Back in July 2024, Capcom confirmed that it was developing the next Resident Evil game from Koshi Nakanishi, the director of Resident Evil 7. We’ve heard several reports and rumours since then about what we can potentially expect from the next mainline entry. A new report from a known Capcom leaker claims that Resident Evil 9 will feature Leon S. Kennedy as the protagonist, though it won’t include Jill Valentine like previous rumours suggested.
According to leaker Dusk Golem (via Reddit), Resident Evil 9 will apparently feature Leon as the protagonist. They claimed that back in 2021, there was a plan to also include Jill in the game, though those plans have since fallen through. “It was true then, it isn’t now,” said Dusk Golem. “Really not any more complicated, I wouldn’t be surprised in the future when RE9 comes out and they show concept art that they might show early drafts of the game had Jill.”
Leon has appeared as the protagonist of two major Resident Evil games: Resident Evil 2 and 4. He shared the spotlight with other protagonists in Resident Evil 6, which is also seemingly coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X/S very soon.
Earlier reports claimed that Capcom might adopt an open world for Resident Evil 9. This would be interesting as the company previously experimented with an open world design on its proprietary RE Engine for Dragon’s Dogma 2. With a more open-ended setting and sandbox, it will mark the first game in the franchise to take this approach – whether it works or not is anyone’s guess, though we’ll have to wait for an official announcement from Capcom first.
Capcom currently has its hands full with the upcoming Monster Hunter Wilds, which is scheduled to launch at the end of February. A second open beta is set to take place in early February so make sure you mark the dates.
Source: Dusk Golem (via Reddit)