What do you know? Leon S. Kennedy is going to co-star in Resident Evil Requiem alongside newbie Grace Ashcroft. If you didn't know this before the third trailer dropped at The Game Awards 2025, I commend you for touching all that grass.
Now that we're only a couple short months away from the game's release, we’ve been getting more and more news about the upcoming survival horror game. But despite Leon stealing the show recently, most of what we know comes from Grace's parts.
Resident Evil Requiem release date and platforms
Capcom has announced that Resident Evil Requiem will be available February 27, 2026 on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Nintendo Switch 2. And thankfully, it sounds like Requiem will run better on PC than Capcom's wonky Monster Hunter Wilds, as it differs from MHW "in terms of gameplay, system architecture, and network features," so Capcom doesn't "anticipate similar risks."
The precise release date came alongside the game’s reveal trailer at Summer Game Fest 2025, which was a welcome change from teasers that often leave you waiting ages to know when a game will be ready.
Leon's back
Turns out the Tyrant-sized footprints leading to hints, leaks, and one hell of a PS5 store listing leak were right all along—Leon S. Kennedy is back in Resident Evil Requiem.
Everybody's favorite boyband haircut with a pistol is taking on the "exhilarating, death-defying action" role, with Grace Ashcroft braving the "spine-tingling survival horror" part. Let's all cross our fingers that split gameplay focus isn't too jarring.
Here's a special report I'm calling "Leaks with Leon," on the brief timeline of one of Resident Evil's worst kept secrets:
- Fans thought that was Leon’s jeep outside the Raccoon City Police Station in the first trailer.
- In the same trailer, a line was delivered that sounded an awful lot like Leon’s voice actor, Nick Apostolides.
- Notable leaker DuskGolem claimed that Leon was a protagonist all the way back in June.
- Requiem's producer Masato Kumazawa said that "yes, there are going to be some characters from the past series to come in" to the game and that they will be "characters that have been involved in the Raccoon City incident."
- Then the game's cover art was leaked on the PS5 store front with Leon on it and we all just waited patiently for The Games Awards to officially announce his return two days later.
Resident Evil Requiem trailers
The first trailer for Resident Evil Requiem debuted as part of Summer Games Fest 2025. It’s here that we were first introduced to Grace Ashcroft, a new protagonist. Over the course of the trailer she goes from ‘locked in’ at her desk to uhh… literally locked to a spooky medical inversion table. It’s clear that getting to the bottom of her mother’s murder is going to be a lot more dangerous than she anticipated.
Apart from revealing that Requiem is coming to the Switch 2, the second trailer focuses on teenage Grace and her mother Alyssa's time at the Wrenwood hotel. There's also a few more nasty enemies revealed, including the large, lumbering monster from Gamescom footage. Oh, and the Umbrella logo pops up again at the end, because of course it does.
The star of this third trailer is, of course, Leon. There's even an action montage of him kicking zombie ass at the end—a far cry from Grace's spectacular running and screaming skills shown in previous clips.
But it's not all about Leon, as the voice heard chatting with him sounds suspiciously like Sherry's voice from Resident Evil 6. Although some fans have suggested it might be Hunnigan of RE4 fame.
Resident Evil Requiem's story
Resident Evil Requiem’s protagonist is Grace Ashcroft, an intelligence analyst for the FBI. Grace is the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, an investigative reporter for the Raccoon Press who appeared in Resident Evil Outbreak (a 2003 PlayStation 2 spin-off).
Grace is assigned to investigate a case involving a victim whose body was discovered in the abandoned Wrenwood hotel: the very same place where her mother was murdered eight years prior. She makes her way to the hotel in search of answers but winds up unearthing more than she bargained for, as the case "leads to uncovering the hidden truth behind the outbreak in Raccoon City." Now that’s a mysterious little hook right there.
So Requiem is obviously going to take us back to Raccoon City. It hasn’t yet been confirmed how long after the Raccoon City Destruction Incident (September 1998) the game takes place, but there’s enough information about the series’ timeline to put together a pretty reasonable estimate.
For one, we know that Grace was born sometime after 1998. She’s seemingly in her mid twenties now but is definitely at least 23, given the minimum age requirement to become an FBI agent. There’s also proof that her mother Alyssa was alive until at least 2016 thanks to a news article from her that appeared in Resident Evil 7. After crunching those numbers, we figure that Resident Evil Requiem is pretty much set in the present day (or 2024 at the very earliest).
Resident Evil Requiem gameplay
When it was revealed, Requiem seemed to be following the Resident Evil 7 formula more than anything else, with a stalker enemy à la Jack Baker and a very dark initial opening, as seen in the care facility gameplay above. I mean dark in the literal sense here, as Grace has to use a lighter to find her way around. And solve puzzles, of course.
A more survival horror-like experience was confirmed in an interview with director Koshi Nakanishi, who revealed that he places Requiem firmly in the "Resident Evil 2 style" of RE games, not the more action-packed "Resident Evil 4" style.
But don't worry, there are still guns! This isn't a trip into Amnesia: The Dark Descent territory. Gameplay footage and trailers have confirmed survival horror's trusty handgun is returning, and game director Nakanishi has mentioned that Grace's animations will even change when she's carrying heavier weapons.
Then, it was double-confirmed to still have a decent amount of action when Leon was revealed as another protagonist of RE9 in its third trailer at The Game Wards.
But weapons might not help you as much as you think during boss battles, as Nakanishi revealed in an interview with Automaton that "rather than defeating enemies in a flashy manner as you progress through the game, like in games that emphasize gun shooting action, the style is more like Resident Evil and Resident Evil 2, where players expand their exploration area in a closed space and overcome obstacles using their wits."
Requiem's producer Masato Kumazawa also confirmed that Requiem did start as an online multiplayer game, but changed back to a regular single-player experience when the team thought its lack of horror wouldn't appeal to fans. Some of the "elements" from that multiplayer build were even kept in Requiem after the switch back to single-player, because they were simply too dang fun to let go of, apparently.
Is it third or first-person?
Both! Capcom claims that first-person is for those who like scares more, and third-person is a more action-oriented experience. As someone who personally likes both types of Resident Evil perspectives, I'm in a bit of a bind. But I'm sure my sicko side will win come release day and I'll go with first-person to give my bowels a test of strength.
If you're in a similar bind, it might help to know that first-person is the default perspective (as seen in the gameplay demo above.)
Is that Lisa Trevor?
Despite some fan theories that the tall, lurching stalker enemy in Requiem was actually Lisa Trevor from the original Resident Evil remake, game director Koshi Nakanishi eventually debunked the rumors. Although Lisa does seem to have been an inspiration for the enemy's look, seeing as Nakanishi revealed in the same interview that Capcom are actually using Lisa's voice right now as placeholder audio.
I can see why Capcom might want to replicate Lisa's design, as her clanking chains and screeching in RE1 were creeeepy—the exact vibe Requiem claims to be aiming for. (I sure want to avoid getting chomped by her, anyway.)
Who's the hooded man?
Despite some fervent fan speculation that the slightly creepy hooded man from the trailers could be the merchant from RE4, or even Chris Redfield or Wesker, game director Koshi Nakanishi has confirmed that the hooded man is a brand new character created for Requiem. That'll wipe a fair few theories off the board now.
Will there be a lab?
It hasn't been confirmed, but who are we kidding, of course there will be. It wouldn't be a Resident Evil game without a jaunt through a lab infested with some of the most annoying enemies and deep cut lore documents, after all.
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