Resident Evil Requiem: Key details and latest news, written by humans

Resident Evil 9 trailer still — (Image credit: Capcom)

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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 extremely close to 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 still comes from Grace's parts.

Resident Evil Requiem release date and platforms

resident evil requiem - grace sitting in front of a pc in her FBI uniform — (Image credit: Capcom)

You don't have long to brush up on your Alyssa Ashcroft lore now, as Resident Evil Requiem is 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

Resident Evil Requiem - Leon with a another sweet jacket in the rain at night — (Image credit: Capcom)

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. And don't worry Leon-enjoyers, he still looks like someone that "would make anyone’s heart throb" (according to director Nakanishi) thanks to the women at Capcom being "pretty strict when reviewing his design." I look forward to what the modding scene comes up for hot uncle Leon this time.

Anyway, 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. (It wasn't for Wes when he previewed RE9 recently, so now I have my fingers crossed that Wes isn't a liar.)

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

Resident Evil Requiem - Reveal Trailer - YouTube

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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.

Resident Evil Requiem - 2nd Trailer - YouTube

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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.

Resident Evil Requiem - 3rd Trailer - YouTube

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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.

Live action short

In a very cool marketing move, a live action short was revealed just a few weeks before Requiem's release. It shows a mother and a daughter in the happy days before Raccoon City turned into a pile of ash, the chaos during the city's outbreak (with a bonus creepy Licker), and the very depressing post-ash times of the mother-daughter duo.

Resident Evil Requiem Showcase

Resident Evil Showcase | January 15, 2026 - YouTube

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Here's everything that was revealed in the recent Requiem showcase:

Zombies retain some characteristics from when they were alive, so continue to perform acts like cleaning and turning the lights on and off. Gameplay-wise, this means you can study them and find a path around while they're distracted. How very Agent 47.
Leon gets a hatchet to parry attacks that you can sharpen on the fly, and he can target enemy limbs and kick to finish the enemies off, RE4-style.
Grace's arsenal is more limited, so you might want to avoid enemies instead of engaging in combat, but she does get a special weapon called "Requiem" that's pretty powerful.
However, you do need to collect blood from enemies to craft certain items when playing as Grace, so you can't avoid combat all of the time.
There's a glimpse of another gargantuan monster crawling through a hospital corridor towards the end of the showcase. We agree with what Grace says here.
If you choose the "Standard (Classic)" difficulty, you need to use ink ribbons to save the game as Grace.
RE9 is collaborating with car manufacturer Porsche (for some reason), so there's a unique Porsche called the Resident Evil Cayenne Turbo GT in the the game (for some reason).
Also for reasons (money, the reason is money), RE9 is collaborating with the watchmaker Hamilton to make two limited-edition watches that you can get your hand on, if you've got a spare couple of grand. One inspired by Leon, and one inspired by Grace.
You get a free "Apocalypse" outfit for Grace for preordering the game.
Outfits included in the deluxe edition include: Dimitrescu and Film Noir for Grace, and RE4, Apocalypse, and Film Noir for Leon.

Our Resident Evil Requiem preview

Resident Evil Requiem survival horror — (Image credit: Capcom)

Wes played three hours of Resident Evil Requiem and reckons its blend of survival horror and action is actually working this time. Unlike the poor attempt that Resident Evil 6 tried 13 years ago. Grace's sections seem tense, with limited resources adding to the frights, whereas Leon's all-out action is a cathartic blast of bullets, chainsaws, and dad jokes.

Other features mentioned in our preview include:

Leon has a magnum, and a spacious attaché case to store it in. Grace's inventory is far more limited.
Mr S. Kennedy also gets a bigger health bar than Grace (poor Grace, you gotta live through a few more catastrophic BOW encounters for that, it seems).
The lobby of the hospital is a safe zone for Grace.
"Obstacle" enemies block paths for Grace.
The game's tone leans more towards RE7 grit than RE4 goof when Leon isn't on screen dropping dad jokes.
Grace's section involves classic RE metroidvania-esque backtracking for keycards and other items.
There's a craftable instakill injector that can be used to safeguard against zombies who mutate into a more aggressive form after being "killed".

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

RESIDENT EVIL 9 REQUIEM FULL DEMO // PS5 PRO // 4K ULTRA HD - YouTube

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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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