Rumor: Resident Evil 9 Protagonists to Be Leon and Jill, Will Feature Open-World Elements

While Capcom hasn’t officially announced Resident Evil 9 yet, loads of rumors about the upcoming survival horror game has seemingly surfaced (though unverified). This time around, a bunch of info regarding the game’s protagonist(s) have surfaced, alongside supporting characters, enemies and more.

Before diving into the info below, do remember that these are all unconfirmed and are considered leaks, and as such, should not be viewed as anything official. The only reason we are posting about it is that the source seems reliable enough.

This time around, the leak comes from German content creator Screenfire Germany, who reliable leaker Dusk Golem has apparently referenced previously as the first person to have leaked Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil: Code Veronica remakes months before Dusk and other outlets reported on it. Allegedly, Screenfire’s source is a Capcom employee that he became friends with at gamescom.

Important to note that the Resident Evil 0 and Code Veronica remakes have not been confirmed as well. As for the info below, it has been translated from German to English by Sapphire Weapon.

Resident Evil 9 Info via Screenfire Germany (Rumor):

• Says RE9 stars Leon AND Jill, not just Leon.
• Jill is apparently to Leon what Sheva is to Chris in RE5.
• Game is not fully open world, just has open world elements like RE Village and RE4 Remake.
• Game was initially designed as a co-op game, but after the positive reception to RE7 and RE Village being single player, Capcom may have cut the co-op aspect.
• When considering cutting the co-op, Capcom also considered cutting Jill as well to just focus on Leon and the single player. However, after reducing Jill’s role so much in RE5, they felt it was unfair to cut her again. Says he knows 100% that Jill is still in the game as a main character, he’s just not sure where she stands from a gameplay perspective.
• Mentioned that if it is still co-op, he’s not sure how Capcom is designing it. Says it could be like RE5 and RE6, or like RE0 (where you could freely switch between them), or may just end up being two separate campaigns for each character.
• Doesn’t know who the game’s supporting characters are, but suspects it’s most likely Barry for Jill and Ada for Leon.
• Says RE9 will not focus on Blue Umbrella, and likely not on the BSAA cliffhanger from the end of Village either. If the BSAA cliffhanger is addressed, it will only be a small part of the game.
• Game will be third person, but he suspects that first person will be added later to the game. (Similar to The Evil Within 2).
• Thinks the enemies are zombies, but they’ll be faster and likely more aggressive since the slow, lumbering zombies wouldn’t be a threat to Jill or Leon anymore.

Outside of Resident Evil 9, the leaker has also dished info on the Resident Evil franchise as whole.

• He said that the only characters who are safe from death are Chris, Jill, Leon, and Claire. Anybody else (including Barry, Rebecca, and even Ada) could all be killed off if the story calls for it. He suspects that could be part of the reason why Barry might appear in RE9. Due to his age, his window of being used is limited, so it’s possible Capcom may want to give him one final appearance before closing off his story.
• RE5 Remake was in pre-production, but was ultimately shelved (not cancelled) until Capcom can figure out how to handle the racism controversy.
• Says that Capcom put out a call for a RE6 Remake, but nobody had any interest in the project, so it was cancelled and will likely never happen.
• Also mentioned that each team/director isn’t bound by the story or cliffhangers that came in the previous game. They can tell whatever story they want to and use the characters they want. This is why there are so many unresolved cliffhangers and characters that are introduced and never seen again.
• Also said that seeing these newly introduced characters (like Sheva or Helena, he mentioned) are unlikely to ever make an appearance again.
• He also says that he tries to be transparent with what he knows and doesn’t know in regard to leaking.

Again, it bears repeating that the info above is not verified, and as such, should be taken with a bag of salt.

In other RE9 news, a retailer has posted a listing of the unannounced game with the title “Revenant Shadows.” So far, Capcom has not mentioned anything about it even after we reached out.

[Thanks, DampRevil!]

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