After weeks of rumors, speculation, and leaks, Capcom confirmed at last week’s Game Awards ceremony that Leon Kennedy is returning in Resident Evil Requiem as a playable character. The older version of the Raccoon City cop will co-lead the upcoming survival horror game alongside new hero Grace Ashcroft when it launches on February 27. For some, this reveal was a moment of celebration, as Leon is a fan-favorite character who hasn’t been playable in a mainline game since 2012’s Resident Evil 6 (though he’s playable in two of Capcom’s more recent remakes), but for others, the fact that Grace doesn’t have the spotlight to herself is a disappointment.
Ever since Requiem’s surprise announcement at Summer Game Fest, the game has been marketed as Grace’s story, one that would lean into a more survival horror/puzzle-centric playstyle. So imagine everyone’s surprise when Leon showed up with a small arsenal, his trademark cheesy one-liners, and much more action-focused gameplay. Capcom says that Requiem will be a roughly 50/50 split between the two characters, which sounds like a good way to keep the game from getting stale, at least. But some feel that Resident Evil is leaning too heavily on its original cast of characters, and that the series could use some new blood.
After two games starring the deliberately nondescript Ethan Winters, and most of the games before that passing the protagonist ball back and forth between Leon, Jill Valentine, and the Redfield siblings, fans were excited about Grace and Resident Evil putting the spotlight on a relative unknown. She has ties to previous games through her mother Alyssa Ashcroft, who appeared in the Outbreak games, but Grace is the first new Resident Evil hero in a hot minute. So some fans are a little disappointed that she’ll be sharing the spotlight with one of the series’ biggest names.
oh https://t.co/NxPWf4wABN pic.twitter.com/hg0daoQ3Ca
— ୨୧ (@redfieldcode) December 13, 2025
me wanting the horror experience with a female protagonist and then suddenly i have to complete a section with bad driving and corny jokes https://t.co/BBZiiK79bK pic.twitter.com/RyfYksRb77
— nunu (@ijbolyuri) December 14, 2025
This is supposed to be about Grace, now im seeing people bring up that Leon is there because he’s ger father. Suddenly shes getting all the hate and we’ve not even played as her yet. This is ridiculous, Leon makes people blind and dumb to anything but him. #REBHFun #ResidentEvil pic.twitter.com/wdFrQQOyde
— Biohazard_RPD (@JillRpd) December 10, 2025
“Leon is gonna overshadow Grace, which sucks,” oliviaplays08 wrote on Reddit. “Grace is officially the protag, but Leon probably got far more attention from Capcom as the ‘fan favorite.’”
“I like Leon, I just hope Grace isn’t another damsel for him to rescue and can stand on her own as a strong well written character,” Nikolai508 wrote in the same thread.
Some fans speculate that Capcom anticipated some fans would start ignoring Grace once their favorite rookie cop, who has officially undergone twink death, would be a co-protagonist, and that’s why they didn’t lead with him in the early trailers and marketing. Even now that the cat’s out of the bag, the company has been referring to the presence of the two characters as representing “two generations” of survival horror coming together. Perhaps Requiem will be a story of Leon “passing the torch” to a new hero, with future Resident Evil games focusing on new characters moving forward. If so, maybe Grace will take on a solo leading role in a hypothetical Resident Evil 10, or at least work alongside someone who hasn’t been in these games for 30 years. Hopefully, that means Leon gets a cushy retirement plan rather than meeting a grimmer outcome that might take him off the board for future games.
While some folks are doubtful about the decision, others are just happy to see Leon back and for Requiem to seemingly be scratching the itch for both an action-oriented Resident Evil and a more tense, horror-driven one. I understand the initial disappointment some are feeling, but I’m open to Requiem being an origin story that allows Resident Evil to explore new characters without being burdened by the past. We’ll see how it all plays out on February 27.