Resident Evil Requiem is billed as a true return to the franchise’s horror roots, but it wasn’t always that way. In fact, Capcom toyed with ideas for both an online game and an open world game before settling on the version of Requiem that we know today.
After a Capcom Spotlight presentation, the company uploaded a series of developer diary videos on its website. In it Capcom gives a brief look at these early versions of Resident Evil Requiem. X user Waleed posted a the clip from the diary.
“You might have heard some of the rumors. Things like an online Resident Evil, or an open-world Resident Evil, which we spent some time experimenting with,” producer Masachika Kawata says.
Indeed, some of the earliest rumors we had seen about Resident Evil 9 were that it would be an open world game – along with featuring Leon Kennedy and Jill Valentine as dual protagonists. That first one was at least true for a brief moment, with Kawata continuing by saying,
“But in the end, although we had some interesting concepts, we realized that it wasn’t what fans wanted to see or play. So we went back to the drawing board, and created what led to Resident Evil: Requiem.”
As for those second rumors, while we don’t know if either character is in the game, during the Capcom Spotlight Kawata did confirm they considered making Leon the protagonist. UItimately, the team decided against it because Leon is a “bad match” for horror, saying he’d never get scared by something like a bucket falling.
In terms of Requiem’s setting and not opting for an open world, art director Tomonori Takano also commented on what returning to Raccoon City means after the last few games had more rural locales.
“Previous titles were often set in rural areas with lots of nature,” Takano noted. “This time it is more focused on the urban environment. And there are many scenarios that are set as a modern drama, including Raccoon City,” Takano says.
Despite the fact that Requiem releases in just over seven months, Capcom is still being coy on telling us any more about the game outside these interviews. We’ve only seen a couple actual minutes of gameplay, and it certainly seems odd the development team is so insistent on talking about Leon.
Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, 2026 for PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.
