Despite the “interesting concepts,” director Koshi Nakanishi revealed that the team “went back to the drawing board” for Requiem.

There have been numerous rumors about Resident Evil Requiem when it was still unofficially known as Resident Evil 9. Outside of Leon and Jill running through an abandoned hospital, perhaps the most intriguing is that it was developed with online and open-world elements before getting a heavy reboot in 2021.

As far-fetched as it seems, the development team at Capcom confirmed this was the case. In a longer Creators’ Message video, director Koshi Nakanishi said, “You might have heard some of the rumors. Things like an online Resident Evil or an open-world Resident Evil, which we spent some time experimenting with.

“But in the end, although we had some interesting concepts, we realized that it wasn’t what fans wanted to see or play. So we went back to the drawing board and created what led to Resident Evil Requiem.”

Producer Masachika Kawata reiterated earlier in the video that Requiem is a single-player offline game. Grace Ashcroft is the protagonist this time around, and though the team wanted Leon, the focus on pure horror made him a “bad match.” Rumors insist that he’s playable, so take this with a grain of salt.

Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27th, 2026, for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. It will be playable at Gamescom, which runs from August 20th to 24th.