Resident Evil 9 Release Update And New Details Came out

We're well aware that Resident Evil 9 will be a major reinvention of the series. In terms of gameplay, it will take a page out of RE7's playbook and be completely different from what fans have seen so far. This could explain why the developers have been slow to unveil the game. 

Rumors claimed that Resident Evil 9 will be the largest mainline Resident Evil game to date, and that it will feature open-world aspects. Chris Redfield and Barry Burton might make an appearance, but they probably won't be playable characters—at least not in the main campaign—while Leon Scott Kennedy and Jill Valentine are purportedly going to be playable characters.

It is also unknown whether this will be part of a cohesive open world, but there will be a great variety of areas to discover, including a temple, a hospital, a forest, and even a couple of labs. Many rumors have circulated that RE9 will contain open-world features, but there's clearly going to be a significant gap between that and a fully integrated open world.

People are assuming that RE9 will have multiple large maps instead of just one, like in games like Dark Souls and Avowed. In these games, you can visit a ton of different locations within each level, but you have to fast travel between them instead of just walking from one to another; there's also a loading screen or transition between levels. 

It's essentially just a refinement of the format, which was used in games like RE4 and RE8. There, you would explore open-ended sections that contained numerous important locations, but unlike in a traditional unified open world, you couldn't freely go from one section to another.

While the current engine isn't ideal for open-world games, the developers should have no trouble making Resident Evil 9's open-world gameplay seamless with no loading screens or transitions if they used the same engine for Monster Hunter Wilds and Dragon's Dogma 2.

Regarding the game's engine, we're taking it as a given that Capcom's incredible RE Engine will serve as the basis for Resident Evil 9. Since RE7, Capcom has relied on the same engine, which has consistently delivered top-tier visuals and performance.

Performance concerns have been raised with games like Monster Hunter Wilds and Dragon's Dogma 2, but both are completely open-world. If Resident Evil 9 is going to be totally open-world, the developers will need to enhance their in-house engine to make it work.

When asked about when we might expect to see Resident Evil 9, director Koshi Nakanishi said that work on the new game would begin in 2024.

Here is a schedule for when the most recent Resident Evil titles will be available to buy: Following the May release of Resident Evil Village, the March remake of Resident Evil 4, the January remake of Resident Evil 2, and the April release of Resident Evil 3, it would be entirely fitting for Capcom to unveil Resident Evil 9 this summer.

The game is expected to be released in the first few months of May 2026, meaning it is less than a year away from its expected release date. Even if we receive a reveal in the summer, Capcom's customary connected marketing window makes a 2025 release date quite improbable.

Since Grand Theft Auto is currently scheduled for a May 2026 release window, this could indicate that the game will launch in early 2026. Although Rockstar's release dates no longer have any weight, Grand Theft Auto could be delayed once more. Capcom typically releases their major titles in the first quarter of each year.