Everything we know about Resident Evil 9

Resident Evil Village is the talk of the town. From House Beneviento to Lady Dimitrescu, the horror game was one of 2021’s biggest titles. While the Resident Evil series has always been hugely popular, Village is a genuine water cooler moment for the gaming world. Whenever a game is this buzzworthy, one word immediately comes to mind: sequel. Resident Evil 9 was always going to happen, but it’s especially inevitable now. Village includes a fair amount of setup for whatever will happen next in the continuity. In the spirit of hype, here’s everything we currently know about Resident Evil 9.

Is Resident Evil 9 confirmed?

Capcom has yet to officially say whether or not Resident Evil 9 is in development, but there are a lot of context clues here. We’ll go into this in more depth later, but Resident Evil Village ends with a direct teaser that blatantly sets up a direct sequel. Factor in the game’s success and a follow-up is most assuredly in the cards.

On the speculation front, there have been some notable leaks about the project. Renowned RE leaker Dusk Golem posted a scoop back in April 2020 saying that Resident Evil 9 is closely tied with 7 and Village, with all three serving as a trilogy. Now that we’ve all played Village, that seems more clear than ever before.

“Know that Village being a direct sequel to RE7 was decided pretty early on,” tweeted Dusk Golem. “There's some things in RE7 that will make more sense after RE8. More than any other series of titles in the series history, RE7>RE8>RE9 have a connected, planned-out story as all ended up in dev close together.”

That was tweeted before the game came out, and it certainly lines up with some of Village’s wildest reveals. It could be an educated guess, but the close trilogy idea does seem to be the case.

All that being said, when will the game be released? RE7 was released in January 2017, and Village hit store shelves in May 2020. Assuming the next entry is of similar size and scope, then we’re probably looking at a late 2023 release window.

What is the Resident Evil 9 story?

We’re going to go into spoiler territory from here on out. If you haven’t beaten Village yet, be warned!

Resident Evil Village gives us a good idea of what to expect in RE9. The game ends with Ethan Winters blowing himself up to destroy Mother Miranda. An end title card notes that “the father’s story” is over, so it seems like he won’t be the hero in a sequel.

Instead, it looks like we’ll be playing as his daughter, Rose. Village ends with a time jump, where a now grown-up Rose is doing some form of work for Chris Redfield. She also appears to have superpowers of some kind. All signs point to the next game starring Rose and bringing in some kind of supernatural gameplay.

Alternately, we know that Chris Redfield heads off to BSAA headquarters after the events of Village, but we don’t actually see what happens. It’s possible we pick up there instead, with Rose’s story being a side game or vice versa.

Is there a Resident Evil 9 trailer?

While there is not technically any sort of trailer for Resident Evil 9 yet, you might as well consider the Village post-credits scene to be a trailer. Watch it above, if you’d like.

Will Lady Dimitrescu be in Resident Evil 9?

Okay, we have to answer the biggest question here: Lady Dimitrescu was the breakout star of Resident Evil Village’s marketing campaign. It seemed like she was going to be the Big Bad, but her tale wraps up within a few hours. Considering how popular she is, is there a chance she returns for a sequel?

Resident Evil Village director Morimasa Sato told Digital Trends that the team is listening to fan feedback on the character and doesn’t rule out a return.

“Lady Dimitrescu has certainly played her part in Ethan’s journey in Resident Evil Village and has already become one of the title’s most popular characters,” Sato tells Digital Trends. “The feedback to Lady Dimitrescu has been overwhelmingly positive, and we take the community’s feedback to heart. We never rule anything out in the world of Resident Evil!”

So ... you’re telling me there’s a chance!?