It sounds as though Zach Cregger's upcoming Resident Evil movie will be a thrill ride from start to finish, just like the video game series it is based on.

"It feels like one gigantic sequence. Things pop off about five minutes in and it basically stays like that until the end," said Cregger to Empire. "What I love about the games is that you move from set-piece to set-piece. Every location has a unique challenge... I’m borrowing from the games directly in that rhythm, where you’re just running through a gauntlet."

However, even though the upcoming movie is set in the second game, 1998's Resident Evil 2, the feature will focus on a brand new character. Rather than following highly capable rookie cop Leon through the zombie-ridden Raccoon City, the movie will focus on a medical courier named Bryan out on delivery who suddenly gets caught up in the outbreak. Bryan is played by Austin Abrams, who previously collaborated with Cregger on the 2025 horror hit Weapons.

But, unlike Leon, Bryan is not your run-of-the-mill hero. "The concept here is that we’re following an idiot. Not that he’s stupid, but he’s not your typical game character, with no combat skills whatsoever and completely inept at survival," added Cregger. "Bryan is very much an everyman who happens to be burdened with this kind of sacred mission that’s going to take him into the heart of everything. It’s kind of like Frodo going into Mordor."

When we caught up with Cregger on the set of Resident Evil, the director told GamesRadar+, "I don't think that me telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world, because the games do that all the time... I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline."

But Cregger's adaptation will stray away from the game in more ways than one. In the Resident Evil trailer, we saw Raccoon City covered in snow. The winter setting contradicts the game, which takes place in a heatwave during September.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. For more, check out our guide to all the upcoming video game movies and upcoming horror movies heading our way.

Resident Evil 2 director and Devil May Cry creator Hideki Kamiya has jokingly detailed a concept for a cozy life sim game starring a retired Leon Kennedy.

Outside of series creator Shinji Mikami, you could make an argument for Kamiya being the most impactful person to be involved with the Resident Evil series. After the original game was the first game he was credited on, Kamiya then directed Resident Evil 2 which is still considered by many to be one of, if not the best game in the series. That second game is also the one that introduced us to Leon Kennedy, who has gone on to be the series' most beloved character.

But despite his massive impact on the series and the survival horror genre in general, Kamiya has openly said he hates horror, and earlier this year he pitched Capcom creating a "'non-scary' mode" for Resident Evil Requiem so he could enjoy the game's puzzles in peace. Now, over on Twitter (translated by Automaton) Kamiya has responded to fan requests for him to return to the Resident Evil series – which he hasn't been involved with since his Resident Evil 4 turned into Devil May Cry – by detailing what he would do with a new game.

Kamiya says if he made a new Resident Evil title, "it'd be a game where a retired Leon spends his days in the countryside fishing, gathering wild vegetables, baking bread, walking his dog, tending to his garden, driving 50 kilometers to the nearest general store, inviting his old friends over for barbecues, fixing his elderly neighbour's oven, and selling homemade lemonade at the local festival. Would you still be OK with that?"

Given how huge the cozy game market is, people naturally are still OK with that, with one comment saying they'd be interested in "Resident Evil Pokopia." Kamiya acknowledges the fan response, saying: "Capcom, there seem to be a lot of people asking for a Resident not-Evil game like this. If you ever have the time, please consider making it… I'd like to play it too."

Are you playing the latest game in the series? If so, be sure to browse through our roundup of Resident Evil Requiem safe codes for an easier time progressing.

Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami believes that if a fan is satisfied with just watching a playthrough of a game, then it can't have been that good of a game in the first place.

With the advent of YouTube gaming content creators, popularization of let's plays in the late 2000s, and subsequent popularity of Twitch, people simply watching someone else playing a game has become a commonplace thing. While these streams and playthroughs have proven to work as great advertising in places – especially for the likes of Among Us, Five Nights At Freddy's, and Phasmophobia – for single–player games, some found that simply watching someone else play the game was enough for them.

As reported by Nikkan (translated by Automaton), comedian and YouTube creator Eiko Kano recently spoke on TV about an exchange he had with Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami after the popularity of his own streams of the series. When Kano asked Mikami about his stance on players streaming titles of his and potentially letting users get their fill of the game through someone else, he reportedly responded, "If viewers watch a playthrough of a game all the way to the end and are satisfied with just that, then it was only that good of a game."

Obviously, games are an inherently interactive medium, and as such you would miss out on a key facet of what it is by just watching it – the same way you would lose out on elements by reading a film's screenplay. Kano says Mikami explained: "Our job is to make games that leave people wanting to clear them with their own hands, even if they've watched someone else do it, so keep streaming."

Kano also recalls that Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii gave a very similar response to him when asked, while Final Fantasy 7 Remake series director Naoki Hamaguchi said recently that RPGs "need to be careful" about a lack of player agency otherwise they "might simply watch a stream and feel satisfied without ever playing the game themselves."

Resident Evil Veronica's first-person trailer was a deliberate misdirect, Capcom producer confirms the horror game is fully third-person.

2026 has been good to me. My Resident Evil Requiem review points to the staggering impact of Capcom's latest, charting the path forward for a survival horror legacy by bringing us back to where it all began.

The moment I rolled credits, I already had my suspicions about what might come next. Requiem's ending builds two futures at once, seeding what might transpire in the mainline series as well as hinting at which remake could come next. Now that the Code Veronica remake has finally been revealed, I'm even more excited to see how Resident Evil's past might influence its future – but in order for that to work, I'm all too happy for Capcom to rewrite itself.

New nightmares

Resident Evil Veronica is my most-anticipated upcoming horror game of the next year. A huge part of that is down to two words in the official game description: "reimagined story."

It's no secret that much of Capcom's older material hasn't aged well. Subtle changes in Resident Evil 4 Remake suggest that the developer itself is keenly aware of it. I fully expected that any remake of Code Veronica/X would have a few nip-tucks to update the humor for a modern audience, so I would be very surprised if Claire still calls Alfred Ashford a full-on slur in 2027. The bigger mystery is how the eccentric villain will be presented at all, since the original game's big twist plays on outdated shock tactics that are in dire need of an update.

I won't spoil the above for you, but it does leave me wondering if Resident Evil Veronica's "reimagined story" will update more than just a dicey script. This is Capcom's chance to alter who these characters actually are and keep the game in line with the modern day.

That idea alone might have you clenching your jaw, but hear me out. Following on from three stunning remakes created alongside the series' mainline entries, Resident Evil is running out of viable options to choose from. Resident Evil 5 is still one of the most controversial games of the bunch, while even the best Resident Evil game spin-offs are such an acquired taste (including my beloved Morpheus from Resident Evil Dead Aim) that many of those might be discounted on principle.

If Capcom wants to maintain pace with its rapidfire releases – and I really hope it does – it's time for all of us to call a spade a spade and admit when something just would not hit the same in the 2020s as it did in the early 2000s. We need small, meaningful changes that maintain the series' integrity, preserving pivotal plot points while reframing the supporting narrative.

It's something we already see hints of in Resident Evil Requiem. Wesker is miraculously "back" again, perhaps another clone, since he was supposed to be dead as of Resident Evil 5. More than that, the game's finale suggests that Oswell Spencer was potentially not quite the palm-rubbing psychopath many of us had him pegged as for 30 years. None of this makes sense given the current canon laid out by Code Veronica and Resident Evil 5, but maybe it will once Resident Evil Veronica sheds a little more light.

At this early stage, there's no telling how big or small Capcom's changes might be. Maybe the lengthier exposition with Claire seeking Chris out in Paris, as seen in the announcement trailer, will be all there is to it. Or maybe Capcom will take the opportunity for reinvention that so few developers ever get, soldering the future of Resident Evil in the process.

Check out our best Resident Evil games list for more to play while you wait!

Capcom is on a bit of a roll at the moment. Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3, and Pragmata have all landed with solid success, and we're not even done with the year yet. Part of the secret, according to Capcom itself, has been shifting away from auteur-driven development and trusting in the wisdom of a wider team.

"In the game industry, when a title becomes a series, it often ends up depending heavily on a particular developer, becoming what you'd call an individual-driven title," president and COO Haruhiro Tsujimoto tells Famitsu (thanks, Automaton). "If that person doesn't make one, there's no next installment. The direction of the series becomes tied to the ideas of a single creator."

He's not wrong, as the industry's history throws up plenty of examples. We've yet to get a new Metal Gear Solid game at Konami without Hideo Kojima in the picture, for example. You can also see examples within Capcom itself. The likes of Resident Evil, Monster Hunter, and Street Fighter are still going strong despite being created years ago – in many cases, with the original creatives having departed some time ago. For Capcom, shifting away from an individual approach meant they were caught out when that individual was no longer with the company.

“We discussed the issue with the central figures behind each franchise and ultimately agreed that we should abandon that approach," Tsujimoto says. "What we came up with instead was the idea that every title should essentially be rebuilt from the ground up. We didn't mind even if sales temporarily declined as a result, and by switching to a team-based approach to game development, Capcom changed dramatically."

Capcom's stance paints a hopeful picture for some of the games we haven't seen much of lately. The developer has said it wants to "nurture" games like Devil May Cry – with DMC 5 recently hitting a record number of yearly sales despite launching seven years ago. Creative lead Hideaki Itsuno's departure might be a hurdle to that, though it sounds like Capcom is more than prepared to trust a team to do the game right.

Resident Evil Veronica's first-person trailer was a deliberate misdirect, Capcom producer confirms the horror game is fully third-person.

Capcom remains surprisingly secretive about Resident Evil Veronica. Despite offering a behind-closed-doors presentation at Summer Game Fest, the company didn't show anything beyond what everyone got to see in the public reveal, but producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi did reveal a few details in a Q&A with members of the media. Perhaps most notably, this is a fully third-person game, despite the extended first-person segment we saw in the trailer.

Hirabayashi confirmed in the Q&A session I attended that the long-awaited remake will be a third-person game. Recent Resident Evil titles have typically included an option to switch between perspectives, and Resident Evil Requiem encouraged players to stick with first-person for Grace's horror-focused sections and third-person, but despite the fact that the original Code: Veronica also featured dual protagonists, there'll be no similar split here.

What, then, are we meant to make of the extended first-person sequence we saw in the announcement trailer? Hirabayashi hints that this scene wouldn't necessarily be the same in the final game, and Capcom wanted to build a bit of mystery to create some surprise for the trailer. He also suggests that this scene won't necessarily be at the very beginning of the game.

Hirabayashi notes that Capcom "loves surprises," and that includes the release date – sorry, there were no secret teasers about when in that vague 2027 launch window that Veronica will actually be released.

He also shoots down some speculation about the "REV" acronym that briefly appeared in the trailer, confirming that the V is not meant to be a Roman numeral. It does, indeed, stand for Resident Evil Veronica rather than Resident Evil 5. While this is technically the fifth entry in the remake series, Hirabayashi says that Capcom has no intention of trying to erase previous entries, including the original Resident Evil 5.

That said, Hirabayashi also emphasized that Capcom is treating Veronica as a full-fledged, main series entry in the Resident Evil story. Given just how gosh-danged weird the original Code: Veronica is, I'm desperate to find out what the devs will do with the remake.

Stick with us for more news on all the new games for 2026 and beyond.

For my money, Capcom couldn't have picked a better game to remake than Resident Evil: Code Veronica, the survival horror classic that made its debut on Sega Dreamcast all the way back in the year 2000. Capcom announced the remake during Summer Game Fest 2026, and I just about cried tears of happiness. Finally, after 26 long years, I'll get to experience one of the strongest stories in the Resident Evil franchise, hopefully through gameplay that doesn't make me want to chug a vial of T-virus serum and be done with it. Oh, and that voice acting. God, the voice acting.

In fairness to the English-speaking actors who brought characters like Steve Burnside, Alfred Ashford, and Albert Wesker to life, voice acting was universally bad in the late '90s and early '00s. But in the wake of the Code Veronica remake reveal, fans are lovingly revisiting some of the most egregious performances in the original game, a reminder of how far we've come in terms of video game production, and a moment of appreciation for folks like Nick Apostolides and Angela Sant'Albano, the actors behind Leon Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft in Resident Evil Requiem, a game whose top-notch performances make you feel connected to the characters and thus elevate the horror and emotional stakes dramatically.

Anyway, things were different back when Code Veronica came out, as evidenced by these, uh, memorable performances highlighted by a number of content creators and commentators. It's worth nothing that some of these clips contain story spoilers, so if you haven't played the original game and want to go into the remake completely blind, unfortunately you might want to revisit them later.

In this clip spotlighted by horror content creator DEERE, we hear Claire Redfield accuse bad guy Alfred Ashford of being a "cross-dressing freak," which I can only imagine won't make it into the Code Veronica remake. "Clair is a TERF confirmed," jokes DEERE.

