Resident Evil Requiem

Since its reveal last year, everything I’ve seen of Resident Evil Requiem, including a terrifying hands-on demo I played at Gamescom in August, has escalated my excitement. I love Resident Evil, and though I thoroughly enjoyed Capcom’s break from the original main storyline to send us to cannibalistic Louisiana swamps and European monster-filled villages, I can’t wait to return to the roots of this franchise in Raccoon City. And now, we can finally, officially, talk about Leon S. Kennedy, who is confirmed to be returning as a protagonist and will have an “almost equally split” role in the game as the other protagonist, Grace Ashcroft.

With the industry’s worst-kept secret now out in the open, I spoke to Capcom about Leon’s return and how it affects Requiem and more. What I learned might have shot Requiem up to the number one slot of my personal list of most anticipated games for 2026.

“As a base, Grace’s gameplay is fashioned after [Resident Evil 2’s] style, and Leon’s is fashioned after [Resident Evil 4’s] style,” Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi tells me. “Level designs for Grace revolve around exploring narrow spaces and expanding your territory, while level designs for Leon have more open space, allowing for many more variations in combat situations. [These] two different types of tensions, different bases of gameplay, and the dynamic shifts and contrast they create are what make Requiem uniquely compelling.”