Capcom has stated that Resident Evil Requiem is being designed in such a way as to let those new to the franchise still have fun and understand the story. However, the title will also feature Easter eggs and references to other titles, which means that long-time fans of the series will have plenty more to look forward to. In an interview with VGC, producer Masato Kumazawa spoke about the importance of striking a balance when it comes to having Easter eggs in the game and having it be a pure experience.
“We think it’s important to balance the extra fun that you get from nostalgic Easter Eggs and hints and lore connections if you’re a series fan, versus not making a game alienating to players who aren’t caught up,” explained Kumazawa. “I don’t want people to feel they have to do their homework to fully appreciate this game.”
However, when it comes to actually playing the game, he noted that newcomers to the franchise will still be “able to understand and enjoy it 100%,” while long-time fans will get more out of the references and other lore connections, letting them “enjoy it 150%” thanks to the extra level of detail.
“So while we’re not really going into exactly how much and what you’ll see of Raccoon City throughout the full game, I think that if you don’t know anything about it, you’re just going to play this as a horror game set in a ruined city, and you’ll be able to understand and enjoy it 100%,” he said.
“If you’re a fan and you see all the connections and the lore links and the background hints and stuff, I think you’ll enjoy it 150%, and it’ll give you that extra level of detail, but we don’t want to make it so that you have to know about the incident and understand the relationship between that timeline in order to understand the game.”
These kinds of problems likely start becoming common for studios that have been working on long-running franchises with no reboots and plenty of continuity between their games. For the sake of context, the original Resident Evil came out all the way back in 1996 on the PlayStation. Since then, the title has continued the same story threads, and the characters have often returned. For example, one of the protagonists of the original Resident Evil – Chris Redfield – was last seen in 2021’s Resident Evil Village, which is the most recent game in the timeline so far.
Given how much of the overall Resident Evil plot tends to revolve around insane plot twists and shadowy conspiracies by shady megacorporations, the series has traditionally had quite a bit happening in its background lore for players to keep a track of. In fact, even new protagonist in Resident Evil Requiem, Grace Ashcroft, is the daughter of one of the protagonists from PS2-era spin-offs Resident Evil Outbreak and its sequel, Outbreak: File 2.
In the meantime, Resident Evil Requiem is coming to PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S and Nintendo Switch 2 on February 27, 2026.
