The director of Resident Evil Requiem has mentioned that the sport’s feminine employees members labored onerous to make sure hero Leon S. Kennedy “would make anybody’s coronary heart throb.”
Followers have praised Leon’s look in Requiem, which sees the rookie cop turned grizzled agent sporting stubble, wrinkles, however nonetheless a full head of floppy hair. On-line, could have dubbed Leon as an “ikeoji” character — a gorgeous older man that can be known as a “sizzling uncle” — and it is this definition which has now been put to Requiem’s director by Automaton.
“We have spent various time sprucing Leon’s visuals,” director Koshi Nakanishi mentioned when requested about Leon’s ikeoji standing. “Leon has many followers amongst Capcom workers, and ladies in specific have been fairly strict when reviewing his design.
“They might level out and touch upon even the best particulars just like the wrinkles on his neck,” Nakanishi continued. “When I discussed that story in the previous, a feminine fan informed me, ‘The ladies builders at Capcom did a extremely good job’ (laughs). All through the event course of, Leon was totally refined, and I feel we managed to come back by way of with a design that may make anybody’s coronary heart throb.”
Leon was lastly revealed for Resident Evil Requiem late final yr, following months of teases, rumors and hypothesis over his look. The returning hero of Resident Evil 2 and 4 (and a little bit of 6), Leon will characteristic in action-heavy gameplay that may distinction with the quieter, horror-led sequences that characteristic sequence beginner Grace Ashcroft.
How have the years handled Leon? Is he nonetheless pining for Ada? Will he be given a cheerful ending, after almost three a long time combating zombies? And what’s going on with that ominous-looking mark on his neck? All of those are questions that Requiem will hopefully reply, in addition to simply offering us all with extra eye sweet.
“Each employees member had their very own interpretation of Leon’s 30-year-long historical past, so they’d inform me issues like, Leon would positively not act like that in this type of scenario,” Nakanishi continued. “So, there have been extra opinions about what he is like on the within in comparison with his appears to be like, and after many discussions, we have been in a position to choose one thing that clicked for us. When gamers see this Leon in the sport, hopefully they are going to be capable of discover their very own interpretation of him as properly.”
Resident Evil Requiem launches on February 27, and we simply acquired a closing hands-on look at Leon in motion.
“Do you want tense survival horror? It’s right here,” IGN wrote. “Wanna go all weapons blazing with intense motion and a quip-obsessed hero? You get that too. Do you like taking part in RE video games in first or third particular person? Doesn’t matter; you are able to do both. All these decisions, together with my fears of a jarring play expertise being largely squashed, make it straightforward to imagine that Capcom’s daring transfer to have its cake and eat it will repay in a giant approach.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You’ll be able to attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social