Resident Evil Requiem trailer reveals release date and new main character

There is no Resident Evil 9, only Resident Evil Requiem (YouTube)

The game previously known only as Resident Evil 9 has finally been revealed and it features a deep cut reference to Resident Evil Outbreak.

Summer Game Fest 2025 was a very low-key affair, with hardly any new AAA game reveals. There was still lots of interesting looking titles, such as Mortal Shell 2 and Stranger than Heaven, but the biggest title by far was Capcom’s Resident Evil Requiem, aka Resident Evil 9.

Technically, the game was announced last summer but nothing had been seen of it up till now and even the reveal trailer left a lot more questions than answers… except when it comes to the release date.

Requiem will be out on February 27, just a few weeks before the franchise’s 30th anniversary, and the new game is promising a shift in ‘tone and gameplay’, as well as a return to Racoon City.

Capcom didn’t detail what the changes would entail but rumours have long suggested the game will be ditching the first person view of the last couple of titles and going back to the traditional third person, over the shoulder view.

That wasn’t confirmed by the reveal, but it did seem to imply that. As for the tone, it’s hard to say but it appeared to be more serious, when compared to the schlocky, more fantastical nature of Resident Evil Village.

Resident Evil’s ability to change and evolve is one of the secrets of its success but it was still nice to see the police station from Racoon City again, or at least what’s left of if after the place got nuked at the end of Resident Evil 2.

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It was impossible to tell what’s going on with the plot, but the trailer focused on new character Grace Ashcroft, a ‘technical analyst’ at the FBI whose mother seems to be Alyssa Ashcroft.

If that doesn’t ring a bell then don’t worry, as she was only ever in the two Resident Evil Outbreak games – online co-op titles from the PlayStation 2 era, that weren’t particularly successful (the first one wasn’t even online in Europe).

The trailer refers to Alyssa being killed in a hotel eight years earlier, which was not a part of Outbreak’s story. As the trailer begins, Grace is writing a report on an ‘unidentified disease’ that has claimed a fourth victim, with Alyssa presumably being the fifth.

It’s looking like Grace may be the main playable character (YouTube)

It’s hard to draw anything too conclusive from the rest of the trailer, but there’s a new monster dropping down from the ceiling in one shot, a possible shot of a zombie at the end, and what looks like the Raincoat Killer from Deadly Premonition at one point.

There’s also a guy with an obviously evil voice, who could be Albert Wesker, who’s describing someone – possibly Grace – as the ‘chosen one’.

Previous rumours have suggested that Leon S. Kennedy and/or Jill Valentine are the main playable characters in Requiem but there was no sign of that in the teaser. Rumours have also claimed the game will be open world but the trailer didn’t even hint at that, although it didn’t rule it out either.

No doubt all that will be the subject of the next trailer, which is presumably coming relatively soon, given the game is due out in a little over eight months.

There’s a small possibility it could be at the Xbox Games Showcase on Sunday but that’s unlikely, as it wasn’t at the State of Play on Wednesday and Capcom probably don’t want to play favourites. The trailer confirms the game for Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC.

The old police station has seen better days (YouTube)

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