Resident Evil’s canon has always been up for debate. In the first game alone, it’s unclear whether Chris or Jill’s playthrough is the canon one, and that was long before the remakes ever entered the picture. TheResident Evil 2,3, and4remakes all tweak certain story elements of their original counterparts and add new details in.Resident Evil 4’s Luis, for instance, now canonically worked on the team that created Nemesis according toRE4remake. Given thatResident Evil Requiemis tying key parts of the franchise together, it has to pick and choose its canon carefully.
In Capcom’s recent showcase,Resident Evil Requiem’s developers say that the game is a “eulogy to those who came before,” specifically referring to past series characters who were present during the initial Raccoon City outbreak. It seems like a good portion ofRequiem’s story will revolve around the decimated metropolis, but it might not be the version of Raccoon City that someResident Evilfans remember.
Resident Evil Requiem’s Raccoon City Might Not Be As Nostalgic For Some Fans
There Are Two Distinct Versions of Raccoon City
Just like Spencer Mansion in the original 1996 entry, Raccoon City essentially became a character in its own right in1998’sResident Evil 2. Over the course of the game’s 10-hour campaign, players grew to know and love the city’s streets, stores, underground tunnels, and, of course, its museum-turned-police-office. A lot of long-timeResident Evilfans have a strong connection to Raccoon City, and that connection was bolstered byResident Evil 3, and the handful ofREspinoffs over the years that returned to the iconic location.
When it came time to remakeResident Evil 2, Capcom tried to be as faithful as it could to those original iterations of Raccoon City. But in order to best fit the remake’s new gameplay style and story tweaks, certain aspects of Raccoon City were reimagined, leading to a faithful recreation, but one that features an array of minor and major changes to layout and architecture.Resident Evil 3remake continued this approach, expanding the changes to the wider city area. As such, two quite distinct versions ofResident Evil’s Raccoon Citynow exist.
Resident Evil Requiem’s Raccoon City Might Resemble The Remakes' Version
Resident Evil Requiemis now officially confirmed to be set 30 years afterResident Evil 2, and though it’s still unclear in what capacity, fans will be returning Raccoon City. A few shots of the beloved franchise location were shown duringResident Evil Requeim’s reveal trailer, and while the city has been well and truly decimated by the thermobaric bomb that was dropped on it three decades earlier, key landmarks are still visible.
Raccoon Police Department is probably the most obvious landmark on display inRequiem’s trailer, with fans getting a few-second look at its destroyed exterior, and slightly more intact interior. Based on these brief glimpses, it seems as thoughResident Evil Requiem’s RPDis taking more inspiration from the remakes' version of Raccoon City than the original depiction. The main hall inRequiem’s RPD features the stairs heading to the third floor, the larger statue holding its arm up high (though its head is now missing), and the reception desk in front of the statue rather than behind it.
Given the popularity of theResident Evilremakes, and given the more modern, more fully-realized version of the city they put forward, it would make a lot of sense forResident Evil Requiemto use their version of Raccoon City as inspiration for its own.