Here's a compilation that I think does a really great job showcasing the distinct cartoonish quality of Code Veronica's acting. I simply can't watch scenes like the one with Alfred Ashford's ridiculously extended sigh of anguish and Steve Burnside's confused reaction and not laugh, which really puts a damper on the whole horror side of the game.

The grand finale of bad Code Veronica acting, seen in the video above, is the most infamous scene of them all. Another gem from the character Steve Burnside, in this clip we see a tortured son forced to shoot and kill his own father, which is objectively horrible, but again, any dramatic weight held by the situation alone is negated by the character's wildly inappropriate tone while screaming in agony.

Of course, plenty of fans want to see this masterclass in comedic acting preserved in the remake, but again, the idea is to scare people. You physically cannot be scared with scenes like these in the game, and thus, I'm pretty sure we'll have to keep watching them in clips online or, heaven forbid, by playing the original game.

ILL is the most violent horror game I've ever seen, it makes Resident Evil and Dying Light look kinda cute

The next Resident Evil remake has officially been announced: The 2000 Dreamcast classic survival horror game Resident Evil - Code: Veronica is getting the RE Engine treatment and releasing in 2027.

Capcom kicked off this year's Summer Game Fest by announcing the Resident Evil Code Veronica remake and showing off a good 3.5 minutes of cinematic footage, ending with a shot of the iconic Gold Lugers, which shimmer beautifully in the new engine. The remake, titled simply Resident Evil Veronica, is due out in 2027 for PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

Check out the reveal trailer:

Code Veronica was the first Resident Evil game to launch on a non-PlayStation platform, and it was also the final full-blown survival horror game before the series took a turn toward action horror with Resident Evil 4, and then 5 and 6, before Biohazard took it back to its roots and scared the crap out of everyone.

The story of Code Veronica centers around siblings Chris and Claire Redfield and takes place about three months after the events of Resident Evil 2. After escaping Raccoon City, Claire is captured by Umbrella and imprisoned on an island in the Southern Ocean, which is experiencing a T-virus outbreak. Chris eventually shows up in search of her, and gameplay is split roughly equally between the two characters.

Code Veronica is one a lot of casual fans skipped out on due to the inaccurate perception that it's a spinoff due to it not being a numbered entry, when in reality it's very much a mainline title with a story that's crucial to fully understanding Resident Evil 5. The gameplay is rough, there's no getting around that, but that's why I'm so excited about the remake. It'll give a whole new generation of fans a very good reason to play one of the strongest games in the series, at least in terms of story, world, and atmosphere, and it'll give old fans like me a much smoother experience.

Capcom producer teases a Resident Evil based in Japan: "It might make an appearance at some point"

Resident Evil Requiem put the power of nostalgia on full display with the return of longtime hero Leon Kennedy and with Raccoon City as a delightfully dilapidated playground, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a Resident Evil fan that hasn't fantasized about a future entry based in Japan, where developer Capcom is based. According to Resident Evil Requiem producer Masato Kumazawa, everyone at Capcom has considered the possibility too, and nothing's off the table at this point.

"I think a Japanese setting is something every Japanese Resident Evil fan has though about, and I've also considered it myself," says Kumazawa in an interview with Japanese publication Futaman (translated by Automaton).

"Since the development team is primarily based in Japan, I think every member has given it some thought. While Japan hasn't appeared as a game setting so far, it might make an appearance at some point in the future."

A Resident Evil set in Japan is a no-brainer, and you only need to look at the success of Konami's Silent Hill f for proof. If anything, Silent Hill is even more synonymous with its titular Maine resort town than Resident Evil and Raccoon City, even if the excellent Resident Evil Requiem triumphantly returned the series to its geographical roots.

If Silent Hill f can completely abandon the series' namesake, introduce a whole new cast of characters, fly off to the opposite end of the world, and still be a massive hit with fans new and old, surely Capcom can do the same with Resident Evil.

If that were to happen, however, Kumazawa says the series' identity would remain the same, which is something I struggled with playing Silent Hill f.

"We won't compromise the core elements of the series, such as the characters and the events that unfold, and we'll continue to preserve what the series holds dear," assures Kumazawa. He adds, "However, if we keep releasing the same kind of game over and over, players will eventually get bored, so we'd like to keep taking on new challenges moving forward."

I love almost everything about Silent Hill f, the combat being the key exception, but it doesn't really look, sound, or play like a Silent Hill game. That hasn't stopped me from thoroughly enjoying multiple playthroughs, but it created a void that Silent Hill Townfall is unlikely to fill. If Resident Evil does go to Japan, I hope it doesn't lose its Resident Evilness.

After 2 hours, this new Lovecraftian horror game feels like a faithful mashup of Resident Evil and Silent Hill.

Capcom isn't using generative AI to make any of the assets you see in Resident Evil Requiem or Monster Hunter Stories 3, for example, because the developers behind some of this year's very best games are simply better.

In an interview with 4Gamer, with quotes translated by Automaton, Capcom executive Shinichi Inoue, who serves as the company's vice president of game development platform and AI solutions, says the publisher isn't using the controversial tech for asset generation and has no plans to do so. The reason is pretty simple: Gen AI can't stand up next to the stuff Capcom's devs make.

"What we in the entertainment industry consider extremely important in contrast to artificial intelligence is human sensibility," Inoue says. "Even top-tier AI still cannot match our creators when it comes to sensibility. That's the current reality. Because of that, concentrating human effort on work requiring this kind of sensibility is more efficient from the standpoint of human capital management, and it's also important for coexistence with creators."

Capcom is embracing the tech in other areas, though, specifically when it comes to communication-related tasks and debugging. The publisher is apparently cutting down on this "routine work" with a playtesting system driven by Google Gemini and in-house AI that "reports its findings to debugging check agents, but rather than leaving everything to humans, another agent first evaluates the reports against the game director's concept."

"A huge volume of this checking and evaluation work is carried out while humans are asleep," Inoue adds. "After that, the system screens for issues that are highly likely to be 'incorrect when compared to the game's intended concept' and presents them."

As Automaton notes, just last year the publisher toyed around with the idea of using generative AI to make the hundreds, if not tens of thousands, of assets required for blockbuster games nowadays – your in-game TVs and trees and chairs and sinks and so on. But it seems, somewhere in that last year, Capcom's had a change of heart.

Just recently, the company stated that "we are currently testing out various methods" of AI usage "across our departments, including graphics, sound, and programming," but affirmed that "our company will not be implementing any AI-generated assets into our video game content."

Capcom's glad we hated Resident Evil Requiem's terrible DLSS 5 AI demo, because it means fans "really liked the original design of Grace."

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We all know Leon Must Die Forever, but what about Leon must wear his own face while doing so? Or Leon must have a slick mechanical typewriter keyboard to save his progress?

Resident Evil merch has been lining the shelves this year, what with Requiem's launch and the franchise's 30th anniversary earlier in the year. That means we've got plenty of gory kit to deck out even the barest of safe rooms.

Capcom has released some of its own celebratory t-shirts, but there's a far wider supply of brands producing high-quality Resident Evil merch beyond that. Controller holders, keycards, medallion replicas, board games, and controllers are all up for grabs here, and yes, Tofu's even made an appearance as well.

You'll find all the best Resident Evil gadgets I've found so far just below.

We're also rounding up all the best Legend of Zelda merch and the best Pokemon merch for more anniversary celebrations.

Stellar Blade developer Shift Up has confirmed that Unbound – the new studio founded by Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami – is working on multiple titles.

Unbound was founded by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami in 2022, with an action RPG having been in development at the studio for a while now. And while nothing is actually known about what Mikami and team are making, earlier this year it was announced that Stellar Blade developer Shift Up will be joining forces with Unbound, and is set to publish the studio's debut title – alongside the sequel to Stellar Blade – with the studio describing it as an "acqui-hire deal" in its latest earnings report.

The studio explained the partnership, saying, "Shift Up and Unbound share a strong alignment in strategic direction, and the synergies achievable through collaboration were clear, making the decision to join forces a natural one. We are already collaborating across multiple areas including worldbuilding and creative planning, generating positive outcomes for both parties on the game development front."

Shift Up continued, "Unbound's team of approximately 60 developers – many of whom have experience creating and successfully launching globally recognized IPs – is fully dedicated to bringing new titles to players. With multiple projects currently in development spanning both high-end and mid-scale titles, we expect a sequential rollout of new releases. Details on the titles under development at Unbound will be shared with the market and players progressively over time."

While the sequel to Stellar Blade and Shift Up's "Project Spirits" are set to be revealed within the year, the studio didn't elaborate on when we may be seeing what Unbound is working on. Although, whatever it is, I'm seated, because there's not many in this industry with the resume of Shinji Mikami, and I'm always willing to give a game by the director of God Hand and Vanquish my full attention.

Stellar Blade lead believes AI is essential for South Korea to compete with studios in the US and China, with the government to provide financial backing to support the use of the tech.

In Resident Evil Requiem Leon Must Die Forever, golden spiders are often seen skittering about, and you can even hear them twinkling in the background, but what are they for? Thankfully, they won't hurt you, and the fact that they're gold might give away that they have a beneficial use.

Leon Must Die Forever is the first minigame to be added to Resident Evil Requiem, and it features roguelike gameplay as our protagonist makes his way to Victor once again. You're on the clock, though, and these golden spiders might be worth your attention when time's running out - here's what they do.

What do golden spiders do in LMDF?

In Re 9's Leon Must Die Forever mode, golden spiders appear with a number above their head, which relates to the amount of extra time given when they're killed - simple as that.

Since they give you more time, they are worth killing, but obviously don't waste more time chasing them down. I also strongly recommend killing them with your hatchet so you don't waste valuable ammo - though you'll find there is plenty of it, at least in the earlier ranks.

Speaking of ranks, once you've completed you first runthrough at Rank 1, you'll unlock Wolf Leon, one of four LMDF skins available, each with their own starting weapons and enhancements. They might not be among the best LMDF enhancements, but these unique starting criteria can make your playthrough a little easier - or provide an extra challenge.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

It might not be Cat Leon, but one of the Leon Must Die Forever skins in Resident Evil 9's minigame turns the horror hunk into a wolf - complete with a cute, fluffy tail - so you might be wondering how to unlock this furry favorite.

This Resident Evil Requiem minigame takes on a roguelike format, as you defeat enemies in different 'rooms', moving between areas via glowing red doors, before finally beating Victor at the end - all, hopefully, before your timer hits zero. With the Leon Must Die Forever skins below, you can then restart again with a new challenge, thanks to varying starting equipment - and a new look to boot. Here's how to unlock them all.

How to unlock the Leon Must Die Forever wolf skin

To unlock the Leon Must Die Forever Wolf Mode skin, you just need to complete the minigame once - AKA Rank 1. From here, head into the Special Content section from the LMDF main menu, where you'll be able to equip your new costume.

Leon's wolf skin starts you off with a powerful SMG, the Stiri REVO3 SA1, as well as your usual hatchet, making the next Rank that much easier to complete. You'll also start with Surveyor, one of the many Leon Must Die Forever enhancements.

How to get the Leon Wolf skin with different effects

Leon Must Die skins aren't just to look pretty, they also grant special starting gear for an easier time or an increased challenge. However, if you don't want flashing lights on your head (see below), you can equip one skin but still have Leon look like a wolf by unlocking the Accessory Appearance upgrade.

Unlock this by completing Leon Must Die Forever in Forever mode, Rank 4. Then you can equip any of the other costumes for their effect and press the left and right buttons on your controller to scroll through all unlocked skins in-game - including cat, I mean wolf, Leon.

Other Leon Must Die Forever skins

Aside from the obvious choice, there are three other Leon Skins in Leon Must Die Forever. They're a bit daft, but they do have unique effects that you might want to consider.

• Turbo GT - Turbo GT headgear
  • Start with the MSBG 500 and a hatchet
  • Start with the Strategist enhancement
    • Complete LMDF on Forever - Rank 2
• Hot Fuzz - Flashing light headgear
  • Start with a Classic 70 and a hatchet
  • Start with the Big-game Hunter enhancement
    • Complete LMDF on Forever - Rank 3
• Axe-orcist - Glowing red eyes
  • Start with just a Hatchet
  • Start with the Maverick enhancement
    • Complete LMDF on Forever - Rank 5

Again, once you've unlocked the Accessory Appearance upgrade, you can equip any of these while wearing any unlocked costumes, but you'll have to beat the mode a few times first!

While you're looking at Resident Evil Requiem unlocks, have you tried playing the base game with infinite Re9 ammo yet? And if you're unsure, here's what those glistening LMDF Golden Spiders do.

