Resident Evil Requiem: what to buy first with Grace's antique coins and Leon's credits

Five months after its release on February 27, 2026, Resident Evil Requiem has not received any content update since 1.3.1 at the end of June. The game therefore remains frozen on a rule that continues to trip up newcomers: there is neither a classic New Game+ nor a chapter select. Any permanent upgrade left behind is lost for the current playthrough, with no way to catch up.

Yet these upgrades aren't picked up at random: they're bought. And the game runs two completely separate economies, with opposite rules. Grace's antique coins are spent once and for all, in a single room of the Rhodes Hill care center. Leon's credits, on the other hand, allow for mistakes.

Two currencies, two characters, no bridge between the two

Antique coins belong only to Grace. They're found in chests and dropped by enemies in the care center, and they can only be spent in one place: the game room in the west wing, accessible only from her third playable section onward. Credits belong only to Leon: they drop from defeated enemies and are spent at the supply cache retrieved at the Raccoon City camp.

Nothing carries over from one character to the other, not even lucky charms, which are incompatible between the two protagonists. And the philosophy differs: Leon can sell back and then repurchase his weapons, which makes his purchases reversible, whereas Grace only has four display cases and a finite stock of coins.

Grace: 17 antique coins are enough to unlock everything

The game room contains four glass display cases. To get in, you first need to retrieve the Unicorn jewelry box in the president's office and open it by inspecting it on all its sides: the ruby it contains serves as the key.

Total: 17 coins to clear out all four display cases. The game hands out more than that — the collectibles counter lists 22 across a full playthrough, and around twenty are documented on standard difficulty — which leaves a comfortable margin for error. The real issue, then, isn't finding enough, but spending them in the right order.

The Blood Collector manual isn't a convenience, it's a prerequisite

This is the most expensive purchase, and the only one that unlocks an entire mechanic. Once the level 1 access bracelet has been obtained, analyzing the right blood sample under the laser microscope in the blood analysis lab teaches Grace how to craft her own steroids and stabilizers. The cost is as follows: 120 units of infected blood for steroids, 130 units for a stabilizer, plus an empty injector in both cases.

But the Blood Collector is capped at 100 units until the manual has been purchased. Without it, neither of these two crafting recipes is possible, and neither is Requiem ammunition. Six antique coins, then, aren't just about gaining a bit of extra space — they open up an entire branch of progression.

The recommended purchase order follows directly from all this: pouch (3) then manual (6), then stabilizer (4) and finally steroids (4). The pouch first because two extra inventory slots immediately cut down on trips back to the item box. The manual next, because every hour spent without it is an hour where collected blood goes to waste once the 100-unit cap is reached.

The number of empty injectors caps the whole system: there are only three on standard difficulty, in a locked cabinet in the blood analysis lab, in the second-floor archive room, and in the basement cells. Added to the two ready-to-use doses from the display cases, that makes five permanent injections at most in a single playthrough.

Between the two types of injection, prioritize the stabilizers. Even fully loaded with steroids, Grace remains fragile — a single attack is often enough to put her in Danger status on standard difficulty — whereas a boost in firepower prevents incoming damage by shortening fights. Steroids retain a niche use: they restore health without relying on herbs or injectable remedies, which makes them compatible with no-healing runs.

What changes on Nightmare

On Nightmare, the display cases in the game room no longer offer the same items. The two ready-to-use doses disappear in favor of consumables:

• Pouch: 3 coins
• Handgun ammo (30): 5 coins
• R.I.P. Knife: 5 coins
• User manual: 6 coins

Direct consequence: in this mode, all permanent upgrades must be crafted. The game compensates by adding a fourth empty injector, placed on the kitchen counter, bringing the total to four possible upgrades — one fewer than on standard difficulty, in the mode where you'd need them most.

Second pitfall: the locations of the antique coins change, and there are more of them. A list drawn up on standard difficulty will just have you running in circles through empty rooms.

