Resident Evil Requiem was one of the main highlights on this year’s Gamescom, and it shows: also called “Resident Evil 9” by some, the game brings a new protagonist and a return to the legendary Raccoon City, home to the first three games and the original site of the T-Virus outbreak that we’ve come to know and love.
Also, fan theories.
Yeah, since Capcom told us jacksquat in the information department, the most obvious second choice would be speculation, which fans of the franchise have going around aplenty: namely, two of them—the behemoth of a monster we saw in some of the media being an old, well-known character from the Resident Evil Revelations line making a comeback; and Leon Scott Kennedy being in Resident Evil Requiem in a big way.
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Well, hate to break it to you, but one of those isn’t true, and the other might not be true, according to what Capcom has told IGN in a recently-published interview.
Resident Evil Requiem Fan Theories Debunked?
That big ass monster does have a name (and it’s not “Alyssa”)
First things first: the big monster, according to Capcom, is referred to internally as “Big Mama”.
I know what you’re thinking: “Big Mama? Then she *is* Alyssa Ashford, Grace Ashford’s mother. I knew it! I am incredibly awesome!” Yeah, hold your Tyrants for a moment and listen to what Masato Kumazawa, Resident Evil Requiem’s producer; and Koji Nakanishi, director, have to say:
“We’re very much aware of the discussion and speculation about this kind of thing and as a player, whenever I’m playing a game, I love to get involved in that stuff, but I don’t think it’s fair for me to weigh in on those debates as a developer.”
Koji Nakanishi
“I don’t want to burst this bubble before the game comes out. That expanding discussion and speculation is part of the fun of waiting for a game to release and then you’ll get the answer when you play the game. So hopefully you can that just a little bit longer. One comment I will say is that you mentioned about the scream being part of the speculation, the sound in the demo is not final, it’s actually temporary audio, so I wouldn’t focus too much on what you can hear in the demo right now. When the final game comes out, it’ll become clearer.”
Masato Kumazawa
So basically, there’s a lot that they can’t say, but for now, every ground the theory has found has an explanation that debunks it. The “scream” part comes from another part of the same theory, one that states that Big Mama’s scream when chasing Grace Ashford sounds a bit like Lisa Trevor, from the original Resident Evil and also The Umbrella Chronicles.
But it seems that is not the case, as the game devs have stated the sound is just a placeholder.
But circling back to Alyssa, she is confirmed to be in the game: in the world premiere shown at Gamescom, we see her front and center in the video, running away from two, yet-to-be-identified foes. Now, Alyssa is dead—in 2020, murdered while investigating the events in Wrenwood Hotel, where she was staying with her daughter. Years later, Grace, now a bonafide FBI agent, seeks some sort of closure for all of this.
That has not evaded Nakanishi’s ideas, as, according to him, a return to Raccoon City was always the objective for Resident Evil Requiem—and Alyssa was a Raccoon city survivor.
“Alyssa was the perfect character to be the key to all of this because she, as fans will know, is a survivor of the Raccoon City incident who then became a journalist and wanted to uncover the truth behind Umbrella Corporation’s involvement. She chased up leads and as you saw in the Opening Night Live presentation, she ultimately paid the price of her life for that investigation.
Grace, her daughter, now is the next generation. She didn’t directly experience the Raccoon City incident, but her life is changed by the death of her mother — the murder of her mother as a consequence or cover up of all this. So she’s taking that torch to the next generation and as an FBI investigator wants to get to the truth behind not just the incident but her mother’s death as well.”
But what about Leon?
That’s another case entirely, as IGN’s interview was specifically oriented to not ask about Leon Scott Kennedy. The beloved protagonist from Resident Evil 2 and 4 has been thrown into the bucket of speculation thanks to notorious leaker DuskGolem.
And it’s not like it’s “just” speculation, as this one feels even more solid than Alyssa’s: there’s a moment in the reveal trailer from a couple months ago that a specific dialog exchange does give room to think it is the man (check it out here).
The TL;DR of those tweets is basically this: Grace is a co-protagonist in Resident Evil Requiem, and Leon, yet to be officially confirmed, will probably “take over” the lead at some moment in the game. Some other tidbits mention new gameplay mechanics (such as Grace’s having a first-person perspective with a more psychological terror feel, while Leon being the classic, third-person action/survival oriented piece) but that’s a bit of a stretch for now.
Capcom was dodgy about this, specifically mentioning Leon as a non-talking point at this time. Both Kumazawa and Nakanishi have stated that the publisher is well aware of all speculation surrounding the game—in some cases, the company seems to encourage them—but confirming or denying Leon’s presence at the moment could throw a wrench on Capcom’s marketing plans, so who knows?
Resident Evil Requiem is scheduled to release on February 27th, 2026, for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S.