© GamesRadar+. Not to be reproduced without permission.

Capcom has announced the free minigame for Resident Evil Requiem, giving Leon Kennedy a sequel to Resident Evil 7's Ethan Must Die minigame.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi announced that Resident Evil Requiem DLC is in the works earlier this year, but ahead of the DLC, we were also told that a mystery free minigame would be added to the game. Then, last week it was teased that players in Japan will want to beat the main storyline during Golden Week, suggesting its release could be imminent, and this turned out to be true. This morning, Capcom surprise-dropped the brand new Resident Evil Requiem update, adding Leon Must Die Forever.

The roguelike mode sees you take control of Leon throughout areas of the main game, with Capcom explaining that you must "clear numerous stages while using randomized enhancer abilities as you race against the clock." It's not The Mercenaries, another staple mode of the Resident Evil series, but its the type of mode that gives you a way to play about with the action gameplay. The enhancer abilities and stage-based layout were a part of Resident Evil Village's version of Mercenaries, so fans of that version may be happy.

This mode also gives Leon some new costumes, including one where he wears his Porsche on top of his head like a bicycle helmet, and one that gives him wolf ears and a tail that definitely isn't going to send a contingent of the Leon Kennedy fanbase into overdrive.

If the "Must Die" suffix sounds familiar, you may remember that Resident Evil 7 had Ethan Must Die, which is a similar mode to this (or you're thinking of the Dante Must Die difficulty from Devil May Cry). And, funnily enough, the answer to what this minigame would turn out to be was right in front of us for months. As a fan points out, in the video where Nakanishi announced the DLC, he was wearing an Ethan Must Die t-shirt, which in hindsight was a definite hint of what was to come.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

If you were somehow worried that Resident Evil Requiem was a send-off for Leon Kennedy, I wouldn't stress, as the game's director is down to bring him back after retirement age.

Speaking to Eurogamer, Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi explains: "It's not a cast iron rule that whenever we come up with a new game and we decide to release it here, that we have to exactly age everyone up to match it or anything like that." Granted, age has never really been a factor – Leon himself is pushing 50 in Requiem, but he moves and looks far younger than that (especially at the end of the game).

And while the passage of time in the series should necessitate its characters passing the torch as they age out of zombie-killing territory, Nakanishi says Capcom doesn't "feel the need to replace [its most recognizable faces] with younger characters... we don't really think of it in those terms."

Even at his older age, the people loved Leon, dubbing him a "hot unc" almost the second he was revealed for Requiem. Nakanishi seemingly agrees with this assessment, saying: "I mean, I think Leon is really appealing in his current form." And if you thought there was a chance that Requiem would be a final send-off for the character, he may have good news for you, saying: "Who knows, we could bring him back when he's 70, and I'm sure he'll still be a great character."

Normally I'd stress the importance of boosting the series' longevity by introducing new characters, but Resident Evil is already pretty good at that. Sure, Ethan was – intentionally – a bit bland at times, but he's become a faceless icon of the series, and shared the screen with Chris in Resident Evil Village. Meanwhile, Grace was a great addition to the series and managed to hold her own alongside Leon. Plus, with how little Claire and Jill have been used since the early years of the series, they may as well be new characters if this point if Capcom ever decides to go back to them.

If you're yet to play the newest Capcom horror game, be sure to take a look at our Resident Evil Requiem review. You can also check out our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes if you're looking to uncover all its secrets.

When Nvidia unveiled its AI-powered DLSS 5 tech earlier this year, Resident Evil Requiem was one of the titles on display. The yassified versions of Leon and Grace that accompanied the announcement were presented as next-generation graphics technology, but most people with eyes pretty quickly recognized them as a serious insult to the original game's art direction. For its part, Capcom is glad people hated the demo, since that means they liked the real Grace's look.

"The fact a lot of players commented they really liked the original design of Grace and didn't want to see it changed was a positive," producer Masato Kumzawa tells Eurogamer. "It meant we got the design right [and] points to the fact that Grace quickly established herself as a fan favourite, that people had such strong opinions on her design."

It's unclear how much input Capcom had into Requiem's appearance in Nvidia's DLSS 5 demonstration, but as part of the announcement executive producer Jun Takeuchi called the tech "another important step in pushing visual fidelity forward."

I guess some might argue that Grace did, indeed, look "better" under the DLSS 5 filter, but that's largely because of all the traditional beauty markers. She's got brighter eyes, plumper lips, and clearer skin with DLSS 5 on, but it's tough to say the actual graphical fidelity has actually improved at all. And, personally, Grace doesn't strike me as the type to apply her finest lipstick before delving into unknown horrors.

Nvidia has issued contradictory explanations of how DLSS 5 works, with CEO Jensen Huang insisting that it integrates with a game's internal rendering in order to apply its questionable magic. A few days later, another Nvidia employee confirmed that, nah, it really is just an AI filter applied over 2D images. DLSS has, up to this point, encompassed some genuinely cool and useful machine learning based upscaling tricks, but DLSS 5 is doing an incredible job of throwing that goodwill away.

As Garry's Mod successor quickly becomes overrun with gen-AI after launching on Steam, Garry himself commits to "taking action to promote human creativity."

Naturally, a Resident Evil Requiem fan appreciates the delicate nature of heroes Grace Ashcroft and Leon Kennedy, but a true connoisseur reaches in the back for something rough and bleeding from the eyes. They're loyal to mutant Selena Corey, the septic diva Capcom clearly made as more zombie meat to cut through, but who – to actor Isabella Inchbald's delight – has instead become a star.

After seeing so much Resident Evil cosplay, fan art, and even soft rock songs dedicated to the zombie, I had to talk to Inchbald about Selena Corey's current status as the It-girl of Rhodes Hill Care Center. The actor – whose past credits include morally dubious scientist Lucy in Dying Light: The Beast, and the English voice of the eponymous nun Indika in the existential horror hit from 2024 – can't believe it.

Though, when I first had my head split open by Selena's witch scream in Resident Evil Requiem, I could tell she was special. It doesn't hurt that, compared to the other patients of Rhodes Hill Care Center, where T-virus has popped everyone's brain like a birthday balloon, Selena Corey is somehow still gorgeous.

The mutant, whose name and story players only know through patient records strewn throughout Requiem, is a red rose with all its petals plucked. She was originally admitted to the Care Center for her histrionic personality disorder, which provides a clinical explanation for the romantic white ruffles she sways with, despite the various bile stains on her dress, as well as the way she lingers in the West Wing lounge, crooning fluttery oohs between nonsensical giggles.

During our recent interview, Inchbald tells me she takes no credit for Selena's history. She didn't provide motion capture movements for the character, and Capcom hadn't given her enough details during recording for her to invent her own. But Inchbald says, "I think what I was channeling when I was recording her was kind of half-child and half-siren. She's an attractive zombie, who is really a little girl that wants attention."

"Thankfully, that matches her backstory a little bit," she says.

It seems that Capcom – which, deep in Pragmata's release cycle, declined to comment for this article – never anticipated Selena's status as fan-favorite. The developer didn't even mention the character's name as Inchbald recorded her distinctive mermaid melody.

The 2024 audition that led to Inchbald getting cast as the Resident Evil Requiem lounge singer required her to do "a bunch of zombie noises" for 20 minutes, and she didn't know – even during recording – that she was working on a Resident Evil game. Inchbald says, "I didn't even know that my character was called 'Selena Corey,' actually, when I was recording. I didn't even know that."

Capcom did, at least, share its goal to make Requiem's monsters more empathetic. The T-virus victims were meant to seem as if they were creatures "in between human and zombie," says Inchbald, "so they still retain some of their memories, and they're still sort of behaving like humans at certain points."

"That obviously fed a lot into the direction [for Selena Corey], rather than just, 'Be a zombie on a killing spree," says Inchbald. "It was a bit more cerebral than that."

Without hardly any other guidelines to use, Inchbald describes her work on Resident Evil Requiem as a "let loose kind of recording experience." She was told to sing, but not what to sing, or how. Ultimately, "It was quite liberating to be emoting in that way, rather than being restricted by words – words that you haven't written," says Inchbald.

In-game, surrounded by vomit and hospital rooms, Selena's song is a drama queen's proclamation that no doctor, no hazardous smell, and not even T-virus itself can kill her misguided ego. For many female horror fans who have rallied around similarly sadistic princesses, like Mia Goth's Pearl, or Katharine Isabelle's American Mary from the 2012 cult hit, these characters represent the cycle of self-obsession and self-destruction that comes when little girls are encouraged their whole lives to seek (a man's) approval.

But, from a practical standpoint, "I really am shocked in the best way possible that fans love her so much," Inchbald says to me. "Obviously, when you're playing a big role in a video game, you might think, 'Oh, where might this go?' But when you're playing a smaller role – and, frankly when you're playing a zombie, you don't think that's going to really amount to any kind of recognition."

Resident Evil Requiem changed that expectation. So "I'm glad that I've made them feel something," Inchbald says of Selena Corey's admirers, "and they've, in return, made me feel something, too."

Capcom uses Pragmata star Diana to make fun of Resident Evil heartthrobs Leon Kennedy and Chis Redfield.

The new Resident Evil movie will take inspiration from one of the video game franchise's more controversial installments: Resident Evil 6.

"You'll see a lot of Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 6," production designer Tom Hammock says during a set visit attended by GamesRadar+. "So Zach [Cregger, director] and I went through and pulled specific creature elements that we like from the games, whether it's tentacles, the teeth integration, and then tried to take that language and move it over to these creatures."

"I spent a lot of time in medical research libraries, so everything comes from nature," he adds. "But we also went as far as diseases. I used to work as a virologist long ago, so just having access to medical libraries gave us a really grounded starting point for all the creatures. And then you try to mix that with, you know, the insanity."

Released in 2005 and 2012, respectively, the fourth game is widely considered a classic (and was remade only a few years back), but the sixth installment was a more controversial entry in the franchise (GamesRadar+'s own Resident Evil 6 review criticized the game's "mostly terrible boss battles" and "nearly nonstop quick-time events").

The game was a maximalist effort that contains four different storylines, so there's plenty to wrap your head around in the creature department. Based on what GamesRadar+ saw on the movie's set, creature FX designers Legacy Effects seemed to be cooking up some messed-up monsters that could be drawing from the HAOS and Ogroman. Still, we'll have to wait until the movie hits the big screen to get a proper idea of just how it takes inspiration from Resident Evil 6.

As for Resident Evil 4, Cregger has already pointed out a subtle nod to that game that eagle-eyed viewers might have noticed in the first Resident Evil trailer. "I took the green herb from Resident Evil 4 and replicated the bucket exactly… which is probably the game I've played most out of the series," he said.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. In the meantime, check out our list of the other best upcoming video game movies.

Capcom is using Pragmata star Diana to hack a number of its games' accounts, and has used it to clown on the Resident Evil series, and the fans' need to know Leon Kennedy's marriage status.

Earlier this week, the Pragmata account on Twitter posted (posing as the game's star Diana), "After I hacked into those strange objects, I got access to a whole bunch of new data," with an image showing trinkets from Monster Hunter, Resident Evil, and Onimusha, with Diana alerting that she'll be showing up on other accounts now. Some of these posts just have Diana commenting on goings on in the various series', such as talking about how cool Alma from Monster Hunter is, or reacting to the flat earth joke in Onimusha.

However, aside from fun nods to the series, Capcom is also using Diana to clown on various fans. One post pokes fun at Chris Redfield's antics in Resident Evil 5, saying, "I'm having so much fun getting all this data! Ooh, I found out that one time, someone PUNCHED a boulder just because it was in his way!" Meanwhile, there's a post poking fun at the insatiable need Resident Evil fans have to find out who Leon Kennedy is married to, with a post reading, "I found a file with a bunch of details on different agents. Ooh! There’s one on someone named Leon too...but I can’t crack the security! But I bet there’s nothing important in there that everyone’s dying to know, right?"

But Resident Evil fans aren't the only ones being teased, as the Monster Hunter account posted "I found a file in the 'Monster Hunter Stories 3' folder that says 'DeviljhoTail.mp4' but I'm not sure what that means. It says 'highly confidential' so I guess I'll leave it alone for now!" This is in reference to a popular misconception / Mandela effect within the Monster Hunter community that the big pickle dino Deviljho eats its own tail in the games… which has never actually happened.

Diana also noted that she tried to hack the accounts of Mega Man and Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, to no avail. That and she's commenting on fanart, including one crossing her over with Metal Gear Rising Revengeance villain Senator Armstrong, which brings everything full circle as the very first game Pragmata director Yonghee Cho was credited on was Metal Gear Rising: Revengeance, where he helped design the likes of Armstrong. The director reposted this on Twitter, simply saying "OMG" to this collab.

