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. The Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes 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 to RE4 remake. Given that Resident Evil Requiem is 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 of Requiem’s story will revolve around the decimated metropolis, but it might not be the version of Raccoon City that some Resident Evil fans remember.

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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 in 1998’s Resident 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-time Resident Evil fans have a strong connection to Raccoon City, and that connection was bolstered by Resident Evil 3, and the handful of RE spinoffs over the years that returned to the iconic location. When it came time to remake Resident 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 3 remake continued this approach, expanding the changes to the wider city area. As such, two quite distinct versions of Resident Evil’s Raccoon City now exist.
Resident Evil Requiem’s Raccoon City Might Resemble The Remakes’ Version

Resident Evil Requiem is now officially confirmed to be set 30 years after Resident 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 during Resident 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 in Requiem’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 though Resident Evil Requiem’s RPD is taking more inspiration from the remakes’ version of Raccoon City than the original depiction. The main hall in Requiem’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 the Resident Evil remakes, and given the more modern, more fully-realized version of the city they put forward, it would make a lot of sense for Resident Evil Requiem to use their version of Raccoon City as inspiration for its own.

Resident Evil Requiem

Released

February 27, 2026

Engine

RE Engine

PC Release Date

February 27, 2026

Xbox Series X|S Release Date

February 27, 2026

PS5 Release Date

February 27, 2026