Always use __DIR__ to define path relative to your current __FILE__.
(Or another setting that is originally based on __DIR__/__FILE__)
try & catch - don't get confused by the words "fatal E_COMPILE_ERROR" - it's still just an internal Error that implements Throwable - it can be caught:
<?php
try {
require(__DIR__ . '/something_that_does_not_exist');
} catch (\Throwable $e) {
echo "This was caught: " . $e->getMessage();
}
echo " End of script.";
?>
Note that this will still emit a warning "Failed to open stream: No such file or directory..." ...unless you prefix the require with "@" - which I strongly don't recommend as it would ignore/supress any diagnostic error (unless you have specified set_error_handler()). But even if you'd prefix the require with "@" it would still be caught.