Resident Evil Requiem devs cut an entire chapter from the game like they did with Resident Evil 7

Nobody could have quite predicted the cultural impact of Weapons' red-haired antagonist Aunt Gladys, which culminated in an Oscar win for actor Amy Madigan – least of all Zach Cregger. With a new horror movie on the way, this time an adaptation of the Resident Evil video games, does the director think lightning could strike twice?

"That was kind of an amazing moment with Amy and I think we were all surprised at how much it resonated with people," Cregger says in an interview attended by GamesRadar+. On top of an Academy Award win, Gladys spawned many, many Halloween costumes, memes, and Oscars host Conan O'Brien even dressed up as her for the show's opening skit (and, most prestigious of all, GamesRadar+ named her our villain of the year for 2025.

"I think I would be deluding myself if I thought that was something I'd be able to just recreate at will," he continues. "So who's to say? But there are some very unique adversaries in this [movie] that I think are really fun and that people haven't seen before, that still kind of belong in the world of the games. They're going to fit in. They're not going to break the lore of Resident Evil. But I also think that they're new.

"And so I'm excited to see how people respond to those, but I think that Austin [Abrams] is going to be what people really, really resonate with. Because, for me, what's so fun about this movie is that the character that Austin's playing is very much like an avatar for me, and how I would behave and how I would respond if I was dropped into a Resident Evil game. I am not a badass at all. I don't know how to use guns very well. I miss 99% of the shots I take, and I would be running in terror and cussing my face off at every encounter. And I think it's going to be really fun to be following somebody through this gauntlet that is not, like, SEAL Team Six-level prepared, you know. And so I think that's going to be something that hopefully people will really get a kick out of."

Abrams plays Bryan, a medical courier and original character who finds himself swept up in the chaos of Raccoon City during a job gone wrong. "I never wanted to tell the story of any of the characters from the games," Cregger tells us.

"I figure if I am honoring the games, I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline. I'm not recasting Leon, god forbid. You know, I'm letting Leon stay Leon. And I feel like that's the most respectful thing I could do."

The Resident Evil movie arrives in theaters on September 18. While we wait, check out our guide to all the other upcoming video game movies on the way.

Zach Cregger may have revealed that his new Resident Evil movie takes place "on the periphery" of Resident Evil 2, but don't expect a familiar big bad to show up.

"My favorite [creature in the movie] is kind of the big baddie that sort of evolves and changes and follows [Austin Abrams' Bryan] over the course of the movie," Cregger says in an interview attended by GamesRadar+. "And I don't want to say too much about it, but it's not a Nemesis. So I know people are going to read this and be like, 'He's putting a Nemesis in there.' No, there's no Nemesis."

The film, which tells an original story centering new character Bryan, is set in the same timeline as the second game in the video game franchise. "You know, where Raccoon City is having its big night, but [we're telling] just another story that could be happening in parallel to that," he explains.

That story entails medical courier Bryan biting off more than he can chew when a fateful job takes him into the heart of zombie-infested Raccoon City.

Of course, the Nemesis appears in Resident Evil 3 rather than 2 but, as that game takes place concurrently with the second installment, it wouldn't be too much of a stretch of the imagination to wonder if the Tyrant might feature in this movie too.

The Nemesis, used as a trench coat-wearing weapon by the Umbrella Corporation, is highly intelligent and stalks the player through the game, and has become somewhat of a fan-favorite villain over the years.

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. While we wait, get up to speed with our guide to all the other upcoming video game movies on the way in 2026 and beyond.

GamesRadar+'s visit to the set of the Resident Evil movie does not quite go to plan. Just after we arrive at the cavernous Jordan Studios on the outskirts of Prague on a cloudy December afternoon, everyone else starts to leave. Director Zach Cregger is unwell, and filming has been shut down for the day. Instead of housing its usual hive of activity, the sound stages are abandoned, and I'm tempted to call out, "Hello? Is anyone there?", final girl-style, as I embark on an eerily quiet walk through the deserted warehouse from the press tent to the bathrooms. Here be zombies, after all.

In Cregger's new take on the survival horror franchise, rather than video game mainstays Leon S. Kennedy or Chris Redfield, it's Bryan who takes on the undead. He's a hospital courier on a job from hell, as he encounters horrors even worse than the gig economy over the course of one fateful night. Played by Weapons breakout Austin Abrams, Bryan is an original character with no link to the Resident Evil games. "I never wanted to tell the story of any of the characters from the games," Cregger tells us over Zoom a few months later.

"Leon exists in the games. I don't want anyone to ruin that for me," he continues. "I don't think that me telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world, because the games do that all the time. Leon's not in 7 or 8. So I figure if I am honoring the games, I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline. I'm not recasting Leon, god forbid. You know, I'm letting Leon stay Leon. And I feel like that's the most respectful thing I could do."

Return to Raccoon City

Back in Prague, everyone, including leading man Abrams, is incredibly apologetic about the disruption on set, but there's still plenty to see, and people are still busy behind the scenes – including our guide for the day, production designer Tom Hammock. "I play video games, but I'm not… I mean, Zach is obsessed," Hammock, who worked with Cregger on Weapons, tells us with a laugh as he shows us around. "I remember being in college in '96 and my roommate got Resident Evil 2, and I'd come home and he'd be playing in the dark and completely petrified himself. That's what Zach wants to capture. The first time you played the game, you didn't know what was going to happen, so he's trying to recreate all the scares, the flashlight work, the amount of darkness, the tension as you move through these spaces."

Don't be fooled by the film's first trailer, which sees Bryan arrive at a creepy remote farmhouse in need of a phone: Raccoon City is still on the map. "It takes detours," says Cregger. "The whole point of the movie is he's got to get from hospital A, through the mountains and into Raccoon City to deliver something to hospital B. And as he's going over this mountain pass, things turn bad." There's no hint of rural America in Jordan Studios, though: we've touched down in Raccoon City.

Hammock gives us a tour of a handful of sets: a dark, damp sewer, a hospital ward (sticky with the residue of 500 gallons of fake blood), and a few floors of a skyscraper, complete with working elevator, all built from scratch. We also venture into the production design office, which is a veritable treasure trove of storyboards, models, and a "creature wall", which does what it says on the tin, showcasing mock-ups of zombified rats, dogs, and more. "You'll see a lot of Resident Evil 4, Resident Evil 6," Hammock says, gesturing to the creature wall. "So Zach and I went through and pulled specific creature elements that we like from the games, whether it's tentacles, the teeth integration, and then tried to take that language and move it over to these creatures.

"I spent a lot of time in medical research libraries, so everything comes from nature," he adds. "But we also went as far as diseases. I used to work as a virologist long ago, so just having access to medical libraries gave us a really grounded starting point for all the creatures. And then you try to mix that with, you know, the insanity."

Although this movie may be a standalone piece, Cregger explains that the story occurs "on the periphery" of the second game. "You know, where Raccoon City is having its big night, but tell just another story that could be happening in parallel to that."

That extends to the production design, too. "We really designed the city based on Resident Evil 2, trying to get that look," says Hammock. "Lots of brick, lots of texture, lots of rain, and then the only change we really made was going heavier with the snow. We even found somewhere that looks exactly like the police station, by chance here, by the Opera House, which is pretty exciting."

But the hardest part of recreating Raccoon City in Prague? "It sounds so foolish, but one of the hardest things on the movie is Zach had me make Raccoon City manhole covers for the top of the sewers," Hammock says. "So hard to do. Everybody made their manhole covers, like, 50 years ago. It's not such a thing anymore."

Cregger reiterates that the movie is a "very simple and self-contained" story that doesn't depend on the viewer being as big a fan of the games as he is – but, if you are, there'll be some fun extra nuggets. "A lot of the references to the games, if you don't know them, they're just gonna go right over your head, and they're not gonna waste your time. I don't spend a whole lot of time talking about stuff that's only in the games," he explains. "The pacing of the games is very much in the movie. But if you don't know the games, that's not going to penetrate; you won't realize it. And the graduation of guns. You start with a pistol, you graduate to a shotgun, and then by the end, he's holding a machine gun. All the gamers are going to understand exactly what's happening, but if you've never played it just won't register."

Along with the pacing, Cregger says he also pays homage to the visual "vocabulary" of the Resident Evil games. "Sometimes I jump into first person, sometimes I use standard coverage if he's having a conversation with someone. But I really, really wanted to embrace that immersive feel that I get when I play the games, and so I feel like, to use their visual language… why wouldn't I do that? It's so cinematic anyway," he says, after flicking through a hardbound book of the movie's storyboards for us. "People who love the games are going to feel seen in a lot of ways, I hope, when they watch this movie, but I hope that the visual vocabulary is something that's really going to punch."

Away from the PlayStation, Cregger notes that he took inspiration from movies as far-reaching as Son of Saul and Evil Dead 2, but he wasn't thinking about any of the previous Resident Evil adaptations (six movies were released between 2002 and 2017, with a reboot following in 2021) – because he hasn't seen them. "Frankly, the reason I didn't see them is because I was such a fan of the games, and they just didn't look like the games to me, you know? And it was so obvious that they were not the games that I was like, it's not for me," he says. "Maybe they're great. I have no idea. But I just wasn't interested in that, because I feel like what's great about the games is they're shrunk down into this single perspective, and it's about this pacing and this horror, and those movies just didn't look like horror things to me."

Labor of love

If the work of Legacy Effects is anything to go by, however, Resident Evil certainly will look like a "horror thing." The Legacy team, who have worked on everything from Avatar to The Mandalorian, has set up camp in what appears to be a dressing room, lined with lightbulb-studded mirrors and furnished with makeup storage, but instead of lipsticks and powders, they're covered with displays of "messed up" models. Legacy is showcasing their favorite creations from the shoot for us: a mottled stretch of life-like skin, freakishly long limbs, something with three eyes. "I suppose it's a compliment when people think it's all done with computers," creature FX designer Shane Mahan (an industry veteran whose career began four decades ago with The Terminator) tells us amidst this gleefully gory tableau.

"Within the first two minutes, the audience should not be aware what they're looking at and just believe what it is," he adds. "Otherwise, there's no fun in that. If you don't believe that it's really there, there's no fear. Part of the fun is being frightened."

Some of these creatures will appear in a scene in a hospital ward. But, this is Resident Evil, after all, so this hospital has huge, fiberglass egg-like membranes and an assortment of tentacles clinging to its walls, and Hammock points out some cleverly concealed holes when we walk through the plasticky smell of fake blood to take a closer look at the set.

"There's a whole steel structure above with grids and pulley rigs. And what's going to happen is stuntmen, upside down, have been training to hold their breath so they're there against that membrane," he explains. "They pour, like, 50 gallons of slime in with the stunt guys, and it oozes down. And then the membrane breaks, and they fall into the sets, in-camera, which is pretty cool… It took, like, 15 people two weeks to glue the tentacles. Every one is hand-cut and then glued, and then held up. So it's this labor of love."

Lastly, we're taken to see a real, working elevator built on a sound stage, a short drive from the rest of the set. Construction is still underway, and Hammock has to raise his voice to be heard above the drilling and hammering. After climbing a flight of metal stairs, we find ourselves in a fresh paint-scented corridor with six doors on it. Cregger noticed that there are "too many doors" in Resident Evil, Hammock notes, and is working with "misdirection" in this set piece. "Just like in the game, you go to the side [just] to have something burst out of the other door, out of your peripheral vision."

Now we're inside the skyscraper itself, which is based partly on Guy's Hospital in London (the tallest hospital in the world), partly on a brutalist Swiss ski resort, and partly on '20s Czech cubism as "an homage to where we're shooting." Climbing a flight of concrete stairs, we get a better look at the elevator itself. The team has modified a sports stadium-style cable camera to operate vertically. "It goes all the way up and down, so it could track next to Austin as the elevator moves with him." It really is a fully functioning elevator, built from scratch, which will be involved in an action-packed set piece that we're not allowed to allude to further.

While it seems there's going to be some pretty gruesome stuff in this movie, Cregger says he never had any pushback from the studio. "They gave me the keys of the car, and I got to drive it where I wanted to drive it," he says. "And honestly, the person I feel the most responsible to is the [person] who loves the games, so that really was who I'm trying to please with this."

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other upcoming video game movies to add to your watchlist.

After debuting behind closed doors at CinemaCon, the first trailer for the new Resident Evil movie is finally available to watch online. Directed by Weapons helmer Zach Cregger, the film serves as a reboot to the beloved survival horror franchise, bringing an original story and characters to Raccoon City.

The trailer opens with a man walking through the snow up to a quiet house. He knocks on the door to no answer, and walks inside. "Hello?" he calls out. "I had a little bit of a problem on the road, I was wondering if I could use your phone?"

