New Details on Resident Evil 9
Time to confront the franchise's past: Resident Evil 9 Requiem has been officially announced, leading up to Resident Evil's 30th anniversary. Capcom finally showcased the next mainline entry during Summer Game Fest 2025, giving fans an idea of what might be the most ambitious Resident Evil game yet.
This deep dive will deconstruct the phenomenal trailer, reveal the huge connections to the series' vast lore, and confirm the massive secret seen behind doors at SGF.
I. Decoding the Trailer: A Return to Legacy
The Resident Evil 9 Requiem trailer is replete with critical information, announcing an epic return to legacy connections:
Introducing Grace Dempsey and the FBI Link
The trailer begins inside an FBI headquarters, immediately introducing us to a new protagonist, Special Agent Grace Dempsey. Grace is an FBI analyst whose office is covered in reports and documents, suggesting she works on connecting disparate cases. Her computer screen shows a pending investigation into four suspicious deaths, each involving an unknown infection—a clear thematic link to the Arklay Forest incident near Raccoon City.
The Alyssa Ashcroft Connection
We get a massive lore bombshell right away: Grace is the daughter of Alyssa Ashcroft, the smooth, skilled reporter of the Resident Evil Outbreak sub-series. That's immediately followed by a tragic one: Agent Dempsey assigns Grace to investigate the Ramwood Hotel, the very same location where Alyssa is meant to have perished eight years previously.
Alyssa Ashcroft's Role: For the unfamiliar with the Outbreak games, Alyssa was a skilled lockpick expert and a leading candidate for survival due to her well-rounded skill set and take-no-prisoners attitude. Her canonical survival of Raccoon City makes this familial connection an interesting factoid.
The Suspect: Grace has flashbacks of a mysterious, conscious but infected hooded man. The man is somehow linked to Alyssa's demise in the hotel and is heavily implied to be the main antagonist of Resident Evil 9 Requiem.
The Raccoon City Ruins and Biohazard-Dash
The climax of the trailer is the ruins of Raccoon City, bombed out with a giant crater amidst surprisingly intact buildings. Close-up shots of the devastation of the city are shown, most notably the ruins of the RPD building.
This return to the post-apocalyptic city strongly suggests that Capcom is finally realizing the long-stored concept named "Biohazard-Dash," a project that was originally conceived after the first game where main protagonists would return to the ruins of the city and the Spencer Mansion. This expansion to Resident Evil 9 Requiem is a milestone for long-time fans.
The Logic behind the New Enemy and Role of Grace
One of the most significant fan theories—supported by my SGF analysis—explains the villain's motivation and Grace's unique status in Resident Evil 9 Requiem.
The T-Virus Immunity: In Resident Evil Outbreak, canonical survivor Alyssa Ashcroft would have been administered the Daylight vaccine to cure her T-Virus infection. It is highly probable that her daughter, Grace, was born with natural immunity to the zombie viruses in her bloodstream.
The Villain's Goal: The villain under the hood, who is likely the final link to the original Umbrella Corporation, is searching for Grace since she is "special." The SGF demo also had Grace hanging upside down in the Roades Hill Chronic Care Center, her blood draining into a visible IV bag.
The Exchange: This would mean the villain needs Grace's uniquely immune blood to heal or complete a bond with his own infection. Alyssa's presumed death eight years ago could have occurred either due to an experiment gone wrong at the hands of this villain or because her own immune blood aged and lost its potency, forcing the antagonist to seek out a younger, fresher source in her daughter.
III. SGF Secret: The Dual-Perspective Gameplay Reveal
Resident Evil 9 Requiem's most shocking revelation was the behind-closed-doors gameplay demo:
The demo started with Grace in a precarious situation: hanging upside down and using her analyst mind to escape using a piece of broken glass. The initial gameplay perspective was First-Person View (FPV).
FPV Survival Horror: The setting—the black-as-coal dark, American Gothic Roades Hill hospital—meant that Grace had to light her way with a Zippo lighter (a nod to Code Veronica). Grace is set up as the franchise's least combat-oriented protagonist, emphasizing old-school key-hunting puzzles and avoidance.
The Chase: This chapter concluded in a classic Nemesis-style chase with a gigantic, chained abomination (which has a striking similarity with Lisa Trevor from REmake). The monster was so big that it moved by pushing rooms, making for a frightening Alien Isolation-style chase where the creature's route wasn't predestined and was random and dynamic.
The Game-Changing Option: After Grace escapes the chase, the game paused itself, the settings menu appeared, and the player selected the option of switching to Third-Person View (TPV).
That's correct: Resident Evil 9 Requiem will be playable in First-Person and classic Third-Person View (with the wider, RE4 style camera angle) from beginning to end. Capcom has clearly crafted the entire experience with both perspectives in mind, so both fans will be able to play the game in their style of choice. This commitment to player choice sets a new, ambitious standard for the entire series.
