Resident Evil 9 will revisit the series’ original setting, Raccoon City, out of their own curiosity, said devs in an interview. Read on to find out more about their thoughts on returning to the iconic city and their approach to balancing the horror sequences found in this setting.
Resident Evil 9 Returns to Raccoon City
Devs Are Curious Over The Outbreak’s Aftermath
Resident Evil 9: Requiem's long-awaited return to Raccoon City wasn't born from a grand narrative plan, but from simple curiosity, according to the game's director, Koshi Nakanishi.
"I've always wondered, ‘What happens to the people involved and those around them after that?’ and I've always wanted to do a proper investigation … Well, it's a weird analogy, but it's like forgetting about rice you put in the cooker, and then a week later thinking, ‘I wonder what it'd be like if I opened it now…,’" Nakanishi commented in an interview with 4Gamer.
Raccoon City was the setting for the original Resident Evil games and housed the series of events that kicked off several of the series’ driving plot points. Among them was the virus outbreak that turned the city into a wasteland, leaving naught but a few survivors.
One of the survivors of this incident was Alyssa Ashcroft, a main playable character from Resident Evil Outbreak and also the mother of RE9 protagonist Grace. Her death years later would become the driving force behind her daughter’s venture into Raccoon City. The game will explore Grace’s own emotional journey to putting the tragedy of her mother’s passing to rest, which Nakanishi confirmed as to why RE9 was named "Requiem " as it symbolizes this narrative.
Director Wants To Pace The Horror Out
Besides returning to Raccoon City, Nakanishi also compared previous Resident Evil entries and how they shaped his approach for balancing RE9’s horror elements.
According to a separate interview with GamesRadar, the director decided to pace out the horror sequences in RE9 as he believed that players would feel too exhausted if given no time to rest. Using both RE7 and RE2’s paced-out horror elements as references, he noted that moments of cathartic release are as important as the intense moments that precede them to give players the best experience.
“So you need to have this dynamic pacing curve where you’ll have a very tense, horrific sequence,” explained Nakanishi to GamesRadar via translation. “And then we’ll give you a bit of a release or a catharsis from that and let you sort of come down from that with more slightly peaceful exploration or some exciting combat, and then we gradually bring you back up the horror part of the curve.”
New System To Shake Things Up
Nakanishi acknowledged that in addition to pacing out horror sequences, he teased that a new system to be introduced in RE9 will shake things up.
"I want to make the distance between [horror tension and release] bigger than ever before in the series, and it just becomes a complete roller coaster ride between the different aspects of the series," commented Nakanishi. "I’m very excited for people to eventually understand what I mean by that."
Resident Evil Requiem will release on February 27, 2026, on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC. To stay up to date with the latest information on the game, check out our article below!
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Resident Evil Requiem
developer interview. The latest game in the series depicting the aftermath of the Raccoon Incident
Resident Evil Requiem may be the continuation for ALL Resi fans | Developer Interview
