After months of speculation and a revealing leak earlier this week, Capcom has finally, officially confirmed what we all knew: Leon S. Kennedy is in Resident Evil Requiem, and he’s here to kick butt.
Tonight, at The Game Awards 2025, a fresh trailer for Resident Evil Requiem saw Leon fully revealed, swinging into action as the now-grizzled veteran zombie fighter we all know and love.
We learned what many of us had expected, that Leon will feature as one of two playable characters, alongside the previously announced Grace Ashcroft. While Grace’s campaign focuses on survival horror, Leon’s separate antics will focus on action.
Earlier this week, the reveal of new Resident Evil: Requiem cover art featuring Leon finally put to bed one of this year’s biggest gaming mysteries — something developer Capcom has itself refused to address — just days ahead of Requiem’s appearance tonight.
Rumors have persisted for months over Leon’s involvement in Resident Evil: Requiem, with Capcom specifically declining to answer IGN’s questions over the character back at Gamescom in August. The game’s developers have even suggested that Leon would be a poor fit as a protagonist for the game’s quieter sections as he is now too grizzled to be scared. But through all of this, Capcom left itself with just enough wiggle room for Leon to still be lurking somewhere — presumably during Requiem’s more action-packed sequences.
Despite Leon’s involvement now being confirmed, Requiem may still have secrets left in store. There was no mention tonight of a potential third playable character — something raised earlier this week by a GameStop listing that referenced Rosemary Winters.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
