It’s been extensively identified or assumed for fairly some time that Leon Kennedy was going to be part of Resident Evil Requiem, however that didn’t make final evening’s Sport Awards reveal any much less superior.
Leakers have been reporting Leon’s involvement for a lot of months (and PlayStation Community spilled the beans formally earlier this week), however his look in RE9’s third trailer at The Sport Awards was nonetheless met with an audible pop within the viewers, and perhaps even from my very own room all the best way throughout the nation, too.
The inexperienced FBI agent Grace Ashcroft gained’t be alone in her terrifying journey, as a result of everybody’s favourite rookie-cop-turned-government-agent-badass pulled up in a brand new whip in the direction of the tip of the brand new trailer, and he’s possible being paid handsomely to do it, too. Properly, Capcom is.
After the reveal, Capcom introduced that Leon’s experience is a customized Porsche Cayenne Turbo GT in partnership with the posh automobile firm. And if the leakers are correct (they usually have been up to now), this can be a drivable car within the recreation that Leon makes use of to navigate between areas.
RE9 each appears to be like and sounds prefer it’s aiming to mix the most effective a part of each of the franchise’s dueling identities, and bounce forwards and backwards between each. Survival horror and motion. First-person and third-person. Motion hero and out-of-their-depth survivor. And in response to the director, that’s precisely the way it will play out.
“Requiem has only one, unified story,” director Akifumi Nakanishi mentioned in an interview with Automaton. “Because the plot advances, you turn between Leon’s sections and Grace’s sections. There are even some scenes the place they meet. Grace is ‘the largest scaredy-cat in Resident Evil historical past,’ whereas Leon is a seasoned veteran, so seeing how these personalities work together is a part of the enjoyable.”
Having the ability to swap between first- or third-person at any given time additionally excites me. How do I really feel that day? Do I wish to be scared and see the horrors up shut, or do I wish to pull it again and go weapons blazing like Leon’s been doing for nearly 30 years? That freedom, and likewise the unpredictability, is by design as effectively, in response to the director.
“If the entire recreation had been Grace, it will be extraordinarily scary,” Nakanishi mentioned. “On this sense, Leon’s sections work to launch the stress. You’re feeling secure throughout Leon’s chapters, after which scared once more throughout Grace’s. It’s a consciously designed horror construction.”
Leon is at the least in his late 40s in RE9, and he’s exhibiting his age a bit, sort of like me. I really feel you, buddy. He has seen wrinkles and he’s acquired some graying stubble, however that has not stopped him from sporting the identical haircut he introduced into Raccoon Metropolis in 1998, or from kicking all types of ass as traditional.
“Grace’s gameplay relies on Resident Evil 2, whereas Leon’s gameplay consists of martial arts and melee strikes, based mostly on Resident Evil 4,” Nakanishi mentioned.
All of those phrases and notions mix to create a degree of hype for a online game that I haven’t felt in a while. Like many getting old players, Resident Evil has been with me since my childhood, and all all through my life within the years that adopted. And I’m nonetheless excited for no matter comes subsequent.
I’ve vivid recollections of watching my uncle play the unique recreation once I was seven or eight years outdated, and darting out of the room when the zombie canine burst by the home windows. I had an identical expertise by myself in Resident Evil 2, taking part in as Leon, when the zombies broke down the home windows of Kendo’s Gun Store. It took me years to search out the bravery to play the sport to completion (I acquired a PS1 and RE2 for my ninth birthday), and it’s since turn out to be one in every of my all-time favorites.
For a lot of, Resident Evil 6 was one of many low-points of the collection when it launched again in 2012, and that’s the final time we noticed Leon in one of many video games. Bringing him again for RE9, and sure his very personal requiem, feels proper. And heading again to Raccoon Metropolis yet one more time, as an outdated veteran of zombie-killing (or gaming, in my case), is an exhilarating prospect that I can’t look forward to.
Welcome again, Leon, and I’ll be seeing you on Feb. 27. Please convey Jill Valentine and/or Claire Redfield with you.