That man is Bryan, played by Weapons breakout Austin Abrams. Per the movie's official synopsis, he's "a medical courier who unwittingly finds himself in an action-packed, non-stop race for survival as one fateful, horrifying night collapses around him in chaos." The supporting cast includes Paul Walter Hauser, Kali Reis, and Zach Cherry.

But back to the trailer. "Hey, babe. I'm sorry that we got disconnected earlier, but some things have, uh, happened," Bryan says, once he gets his hands on a phone. "I'm, like, in a seriously messed-up situation right now, and it looks like we might not get to talk to each other again. I just wanted you to know, I love you."

With an eerie dial tone soundtrack in the background, we see Bryan running through the snow to a barn and trying to get some keys off the belt of a corpse... that suddenly moves. In another shot, he falls through a manhole into a sewer, where he's confronted by a bloated corpse, while disembodied limbs jump around of their own accord, and zombies fall from buildings onto the city streets. There's also a particularly creepy sequence in a hospital.

"I never wanted to tell the story of any of the characters from the games," Cregger said in an interview attended by GamesRadar+. "Leon exists in the games. I don't want anyone to ruin that for me. I don't think that me telling a story that's not about Leon is a violation of the Resident Evil world, because the games do that all the time. Leon's not in 7 or 8. So I figure if I am honoring the games, I'm just going to tell another story that feels like playing in the world of the game, but I'm not stepping on the toes of any of Leon's storyline. I'm not recasting Leon, god forbid. You know, I'm letting Leon stay Leon. And I feel like that's the most respectful thing I could do."

Resident Evil arrives in theaters on September 18. In the meantime, check out our guide to the other biggest upcoming video game movies on the way in 2026 and beyond.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi has revealed that the developers cut a chapter from the game before release.

In an interview with Denfaminico Gamer (translated by TheGamer) Nakanishi recalled a cut chapter from Resident Evil 7 Biohazard, saying, "Up to now, I’ve talked in interviews about how Resident Evil 7 had a 'phantom Chapter 2' that got cut during development. It was supposed to be the section where you move from the guest house to the main house." He then segued to the latest entry, saying, "Actually, Resident Evil Requiem had its own 'phantom Chapter 2' as well."

Nakanishi explained, "As we lock down the structure of the game, we go through a pretty intense process of deciding things like, 'Let’s push this scene further back,' 'Let’s just cut this entirely,' or 'Let’s add something different here.'" Although he reiterates that this isn't uncommon when it comes to developing the series and that "It’s not like we suddenly remove things at the very end of development, of course. More often, we build a rough version early on and keep revising it over and over." He adds, "It’s actually pretty common for an entire chapter to get cut."

Aside from Resident Evil 7, there have been substantial bits of cut content in other titles in the series, most notably, Resident Evil 4's remake originally had an introduction sequence that had you playing as Ashley Graham; this got far enough into development that scenes from it actually featured in trailers for the game. But in the case of Resident Evil 4, that segment likely would've been a chore in replays (shoutout Resident Evil Requiem and 2 remake's orphanage segments), so perhaps this missing chapter was also for the best.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

Hideki Kamiya has confirmed a long-standing fan theory that Leon Kennedy is named after the titular character in Luc Besson's Léon: The Professional (or simply Léon for those outside of the US).

Over on Twitter, Kamiya recalls that during the result of his directorial debut, Resident Evil 2, he consulted Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami about what he should name the protagonist of the game. He claims that after being shot down on a few ideas, he suggested taking the name of the character of a film he had recently watched, which just so happened to be Leon.

Leon Kennedy and the titular Jean Reno-played hitman don't have very much in common, mind you, but the connection was made through other references found in the series. In the film Léon, takes in a 12-year-old girl after her family is murdered, the girl in question is called Mathilda (played by Star Wars' Natalie Portman in her first film role), and in Leon Kennedy's next game, you can unlock a gun named Matilda, which is also unlocked alongside the "Professional" difficulty setting, further referencing the film.

Kamiya notes that naming the gun Matilda – which is based on Leon's fully upgraded handgun in Resident Evil 2 – wasn't actually his idea; rather, he credits someone else at Capcom, which is a given considering Hideki Kamiya's version of Resident Evil 4 was a lot more Devil May Cry-esque than Resident Evil, and ended up being released as… Devil May Cry. Still, that's another long-standing fan theory that has been put to bed by someone simply tweeting it out, and I'm sure the cross-section of Resident Evil theorycrafters and French cinema enthusiasts are feeling victorious on this day.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi has teased some details about the upcoming free mini game set to release in May, and it sure sounds like we're getting Mercenaries.

In an interview with Denfaminico Gamer (translated by Genki_JPN), Nakanishi was asked about the free mini game, with the director confirming that it will be a single-player minigame, and teased that it will focus on the game's combat: "For those who have cleared the main game and are thinking 'I still haven't done enough rampaging yet' I think you might enjoy it and go 'Whoa!!', so please sharpen your tomahawk and wait."

We know the free mini game will release in May, since Capcom announced the Resident Evil Requiem DLC is in the works. However, it may end up being in our hands sooner rather than later, as Resident Evil Requiem producer Masato Kumazawa explained that the mini game will be unlocked for players after completing the game's main story, and that Golden Week may be a good time to clear the main story of the game for anyone interested. Golden Week in Japan runs from April 29 to May 6, so Kumazawa's comment could be seen as a teaser that the minigame may be in our hands as soon as next Thursday.

Nakanishi's comment about "rampaging" and the implication that the mini game may be combat-focused certainly suggests we're getting Mercenaries mode in Resident Evil Requiem. And given that Leon's combat is perhaps the best in the series in the latest game, that's certainly an exciting prospect. Mercenaries has long been one of the best parts of many Resident Evil games (or the best part, in Resident Evil 6's case), and Capcom's latest version of it in Resident Evil 4 remake certainly set a high bar for it. Let's just hope it's not as limited as Resident Evil Village's was before it was updated to add extra characters as DLC.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

Resident Evil Requiem has hit a new sales milestone, with seven million units sold within the game's first two months.

Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi posted an image to his Instagram story (spotted by TwistedVoxel) featuring two cakes. One reads "Grace Congratulation on 7 million," with a cookie version of Grace Ashcroft sitting atop it, while the other features a Leon Kennedy cookie and is in the style of Resident Evil 2's iconic banner, saying "Welcome to 7m Leon" (and they didn't even make the spelling mistake that the RPD officers did, either).

Capcom hasn't released an official announcement about the milestone yet, but after announcing that Resident Evil Requiem had sold five million copies within the first week, it was seemingly already the fastest-selling Resident Evil title of all time, beating 2023's Resident Evil 4 remake, which took about two days to sell three million copies. Capcom then outright confirmed this when Requiem hit the six million mark just over two weeks after launching.

Earlier this week, industry analyst Mat Piscatella also noted that it's already one of the top five selling games in the series in terms of "all-time US dollar sales," and that's not to mention that it became the US's best-selling game of the year in just a day.

If anything, this is proof that Capcom's strategy of simply releasing good games works. Resident Evil has been on a hot streak since Resident Evil 7 Biohazard almost a decade ago, and with the extremely well received Village, two all-time great remakes, and the underrated Resident Evil 3 remake, fans are all-in on the series.

But we've seen the inverse from Capcom too. Monster Hunter World and Rise's love is also what propelled Monster Hunter Wilds to sell eight million copies in three days last year, becoming the company's fastest-selling game ever, but it didn't keep its momentum due to its performance issues, with sales stalling as a result.

You can check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the horror game yourself, or our guide to Resident Evil Requiem's safe codes to help you through it.

Resident Evil Requiem is off to a hot start, and whether you want to attribute its success to Grace's old-school horror or Leon's UILF action hero persona, early sales figures have been extremely impressive. It launched as the fastest-selling game in series history, and that momentum seems to be continuing. A new US sales report suggests that, just two months after launch, Requiem is already one of the top five best-selling Resident Evil games ever released.

"After just two months in market, Resident Evil: Requiem now ranks among the top 5 best-selling Resident Evil games in all-time US dollar sales," according to Mat Piscatella of analysis firm Circana, posting on Bluesky. "It trails only Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 4 (2023), Resident Evil: Village and the original Resident Evil 4."

Circana only analyzes the US market, so all the data we're looking at here applies exclusively to that country. But even discounting the global numbers, these results are still extremely impressive. While technically, yes, that is two months of sales data, remember: Resident Evil Requiem launched on February 27. Circana's last report covered February 1 through February 28, so it became the best-selling game of the year in just a day.

This month's Circana report covers March 1 through April 4, so all told, Resident Evil Requiem actually reached the series' top five in just 36 days. There's some irony in the fact that the grand return to Raccoon City has, in fact, outsold any of the previous games set in that location.

While Resident Evil Requiem remains the best-selling game of 2026, it actually placed second for the month of March behind MLB: The Show 26, Sony's venerable baseball series. The rest of the top five was made up of new releases WWE 2K26, Marathon, and Pokemon Pokopia, but there's another important caveat here. Circana does not track digital sales from Nintendo, so Pokopia's ranking comes purely from sales of the physical game-key cartridge – it's possible that game has done better than the rankings show.

Still, it seems that Resident Evil Requiem is the title with all the momentum here in 2026. Personally, I loved half of it and merely liked the rest – I'll let you guess which half is which – but I'm delighted to see Capcom continuing to release banger after banger. The fact that these excellent games are all single-player titles with definite endings just makes Capcom's resurgence all the sweeter.

Requiem ranks pretty high on our list of the best Resident Evil games.

Resident Evil Requiem players are completing the game at a far higher rate than other AAA releases, with 70% of people who played the game on PC finishing it.

As spotted by UnGeek, Steam Achievement and PlayStation Trophy data for Resident Evil Requiem reveals that 70% of players on Steam have the Rookie Agent achievement, which you get for completing the game on at least Casual difficulty, while over on PlayStation, the number is slightly lower at a 66.9% ratio.

Incredibly, as users on Twitter point out, that same number for Xbox users is all the way up at 90%, although some speculate this could be due to the console having a lower player count than the others. Gaming market data firm Alinea Analytics suggested in the first five million copies sold, only 300k were on Xbox as opposed to the estimated 2.3 million on Steam and 1.6 million on PlayStation, which would back that idea up.

But regardless, its an impressive stat. What is probably the contender for the shortest Resident Evil game – Resident Evil 3 Remake – only has a 50.4% completion rate over on Steam based on achievements. Requiem's predecessor, Village, sits at 48%, while the beloved Resident Evil 4 Remake has a 53% completion rate. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil 2 number is 51% for Leon's story and 36.4% for Claire's, but only 28% have beaten the game's true ending.

As a long-time fan of the series, the cultural phenomenon around Resident Evil Requiem is definitely the biggest the series has felt in a while. It's likely the result of nine straight years of Capcom putting out fantastic entries in the series, starting with Resident Evil 7 Biohazard in 2017 (yes, Resident Evil 3 remake is a banger too, don't @ me). But even so, you'd be hard-pressed to find many AAA releases in recent memory that have a completion rate that high. Even Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 – the most awarded game in history – only has a 39.4% completion rate on Steam.

Be sure to take a look at our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to play the game, or read our Resident Evil Requiem safe codes guide if you're just getting started.

Uncharted 2's truck chase was apparently added because Neil Druckmann really liked a similar scene from Resident Evil 5.

During Uncharted 2's campaign – in one of the seemingly endless ways Nathan Drake gets put into immense amounts of danger throughout its campaign – you get chased down by a truck down an alleyway that you'll need to shoot enough times to blow it up. Now, according to former Naughty Dog designer Benson Russell (who worked on the Uncharted trilogy and The Last of Us), this sequence only made it into the game months ahead of time because Druckmann saw something similar in another game.

Speaking to Reece 'Kiwi Talkz' Reilly, Russell explains, "that was taken directly from Resident Evil 5." He adds, "Neil was playing Resident Evil at the time and played that sequence and [was] like 'oh this is so fuckin' awesome' and he wanted to put something similar [in the game]".

The scene in question is a relatively minor moment in Resident Evil 5 where Chris and Sheva cross a bridge as a truck heads straight for them, and using carefully placed explosive barrels can flip it over and allow you to move on.

Russell continued, "There's definitely influence, they see things in other products and games that they're like 'this is amazing,' but it's always like 'can we do that?' or 'can we take that and modify it' and make it work within our product," adding that studios can't just lift it wholesale.

Obviously, games being inspired by other games is nothing new, but the story in particular puts into perspective just how much the industry has changed. Resident Evil 5 was released in March of 2009, with Uncharted 2 coming out seven months later in October, and yet that was still enough time for Naughty Dog to be inspired and implement an entire segment based on it into the game. Meanwhile, now we're lucky if we see one Naughty Dog game per console generation.

