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After the big reveal of Resident Evil Requiem during The Game Awards 2025, Capcom gradually began sharing deeper details about the upcoming project, and after confirming that Leon Kennedy is one of the playable characters, the game director revealed an unusual design philosophy that may make the experience closer to two different games within a single title.
In a new interview with Automaton, game director Akifumi Nakanishi talked about the gameplay styles of both Leon and Grace, explaining that:
In terms of gameplay, Leon and Grace’s chapters are divided almost equally.
He noted that the structure of the game is somewhat similar to what was previously presented in the Resident Evil Revelations series, but with a greater emphasis this time on the clear contrast between the two experiences.
According to Nakanishi, Leon’s character is no longer as suited to pure horror as he was in his early days, so his chapters are designed to be more action-oriented, full of adrenaline moments and intense clashes, and give the player a relative sense of security compared to Grace’s chapters.
On the other hand, Grace’s chapters carry the scariest character in the game, as the director emphasized that the development team:
“There’s a huge focus on making the Grace experience more frightening and tense.
Here, the player returns to the atmosphere of psychological terror and survival with a constant sense of insecurity and constant threat.
Nakanishi described the transition between the two characters with a funny but accurate analogy, saying that the experience is like:
Jumping into a cold water bath after sitting in a hot sauna.
He explained that Leon’s chapters give players a relative respite only to feel the fear again when switching to Grace, emphasizing that this contrast is intentional and carefully planned as part of the game’s horror structure.
The director concluded by emphasizing that this style is:
A consciously designed horror structure.
It manipulates the rhythm between temporary safety and sudden fear, maintaining constant tension without exhausting the player.
With this approach, Resident Evil Requiem seems to blend Leon’s action and Grace’s horror into one integrated yet dual-identity experience, a bold bet that could redefine how horror is presented within the series.
