Camera pans down to capture the back of Chris Redfield as he’s addressing his Hound Wolf Squad; there’s a new threat on the horizon, an evil threat that’s emerged from the BSAA using cloned humanoid bioweapons and exacerbated by some unpaid intern accidentally leaving its cage open. But Chris’ elite task force won’t be enough for this. Enter from stage right, Leon Kennedy, and Jill Valentine.
There are a ton of rumours surrounding what Resident Evil 9 will be, where it will take place, and who it will involve. While my fan theory for the start of the game is admittedly a little rushed, I have a feeling that it’s along the right lines as Leon and Jill are rumoured to make a return. Bioweapon experiments would also nicely follow on from the Eveline storyline, while Chris’ involvement would wrap in the Shadow of Rose DLC, which may take place some years after the upcoming game.
But with no formal direction from Capcom, many fans are left rummaging through scraps like ravenous little raccoons desperate to find something in last night’s trash. So it’s not really surprising that players spotted what seems to be a Resident Evil 9 nod in a new Resident Evil 4 remake video.
To celebrate 10 million copies worldwide Capcom the developers “prepared a special video to express our gratitude to all of you.” The video features Ada Wong ringing the village bell but instead of all the Plagas-ridden villagers stumbling sadly to the church, they’re all instead wearing party hats—and even a fake nose and mustache—to celebrate the big occasion. Then as the door closes behind the last party-goer we see “Celebrating 10 million players” painted across it as the camera pans out to Dr Salvador (Chainsaw man) strumming his chainsaw, and maybe even singing along to the rock song playing overhead. But somehow that’s not the most exciting part of the video.
At the end as we see Leon standing in the village centre, presumably very confused, the camera then focuses on a sign that also says “thanks for playing” and “glory to the players”. It’s at this moment that if you turn your head to the side, you see the Roman numerals IX, a nine.
エージェントの皆様へ感謝の気持ちを込めて記念映像をご用意いたしました。ぜひ音付きでお楽しみください。Attention all agents,We’ve prepared a special video to express our gratitude to all of you, which we hope you’ll enjoy (with sound ON)!RE4 Dev Team pic.twitter.com/cKaS198UVYApril 25, 2025
This may not seem like a whole lot, but like I said before, we’ll take pretty much anything at this point. It could also just be a coincidence, but as Resi leaker Dusk Golem points out, there’s no lower plank on the original sign in Resident Evil 4, so it’s been retroactively added in for this video.
It’s not like there are Silksong levels of excitement, but players do seem to be anticipating a return of some well-known faces. “I want a new game starring Jill so badly,” one player says. While others reminisce about the good old days when Jill was fighting against a rather nasty modified version of the T-virus strain, someone points out that a Jill/Leon team-up is badly needed: “Together at last, like ice cream and pizza.”
During the Capcom Next Summer 2024 stream, director Koshi Nakanishi revealed: “It was really difficult to figure out what to do after Resident Evil 7. But I found it, and to be honest, it feels substantial. I can’t share any details just yet, but I hope you’re excited for the day I can.”
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