"We were on fire with something to prove" - 15 years later, Naughty Dog veterans call Uncharted 2 the game that "completely changed our lives"

Resident Evil Requiem dataminers have seemingly found an alternate form of Victor Gideon that went unused in the final release.

Spoiler warning for the finale of Resident Evil Requiem to follow, so read no further unless you've beaten the game (or don't care, either or).

So, at the end of Resident Evil Requiem, you'll never guess what happens. A Resident Evil villain decides it's time to take advantage of the virus or parasite of the week and turn into a giant monster thing. It's a constant of the series and always fun to see what a relatively humanoid figure will morph into by the end of the game, and Requiem's already-pretty-creepy-looking Victor Gideon is no different. Except it was a bit strange to get the revelation that Gideon was a Nemesis bioweapon, taking on a form similar to our beloved Nemmy's final form.

But that choice is maybe a bit more understandable now when you find out that it seemingly wasn't the first choice for Gideon's inevitable big monster form. Dataminer team Umeda Japan posted on Twitter (via TheGamer), that within the files of Resident Evil Requiem they uncovered an alternate form of Victor Gideon in-game.

In this version, Gideon's final form takes on a chimera-like appearance, with multiple versions of his face, body parts, and snakes (which explains the snakeskin coat he's wearing) protruding from the massive lump of flesh. There's also another model of the character of Gideon missing an arm with a Sephiroth-like one wing sticking out, presumably making this transformation a bit gradual.

I obviously don't know why Capcom decided against the new form, or how far into development it got, but Gideon being a Nemesis was undoubtedly one of my least favorite parts of Resident Evil Requiem. It was my personal "okay, this one too many" for Requiem's nostalgia-filled moments, so it's interesting to see it was seemingly not the original plan, although it's a shame a far cooler form is now resigned to being hidden in files forever.

The clip of Resident Evil 2's Ada Wong actor teasing the character's return is a dud, as it actually surfaced from a fan's Cameo request

A surfaced clip of Resident Evil Ada Wong actor Jolene Andersen that led some to believe the character was returning for a new project turned out to be a Cameo.

Over the weekend, a clip of Anderson – who played Ada Wong in Resident Evil 2 Remake – surfaced in which she gives well wishes for the new year before adding, "Speaking of missions, I’m getting ready to go on a very top secret mission myself. I’d love to tell you all about it, but uh… that information is classified. Now, I don’t want to be a rookie about it, because I wouldn’t want to end up like Ben, now, would I?"

Obviously, Ada Wong is known for being all-in on espionage throughout the Resident Evil series, so the "top secret mission" line had fans of the series interested, and with Ben being a reference to Ben Bertolucci – the journalist aiming to expose corruption within RPD found in Leon's campaign in both the original and 2019 remake who promptly gets got by one of the giant monsters depending on which game you play – it seemed like a direct nod at something, especially when the current rumor is that Ada will return for Resident Evil Requiem's upcoming DLC.

This story gained traction, with some taking it as confirmation that Anderson was returning to the role after Ada was recast in Resident Evil 4 remake. However, it's since surfaced that this clip actually emerged from a Cameo Anderson recorded, with the YouTube channel that uploaded the clip posting the full transcript in the comments.

Of course, there's still a good chance that Ada Wong will return for Resident Evil Requiem's DLC, especially since Ada is a constant in the games where Leon Kennedy features as a protagonist. However, the character was previously recast with actress Lily Gao – who also portrayed the character in the Welcome to Raccoon City film – so if Ada does come back, it's very likely that Anderson won't be included.

Resident Evil Requiem suspiciously references Dreamcast classic Code: Veronica as remake rumors continue

This is no April Fool's joke. Capcom's just casually dropped the original Resident Evil trilogy onto Steam without warning, alongside the publisher's cult classic JRPG Breath of Fire 4.

With no prior announcement, Capcom re-released all three PS1 games in its first survival-horror trilogy earlier today: 1996's Resident Evil, 1998's Resident Evil 2, and 1999's Resident Evil 3. All un-remade and un-remastered.

The only improvements that are present come from the games' previous GOG ports, which include "improved timing of the cutscenes," "improved game video player," and new rendering options, as well as the four localization options that the games first launched with. All that is to say, expect a very different kind of horror if you first jumped into the series with its boulder-punching memes or hot witches/uncles.

Breath of Fire 4's Steam version is also a similar deal. The oft-forgotten fantasy romp previously came out of retirement on GOG, and this new re-release includes many of the same features, including but not limited to improved keyboard and mouse support, restored audio, and more graphics options.

Best of all, all four classics are available with a -50% introductory discount slashing their price tags down to $4.99/£3.99 for the next two weeks – that's less than a cup of coffee in most places nowadays and an absolute steal for games this good.

All four games have also already amassed 'Very Positive' reviews on Steam – no shock there – but reactions aren't universally glowing. Capcom's quietly and retroactively added DRM, Enigma, that wasn't bolted on to the games' GOG releases.

DRM is almost always a sticking point for gamers concerned about their privacy and possible performance issues, and the same applies to these older Resident Evils and Breath of Fire 4.

"DO NOT BUY RE1 FROM STEAM, BUY IT FROM GOG," as one fan puts it. "Windowed mode is broken, no steam overlay, no achievements, minor graphical issues, and more. These issues persist over ALL 3 original games." Some other user reviews claim these versions are broken on Steam Deck and refuse to launch entirely on certain PCs.

Resident Evil director's new AAA studio is "joining forces" with Stellar Blade developer Shift Up "to create a masterpiece of a game" – and no, this isn't an April Fool's joke

It's official! Resident Evil's will-they, won't-they sparring partners Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong are in love, and they have a baby. It's a 27-year-old man who should be sued for medical malpractice.

His name is Dr. Zayne Li, though he usually just goes by Zayne, and he was one of the main romantic interests in dating RPG Love and Deepspace before he got adopted by fans into the Resident Evil universe this week. So the man has been reborn as Zayne Wong-Kennedy, and though I'll miss being disappointed by his notifications each time I get an in-game text from him instead of my second boyfriend Rafayel, I am glad he's now avoided court fees and has hot parents.

"The Resident Evil fandom has adopted Zayne," announces one post with nearly 4,000 upvotes on the Love and Deepspace subreddit, like Paul Revere riding through Massachusetts Bay. "If I didn't know any of these characters, and you told me Zayne Kennedy was their kid, I'd believe you though. lol. same brooding face!"

"And it actually make sense since the game LaDs is supposed to take place in 2048 and lets just assume Leon and Ada had a kid in 2021 since that's the year that Zayne was born in and boom," reasons a popular post on Twitter.

It is undeniable that Dr. Zayne Wong-Kennedy has his new mother Ada's dark hair and stone eyes, while clearly exhibiting his father's unstudied charm and giant pecs. In terms of personality, I guess his history as the Love and Deepspace main character's primary care physician with snow magic powers puts him somewhere between the two. Though I'm not sure if good cop Leon would appreciate his son doing so many HIPAA violations by making out with his patients across space and time rifts.

"HE'S THEIR FIRST BORN," another popular Twitter post reminds me. That may be true, but I know that both Leon and Ada have an awkward history with genetically enhanced medical professionals who have a false god's hubris. Zayne's little snowmen and other magic tricks are cute while he's at the newborn age of, like, 27-to-45, but what about when he grows up? What if he swaps the Love and Deepspace main character's flu shot with 100% T-virus? Will his sharp jaw and abyssal eyes be sweet then?

Actually, nevermind, I just saw a picture of Zayne shirtless.

After gracing Final Fantasy 16 and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 with his silky voice, actor Ben Starr is ready to tackle dating RPG Love and Deepspace: "I love feral people."

Nearly a month after announcing that it would be expanding its "self-publishing capabilities" and is "preparing for a new leap forward in the global market," Stellar Blade studio Shift Up has revealed it's "joining forces" with Unbound – and no, it's not an April Fool's prank.

For anyone out of the loop, Unbound was founded by Resident Evil director Shinji Mikami in 2022, with a new action RPG reportedly in the works from the young studio. Now, Mikami is teaming up with Stellar Blade developer Shift Up, with an exciting partnership announcement on YouTube outlining the situation.

"Shift Up and Unbound are joining forces," as he reveals, going on to praise the former dev for its titles – and founder Kim Hyung-tae.

"The best part is Kim-san at Shift up," says Mikami. "He's a creator too, working on-site and putting his all into making games. After speaking with him, we decided to aim for the same goals together. In other words, at Unbound, we're going to create a masterpiece of a game."

Kim echoes the Resident Evil veteran's words, stating that Shift Up is "happy to announce our partnership" with Unbound – and the future looks bright for both.

"I'm eager to fully support creating a title that showcases the studio's unique charm, and I'm really looking forward to seeing it come to life," as Kim describes.

"I've come to see my vision and ideals more clearly, and I don't think I've ever been in a situation where, as a creator, our wavelengths and direction align this closely. So, for as long as my career continues, I would really like to keep working together."

That's… a pretty big statement, all things considered. And, as Kim goes on to say, "For the first time in a while, I'll be fully involved on-site to work on a fairly large game, and I'm really looking forward to it. To all the gamers waiting for this, I hope you can wait just a little longer for its release."

What could this mysterious game be? Perhaps the action RPG that Unbound was previously said to be working on?

Only time will tell, I suppose. This is by no means a small announcement, though, and fans know it, too. Comments show folks writing how they're "really looking forward to" what the two studios will create together – and honestly, so am I.

Stellar Blade lead believes AI is essential for South Korea to compete with studios in the US and China, with the government to provide financial backing to support the use of the tech

Fans have spotted a few sneaky references in Resident Evil Requiem that further adds to the hype around a potential remake of Code: Veronica.

After Resident Evil 2 and 3's remakes were released, most naturally assumed that the next game in the series – the once Dreamcast exclusive Resident Evil Code: Veronica – would be next in line to get Capcom's remake treatment. But instead, Capcom went straight to the best Resident Evil game and remade Resident Evil 4 (and in turn created another of the best Resident Evil games).

So Capcom had not only skipped Resident Evil Code: Veronica but also Rebecca Chambers' only starring role in Zero, leading many to assume that Resident Evil 5 would be next, but rumors have since arisen that not only is Code: Veronica remake happening, but is apparently coming in early 2027. Now, some are pointing to some mentions within Resident Evil Requiem as a clue from Capcom.

YouTuber and Resident Evil expert TheSphereHunter tweeted out a picture of the bottles found in the bar area of Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center, and noticed that one of the bottles at the front of the tray says "AVERNICO," which is an anagram of, you guessed it, VERONICA. But that isn't the only Veronica mention in Resident Evil Requiem, as Twitter user RacconSurvivor notes that on the Wrenwood hotel register, there's also a "Veronica."

And while this could just simply be seen as a cheeky reference, with the rumors of a Code: Veronica remake being next for the series, it definitely feels like it could be a hint from Capcom… at least I hope so, because Claire Redfield has been MIA for too long.

And if that didn't convince you, the top comment on the Reddit thread discussing these notes: "My neighbour who recently moved in is also called Veronica Bravo Capcom."

Check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to pick up the game, or our Resident Evil Requiem safe codes guide to help you through it.

Capcom has released a new patch to Resident Evil Requiem on all platforms that finally adds a photo mode to the game.

Earlier this month, Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi confirmed that Capcom is developing a story expansion for the horror title after selling 5 million copies in under a week. And while leaks say Resident Evil Requiem DLC "likely" features series icon which has kept it at the forefront of players minds, Capcom actually announced other things during the same video, including a yet-unknown minigame set to be added in May 2026. Nakanishi also confirmed "the much-awaited photo mode" was coming to the game, but didn't give a release date for it.

Well, wonder no more, as Capcom confirmed earlier today that there's a brand new patch for Resident Evil Requiem that includes the photo mode. Naturally, fans are already having fun with it, as I actually found out the mode had been released from a screenshot of Grace Ashcroft being seconds away from booting an unsuspecting Emily in the skull.

Newest update finally added Photo Mode (and patched the recently discovered ammo glitch) from r/residentevil

The patch also has a number of other changes, mainly bug fixes including an ammo glitch that would allow players to load ammo from certain weapons into another (allowing grace to have about 40 shots of the overpowered but intentionally ammo limited Requiem pistol at once). Capcom also notes some PC-specific bugs that could cause visual bugs and crashes.

Most interesting of all however, is the note that "character expressions in some cutscenes have been adjusted to better convey emotion." However, Capcom doesn't specify which scenes are affected, and no one on social media seems to have figured it out either yet, so they could be very subtle.

