Resident Evil 9 Rumor Hints at a More Open-World Game

The next mainline Resident Evil game, Resident Evil 9, may end up adopting a much more open-world setup compared to past games if a new rumor is leading fans in the right direction. That's not especially hard to believe considering how some of the more recent games have been set up, but the latest rumor about the game includes some supposed insights into Capcom's approach to new projects which, if accurate, supports the idea that Resident Evil 9 could be either fully or partially open-world.

Dusk Golem, an insider who's accurately shared information before related to Capcom games, the Resident Evil series, and horror games in general, tweeted about Resident Evil 9 and other Capcom projects on Friday morning. The leaker prefaced the Resident Evil 9 detail with a "little tidbit" about Capcom's approach to greenlighting games. Dusk Golem suggested that Capcom tends to "greenlight new initiatives" in threes with Resident Evil 7, the Resident Evil 2 remake, and Devil May Cry 5 an example of that as they all utilized the RE Engine which was at the time newly created for Resident Evil 7.

With that in mind, Dusk Golem brought up Dragon's Dogma 2, the newest Capcom game which sounds like it's doing very well save for some pesky microtransactions that haven't gone over well with players and onlookers. Dragon's Dogma 2 is naturally an open-world game as Capcom has indicated multiple times previously, and according to Dusk Golem, that open-world setup is due in part to further work done on the RE Engine to support this kind of game. Going back to the insights about Capcom's supposed greenlight process, the other two games greenlit with this open-world initiative in mind are Resident Evil 9 and the new Monster Hunter game called Monster Hunter Wilds.

"Dragons Dogma 2 expanded RE Engine functionality for open world games, the two other games building on this tech is Monster Hunter Wild & Resident Evil 9," Dusk Golem said on Twitter.

The only thing I'll additionally add before going silent & not reading Twitter again for now is part of all three project goals has been to retain the series DNA. DD2 is still clearly Dragon's Dogma, Wild is still clearly Monster Hunter, same will be true for RE9 w/Resident Evil.

— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) March 22, 2024

Of course, Capcom hasn't announced Resident Evil 9 at this point, so anything that's "known" about the game is all based on rumors, speculation, and inside info like these details from Dusk Golem. The leaker previously said that Capcom would likely be revealing the game this year with a 2025 release date on the table, too, but that hasn't happened yet. Capcom has been big lately on putting together its own showcases, so while summer events could be likely candidates for a Resident Evil 9 reveal, it's just as likely to happen at a time when Capcom feels fit to hold its own showcase.

In addition to Resident Evil 9, Capcom supposedly has several other Resident Evil games in the works, too. One of those is supposedly a remake of Resident Evil 5 which is the most likely candidate for a remake now that Resident Evil 4 has been crossed of the to-do list for remakes.