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- Resident Evil Requiem's Monsters Can Launch Furniture At You If They Want - Because Apparently That's Horror Now

Resident Evil Requiem Interview 2025 – Returning to Raccoon City and More Reveals

Originally posted on Total Apex Gaming
By Nicole Azucena | Last updated Oct 1, 2025 7:31 PM ET

Resident Evil Requiem comes after the success of Resident Evil Biohazard and Resident Evil Village. These two games catapulted the series after mixed reviews of Resident Evil 5 and 6. In an interview with Resident Evil Requiem director Koshi Nakanishi and producer Masato Kumazawa, we get a deep dive into the making of Resident Evil Requiem, from the decisions to return to Raccoon City, to the mysterious hooded figure that appeared in the latest trailer of the game, to how this will connect storylines from previous installments. Here’s all that was said in the interview.

Introducing Grace Ashcroft and Returning to Raccon City

Nakanishi explains the reasons behind introducing a new protagonist in this game, stating,

“We wanted to have a new character for this game, and we wanted them to be more normal, more grounded, but less experienced in the survival situations.”

“Of course, that describes Ethan from the last two games, but even more so than him, we wanted a character who was more of an introvert in these situations, somebody who tends to get more scared. That would really ramp up the horror players feel on her behalf when they’re playing as her.”

Both Nakanishi and Kumazawa also revealed the difficulties in returning to Raccoon City in this installment. They both expressed their desire that this game balance an appeal to new players and longtime fans of the series.

“When we thought about the position this title has in the series, we felt 9 was a chance to progress the main plot forward. It’s almost like coming back into the mainstream of the series. We wanted to dig into the lore a bit, including the most iconic part of the game’s storyline, which is the Raccoon City incident. It’s the first time in a few years you’re seeing the next chapter in the overall Resident Evil storyline.”

“Raccoon City is a major connection to the past games, and if you’re a fan, it’s going to be thrilling to see that location updated post-destruction, but I want it to be something players can enjoy 100 percent without knowing all the background. I don’t want anyone to feel like they have to do homework to play this game; that’s not the case.

“We definitely had a lot of arguments about how to present Raccoon City, and I got told off for not having things right a few times, but I think we finally got there. It was a really enjoyable process to reimagine Raccoon City all these years after the incident.”

The Decision of Making RE9 Psychological Horror

Screenshot of Resident Evil 2 Remake trailer courtesy of Capcom

Throughout the whole series, there’s been a running joke about the type of genre each Resident Evil game will manifest. Either it will be a true horror game or a straight-up action game. Resident Evil Village balanced the horror and action aspects of the game; however, it leaned more towards the action side of things. Here’s what Nakanishi says about their decision to make Requiem focus more on horror:

“Although Resident Evil 7 went back to survival horror, Village went more in the action direction; it escalated the action of 7,”

“I didn’t want it to be a never-ending escalation of action. It felt time to go back to the opposite direction of the spectrum towards horror.

“You can essentially boil Resident Evil down to two different styles: Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4, and if Village was on the 4 side of the scale, then we’re going back to the RE2 style with this, building on classic exploration, backtracking, and resource management. Within that, you will, of course, have intense bursts of combat action.”

Resident Evil Requiem will focus on psychological horror, rather than the action horror the series is best known for. This is a huge pivot in style and gameplay, and is something I personally am pretty excited for.

The Hooded Man

Nakanishi also mentions the role of the hooded man that appeared in the latest trailer for the game. Though he did not reveal a lot, Nakanishi explains,

“The hooded man is one of the key antagonists in the game. We’re starting to reveal a few hints towards the ‘bad guy’ side of the storyline, and he’s certainly a key character in that, but that’s all I can say,”

Kumazawa adds, ”There’s also the Umbrella logo in the trailer, so the clues are all starting to come together.”

During the interview, Nakanishi and Kumazawa did not want to divulge much on certain details about the game, but they definitely cleared things up, especially for gamers who have been watching the rumor mill spiral for the last couple of months. Resident Evil Requiem is set to release on February 27, 2026. We can expect more details about the game to drop until the game’s launch, so don’t miss out on any updates on the game.

This article first appeared on Total Apex Gaming and was syndicated with permission.

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