The three pouches the game room doesn't sell

The pouch bought for 3 coins is only the first of four in the game. Each grants +2 slots, for eight total if you don't miss any:

• West wing game room, for 3 antique coins
• West wing archive room
• Treatment area, in the care center's underground levels
• Storage area 05, in the ARK

The last three are free but completely missable: they're the six most cost-effective slots in the entire adventure.

Leon: buy in the right order, then only upgrade two weapons

For Leon, everything goes through the supply crate, which sells weapons, tactical gear, and resources, and offers weapon upgrades under its second tab, represented by "+" icons to unlock weapon by weapon. Credits, meanwhile, are earned by eliminating enemies: playing cautiously mechanically slows down access to the arsenal.

The soundest purchasing hierarchy puts the Attaché Case Expansion (8x13) as top priority, at 4,000 credits and available as soon as you reach the camp, followed by the bulletproof vest — which can later be reinforced — and finally the two backbone weapons of the game: the Silencer 9 and the 990-TAC. Weapons sold at the register generally run between 5,500 and 7,000 credits. Lower priority goes to the Stiri REVO3 A1, injectable remedies, and ammunition — keeping in mind that ammunition remains limited per zone, which rules out turning it into a bottomless well.

For upgrades, focus on these same two weapons. The reason isn't their raw stats but their logistics: pistol rounds and shotgun shells are by far the most widely distributed in the game. Upgrading a weapon whose ammo stays scarce amounts to paying for firepower you'll only get to use three times. The sniper rifle is an interesting exception: stripped of its precision scope, it becomes a mid-range weapon capable of dropping a standard infected in one shot.

One last point, and it changes everything compared to Grace: selling a weapon is not a permanent loss. You can buy it back later for credits. Making room in the case therefore only costs you time, never lost content.

The nine charms, and their recovery windows

Charms are the game's other source of passive bonuses, and they work in completely different ways depending on the character. Grace's take up an inventory slot and stay active permanently — a real trade-off when every slot counts. Leon's attach to a weapon of the right category, one at a time, without taking up space in his case.

Grace has three:

• Quick Bite — knife power and durability. Found in the west wing kitchen's pantry, whose key requires killing the cook.
• Spy's Eye — chance to survive damage that would normally be fatal. Obtained by killing Chunky, the obese infected in the east wing, before carrying Emily: past that point, it's permanently missed.
• New Recruit — firepower of all her weapons. Sold for 6,500 PC in the Special Content menu, so reserved for a second playthrough.

Leon has six:

• Connoisseur — power boost to all firearms, with no downside. In a jammed cabinet in the same kitchen cellar.
• BSAA — large bonus to precision rifles, provided you don't equip a scope. In the B.S.A.A. container located across from the hotel, in the first area of Raccoon City, reached via the subway cars with the key found on the soldiers' bodies.
• Ambition — Requiem bullets pierce an unlimited number of aligned targets, and the last bullet in the cylinder gains a damage bonus. In the locked briefcase in the S.T.A.R.S. office, at the police station, code RRR.
• S.T.A.R.S. — machine gun power in exchange for a bit of stability. In the locked locker at the police station, the clue being near the elevated television in the operations room.
• Teddy Bear — less shotgun efficiency at short range, more at medium range. On the ground in the police station garage, on the left before the concrete ramp.
• Loyal Friend — modest power bonus, free in the Special Content but conditional on defeating 300 enemies.

The only one that's truly urgent is Spy Eye: it disappears with a story milestone, not with a zone change.

The roadmap, in five lines

With Grace: pouch, manual, stabilizer, steroids, in that order. Pick up the three free pouches along the way, and keep your coins in the item chest until the game room is open. With Leon: briefcase extension, bulletproof vest, Silencer 9, 990-TAC, then all upgrades for these two weapons only. And if you're preparing a run on Inferno difficulty, assume you'll have to craft each of Grace's upgrades yourself — meaning the manual becomes the very first purchase, even before the pouch.