I'm easily scared, but I still love a good murder mystery. So, even though I yelped and nearly jumped out of my chair watching the gameplay preview for Resident Evil Requiem at Summer Game Fest earlier this year (and again during my own demo session at Gamescom in Cologne, Germany), I still wanted to know what was going to happen to newbie FBI intelligence analyst Grace Ashcroft as she investigates a mysterious death in the same hotel where her mother was killed eight years ago.
In a backroom of the Koelnmasse convention center away from fans wandering Gamescom 2025, I sat with Kōshi Nakanishi, the game's director who also headlined previous games in the franchise such as Resident Evil: Revelations and Resident Evil 7, and Masato Kumazawa, the game's producer, to explore the team's intent to refocus the next game on drawing more potential fans to the horror franchise.
We spoke about the game's mysterious title, its cinematic influences, if the protagonist ever gets weapons, the role of community in the Resident Evil franchise -- and whether they prefer to play their upcoming game in first-person or third-person mode.
This interview was conducted via interpreter and has been edited for length and clarity.
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A chat with Resident Evil 9 Requiem's director and producer
Faith Chihil (CNET): I first saw the trailer at Summer Game Fest and even screamed a little in the preview. Why do you two like to scare people?
Kōshi Nakanishi (Capcom): [Laughing] Well, there are people who want to be scared when they play a game!
FC: I'm normally too scared to play some of your games, but what really intrigued me about this is the idea of it being a murder mystery. It seemed like there were some influences from The Silence of the Lambs or even The X-Files. Are there any new inspirations you're bringing to the Resident Evil canon?
KN: It's really great to hear you say that because our exact aim was to try and intrigue people who don't normally play Resident Evil games, add some different elements so that they might want to play even if they think it's normally not for them. In addition to the works you just mentioned, the work of David Fincher is something where I love to try and aim for that mood. You know, the way his movies are shot, that kind of dark atmosphere.
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