Resident Evil Requiem's release is imminent, and it will be exciting to see what new direction Capcom takes its flagship horror franchise. Indeed, Resident Evil Requiem represents a merging of the old with the new, bringing in a new protagonist while bringing back an old one, and offering both third-person and first-person modes. With Leon S. Kennedy returning in Requiem, the game could end up being the firmest link yet between modern Resident Evil and the classic Wesker-focused games.
This is because Leon, unlike Ethan Winters or newcomer Grace Ashcroft, has been central to the Resident Evil plot since almost the beginning. Debuting in Resident Evil 2, Leon has been through the ringer quite a few times: his journey from Racoon City Police rookie to international special operative is one fraught with death, danger, and disaster. Through it all, Leon has transformed from a fresh-faced optimist to a grizzled, unstoppable, frequently corny force of nature. However, Leon's last canonical, in-game appearance was in Resident Evil 6, which takes place in 2012. This means that his whereabouts and activities during Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village have been mostly unknown, but it also confirms that he's still in the BOW-slaying business, and is likely going to be better at that task than ever.
Generally speaking, Resident Evil games take place during the same year they are released, with the remakes being notable exceptions.
Zero to Hero: Leon Kennedy's Story So Far
The following summaries will mostly ignore spin-off games and films featuring Leon as they don't have too much of an impact on Leon's character arc or status heading into Resident Evil Requiem.
Resident Evil 2
Leon has been glued to the Resident Evil timeline since the Raccoon City Incident of 1998, which was the first major, public BOW outbreak. It was the poor 21-year-old's first day on the job. Despite his complete lack of police experience, Leon, assisted by Ada Wong and Claire Redfield, uncovered meaningful information about the T-Virus and G-Virus, learning that they were created by virologist William Birkin in association with the United States government: the US was funding Umbrella, Birkin's employer, in an effort to develop cutting-edge bioweapons.
Ultimately, Leon and Claire destroyed Birkin's lab, and the US military bombed Raccoon City to smithereens to obfuscate its involvement in the outbreak. After he and Claire split up, Leon was captured by the US military, who considered him a liability due to his knowledge of the US-Umbrella conspiracy. However, his efforts in Raccoon City demonstrated an exceptional degree of talent in the field, as he was able to almost single-handedly contain the G-Virus—something that the military itself failed to do during their operations in the city. Thus began Leon's transformation into a highly-trained special operative for the United States Strategic Command, as part of a special anti-Umbrella task force. As a STRATCOM operative, he learned unrivaled combat and survival skills, especially during 2002's Operation Javier, the subject of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.
Resident Evil 4
Two years after Operation Javier, Leon was dispatched to a remote Spanish village in search of the US President's 20-year-old daughter Ashley Graham, who was abducted while returning home from university. Through various acts of escalating heroism, he plowed through hordes of BOWs spawned from a cult called Los Illuminados, a derivative of an ancient fringe religion that believed in surrendering body and soul to a mythical creature sent by God. This made them easy prey for Osmund Saddler, a power-hungry fanatic with access to Umbrella's research and development materials, in addition to the mind-controlling Plagas parasite. Saddler planned to use the Plagas in conjunction with Los Illumindos' religious fervor to gain unprecedented global influence.
Leon, alongside Ada Wong and Ashley, put a stop to Saddler's plans and destroyed much of the Plaga, though Wong would slink off with a Plaga sample—it was an asset too valuable to be destroyed with the rest of Resident Evil 4's third-act setting. Thankfully, Leon and Ashley made it through the Las Plagas incident safely, his success further ingratiating him with the United States government.
Resident Evil 6
Years after the Las Plagas incident, US intelligence officer Adam Benford, who had originally recruited Leon into STRATCOM and had subsequently developed a close relationship with the younger man, ascended to the office of US President. In a radical move, Benford planned to declassify the events of the Raccoon City Disaster during a 2013 speech at Ivy University. Learning of this, a powerful underground organization called The Family launched a C-Virus outbreak that infected Benford, forcing Leon to kill him.
This is how Resident Evil 6 begins, and what follows is a convoluted, globe-trotting story focusing on several characters, not just Leon; you may be aware that Resident Evil 6 is one of the more contentious entries in the franchise. But Leon's arc is mostly concerned with avenging Benford and illuminating the conspiracy behind the C-Virus outbreak. He emerges from this adventure saddened and angered by the death of his dear friend, while also gaining a deeper understanding of international shadow organizations, and how bioweapons impact global power struggles.
How Will Leon's Past Impact Resident Evil Requiem?
In Resident Evil Requiem, Leon will be forty-eight years old, having spent almost the entirety of his adult life as a pivotal operative against biowarfare across the globe. He will be investigating the disappearance of a police officer in connection with an unidentified new bioweapon, during which time he will cross paths with Grace Ashcroft, Requiem's other protagonist.
At this point, Leon's combat and survival skills are beyond question. He has decades of experience fighting all manner of enemies, from armed paramilitary operatives to monstrous G-Virus mutants, proving his capability to succeed as a one-man army of sorts. Beyond this, though, his difficult history with government and authority may inform his character arc, as the man has been conditioned to never take anything at face value. Having lost close friends and nearly losing his own life on numerous occasions due to bioweapon-related power struggles, Leon's combat readiness should be balanced by these traumatic and paradigm-shifting events. Hopefully, this will result in Leon's mental and spiritual fortitude and complexity matching his undeniable effectiveness with firearms, hand-to-hand combat, and critical thinking.
OpenCritic Reviews
WHERE TO PLAY
Requiem for the dead. Nightmare for the living.
Resident Evil Requiem is the ninth title in the mainline Resident Evil series.
Prepare to escape death in a heart-stopping experience that will chill you to your core.
Technological advancements combined with the development team's depth of experience combine in a story with rich characters and gameplay that's more immersive than ever before.
A new era of survival horror begins in 2026.
- Franchise
- Resident Evil
- Number of Players
- Single-player
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- February 27, 2026
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- February 27, 2026
- PS5 Release Date
- February 27, 2026
- Nintendo Switch 2 Release Date
- February 27, 2026
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch 2, PC
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
