Whether Leon's in the Game or Not, Resident Evil Requiem Is More Than Just a 'Backwards Looking' Nostalgia Fest, Capcom Says — and It Wasn't Originally Planned as a 30th Anniversary Release at All

Regardless of what's been said astir the crippled to date, Resident Evil: Requiem's manager and shaper privation you to cognize that the rubric — scheduled for merchandise successful 2026, the series' 30th day twelvemonth — has much going connected than a elemental absorption connected nostalgia.

It's possibly an unusual happening to hear, arsenic Capcom itself has highlighted however Resident Evil Requiem volition instrumentality to the endurance fearfulness series' roots backmost successful Raccoon City, aft respective games acceptable elsewhere. And it'll beryllium there, successful the crumbling remnants of the series' past, that Capcom has besides promised players volition find answers to lingering communicative threads and unfastened questions from decades ago.

But contempt each of this, and contempt the immense ongoing speculation implicit Leon S. Kennedy's imaginable beingness successful the crippled (something Capcom specifically declined to remark connected to IGN), Capcom is keen for Requiem to beryllium seen arsenic much than conscionable a look backmost into the franchise's past. Speaking to IGN past week astatine Gamescom, successful a question specifically astir the existent absorption of instrumentality debate, shaper Masato Kumazawa made it wide that Requiem would extremity up being arsenic overmuch astir the series' future, arsenic good arsenic its origins.

"We emotion checking retired the conversations that are happening," Kumazawa said, "but this isn't a crippled which is wholly focused connected looking back. And we're backmost successful Raccoon City, but that's not the lone determination successful the game," helium revealed.

Indeed, portion Requiem's merchandise has lined up with the Resident Evil series' 30th day adjacent year, Kumazawa made wide that this was not the project's archetypal program — possibly suggesting that fans expecting immoderate benignant of long-planned expansive finale mightiness request to set their expectations.

"It's coming retired successful the 30th anniversary, but it wasn't planned that way," Kumazawa said. "It conscionable ended up with the improvement was finished and the crippled is acceptable to merchandise successful 2026, which is the 30th anniversary.

"It wasn't built successful to beryllium an day rubric that is lone backward facing," helium continued. "So there's a batch much to the crippled than conscionable the series' legacy. We didn't telephone it Resident Evil 9 aft all. There's a hint successful the logo type, but yet the sanction is Resident Evil Requiem."

Resident Evil Requiem prima Grace Ashcroft faces the fearfulness of forgetting to adjacent her crippled erstwhile her brag arrives.

When asked by IGN whether Capcom felt the request to cater to fans who privation to spot acquainted things return, Requiem manager Koshi Nakanishi said this was "tough to reply without getting into excessively overmuch we're not acceptable to speech astir yet."

"We cognize that radical expect to beryllium amazed oregon pleasantly amazed whenever they, similar you say, they get the connections oregon they're blessed to spot this oregon that they're acquainted with coming back," Nakanishi said, without mentioning immoderate quality successful particular.

"But I'm definite that radical volition beryllium blessed erstwhile they spot however we've managed to blend a caller attack and a caller fresh quality with besides things that fans volition recognize."

For overmuch much connected the game, including the origins and instrumentality theories surrounding its caller 'Big Mama' monster, cheque retired IGN's afloat Resident Evil: Requiem interview.

Tom Phillips is IGN's News Editor. You tin scope Tom astatine [email protected] oregon find him connected Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social