Requiem Brings Back Two Characters Only Hardcore Resident Evil Fans Will Remember

Resident Evil Requiem often times feels like a love letter to the franchise as a whole. While there are plenty of iconic characters missing from the narrative, the game finds plenty of ways to reference previous enemies, challenges, and levels — including a melancholic return to Raccoon City itself. However, Leon isn’t the only familiar face who makes an appearance in the game.

Two of the best returns in the game belong to relatively minor characters in the grand scheme of things, although both of them have also become fan-favorite figures over the years. Both of them also make perfect sense as minor figures in the game, including as a boss fight that fans have been itching to see for years. Here are the two great character cameos in Resident Evil Requiem and why they’re perfect for the game.

Sherry Birkin Is Still Working With Leon

Sherry Birkin’s return as an important supporting character for Leon Kennedy in Resident Evil Requiem is a fun appearance for a character that was originally little more than a plot device. Sherry first appeared in Resident Evil 2 as a young girl found in the Raccoon City police department. The daughter of Umbrella scientists William and Annette Birkin, Sherry was saved by Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy, primarily serving as a motivation for the heroes. By the time of Resident Evil 6, Sherry had joined the BSAA, leading her to play a supporting role in that game’s storyline, especially alongside Jake Muller. A playable character for the first time, Sherry shared the spotlight with several other characters (including franchise mainstays like Leon and Chris Redfield). Although she appeared briefly in other games like Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, these were more cameos than anything else.

Sherry’s appearance in Resident Evil: Requiem establishes that she still works alongside Leon and the rest of the franchise’s heroes in combating extreme biological warfare, albeit in more of a support position. Much of Leon’s plot in the game is rooted in his being forced to confront the trauma he’s been dealing with for years, so having Sherry in his ear as a supportive ally helps provide additional history to the situation. It gives players a good reminder of just how far the series has come, with Sherry — formerly a child in need of rescuing — now capable of holding her own alongside the people who once protected her. Sherry’s return also serves as a chance for Requiem to not be distracted from Leon by having another star of the series appear as a fellow infectee of the Raccoon City Syndrome, underlining the legacy of the franchise without shifting focus away from the game’s main characters. Sherry also makes for a surprisingly perfect contrast to Grace, another young woman who seems suited for analysis but finds herself thrust into a dangerous world.

How Resident Evil Quietly Brought Back HUNK

For longtime fans of Resident Evil, the more exciting return is one that technically isn’t confirmed — but is heavily implied. One of Requiem‘s most engaging boss battles sees Leon face off with a masked Umbrella commando commander, who is heavily suggested to be HUNK. HUNK was introduced as a secret side mission in Resident Evil 2. After completing both Leon and Claire’s campaigns and earning an A rank in both, players got the chance to play as Hunk in “The 4th Survivor,” a mission that sees Hunk making his way to Raccoon City PD through hordes of enemies. With his incredible combat skills and ruthless tactics, HUNK stood out from the other faceless goons that heroes would occasionally see working for Umbrella. HUNK has subsequently appeared in cameo appearances and as an unlockable playable character in The Mercenaries multiplayer combat mode but has never really encountered the main characters in any of the mainline game narratives.

That seems to change in Resident Evil: Requiem, however. Late in the game, the commando who faces off with Leon has a similar outfit to HUNK, is voiced by the same actor who previously played him, and seems to be suffering from the same Raccoon City Syndrome as Leon — suggesting he too was present at the outbreak, just as HUNK was. Their duel even sees HUNK deploy some of his more famous attacks against Leon, such as an attempted neck snap that was a common technique for the character in previous appearances. The commando being HUNK would also justify the villain’s decision to face Leon one-on-one instead of simply killing him, as a chance to take down such a tough opponent himself would be in-character for HUNK. This makes the Commando’s death at Leon’s hands all the more surprising, as HUNK had become a fan favorite character over the years. While it’s at least a fitting farewell to the commando if that was indeed him, players who revisit the body after the battle will find that it’s missing — suggesting that HUNK might not be gone for good, and might come looking for a rematch down the line.