Gamescom 2025 has been fruitful for Resident Evil Requiem hopefuls. Namely, it's given us a brand new look at some fresh gameplay we can expect to see in the upcoming horror game next year.
For how monumental it is, the clip is very brief. In it, we get just a glimpse of the late Alyssa Ashcroft and her daughter Grace's palpably strained relationship, and as the scene plays out, we get our first proper look at what's likely to be Alyssa's final night alive. Chilling stuff, and incredibly exciting to boot. But if there's one thing I can rely on the Resi fandom to do, it's theorize wildly on comparatively little information. I'm here to throw my tinfoil hat into the ring, too; here are my five biggest questions following the latest Requiem reveal.
1. Who called the Ashcrofts?
The clip starts with a mysterious caller with a male-sounding voice calling Alyssa and Grace's room at (what I assume is) Wrenwood Hotel. When Grace answers "yes" when he asks "Miss Ashcroft?," he hangs up without another word. Alyssa instantly looks perplexed, and when the power cuts moments later, she summons Grace to flee with her.
Whoever was on the other end of that phone, Alyssa certainly knew they meant trouble. Does this mean she got caught up in something sticky following the events of the Raccoon City Disaster? Maybe with Umbrella itself? Alyssa is a journalist, and given that we already know she was poking around at the Baker house in Resident Evil 7, maybe she stumbled upon something she really shouldn't have and it came back to bite her? (Perhaps literally.)
2. Who is the hooded man?
Later in the lobby, the Ashcrofts are given a fright by the appearance of the hotel receptionist. Or maybe he's the manager? Either way, we never find out because a cloaked man with a hood concealing half of his face suffocates and kills him seconds later.
Some people have theorized that this hooded figure could be our beloved Leon S Kennedy himself, citing the pale hooded man's familiar freckle placements seen on his jaw and upper neck. Many of us are still hoping beyond hope that the ex-rookie cop will be making an appearance despite Capcom's best efforts at dismissing the rumor. but I'm trying not to let myself get too carried away with that theory. I already know how I'd like Leon to show up in Resident Evil Requiem, and it doesn't involve him having a weird gray complexion or angular cheilitis. Sorry, hooded man.
3. What's the deal with the Wrenwood Hotel?
We already know from Requiem's announcement trailer that Alyssa dies at the Wrenwood Hotel. But why are Alyssa and Grace there in the first place? Are they living here temporarily, maybe a result of Grace's mother's profession as an investigative journalist, or did something else lead them to it?
Also, where even is the Wrenwood Hotel in terms of its geographic location in America? Assumedly, not Raccoon City, unless it was rebuilt sometime after its 1998 destruction. But with Rhodes Hill Chronic Care being a playable location in the Requiem demo I played a couple of weeks ago, which is definitely in Racoon City, I'm going to need a little clarification as to when and where this scene with the Ashcrofts takes place.
4. Does Grace have any other family?
At the end of the new gameplay reveal, it looks like Alyssa gets attacked by something from behind as Grace starts to scream. Was this the moment Grace became an orphan, or does she have other family members out there? It's a small and possibly old fashioned catch, but if Alyssa doesn't have a partner, the "Miss Ashcroft" requested on the phone could be either her or Grace.
With Requiem almost being pitched as a character study, tightly focussed on Grace Ashcroft, the question feels relevant. She would have been in her late teens to early 20s when Alyssa died, meaning she likely didn't need to have another guardian living with her, but with Capcom yet to mention any other parental figure, I'm wondering if we'll ever find out more about Alyssa's life post-outbreak and if it will be of importance at all in Requiem.
5. How does Raccoon city and the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center factor in?
As I mentioned above, the Wrenwood Hotel has yet to be confirmed as a Raccoon City location. However, we do know that a return to our favorite nuked American city is on the cards, as Rhodes Hill Chronic Care featured before in Resident Evil Outbreak. That leaves me wondering what the correlation is between the Wrenwood Hotel and Raccoon City, if any.
It's fairly typical for the best Resident Evil games to be set across a set of fixed locations – the RPD, sewers, and labs in Resident Evil 2 for example – but if Grace has far to travel between them, it'll make for a very different experience as far as story progression. Similarly, if the city was rebuilt and nobody told me, I'll be just as confused. But what better way to retcon a bunch of lore than in a game marking 30 years of Resident Evil?
Check out all the upcoming PS5 games coming in the next 12 months while you wait for RE9.
