The PlayStation Store artwork leak has finally shown Leon S. Kennedy standing behind new lead Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem. Here’s what that confirms, what’s still speculation, and how Capcom could structure dual campaigns based on past Resident Evil games.
The mystery is over: Leon S. Kennedy is in Resident Evil Requiem.
PS5 users who pre ordered Resident Evil Requiem and enabled automatic pre downloads began noticing updated key art on their console home screens. The image, now widely shared and reported by outlets like IGN, PC Gamer, Eurogamer and Rock Paper Shotgun, shows newcomer Grace Ashcroft in the foreground with an older, bearded Leon looming behind her.
For a series that has spent the better part of a year dodging direct questions about Leon’s involvement in RE9, this is the closest thing to a confirmation without a press release attached. But it also raises fresh questions about how Capcom will balance a new lead with one of the franchise’s most popular veterans.
Below is a breakdown of what is credibly known right now, what we can infer from Resident Evil history, and where the conversation drifts into pure fan speculation.
What’s actually confirmed and credible
From a news standpoint, there are a few solid pillars everyone can safely treat as real.
First is Leon’s presence in the game. The updated PlayStation Store artwork, served directly to pre order customers and corroborated by multiple outlets, shows him clearly behind Grace. This is not a fuzzy off screen hint or a datamined string. It is official art, briefly published early.
Second is Grace Ashcroft’s role. Capcom has already positioned Grace as the main playable protagonist of Resident Evil Requiem in its initial reveal. She is described across previews and store blurbs as an FBI analyst or investigator who becomes entangled in a new bioterror incident. The art leak reinforces that status by placing her front and center while Leon occupies the more symbolic background slot.
Third is the basic setup for Requiem. Across store pages and early marketing, Requiem is framed as the ninth mainline entry with a focus on atmospheric survival horror, modern high end platforms and a single player structure. The TechRadar and Game Informer reporting on deluxe edition listings also point toward a Mercenaries mode, planned story DLC as part of a Sanctuary expansion pass and cosmetics including a Morphic Visor and Shadow Walker costumes, some of which reference Rosemary Winters.
Taken together, the credible information looks like this: Grace Ashcroft is the announced playable lead, the story orbits a new bioterror threat, and Leon S. Kennedy appears prominently enough in official key art that his involvement is practically guaranteed. What remains unclear is the extent to which he shares the spotlight.
What we know about Grace Ashcroft so far
Capcom has been careful to keep Grace’s specifics relatively grounded compared with some of the franchise’s more superheroic protagonists.
Store descriptions and early interviews describe her as an FBI analyst or agent who is more comfortable with data and patterns than front line combat. She is pulled into the field by an escalating investigation that spirals into classic Resident Evil territory: an isolated area, shadowy corporate interests and something very wrong mutating in the dark.
The framing suggests a protagonist who starts from a place of relative vulnerability. That aligns with Capcom’s modern approach in Resident Evil 7 and Village, where Ethan Winters begins as an everyman before gradually growing into the role of hardened survivor. Grace seems positioned to give players that grounded horror perspective, piecing together clues, relying on limited resources and making hard choices without the reassuring history that someone like Leon carries.
Lore wise, multiple outlets mention that she is connected to existing series canon through her family background, reported as the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft from Resident Evil Outbreak. That potentially gives Capcom a way to tie Requiem to older Raccoon City history while still focusing on a fresh face who can anchor the series going forward.
Reading the key art: what Leon’s placement suggests
Key art is marketing, not a plot synopsis, but Capcom’s covers have often hinted at how campaigns are structured.
On the leaked Requiem image, Grace stands in the foreground holding a firearm, eyes fixed forward, while Leon’s head and shoulders dominate the space behind her. He looks older than his Resident Evil 4 remake incarnation, with visible age in his face and rougher hair and beard. The visual language reads as a passing of the torch: the new lead up front, the veteran looming large as history and muscle.
In Resident Evil 2 remake and Resident Evil 4, Leon’s appearance on the cover meant one clear thing. He was unequivocally playable and central. Requiem muddies that slightly by pairing him with Grace. The image tell is that Grace is the player’s anchor, while Leon is extremely important but not necessarily the default POV from start to finish.
That supports the idea of dual narrative weight rather than a pure cameo, although the art alone cannot confirm whether Leon is playable.
How Resident Evil has handled dual protagonists before
To understand what Capcom might be planning, it helps to look at the series’ history with multi character campaigns.
Resident Evil 2 on PlayStation and its later remake used two parallel campaigns, one for Leon and one for Claire, each covering the same outbreak from different routes and perspectives. Players could choose who to start with, and events occasionally overlapped or referenced each other.
Resident Evil 0 used a partnered system with Rebecca and Billy, letting players swap between them in real time to solve puzzles and survive. Both were playable, even when one character took more narrative spotlight.
Resident Evil 6 leaned hard into the idea of multiple full length campaigns. Leon, Chris, Jake and Ada all had their own storylines that intersected and shared some locations and bosses. It showed one extreme of the formula, arguably too sprawling, but proved that Capcom is comfortable running several parallel stories at once.
More recently, Village handled multiple playable perspectives in a looser way. Ethan remained the core lead, but playable segments as Chris dramatically shifted tone and power level without rewriting the entire campaign structure.