Check out our Resident Evil Requiem review if you're yet to pick up the game, or our Resident Evil Requiem safe codes guide to help you through it.

90-year-old Yang Binglin, the oldest male streamer according to Guinness World Records, recently completed Resident Evil Requiem by scribbling copies of its maps and puzzle hints in his notebook – so, the traditional way.

Binglin, who some affectionately refer to as "Game Grandpa," streamed his entire Resident Evil Requiem playthrough on Chinese video sharing site BiliBili, where Google Translate reveals generous video titles assuring Grace that she shouldn't be afraid, because Grandpa's here, and also Binglin's intentions to replay Requiem.

R/immersivesim moderator Sinno shares an original translation on Twitter of Binglin's thoughts after first finishing Capcom's brutal horror game. (Sinno tells me the translation covers Binglin's quotes from between the timestamps 00:21-01:02 during this "thank you" video.) The streamer commends characters Leon and Grace for, despite their mismatched experiences, having "cooperated, and fought their way to the very end."

"It's not about being fearless," Binglin muses, "but about moving forward when afraid. Grace is that kind of person. No matter how many monsters and demons there are, you can fight them one by one until they're all defeated."

He concludes with good advice for everyone, even those of us who aren't currently stuck in a biohazardous Care Center surrounded by mutants dripping brown pus: "No matter how difficult things are, as long as someone is there for you, you can overcome them."

Binglin previously streamed himself playing games like Elden Ring, God of War Ragnarok, and Black Myth: Wukong, which Google-translated video title suggests Game Grandpa was thrilled to play, since it's a locally produced AAA game. His enthusiasm shows he has no intentions of giving up the PS5 controller anytime soon, even as he turns 91 on December 10.

As Skyrim Grandma retires, I beg you to turn your attention to this iconic, retired JRPG superfan, who loves Persona, Xenoblade, Atelier, the PS Vita, and a lot more.

Here's some fun trivia to celebrate Resident Evil 4 Remake's third anniversary: The Merchant's been left with a probably crippling debt of over three trillion pesetas after his last run in with Leon Kennedy.

Capcom says as much in a tweet about the action-horror game's third birthday. "The Merchant's debt has ballooned way past 3 trillion by now," the publisher states, explaining that while Leon spent almost 40 trillion ptas on the shopkeeper's supplies, he also sold over 43 trillion ptas' worth of goods to the enigmatic man, putting his total losses at over three trillion ptas. "That's a lot of rocket launchers," indeed.

So if you were wondering why the Merchant didn't reunite with hot uncle Leon in Resident Evil Requiem – or why he's barely showed up in the series since – well, it's probably because he's been saddled with a seemingly insurmountable debt to pay off. Pesetas haven't been in circulation in Spain's economy for a couple decades, so it's hard to calculate an exact conversion, but three trillion ptas is still a few billion euros no matter what math you use.

Capcom's revelation does raise a few questions, though. Did the Merchant have no other customers? Does his existing debt mean he actually survived the explosion at the end of the game? Is he using offshore accounts? Didn't the bulk of Leon's money come from gems and treasures, items that only appreciate in price? Maybe he's just waiting to flip his assets at a higher price, but, come on, man, it's been decades.

Regardless, the Merchant's debt is only due to grow. Since Resident Evil Requiem's release, almost every older game in the series has been seeing major player count boosts, meaning there's plenty more players looking to swindle the shopkeeper every day.

Resident Evil Requiem's Grace actor did "a lot of research" into panic disorders, which makes playing the game with a real-life anxiety condition the scariest the series has ever been.

Usually, behind-the-scenes information makes scary stuff less scary, as the curtain is pulled back revealing the very not-scary innerworkings, but this frankly disgusting Resident Evil Requiem insight shared by the actor behind the game's The Girl stalker enemy just made the game even more unsettling.

The Girl is Resident Evil Requiem's scariest enemy, and I'm glad she's dead. Of course, that's a testament to not only Capcom's enemy design but also Delanie Nicole Gill, who brought the terrifying antagonist to life. At a panel during MegaCon Orlando 2026 (uploaded by MiamiGameHunter and spotted by The Gamer), Gill shared this stomach-turning detail about her performance:

"They wanted a very thick consistency to my spit, and they wanted gurgling and clicking and things like that," she said. "We did two four-hour sessions, and I went through two jugs of milk around this big [roughly the size of a gallon] to thicken up my spit."

Various Resident Evil Requiem actors have opened up about experiences in the studio in which Capcom would go to extreme lengths to elicit convincing performances, with Grace Ashcroft actor Angela Sant'Albano recently sharing that she sometimes worked in almost complete darkness. Meanwhile, Leon Kennedy actor Nick Apostolides told me recently that Victor Gideon's actor, Antony Byrne, gave such an unnerving performance that Apostolides would start randomly giggling.

"I had to lay a towel on my lap. Because of the way my mouth was arranged, my bottom lip was down, and it was just dripping in my lap," added Gill, further demonstrating Capcom's commitment to scaring the ever-loving crap out of us. Mission accomplished, I guess, but was it necessary to gross us out at the same time?

Resident Evil Requiem Grace actor says Capcom wanted more "cinematic performances" to keep pace with the devs "leveling up" the technical side of the horror game

Resident Evil Requiem's success has seen pretty much every game in the series get a boost in players on Steam.

A user on the Resident Evil Subreddit pointed out that since Resident Evil Requiem released last month, nearly every game in the franchise has seen a boost in players according to SteamDB. Resident Evil 5 is the only one to have actually reached a new all-time peak player count, however every other title has reached a new high since its previous peak.

The biggest winner is Resident Evil 3 remake, which peaked at 60,293 at release and never crossed the 3,000 player threshold in a month since, however, this past weekend, the least beloved of the Resident Evil remake trilogy hit a high of 20,363. This was also likely helped along by the fact that Capcom is currently selling the game for £3.49 | $3.99 on Steam, which is the same price as the non RE Engine titles available in the Resident Evil 30th anniversary sale.

Although, even with Resident Evil 2 Remake being £11.49 | $13.79 on Steam, it too had its best peak since launch with a high of 22,010. Meanwhile, the Resident Evil 4 remake – which isn't even on sale – also had a big boost, hitting 34,316 players, which is the best post-launch window number outside of the release of the Separate Ways DLC in September 2023 which peaked at 49,871. Regardless – Resident Evil 3 aside – it's clear the people want more Leon Kennedy.

Resident Evil Requiem's Grace actor did "a lot of research" into panic disorders, which makes playing the game with a real-life anxiety condition the scariest the series has ever been

Capcom, the developer behind Resident Evil, Street Fighter, and more, says it won't be using AI-Generated assets in its games. However, the company says it's looking into its use to improve efficiency.

AI use in games remains a hot topic. The introduction of Google's Project Genie caused a number of gaming companies' stocks to crash because investors think the slop machine can create games people want to play. Even small uses like Crimson Desert's in-game posters are causing a fuss in the community, given that these are the types of roles that could've been done by entry-level staff and instead are used as cost-cutting measures, only for everyone to immediately notice because AI art typically looks clumsy.

Capcom was asked by investors (translated by Automaton) about the company's plan for AI usage in game development, with Capcom explaining, "Our company will not be implementing any AI-generated assets into our video game content. On the other hand, going forward, we plan to actively utilize this technology in order to improve efficiency and productivity of game development. That is why we are currently testing out various methods of usage across our departments, including graphics, sound, and programming."

This echoes sentiments from the likes of Hideo Kojima, who said he'd like to use AI to handle "tedious tasks" but would leave the creative part to actual humans. Of course, given how much we've seen AI models hallucinate information, developers would likely need to be on hand to monitor it. We've seen in the past how a single coding mistake can completely tank a game, like how a single spelling mistake in the code of Aliens: Colonial Marines absolutely broke the Xenomorph AI (I mean, it was still a bad game with better Alien AI, but it was definitely better without it).

Resident Evil Requiem's Grace actor did "a lot of research" into panic disorders, which makes playing the game with a real-life anxiety condition the scariest the series has ever been.

Bookending the first three decades of a survival horror legacy is no easy task, but Resident Evil Requiem bears that cross like a badge of honor. It's been a wild ride getting here from the halcyon days of 1996. Look to the Resident Evil timeline, and you'll find it peppered with all manner of grisly delights, from instant classics to diamonds in the rough and console exclusive spin-offs destined to be enshrined in the eternal halls of infamy instead. But, my Resident Evil Requiem review concurs with the Metacritic zeitgeist: Capcom's latest has earned its place as the highest user-rated entry in the franchise to date, and I'm utterly enthralled by it.

Contrary to its fastidious loose-end-tying duties, Resident Evil Requiem is more than a full-stop to cap off 30 years of terror. Rather, it's a semi-colon that proves how the franchise is constantly evolving along with the genre itself – and that it has no intention of stopping.

Nostalgia neuralgia

I see that no plainer than when I put it side-by-side with 2002's Resident Evil remake. Picking through the labyrinthine halls of Spencer Mansion is still one of the hardest things to do while replaying the best Resident Evil games. Truth be told, fixed camera angles were never my thing. Call it jumpy nerves or the fact that I was six or seven when I first held a sweaty PS1 controller in my hand, but I prefer my frights where I can see them: over my player character's shoulder.

Somehow, even with its dual perspectives, Resident Evil Requiem recaptures that feeling of dreading the unknown. Grace Ashcroft's limited field of vision is as terrifying as any cleverly-placed fixed camera in classic Resident Evil, and it's something I only appreciated when I swapped between the two while playing through the game's later sections within the ARK complex.

Hiding in a storage container with lickers patrolling in blind, voracious hunger all around Grace, I had to rely on my sense of hearing to maneuver to the next container, praying that I wouldn't run headfirst into disaster. But, when I swapped from first to third-person mode, suddenly able to see beyond Grace's choked periphery, that fear of the unknown was instantly erased.

There's no shortage of more blatant Resident Evil Requiem Easter eggs throughout the game, but moments like these remind me how far Resident Evil has come in 30 years. By holding fast to its roots and finding unique ways of demonstrating that without dating itself, Capcom manages to weave flavors of classic Resident Evil into Requiem's DNA with the effortless panache of Leon S. Kennedy's finisher moves.

But those are noteworthy, too. Perhaps the biggest change in terms of how Resident Evil Requiem plays compared to Resident Evil remake is the combat itself. Gone are the days of stationary shooting or on-rails mayhem; Requiem elevates the sharpness of Resident Evil 2 remake's over-the-shoulder stylings and brings it into harmony with its more classical aspects.

Things like tight, claustrophobic spaces, dark corners, item rationing, inventory management… it's all still here. Only this time, modern action mechanics are celebrated alongside them to deliver a refined experience that brings all of Capcom's biggest developments into focus.

Event horizon

If the game is an homage to all that came before, a rapturous moment of no return that ushers in a new future for Resident Evil by wiping the slate clean, where does Requiem leave us?

It's somehow poetic that a prospective Resident Evil 10 (or, given Village's roman numerals styling, Resident Evil X) would signpost the franchise's fourth decade. But that means it would have a greater responsibility than simply carrying the torch: it would be charged with continuing Capcom's trend of reshaping survival horror as a genre, too.

For a subgenre composed of so many distinct parts, it still seems always in flux. Capcom has been lucky to be at the forefront of the genre so far, very much spearheading the surging popularity of the modern survival horror game. I've spoken in the past about how the genre's tendency to cannibalize itself is actually one of its secret weapons – a survival horror without its specifics is just another horror game, after all – but that doesn't mean innovation stops altogether.

Imagining a post-Requiem Resident Evil is thrilling in its uncertainty. Grace and Leon's journey sets the stage for a whole new world, a cure to the horrors unleashed by the Umbrella Corporation, and what sounds like a happily ever after for the human race.

The glint of gold around Leon's ring finger in the final cinematic is a subtle reminder that behind the big brash monsters and undead hordes, the world of Resident Evil is still a human one. How Capcom grapples with a rescued humanity as it recovers from extensive bioterrorist trauma is compelling on its own, but I'm even more keen to see how it feeds into a new kind of terror.

The tenth mainline game, whatever it ends up being, is Capcom's moment to divine a new future for its beloved franchise. It's a chance few developers get without a full and total reboot, like Playground's revived Fable, and even with the remake series destined to carry on alongside mainline titles, I don't think Resident Evil has finished its lifelong mission of pushing survival horror to soaring new heights.

We probably wouldn't have any of the best survival horror games if not for Resident Evil 1996, and the subgenre is still kicking today!

Living life with general anxiety and panic disorder can make creaking walls sound like an intruder. A flickering light can trigger an intense fight or flight response. Any sudden movement can sometimes be interpreted as an active threat. That's why, despite it being my favorite video game series, Resident Evil can be a visceral experience if you're playing it while managing a real-life anxiety condition.

