Resident Evil Requiem is my most anticipated game, so every new report or leak that comes out about it further excites me and makes the wait for February more difficult. But then there's this latest one...oof.
Here's your spoiler warning, folks. Click away if you don't want to know more about RE9, even if the leak ends up being fake. You have been warned.
A supposed leaked image, originally posted on 4Chan (yeah, I know) and then re-posted to Reddit, shows a new look for one of the franchise's most popular characters, and one who is pivotal to the series' legacy in many ways, along with some Japanese text (translated by a Reddit user) describing Capcom's process of modeling characters in the RE Engine. And then there's some big red "CONFIDENTIAL" text in the top right, as always.
So, Leon S. Kennedy is likely going to be in Resident Evil Requiem. Leakers are saying so, and it would only be right for him to return as a send-off in this final chapter of the Umbrella story that Capcom looks to be telling in RE9. Chris has had plenty of time to shine (where are Claire and Jill?!), and so Leon is most likely to appear in this game. And that's exactly who we see in this purported leak.
Grace Ashcroft is probably just one of the playable characters in RE9. Most RE games had multiple. If we really are returning to Raccoon City to close that chapter, then Leon needs to be in it. Having said that, if in RE9 he looks like he does in this supposed leak, I'm pretty disappointed.
He's basically just Big Boss/Punished Snake/Venom Snake from Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain. The low-quality picture depicts a Zombie in an RPD vest, a weird two-headed monster, and then our main boy. The image has Leon with the same exact haircut that he had in 1998, but with some graying to it, and a slightly graying beard. And an eyepatch. What.
First, dude, get a haircut. Change your style. Rocking the Titanic-era DiCaprio cut 28 years after your first day at the RPD is ludicrous. This puts him at around 50 years old, give or take, depending on exactly when RE9 takes place. I'm all for expressing yourself stylistically, but you also have to be age-appropriate.
But then the eye patch? Why? I've been making jokes about an old Leon showing up like Old Snake in Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, a grizzled veteran ready to fight his final battles, but this leak makes it look like Capcom took that idea a little too literally.
So far, we've only seen glimpses of Grace gameplay from an early section of RE9. With Tokyo Game Show coming up next week, along with a potential State of Play from PlayStation, I think we'll begin seeing Leon confirmation in some capacity to hype up the game over the next five months before it releases.
I'm fairly certain Leon will be in RE9 in some capacity, with the odds showing that he will be the second playable character and action horror foil to Grace's pure survival horror. But if he shows up looking like Kiefer Sutherland's Big Boss clone in RE9, it'll be just plain weird, so I'm hoping this "leak" is a well-made fake.
Give him the beard, sure, and throw in some graying hair for dramatic effect to remind us all how god damn old we are now (I played the original RE2 when I was 9). But change up the haircut and leave the eye patch on the cutting room floor. Let's give our man the send-off he deserves.
Update on Sept. 19 at 3:40pm CT: For what it's worth, the same leaker who's adamant about Leon being in RE9 says that the image is a fake. Thank Spencer.
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The post I really hope this supposed Leon S. Kennedy leak in Resident Evil Requiem is fake (UPDATE) appeared first on Destructoid.