Historically, when a veteran character like Leon appears front and center in key art, that almost always signals some playable involvement. Cameos or support roles, such as Barry in Revelations 2 or Sherry in some entries, tend to be sidelined in marketing.
Plausible campaign structures Requiem could use
With that context, there are a few plausible ways Capcom could structure Grace and Leon’s roles.
One straightforward option is a split dual campaign. Grace and Leon each get a dedicated storyline that interlocks across shared locations, much like Leon and Claire in Resident Evil 2. Grace handles the investigative and survival heavy half, while Leon’s route leans into action and combat competency. Players might choose who to start with, or Capcom could prescribe a Grace first then Leon order.
A second option is a single primary campaign with significant playable Leon chapters. This would follow Village’s approach, where Ethan owns most of the runtime but Chris gets one high impact stretch. Grace would be the clear lead, but key turning points in the narrative could flip control to Leon as he enters the story, executes a rescue or cleanup operation, then exits, leaving Grace to deal with the aftermath.
A third possibility is partner assisted sections, akin to Resident Evil 0 or certain segments of 5. Grace remains the only main campaign protagonist, but AI controlled Leon fights alongside her for specific levels or boss encounters. Short playable sequences might appear in co op modes or DLC rather than the core story, letting Capcom advertise Leon’s presence without fundamentally restructuring the single player arc.
A more experimental route would be time shifted, interwoven chapters that jump between Grace in the present and Leon in the recent past. That could let Capcom use Leon to fill in crucial backstory about the outbreak or conspiracy that Grace later pieces together, tying directly into his long history with series villains.
All of these structures have precedent in the franchise, which makes them credible design options, but none are confirmed at this stage.
Where speculation starts: leaks, Rose and long running rumors
The PlayStation Store art is concrete, but much of the discussion around Requiem stacks additional, less solid layers on top.
GameStop and other retailers briefly listed deluxe edition content that mentioned costumes for Rosemary Winters. That suggests Rose may appear somewhere in Requiem, but it is far from guaranteed that she will be playable. As TechRadar notes, cosmetic references can exist for characters who only show up in modes like Mercenaries, or they can be remnants of early plans that change pre launch.
Long running community rumors, some attributed to leakers with mixed track records, have claimed that Requiem will feature two full protagonists with roughly equal screen time, specifically naming Grace and Leon as dual leads. Others go even further, describing late game sequences where Rose enters the story, setting up post Requiem narratives.
At this point, none of that has been officially confirmed by Capcom. Even accurate early information can shift during development, as scope, pacing and marketing priorities change. The key art strongly validates only one pillar of those rumors: Leon is actually in the game. It does not, by itself, prove he has equal billing with Grace or that Rose plays a major role.
Fans are also speculating about Leon’s characterization based on his older, more worn look. Some theories imagine a mentor figure handing the torch to Grace, others a darker Leon who has become disillusioned by decades of bioterror incidents. While these ideas fit the visual hints, they are thematic readings rather than verified facts.
Separating facts from fan theories
To keep things clean, it is useful to draw a line between what has strong support and what currently lives in the realm of fandom.
On the factual side are Grace Ashcroft’s status as the announced lead, Requiem’s position as Resident Evil 9 with a survival horror focus and the now visible presence of Leon S. Kennedy on official PlayStation Store artwork. There are also credible indications of a Mercenaries mode and story DLC via reputable coverage of deluxe edition listings.
On the speculative side sit all concrete claims about campaign structure, chapter counts, how often Leon is playable, whether Rose is a second or third protagonist and exactly how the story resolves ongoing series plotlines. None of that has been detailed in official trailers or press materials yet. Even reports citing anonymous developer sources should be treated as provisional until Capcom directly confirms the structure.
Players studying the art and leak history are right to suspect that Leon will be more than a brief cameo. Capcom would not lightly waste his first appearance in new numbered canon since the Resident Evil 4 remake on a throwaway background role. At the same time, the studio has been explicit in marketing Grace as the new face of the franchise, which implies that Requiem must give her enough narrative space to stand on her own.
For now, the most grounded expectation is this: Grace Ashcroft will carry the core of Resident Evil Requiem as the primary protagonist, while Leon S. Kennedy plays a significant supporting role that is very likely at least partially playable. Anything beyond that sits on a spectrum from educated guess to wishful thinking until Capcom opens up the curtain with its next trailer.
What this leak signals about Capcom’s strategy
From an industry perspective, the timing of the PlayStation Store art update just days before The Game Awards feels deliberate even if the rollout itself was sloppy. Letting Leon’s presence slip slightly early builds social media buzz that Capcom can capitalize on when it inevitably shows a new trailer.
It also hints at how Capcom sees the future of Resident Evil. Requiem introduces Grace Ashcroft as a grounded, canon connected newcomer capable of anchoring stories beyond the Winters family arc. At the same time, the studio is not ready to fully retire icons like Leon, especially when a large portion of the fanbase still associates the brand with him.
The leak, in other words, suggests a transitional era. Resident Evil Requiem looks ready to stand with one foot in the series’ past and one in its future, letting Grace and Leon share the stage as the franchise figures out what Resident Evil looks like in a post Village world.
Until Capcom speaks plainly, the safest approach is to enjoy the speculation while keeping expectations anchored in what the leak truly reveals. Leon S. Kennedy is back in Resident Evil 9. Grace Ashcroft is front and center. Exactly how much time we spend in each character’s shoes is the one question the key art cannot answer yet.