Resident Evil Requiem will likely be a sport that “pushes the Resident Evil collection ahead,” says its director, as Capcom focuses on the idea of “addictive concern” for subsequent yr’s survival horror sport. And when you imagine the individuals making Resident Evil Requiema superhero protagonist and clear fan favourite like Leon S. Kennedy is simply not an excellent match for that type of expertise.
However whether or not that truly disqualifies Leon from showing in Resident Evil Requiem stays to be seen. Capcom hasn’t fairly dominated out the previous Raccoon Metropolis police division rookie from displaying up within the sport, and even being playable.
Resident Evil Requiem’s solely confirmed playable character so far is Grace Ashcroft, an intelligence analyst for the FBI who’s investigating her mom’s dying — an incident which could simply be associated to the occasions of 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak.
Not like many different Resident Evil stars, Grace is just not a superhero, says Requiem producer Masachika Kawata in a video that includes the sport’s artistic leads. She’s “extra like a typical horror sport protagonist,” overcoming challenges “together with her wit and ingenuity,” however can fall again on her FBI coaching. “She will be able to deal with motion and firearms, particularly as she’s an FBI agent,” Kawata stated, “however her actions might be timid or hesitant.”
Sport director Koshi Nakanishi says that Grace is “introverted and simply scared,” in order that she experiences the sport’s horrors “from the identical perspective because the participant,” however can be capable of act with “calm deductive reasoning.”
Nakanishi additionally addressed the elephant within the room, as Resident Evil returns to Raccoon Metropolis. The place’s Leon?
“We at all times thought of making Leon the protagonist,” Nakanishi says, “however making a horror sport primarily based round him is troublesome. He wouldn’t leap at one thing like a bucket falling. Nobody needs to see Leon scared by each little factor. So he’s truly fairly a nasty match for horror.”
Capcom’s coyness across the potential of Leon showing Resident Evil Requiem is, in fact, the good play. The publisher-developer can’t reveal the whole lot out of the gate, but when Mr. Kennedy doesn’t seem in some capability — say, the best way Chris Redfield did within the Ethan Winters-starring Resident Evil 7 biohazard and Resident Evil Village — that may be an enormous shock. That is Leon’s city, in spite of everything, and Requiem’s creators are speaking so much about balancing the ideas of motion and horror of their subsequent sport, which they’re attempting to perform by providing each first-person and third-person views.
Personally, I’m betting on an older (Leon can be in his 50s at this level of the RE timeline) and wiser Mr. Kennedy displaying up in some unspecified time in the future. It appears many hopeful followers are too. And we’ll know for certain quickly sufficient. Resident Evil Requiem is slated for launch on Feb. 27, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Collection X.
