TALKESPORT

The latest iteration of popular horror series Resident Evil Requiem is set to launch today, and like every AAA title, one of the questions that lies in the mind of players is: How Long Will The New Game be? Horror games are generally fast-paced because the run-time of a game helps set a perception of the depth of the game’s storyline, which plays an important role in building the anticipation.

Main Story: Estimated Playtime

The campaign is said to be substantially longer than the previous iterations of the game. Reputed sources have asserted that Resident Evil Requiem will have a longer but standard playthrough with balanced story progression and map exploration that should take somewhere between 12 and 16 hours for most players.

This range reflects different playstyles:

• Quick story-focused run: ~9–12 hours
• Average balanced playthrough: ~12–14 hours
• Extended exploration or optional objectives: ~15–16 hours

Several sources have compared Resident Evil Requiem to Resident Evil 4 Remake, a game that is touted for its generous run-time, and many believe it to be one of the best releases from the house. Some of the more recent versions of the game have disappointed in terms of pace and length, but this one seems to have addressed all the criticisms.

Completionist & Rapid Runs

Horror games are often enjoyed by exploring the world, finding all the collectibles and they often come with tons of optional bonus missions, which play a significant role in building the storyline. However, having too much content can often lead to players losing touch with the main story, which can make the game feel dragged. Taking time to explore the new world can take somewhere up to 40 hours making the game very generous in terms of content.

Conversely, gamers often like to speedrun titles like this, which can dramatically reduce the runtime of the game. Some suggest that a focused attempt at playing only the main storyline can make the game as short as 9 hours, which is still quite long to make its hefty price tag worth it.

Resident Evil Requiem will be released worldwide on February 27, 2026, but the consoles will unlock at midnight in each region. Since New Zealand gets to this date first, Xbox and PlayStation users can usually get into the game hours before the release in their region.

In this article, we will explain how you can play Resident Evil Requiem at the earliest possible time using the New Zealand trick.

What is The New Zealand Trick

The majority of console releases for Requiem are based on the local calendar date of the console store and not on the global clock. By changing the region of your console to New Zealand, you are essentially telling the store that you are in the earliest time zone, allowing the game to unlock first.

The PC version of Capcom’s game on Steam has a unified server unlock time, and thus, you cannot get early access by changing the region of your PC or the time on your system. Moreover, there is no guarantee that the trick will work on all platforms and all launches, and thus, you must do everything at your own risk because the publishers may change their policies anytime. Apart from that, the New Zealand trick doesn’t work on Nintendo Switch 2.

How To Play Resident Evil Requiem Early Using the New Zealand Trick

Follow the steps mentioned below to successfully play the game as early as possible:

• Preload or purchase Resident Evil Requiem on your usual Xbox account as normal.
• On your Xbox, open Settings → System → Language & Location.
• Change Location to New Zealand, then restart the console to apply the change.​
• Once New Zealand has reached release day, launch the game.
• It should boot without the “too early” message.

On PlayStation, simply changing the time on the console will not work, as the store is interested in your account’s region, not the time of day. To replicate the NZ trick, you will usually need a New Zealand PSN account and, if a linked publisher account is used (such as Activision with Call of Duty), to enter that account’s address as being in New Zealand as well. Therefore, Xbox is the only platform where you can use the trick to play the game early.

Changing regions can cause issues with payment options, region pricing, and DLC support, and you may find that you need to change back to your original region for playing other games. While there have been no reports of a ban solely for using the NZ trick, it is still an unofficial method of getting around the region restrictions, and you should only use it if you are happy with the potential consequences.