Resident Evil Requiem features the final form of Leon S. Kennedy

Resident Evil RequiemWith the release coming, it will be exciting to see what new direction Capcom takes with their flagship horror franchise. Really, Resident Evil Requiem represents the merging of the old with the new, bringing in a new hero while bringing back the old, offering both third-person and first-person modes. With the return of Leon S. Kennedy Requiemthe game could end up being the tightest connection between modern yet Resident Evil and classic Wesker-centric games.

That's because Leon, unlike Ethan Winters or newcomer Grace Ashcroft, was the central subject Resident Evil plot almost from the beginning. Debut in Resident Evil 2Leon has been through the ringer several times: his journey from Racoon City Police rookie to international special agent is filled with death, danger and disaster. Through it all, Leon has transformed from a fresh-faced optimist into a grizzled, unstoppable, often banal force of nature. However, Leon's last canon appearance in the game was in Resident Evil 6which takes place in 2012. This means that his stay and activity during Resident Evil 7 and Resident Evil Village were mostly unknown, but it also confirms that he's still in the business of killing BOWs, and will likely be better at the job than ever.

generally speaking Resident Evil games are set in the same year they were released, with remakes being notable exceptions.

Zero to Hero: The Leon Kennedy Story So Far

The following summaries will mostly ignore the spin-off games and movies featuring Leon, as they don't have much of an impact on Leon's arc or status heading into Resident Evil Requiem.

Resident Evil 2

Leon was glued to Resident Evil timeline since the 1998 Raccoon City incident, which was the first major public outbreak of BOW. It was the poor 21-year-old's first day on the job. Despite a complete lack of police experience, Leon, with the help of Ada Wong and Claire Redfield, uncovers meaningful information about the T-Virus and G-Virus when he learns that they were created by virologist William Birkin in collaboration with the United States government: the US funded Umbrella, Birkin's employer, in an effort to develop advanced biological weapons.

Eventually, Leon and Claire destroy Birkin's lab and the US military bombs Raccoon City to pieces to cover up their involvement in the outbreak. After he and Claire broke up, Leon was captured by the US military, who saw him as an obstacle due to his knowledge of the US-Umbrella conspiracy. However, his efforts in Raccoon City demonstrated an exceptional level of talent in the field, as he was able to almost single-handedly contain the G-Virus – something the military alone was unable to do during their operations in the city. Thus began Leon's transformation into a highly trained special agent for the United States Strategic Command as part of the Umbrella Task Force. As a STRATCOM agent, he learned unparalleled combat and survival skills, most notably during Operation Javier in 2002, which was the subject of Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.

Resident Evil 4

Two years after Javier's operation, Leon was sent to a remote Spanish village to search for the 20-year-old daughter of the US president, Ashley Graham, who had been kidnapped on her way home from university. Through various acts of escalating heroism, he fought his way through hordes of BOWs spawned from a cult called Los Illuminados, a derivative of an ancient fringe religion that believed in surrendering body and soul to a mythical creature sent by God. This made them easy prey for Osmund Saddler, a power-hungry fanatic with access to Umbrella's research and development materials, in addition to the mind-controlling Plagas parasite. Saddler planned to use the Plagas in conjunction with the religious fervor of Los Illumindos to gain unprecedented global influence.

Leon, along with Ada Wong and Ashley, stopped Saddler's plans and destroyed much of the Plaga, though Wong made off with the Plaga sample—it was too valuable an asset to be destroyed with the rest of the Plaga. Resident Evil 4the setting of the third act. Fortunately, Leon and Ashley made it through the Las Plagas incident safely, and his success made him even more pleased with the United States government.

Resident Evil 6

Years after the Las Plagas incident, US intelligence officer Adam Benford, who initially recruited Leon to STRATCOM and subsequently developed a close relationship with the younger man, took office as the President of the United States. In a radical move, Benford planned to declassify the events of the Raccoon City disaster during a 2013 speech at Ivy University. Upon learning of this, a powerful underground organization called The Family unleashed an outbreak of the C-Virus that infected Benford and forced Leon to kill him.

Thus Resident Evil 6 begins and what follows is a convoluted, globe-trotting story focused on several characters, not just Leon; you may be aware of this Resident Evil 6 is one of the most controversial entries in the franchise. But Leon's arc is mostly concerned with avenging Benford and unraveling the conspiracy behind the C-Virus outbreak. He emerges from this adventure saddened and angered by the death of his dear friend, while gaining a deeper understanding of international shadow organizations and how biological weapons affect global power struggles.

How will Leon's past affect Resident Evil Requiem?

IN Resident Evil RequiemLeon will be forty-eight years old and has spent most of his adult life as a key agent against biological warfare around the world. He will investigate the disappearance of a police officer in connection with an unidentified new biological weapon, during which he crosses paths with Grace Ashcroft, Requiemanother protagonist.

At this point, Leon's fighting skills and survival skills are unquestionable. He has decades of experience fighting all manner of enemies, from armed paramilitary operatives to monstrous G-Virus mutants, proving his ability to succeed as a one-man army. Beyond that, however, his difficult history with government and authority can shape his character, as this man has been groomed to never take anything at face value. Leon's combat readiness should be balanced by these traumatic and paradigm-changing events, as he has lost close friends on numerous occasions and nearly lost his own life due to bioweapon-related power struggles. Hopefully, this will lead to Leon's mental and spiritual strength and complexity matching his undeniable effectiveness with firearms, hand-to-hand combat, and critical thinking.