Resident Evil 9 has still not been officially confirmed by Capcom. But the rumour mill started a long time ago: here’s everything we’ve heard so far, gathered in a bunch!

Over the past decade, leaks and rumours have become more common in video games. Of course, big-budget releases have always been prone to some minor leaks. However, it has now become a feature of the industry that the plot, characters, and gameplay features of many big-budget AAA games are leaked well before the game’s release and often even long before the game is announced. This was certainly the case with Resident Evil 9.

Resident Evil 9 hasn’t even been officially announced yet, but it’s said to have been the subject of numerous leaks over the past two years.

From leaks about returning protagonists, new monsters and villains, the game’s location, and everything in between, we’ve already heard about almost every aspect of RE9. Whether these rumours are true or not remains to be seen. (Or not…)

DISCLAIMER: Everything below is, for now, only an unconfirmed rumour based on leaks. Please treat it accordingly.

The first big Resident Evil 9 leak

August 2022 saw the potentially first leak of RE9. The first leaks of the game appeared on 4chan and were later collected and discussed by YouTuber Residence of Evil. He claimed that the sequel’s working title is Resident Evil Apocalypse. According to the leaks, Apocalypse would occur somewhere in western North America. Players could explore a series of caves, forests and rivers.

The game is said to revolve around the ninth lunar cycle, which would bring about ghostly monsters such as Wendigos that can mimic human voices and a mysterious woman wearing a regal gold and brown dress.

Chris Redfield could be the protagonist of RE9

Jumping forward almost an entire year, the next RE9 leak arrived in June 2023. Twitter user Chris Marx claimed that Chris Redfield would be the game’s main character. Not only that, but Marx believed that a bunch of old Resident Evil characters would be joining Chris in his new adventure. Among them are Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield and Leon S. Kennedy.

To round things out, Marx claimed that RE9 would focus more on action than horror. Also, that the game will be released in the second half of 2024. However, Marx also mentioned that he thinks Capcom will announce the game by the end of 2023. This obviously did not happen.

Resident Evil 9 may be the franchise’s biggest game to date

In October 2023, a leaker named DuskGolem shared some obvious information about RE9 on Discord. In this initial leak, DuskGolem claimed that the game would have the biggest budget and longest development period of any Resident Evil game to date.

DuskGolem also mentioned that Capcom is apparently considering Resident Evil 9 as a way to conclude the previous events in the series and begin a new chapter in the franchise.

In February of this year, DuskGolem shared more alleged information about the franchise as a whole. It was even vaguer than the latest leak. They simply stated that they know of at least five Resident Evil games that are currently in development. One of them will be Resident Evil 9. The only other information that DuskGolem has given is that one of these projects could appear in late 2026 or early 2027.

Can the game be open world?!

The latest RE9 leak was just a few weeks ago. After the release of Dragon’s Dogma 2 at the end of March, the DuskGolem reared its head again. This time, he tweeted that Resident Evil 9 would be an open world. In his tweet, DuskGolem explained that Capcom usually greenlights projects in groups of three to use the current engine effectively.

DuskGolem then stated that both RE9 and Monster Hunter Wilds would be based on the Dragon’s Dogma 2 RE Engine, which expanded the possibilities of open-world gameplay.

Source: YouTube