Ahead of the upcoming Resident Evil Showcase, we break down what the latest gameplay trailers and developer interviews reveal about Resident Evil Requiem, how Leon and newcomer Grace Ashcroft play differently, and where this sequel sits in Capcom’s evolving Resident Evil saga.
Capcom’s next mainline horror entry, Resident Evil Requiem, is about to step back into the spotlight with a dedicated Resident Evil Showcase on January 15, 2026. The presentation is promising brand new gameplay and fresh info for what is effectively Resident Evil 9, only weeks before its February 27 launch on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2.
The Showcase is positioned as the last big blowout before release. Capcom is encouraging co-streams and reaction content, and has even lined up a post-show discussion on the Capcom USA YouTube channel. That segment will not feature new game details, which means the main event is where you can expect the deepest look yet at how Requiem plays, how its dual protagonists share the stage, and how this story pulls together the threads of modern Resident Evil.
A Return To Raccoon City For A New Generation
Requiem is pitched as a spiritual bookend to the Raccoon City tragedy. The game sends newcomer Grace Ashcroft, an FBI analyst, into the ruins of the city to investigate a string of deaths that appear tied to its buried history. At the same time, it brings Leon S. Kennedy back to the place where his nightmare began in Resident Evil 2.
The broad premise has been visible across trailers without giving away major twists. Grace’s investigation frames the story, with her combing through a city that has become more mausoleum than metropolis. The developers have repeatedly pointed out how central it is to see an older, more scarred Leon confront Raccoon City again. It is less a nostalgia trip and more an emotional reckoning for a character who has survived RE2, RE4, and the shadow of countless bioterror incidents.
All of this feeds into Capcom’s larger effort to knit its recent games into a cohesive modern timeline. Since Resident Evil 7, the series has been rebuilding its continuity around a more grounded bioterror backdrop, weaving in familiar faces like Chris Redfield and Leon while introducing new protagonists such as Ethan Winters and now Grace. Requiem continues that trajectory: a contemporary horror story that respects older events without relying entirely on them.
Dual Campaigns That Split The Difference Between Action And Horror
One of the clearest messages from Capcom is that Resident Evil Requiem is built around two fully fledged campaigns. Director Koshi Nakanishi has said Grace and Leon’s playable sections are almost equally split in terms of overall playtime, and has compared the structure to Resident Evil Revelations. That suggests alternating or interwoven character chapters rather than a short side campaign tacked onto a main story.
The big hook is that Grace and Leon are not just different in cutscenes; they represent two distinct approaches to survival. Capcom’s official messaging and press materials describe the game as offering twice the terror and action, with Leon leaning into high-intensity combat while Grace embodies the series’ most vulnerable survival horror in years.
In practice, Requiem looks like it is trying to reconcile the split that has defined modern Resident Evil. Resident Evil 2 remake and Village blended methodical horror with sharper gunplay. Resident Evil 4 remake dialed the combat up. Requiem’s dual structure allows Capcom to push both directions at once without undermining either tone.
How Leon Plays Now: A Seasoned Veteran Built For Action
Leon S. Kennedy returns as one of the two playable leads, and Requiem treats him like the seasoned operator he has become. Visually he is older, more heavily scarred, and carries himself with the weary confidence you would expect from someone who has spent decades staring down bio-organic weapons.
Gameplay footage and press descriptions paint Leon’s sections as the action spine of Requiem. He moves with a fluidity that recalls Resident Evil 4 remake but has been tuned for the newer setting. Expect aggressive enemy encounters, a stronger emphasis on precision shooting, and set pieces that lean into his experience as a field agent.
Capcom has even underlined Leon’s status through small but telling details. Developers have talked about shaping him as an ikeoji, essentially the archetype of a cool, attractive older guy who has lived through hell. To match that image, the team partnered with Porsche to create a one of a kind car that fits Leon’s persona, which appears in key cinematic moments.
Mechanically, Leon’s toolkit looks like a refinement of the modern over the shoulder template. Trailers and hands off previews emphasize tight gunplay, crowd control tactics, and quick, decisive movement. If Grace is often on the back foot, Leon is the one turning the tables when the odds are stacked.
Grace Ashcroft: Resident Evil’s Most Vulnerable Lead In Years
Grace Ashcroft steps into the spotlight as the series’ new face. In contrast to Leon’s battle hardened presence, Grace is an FBI analyst first and a survivor second. Early footage makes it clear she is not a natural action hero. Capcom producers have even described her as the biggest scaredy cat in Resident Evil history, and the marketing leans into how out of her depth she appears when the horrors of Raccoon City resurface.
This is not simply a personality quirk. Requiem builds Grace’s entire playstyle around fear and fragility. Her segments focus on slower, more anxious exploration, tighter resource management, and enemies that feel overwhelming rather than manageable. Where Leon pushes through rooms with calculated aggression, Grace is often forced to avoid direct confrontation, use the environment creatively, and pick her battles carefully.
Developer interviews suggest her fear is not just visual acting. Her reactions to threats and the way players manage tense situations are intended to amplify the horror. That means scenes where a single enemy encounter can feel suffocating and stealth or escape becomes as important as combat. In that sense, Grace’s side of Requiem leans closer to the dread heavy pacing of Resident Evil 7 or the most claustrophobic parts of the Resident Evil 2 remake.
