Resident Evil Requiem shall be a sport that “pushes the Resident Evil collection ahead,” says its director, as Capcom focuses on the idea of “addictive worry” for subsequent 12 months’s survival horror sport. And if you happen to consider the folks making Resident Evil Requiem, a superhero protagonist and clear fan favourite like Leon S. Kennedy is simply not match for that type of expertise.
However whether or not that really 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 to date is Grace Ashcroft, an intelligence analyst for the FBI who’s investigating her mom’s demise — an incident which could simply be associated to the occasions of 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak.
In contrast to many different Resident Evil stars, Grace just isn’t 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 deal with motion and firearms, particularly as she’s an FBI agent,” Kawata mentioned, “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 also be in a position to 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 all the time considered making Leon the protagonist,” Nakanishi says, “however making a horror sport based mostly round him is troublesome. He wouldn’t soar at one thing like a bucket falling. Nobody desires to see Leon scared by each little factor. So he’s really fairly a nasty match for horror.”
Capcom’s coyness across the potential of Leon showing Resident Evil Requiem is, after all, the good play. The publisher-developer can’t reveal every part 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 might be an enormous shock. That is Leon’s city, in any case, and Requiem’s creators are speaking loads about balancing the ideas of motion and horror of their subsequent sport, which they’re making an attempt to perform by providing each first-person and third-person views.
Personally, I’m betting on an older (Leon could be in his 50s at this level of the RE timeline) and wiser Mr. Kennedy displaying up sooner or later. It appears many hopeful followers are too. And we’ll know for positive quickly sufficient. Resident Evil Requiem is slated for launch on Feb. 27, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Home windows PC, and Xbox Collection X.
