The Resident Evil franchise has been on a roll ever since it turned its fortunes around with Resident Evil 7 in 2017, having delivered a string of stellar, all-time classic survival horror titles in the years since then. But with Resident Evil Village now well over three years old, fans are growing increasingly antsy about the series’ next mainline numbered entry, and when Capcom will choose to announce it. The only thing that we officially know about Resident Evil 9 so far is that it’s being helmed by Koshi Nakanishi, who last directed Resident Evil 7, and with Monster Hunter Wilds clearly being Capcom’s big focal point in 2025, it’s looking unlikely that an official announcement and accompanying details for the next instalment in its beloved horror franchise will arrive in the immediate future.
As ever, though, there’s no shortage of unofficial information out there. Over the last several months and years, leaks and rumours from a variety of sources have claimed different things about Resident Evil 9, and here, we’re going to take a look at a few that have caught our eye. Remember, however, that these are all unconfirmed and unverified details, which means there’s no guarantees that they’re going to be accurate. We certainly hope some in particular do, however, because they make some intriguing promises- starting with our first pick…
STARS LEON AND JILL
Not counting any remakes, it’s been a while since we last got a mainline Resident Evil game starring Leon, whose last chronological appearance was Resident Evil 6, and even longer since we last saw Jill Valentine, who last appeared in Resident Evil 5- though her last playable appearance in a mainline entry was Resident Evil 3: Nemesis all the way back in 1999 (or 2012 spinoff Revelations). According to a recent leak by YouTube channel Residence of Evil, however, both characters are set to return as the primary protagonists of Resident Evil 9. The game is allegedly set four years after Resident Evil Village’s main story, which means it’s several years before its epilogue. Additionally, interestingly enough, as per this leak, Leon and Jill won’t be the only returning familiar characters.
CHRIS AND BARRY RETURN
Chris Redfield is and always has been a Resident Evil mainstay (you’d have to go all the way back to 2005’s Resident Evil 4 for the last numbered instalment that didn’t feature him in any capacity), and as per Residence of Evil’s leak, though he won’t be the protagonist in Resident Evil 9, he will play a role in the story. He will also be joined by fan-favourite character Barry Burton (whom we haven’t seen since Revelations 2), with both characters allegedly set to play a support role. Supposedly, Barry and Chris will be supporting Leon and Jill during their missions via radio calls.
EVELINE AND THE MEGAMYCETE
Eveline and the Mold have formed the backbone of the Resident Evil 7 and Village story arc, and supposedly, RE9 is set to be the conclusion to that story. As per the leak, the game’s story involves the shadowy organization that originally created Eveline now mass producing her clones. To make matters worse, they’re supposedly doing it by using the Megamycete, provided to them by Resident Evil Village big bad Miranda. That can only mean trouble.
ANTAGONIST
Resident Evil fans are no strangers to locking horns with evil corporations and enigmatic organizations, and as we’ve touched on, Resident Evil 9 is supposedly going to make that part of its central conflict once more. Who is the central antagonist going to be, however? Supposedly, it’s going to be a man named Mr. Simon, who is in charge of the mass production of bioweapons for the company on the island. This is a franchise that has traditionally boasted strong villains, though its track record in that department has been a bit spottier ever since the death of Albert Wesker all those years ago, so it should be interesting to see how this Mr. Simon fellow pans out- assuming, of course, that this leak proves accurate.
STALKER ENEMIES
From Mr. X and Nemesis to good old Jack Baker, Resident Evil games have delivered some of the best and most terrifying stalker enemies the survival horror genre has ever seen, and as per Residence of Evil’s leak, RE9 will follow suit. Supposedly, both Leon and Jill will have unique stalker foes pursuing them throughout the game. The leak is light on details in this area, but claims the enemy pursuing Jill will be called the Goat-Man- which is a descriptive name, if nothing else.
MAIN ENEMY TYPES
Another interesting claim the leak makes is that zombies – or foes similar enough to zombies – will return as the main enemy type in Resident Evil 9. The island’s residents will supposedly be infected with the Megamycete, which will turn them into ravenous zombie-like creatures, with behaviours ranging from praying to the moon to ravenously running after prey, on top of being able to use different weapons. If this turns out to be accurate, we’re probably going to be looking at something taking cues from Resident Evil 4’s Gonado once again.
SETTING
Sticking with the leak we’ve been discussing thus far, it also claims that Leon and Jill’s mission will see them heading to an island to investigate the aforementioned company and its activities, though they, too, will be infected, and will have to deal with hallucinations of Eveline throughout the game. No, it won’t be the first time Resident Evil will be doing an island setting, but it does sound like it’s going to be a fairly diverse one. Speaking of which…
LOCATIONS
As per the Residence of Evil leak, Resident Evil 9’s island setting will feature a number of different locations. It claims that playtests over the past year have seen Jill exploring an abandoned forest and Leon making his way through a forest, while other locations on the island supposedly include residents’ houses (including several abandoned ones), caves, labs, a temple, and an abandoned factory. What does that say about the game’s size? Well…
OPEN WORLD ELEMENTS
Many Resident Evil faithful will argue that the series should never go open world, and it’s easy to see the merits of those arguments- RE9, however, is supposedly going to feature at least some open world elements. Earlier in 2024, prominent Resident Evil leaker Dusk Golem claimed that Resident Evil 9 will make use of open world tech that Capcom built into the RE Engine for Dragon’s Dogma 2. Does that mean the game will be open world? It doesn’t sound like it. It does, however, sound like it might be a larger and more expansive experience than its predecessors.
LONGEST RE DEV CYCLE TO DATE
No game – certainly no AAA game – is cheap or easy to make, and sure enough, it goes without saying that Capcom tends to leave no stone unturned with the development of its Resident Evil titles. With RE9, however, it is supposedly going the extra mile, as per the aforementioned Dusk Golem. At different occasions over the last couple of years, the leaker has claimed that Resident Evil 9 has the largest ever development budget for an RE game to date, and by the time it releases, will also have had the longest ever dev cycle for the franchise, having supposedly started back in 2018.