Resident Evil 7 in particular has always been an intensely stressful game for me to play, the awareness that the terrifying Jack Baker can crash through the wall at any second constantly at the forefront of my consciousness. But Resident Evil Requiem has taken its crown as the scariest game in the series – largely due to Angela Sant'Albano's incredibly faithful portrayal of anxiety and panic in her role as Grace Ashcroft.

Of course, the game designers also deserve ample credit for creating such an oppressive atmosphere and nightmarish, unpredictable monsters, not to mention gameplay flourishes unique to Grace, like her unsteady aiming hand and proneness to trip while fleeing from enemies – all things that compound my immersion in the character's unease.

That said, if it weren't for Grace being such a terribly relatable cauldron of stress, I'd probably say Requiem and Biohazard are about equal in terms of scare factor. It's specifically when playing as Grace – hearing, no, feeling her stilted breathing, the panicked shuddering, the desperate pleas for homeostasis to magically return — that Resident Evil Requiem becomes almost unbearably scary.

Immersed in unease

"I really wanted to do that element or side to Grace justice," Sant'Albano tells me when we discuss key motivations behind her performance. "I felt, especially [in] a generation where anxiety is so widespread and such a part of people's everyday life, I didn't want to overdo it, but I also didn't want to undersell it, because it can be so all-encompassing and mind-altering. And so I did a lot of research. Sounds strange, but I researched a lot of different types of panic attacks and how literally being triggered by something that you see can cause your heart rate to quicken. It's completely out of your control."

Spoilers for the beginning of Resident Evil Requiem follow.

I'll never forget the moment in Resident Evil Requiem where I realized I had a connection with Grace that would bring the horror of playing the game to a whole new level. When the Wrenwood Hotel manager is killed and Grace descends into a full-blown panic attack, in which she feels nauseous and struggles to control her breathing, I knew right away it was going to be much harder to maintain composure against whatever atrocities awaited me – especially compared to my time with relatively steadfast heroes like Leon Kennedy, and even Ethan Winters.

That moment is followed by the shocking death of a classic Resident Evil character – Grace's mother, Alyssa Ashcroft – and the heartbreaking fallout for our heroine.

Sant'Albano tells me she relied on pure instinct for that particular performance. "I was quite nervous about filming that scene," she reflects on the harrowing "primal cry and scream" she channeled. "I mean, that's a whole other level of horror and shock and fear and sadness and pain, and there are just so many emotions, and it's so primal. Maybe this is crazy, but I didn't plan it at all. Like, at all. I was just like, 'You know what? We're just gonna see what happens here'."

Save me, Leon

That early scene proved pivotal to Sant'Albano's portrayal, as well as Grace as a character, as it was emotionally traumatizing enough that it caused her to develop a stutter that surfaces during moments of heightened anxiety.

The timing of the stutter having emerged following that scene was very intentional, Sant'Albano tells me. "Capcom really liked that element to her," she says. "They felt like it was very real. They were like, 'Yeah, lean into that. Like, if that feels natural, go for it.'

"I wanted the stutter to have an actual meaning behind it. I wanted it to really be embedded in the story and in the arc of her storyline, which is why, in the flashback, I didn't want her to have that."

I had the chance to talk with Leon Kennedy actor Nick Apostolides recently, and he told me Resident Evil Requiem "could have been just a solo Grace" game. Even as someone who once proudly declared that "Resident Evil Requiem doesn't need Leon Kennedy," I have to respectfully disagree with both Apostolides and myself from July 2025. Resident Evil does need Leon Kennedy. It really does.

If it weren't for Leon, there'd be no respite from the mercilessly sustained tension and dread that flavors the Grace sections of the game. There'd be no cathartic release after what feels like hours of tip-toeing around cavernous buildings and feeling utterly defenseless. When I'm controlling a character that essentially feels like how I would act in a similar situation, boy howdy does that first successful roundhouse kick as "hot unc" Leon Kennedy feel earned.

Ultimately I'm privileged to be able to feel these unpleasant emotions in a safe space where the only real threat – physical or psychological – is the exhaustion I'll feel the next morning when I realize I stayed up way too late playing video games again. That's because I'm fortunate enough that emotions I feel from playing games typically don't spiral into legitimate psychological events, but I know others might not be so lucky. I hope Resident Evil Requiem and Grace Ashcroft raise awareness to something millions of people struggle with every day.

A modder has done what Capcom hasn't and created a VR mode for Resident Evil Requiem, and despite not being ready yet, it looks as good as any official version.

Resident Evil Requiem continues the tradition of the latest trilogy in the series: it's extremely scary. Resident Evil 7 is probably the most intense game in the series to date, while Village had the only part in the entire series to genuinely disturb me in a way that lingered with me instead of an 'oh no something's going to get me' or 'ahhh you got me' way. Requiem goes into the Resident Evil 7 camp for a majority of it, and it's real spooky for the sections you play as Grace during – with her own actor finding these bits terrifying too.

But even though I'm generally cool with the scares in Resident Evil – giant spooky baby aside – I couldn't imagine playing the new trilogy in VR (and not just because I can't play VR games in the first place). But after Capcom provided VR modes for Resident Evil 7, which got it at launch, and Village, which took a couple of years to get it, fans aren't waiting around for Capcom to introduce it this time.

YouTuber Gamertag VR released a video earlier this week of them playing the Talemann1982 RE9 VR Mod as they play through the beginning of the game as both Grace and Leon. Resident Evil Requiem supports first-person mode for both characters, and the transition is fairly natural, with the hand tracking and motion tracking you'd expect from VR seamlessly integrated. Plus you don't even get flat cutscenes, instead the game gives you a full view of the area while you watch the character play out the cutscene.

Resident Evil Requiem hasn't even been out a month yet, so naturally, this video was a shock to some, with one commenter saying, "NO WAY IT'S ALREADY IN 6DOF WHAT THE HELL!?" That being said, sadly, the mod isn't available just yet as Gamertag VR notes that they were given a preview build of the mod. Thankfully, it's set to release "very soon," so you can put yourself through that at your own leisure.

Are you playing the new survival horror gem yourself? If so, be sure to browse through our roundup of Resident Evil Requiem safe codes for an easier time progressing.

After only one day on shop shelves and digital stores, Resident Evil Requiem became the US's best-selling game of the year so far.

According to market research firm Circana, the horror blockbuster debuted as the best-selling game of the year in the US and topped monthly sales charts on PlayStation, Xbox, and PC. Resident Evil Requiem's Switch 2 port also touched the number six spot on the best-selling Nintendo games charts for the month, while the Resident Evil Generation Pack containing Biohazard, Village, and Requiem peaked at number four on the same list.

Still, that was enough for Resident Evil Requiem to cement itself as the best-selling game of February 2026 and the year as a whole in the region. Even more impressive is the fact that Resident Evil Requiem achieved the milestone with just one day of sales tracking - it officially came out on February 27 and Circana's newly-released charts stretch to February 28.

The top 20 best-selling games of the year chart has only two other games that actually came out in 2026, Code Vein 2 and Dragon Quest 7: Reimagined. Every other slot is taken up by the usual evergreen suspects: GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, Forza Horizon 5, Minecraft, you get the gist.

"Launch week dollar sales of Resident Evil Requiem were more than 60% higher than the launch week total of Resident Evil: Village," Circana's Mat Piscatella notes, "with unit sales increasing by more than 40%." Though, those numbers don't include bundled editions.

As for more concrete numbers, Capcom recently revealed that Leon and Grace's joint horror romp sold a whopping six million copies in 17 days, a new record for the long-running series.

Resident Evil Requiem Leon actor recognizes fan thirst spans age, gender, and time itself as he vows to keep hitting the gym to "live up to this": "I bet you got a body pillow."

The latest big video game release stars an attractive person, so you just know the internet is being very chill about it. I'm kidding of course, Leon "hot unc" Kennedy is dominating social media algorithms in a barrage of memes celebrating one of the gaming community's great pastimes: thirsting over their favorite characters.

Resident Evil Requiem star Nick Apostolides, who plays Leon Kennedy, recently joined Partychat to watch a video compilation of some of the thirstiest Leon Kennedy memes out there, and his reactions range from jealousy to amusement to an apparent mild discomfort.

"Look at those pecs. I'm jealous, jealous of the abs at this point," he says while looking at a mod that makes Leon a shirtless hero, bearing a well-defined six pack. "It's always so disparaging when your avatar is just that much hunkier than me. It's motivation. He's gonna motivate me."

Apostolides was shown a series of horny reactions from a variety of genders, proving Leon's hotness supersedes gender preference. Responding to a similarly worded assertion from a thirsty fan, Apostolides confirms: "There's nothing wrong with him. He's like a perfect creature."

Partychat producer Skyler is outed at a certain point in the above video as one of Leon's, ahem, enthusiastic fans, and Apostolides jokes, "I bet you have a body pillow." Where can I score one of those? Asking for a friend.

After being shown dozens of posts all about how ridiculously hot Leon is, Apostolides once again affirms he's using the thirst as fuel: "I'm working on my arms at the gym, because I need to live up to this."

I do feel for actors portraying impossibly attractive video game characters, as they'll inevitably be compared when people see them in real life. However, dare I say, Apostolides is a good-looking dude himself. Leon is simply a creation of man apparently designed to make people with gamer partners insecure about themselves.

Resident Evil Requiem DLC "very likely" features series icon everyone wanted in the base game, prominent leaker claims, and shippers are in bits: "Leon's sugar mama"

Senior animator Mike York has worked on a range of hits from the divorced man's GTA 5 to the divorced man's Death Stranding 2, so he's seen a lot of things in video games, but never Grace Ashcroft after having undergone liposuction. That's the kind of image Nvidia's new AI-powered DLSS 5 rendering model brings to Resident Evil Requiem, one of the titles in which it will debut in the fall, and York can't stand it.

He offers his perspective as an industry veteran in a new stream on his YouTube channel, York Street Gaming. He reacts to games tech site Digital Foundry going hands-on with DLSS 5 in a March 16 video and has a very different gut reaction than the publication – though Digital Foundry has since expressed regret for the way it first enthused about DLSS 5.

With his brow furrowed deeper than the ocean floor, York attempts to analyze the now infamous image of Resident Evil Requiem protagonist Grace looking sandblasted. He says, "Whoa, hold on," after DLSS 5 takes away Grace's normal video game character face and replaces it with a TikTok filter.

"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no," York decides. "No. This isn't just some lighting, dude. What the f–... I'm telling you, this is like a complete AI re-render." Indeed, Nvidia explains in its DLSS 5 announcement post that it "introduces a real-time neural rendering model that infuses pixels with photoreal lighting and materials" – what CEO Jensen Huang admits in more explicit terms is "the GPT moment for graphics."

"Who even is that? That's a different girl," York exclaims. "You know why I can tell [...] – look, her eyes are no longer looking, like, correctly. That one eye is looking over here, and one eye is looking there." The power of technology.

Assassin's Creed Shadows players protest Nvidia's controversial DLSS 5 "AI slop" filter: "It's only gonna tank the franchise's reputation even further."

In the biggest disappointment to franchise fans since Resi 6, Resident Evil Requiem concept art revealed that Leon Kennedy's now a married man. We've all been wondering who he took down the aisle, but Capcom remains tight-lipped, only hinting that we may find out at some point.

"The answer will become clear someday, but not just yet," Koshi Nakanishi, director of Resident Evil Requiem, told Eurogamer in a statement. "What we wanted to convey in the final scene is simple: Leon now has a 'place to go home to', and we hope you can imagine the peaceful moments he spends there."

I can definitely see our man picking up groceries, taking out the bins, walking the dog, and living the quiet life at times. He seems like the kind of guy who's in some kind of amateur league, maybe basketball or baseball? Pretty likely a jogger too. I digress.

"Leon is a man who says very little about the things that truly matter, but he would sacrifice himself without a second thought to save a life right in front of him," Nakanishi continues. "So what does his ring signify? Resolve? Or a vow?"

The former Raccoon City police department recruit "may never voice the answer himself," and the only implication we're meant to get is that he's got somewhere to retreat to after these horrendous escapades. "Isn't that enough?" Nakanishi states at the end.

Awww - but also, no, it's not. Who is it? Ada Wong? Claire Redfield? Jill Valentine? I'm thinking someone less involved in Leon's world of battling the Umbrella Corporation, but that doesn't make for good shipping, does it?

Whomever it is, they're lucky. And I hope Capcom understands the potential in a slice-of-life narrative game about Leon being all domestic.

Resident Evil Requiem DLC "very likely" features series icon everyone wanted in the base game, prominent leaker claims, and shippers are in bits: "Leon's sugar mama."