Because Grace is the narrative starting point for Requiem, her investigation also serves as the lens through which newer players can approach the modern timeline. The story is built so that players do not need to have every past game memorized to follow what is happening, even as long time fans will recognize echoes of old sins and familiar corporate conspiracies beneath the surface.
Two Perspectives, One Interlocking Story
Although Capcom is holding back specific story beats for launch, it has been open about how the dual protagonist structure shapes the overall experience. With playtime split almost evenly between Grace and Leon, Requiem aims to avoid the common issue where one character’s route feels like an optional extra.
Structurally, that likely means chapters that alternate between the two leads, each revealing different angles on the same unfolding disaster in Raccoon City’s ruins. Leon might secure an area with brute force only for Grace to return later to sift through the aftermath, or vice versa. This approach echoes Revelations and the best moments of Resident Evil 2’s A and B scenarios, where seeing overlapping events from different perspectives gave the story extra texture.
From a pacing standpoint, it also lets Capcom modulate intensity. After an extended Grace section heavy on suspense and puzzle solving, a shift to Leon can deliver a burst of cathartic combat. Then, just as players settle into the power fantasy, the campaign can throw them back into Grace’s shoes to ratchet tension up again. Done well, that back and forth rhythm could be one of Requiem’s defining strengths.
How Requiem Fits Into Capcom’s Modern Resident Evil Timeline
Since 2017, Capcom has been reshaping Resident Evil around a more coherent through line. Resident Evil 7 reintroduced slow burn horror and set up new bioterror threads. Resident Evil Village extended those ideas while pulling in veterans like Chris Redfield. The recent remakes of RE2, RE3, and RE4 modernized key character arcs and firmly re-established Leon and Claire in the current canon.
Requiem slots into this era as both continuation and reflection. Rather than globe trotting like some of the mid series entries, it circles back to the origin point of Raccoon City but does so through the eyes of characters who carry decades of narrative weight. Leon revisiting the city offers a bridge between the classic outbreaks and the more recent campaigns against weaponized viruses. Grace, meanwhile, represents the institutions that have grown up around that ongoing trauma, trying to catalog and contain horrors that never truly stayed buried.
In terms of tone, Requiem appears to synthesize several strands of the series. Grace’s sections invoke the vulnerability and first person terror of RE7, even though the perspective here is over the shoulder. Leon’s segments call back to the kinetic, precision shooting of RE4 remake. Layered on top is the investigative framing that modern Capcom likes to use to connect different outbreaks and organizations into a single ongoing struggle.
For players tracking the big picture, Requiem should shed more light on how the world has coped with the long term fallout of Raccoon City, how far certain forces are willing to go to exploit it, and what that means for veteran characters like Leon who have been fighting this war for most of their lives.
What To Watch For At The Resident Evil Showcase
The upcoming Showcase is likely to be the moment where Capcom pulls these threads into a cohesive pitch. With the game launching on February 27, expect the event to focus less on abstract teasers and more on concrete systems and scenarios that define the moment to moment experience.
The biggest questions revolve around how sharply the game differentiates Grace and Leon during play. Will Leon’s sections introduce new mobility or melee options beyond what we saw in RE4 remake, especially in larger or more vertical environments carved out of Raccoon City’s ruins? Will Grace’s fear driven design manifest in unique mechanics, such as stress systems, perception changes, or segments where her panic directly affects controls or enemy behavior?
There is also room for Capcom to clarify how progression works across the dual campaigns. Do upgrades and resources carry over when the story switches perspectives, or are you managing two distinct arsenals and skill sets? Given comments from the developers about wanting players to feel immersed in each protagonist’s backstory, it would make sense for their growth to feel tailored and separate rather than fully shared.
Finally, the Showcase may be the best chance to see how Requiem performs across platforms, particularly on Nintendo’s Switch 2, which is launching day and date alongside PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. Previous Resident Evil releases on portable or hybrid hardware have often relied on cloud or scaled back ports, so a native version arriving with the rest of the lineup will be a key point of interest.
A Carefully Poised Sequel On The Eve Of Release
Viewed from the outside, Resident Evil Requiem looks like a deliberate attempt by Capcom to balance everything fans have argued about over the past decade. Those who fell in love with the creeping dread of RE7 and the RE2 remake will find that sensibility channeled through Grace’s anxious, methodical horror. Players who prefer the sharp combat design of RE4 remake look set to get their fix in Leon’s high pressure encounters.
Most importantly, the game’s return to Raccoon City is not framed as an empty nostalgia play. By splitting the story between a new investigator and an old survivor, Requiem has the potential to deepen the series’ lore while still staying accessible to newcomers. With only weeks to go and a big Showcase on the horizon, the main question left is whether Capcom can make all these carefully arranged pieces click once controller is in hand.
If the latest trailers and interviews are any indication, Resident Evil Requiem is poised to become the capstone of Capcom’s current Resident Evil era: a game that finally lets the series visit its oldest ghosts with fresh eyes, and then decide what survives the journey back out of the dark.