test alone showed how far the series’ PC ports have come, with Resident Evil Requiem among the most forgiving AAA titles for mid‑range hardware.

For Part 2, we’re broadening the scope, all while asking a simple question: “Can you run it?” This time, we’re putting Resident Evil Requiem through its paces on three very different setups: a GTX 1650 desktop GPU, an ASUS ROG XBOX Ally handheld, and a laptop powered by an RTX 4050. Together, these represent different tiers of gaming hardware, with the goal of seeing whether Capcom’s latest horror masterpiece truly lives up to its reputation as a port you don’t need to think twice about, even if you haven’t upgraded in years.

GTX 1650 – The Budget Baseline

The GTX 1650 has become the unofficial benchmark for “entry‑level gaming.” Released in 2019, it’s still found in countless budget desktops and laptops, and you may be surprised that it still has 2.7% usage, according to the recent Steam Hardware Survey. With 4 GB VRAM and modest power draw, it’s not the card you’d expect to handle a modern AAA horror title, but Resident Evil Requiem surprises again, and it’s becoming a very common theme.

The GTX 1650 4G GPU is a 7-year-old entry-level GPU that’s nowhere near the minimum requirements of Resident Evil Requiem, and this test shows us a baseline understanding of the game’s performance, which is still rather surprising as it hits an average of 27 FPS at 1080p at the lowest graphical preset. Again, while the 27 FPS performance is not so good, when taken into context that a 1650 is being used, being able to run and even navigate through the menu despite its 4GB of VRAM is a rare feat by today’s standards. 

Increasing it to Low, or even the Normal Graphical preset, will bring performance into the sub-20 FPS range, which we’ll probably consider unplayable at this point. But that aside, this test shows that any DirectX 12-capable system should be able to run the game at old-gen console-level quality. 

ROG XBOX Ally – Portable Power

Next up is the ROG XBOX Ally, the handheld PC powered by AMD’s Ryzen Z2 A APU. With 4 cores, 8 threads, and integrated RDNA 2 graphics, it’s a fascinating middle ground between console and PC. The question: can Resident Evil Requiem maintain its haunting atmosphere on a 7‑inch screen without sacrificing performance?

Spoiler alert, it surprisingly can.

Testing the ROG XBOX Ally is a fun endeavor, considering its flexibility in power consumption across 5W and 20W modes, and its support for 720p or 1080p resolution on such a small 7-inch display. Pair that with Resident Evil Requiem’s comprehensive graphics settings, and you’re looking at multiple settings to prioritize battery life or graphics fidelity without losing frames, thanks to the game’s support for FSR technology.

The Ryzen Z2 A APU on the ROG XBOX Ally is slower than the Z1 and Z1 Extreme APUs found on the first-generation handhelds, making it a great baseline on how other handhelds would perform. That said, we’re getting a modest 30 FPS with FSR set to Quality at 1080p, which is not bad at all! 30 FPS is not a negative for Resident Evil Requiem, so while 60 FPS is a great target, 30 FPS is completely playable.

With FSR set to Balanced and paired with FSR Frame Generation, we see a performance bump to an average frame rate of 47.9, which is certainly impressive. Taking a closer look at these gains using the 1% Lows shows us a 60% improvement from 24.2 to 38.7. You can be assured of a stable gaming experience that brings Resident Evil Requiem’s horror to handhelds.

AMD Ryzen 9 7840HS + RTX 4050 Laptop – Modern Efficiency

Finally, we tested Resident Evil Requiem on the ASUS ROG Flow X13 laptop, which is powered by an AMD Ryzen 9 7840HS and an RTX 4050 6GB GPU. While the ROG Flow X13 2023 was considered a premium laptop when it launched, this was mainly due to its 13-inch, thin-and-light form factor and external graphics card support. Specs-wise, its performance is about what you would expect from an entry-level gaming laptop with an xx50-class mobile graphics card. 

Like the previously tested devices, this laptop serves as a baseline performance reference for those with older-generation laptops or the latest, albeit entry-level-spec, gaming laptops.

As mentioned in our previous article, Resident Evil Requiem’s graphics scaling is one of the best in recent modern triple-A titles, and it also goes to show in this 4050-equipped laptop. Even at the Max settings, the RTX 4050 Laptop GPU can maintain a stable 50 FPS Average at 1080p without enabling any upscaling or frame generation tech involved! Of course, it goes without saying that leveraging these technologies allows us to achieve at least a stable 60 FPS without sacrificing graphics fidelity, but even without them, the performance is still impressive. At the lowest graphical preset, it can even reach 78 FPS!

For laptop gamers, Requiem is practically a showcase title, demonstrating how Capcom’s engine leverages modern features such as AI Upscaling and Frame Generation without alienating players on older GPUs.

Capcom’s RE Engine has matured into one of the most versatile engines in gaming. From Resident Evil 7 to Village, each iteration refined scalability, but Resident Evil Requiem feels like the culmination of that effort. Across all three systems, Resident Evil Requiem maintains playable frame rates and consistent visual quality. The RE Engine’s dynamic scaling ensures that even the weakest GPU in the lineup, the GTX 1650, delivers a stable experience, while the ROG Ally emphasizes that handheld gaming doesn’t have to come with too many compromises. The RTX 4050 laptop, meanwhile, highlights how the engine scales beautifully into modern territory, offering both fidelity and performance.

Resident Evil Requiem proves that you don’t need to break the bank to survive the horror, even if you are rocking a budget GPU or a newer device. This level of optimization is exactly what the industry needs, especially as newer titles become increasingly demanding on hardware, and Capcom is certainly leading the charge on this front.

Resident Evil Requiem is now available on PS5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, and PC via Steam.