As Resident Evil: Requiem sees the return of iconic protagonist Leon Kennedy, is his last outing worth a look ahead of the new game’s release?
Resident Evil: Requiem will not only take us back to Raccoon City for the first time since it got razed to the ground in the late 90s, but it will also see the return of a protagonist who has come to define this series, even though he was far from the first.
Leon Kennedy will be back for the first time since Resident Evil 6. Seems like a good time to head back to the previous games he’s fronted and see his journey, but should Resident Evil 6 be included in that replay?
Do You Need to Play RE6 Before Requiem?
Well, if it were any other protagonist, I’d say probably not, but this is Leon Kennedy, and his journey through decades of mad science and monsters is worthwhile.
You see, not every Resident Evil protagonist is created equal. Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield were two of the first four protagonists in the survival horror series, but it’s been far too long since they got a shot at leading a game. Outside of remakes and films, Jill and Claire last appeared as playable characters in the Revelations spinoff series.
On the flip side, Chris Redfield and Leon Kennedy, the other sides of those coins, feel like they’ve been ever-present. Chris stands out in particular, as he’s been playable in eight mainline games to date (yes, I count Code: Veronica). In theory, he’s the centerpiece of survival horror. Yet his constant redesigns have made him feel more like a sometimes beefy template than a singular character. He’s got the boulder-punching meme, he’s got the Wesker rivalry, and he’s an OG protagonist, but Chris Redfield is, frankly, boring.
Leon Kennedy sits somewhere between the extremes, though. Until now, he’d only been the protagonist in three games, but he’s become the poster boy for Resident Evil.
That has a lot to do with how his journey has been represented since his debut 28 years ago in Resident Evil 2. More than any other character in Resident Evil history, he’s grown, matured, and almost always been the marker for where Resident Evil shifts its style. For better and for worse.
The 2012 release of Resident Evil 6 is definitely in the latter camp. The warning shot of action over horror fired by Leon’s adventures in the fantastic Resident Evil 4 had become a near-relentless barrage of bullets by the time we got to Resident Evil 6, and the result was a bloated, confused mess that felt extremely distant from what Resident Evil had been just a decade earlier.
Leon’s role in the game was shared by six other playable characters across four scenarios, all part of one interwoven story. It’s safe to say his campaign is the most interesting.
And it comes back to Leon’s personal history. He entered the world of Resident Evil as a rookie cop starting work on the worst day imaginable, and in that escape from Raccoon City was a coming-of-age story of sorts, as his naivety and desire to do right were tested by the viral outbreak and his burgeoning relationship with spy Ada Wong.
In Resident Evil 4, years have passed, and surviving the Raccoon City incident has put Leon in a relatively good place. He’s now a special agent and has been tasked with rescuing the daughter of the US President from a Spanish cult. After dealing with monsters, easy stuff, but as we know, Leon ends up in a Die Hard 2 situation where he’s in over his head against a monstrous force, and just to up the deja vu in sunnier climes, Ada’s here too!
The Leon of Resident Evil 4 is clearly changed by the events of Resident Evil 2; the fumbling, earnest rookie is now a bit cynical, quippy, and in possession of a mean roundhouse kick. But we still see the caring rookie in moments.
He’s far less of an accidental hero, and his status as a special agent is part of that. Riding off into the sunset having saved Ashley, the president’s daughter, and vanquished the cult, he’s earned a break.
By Resident Evil 6, it feels like we’re getting some closure for Leon in his campaign. A bit of peace knowing the events in Raccoon City will soon be public for the first time.
But yet again, he finds himself in an outbreak situation. Once more in over his head and reunited with Ada in a typically awkward fashion.
It’s a repetition of the bit, and Leon’s relationship with fellow agent Helena Harper provides another spin on the kind he had with Claire and Ashley (albeit less interesting). But again, we get to see how the years between have affected Leon, and there’s even a first in-game encounter with Chris Redfield, which is still a delightfully giddy bit of fan service in my eyes.
Resident Evil 6 continued the strange consistency of Leon’s journey. Always helping/working with a female character, always a fresh version of the same nightmare, and always Ada Wong showing up to make life difficult. It’s not as nuanced a jump in time and character development as it was in Resident Evil 4.
So, with Resident Evil: Requiem carrying on with at least some of this tradition, replaying Resident Evil 6 should be just as important as the other Leon outings. Yes, it’s an often unbearably overstuffed action shooter wearing a Resident Evil mask, but Leon’s sections? They’re as dependable as the floppy-haired hero himself.
How Resident Evil 6 Connects to Requiem
The most obvious connection between Resident Evil 6 and Requiem is the one we’ve just gone over. Leon Kennedy is back in the saddle and roundhouse-kicking undead heads.
There will naturally be some underlying connective tissue between the games, as this comes right near the current endpoint of the Resident Evil timeline. Only the DLC for Resident Evil Village is set beyond the events of Requiem (2037).
The events of Resident Evil 6 were set between 2012 and 2013, and Requiem is set roughly 13 years later in 2026. That’s also about five years on from the time of the previous Resident Evil game, Village.
In Resident Evil 6, Leon Kennedy was caught up in an outbreak caused by Neo-Umbrella, first in America and later in China. With those events dealt with, Leon settled back into agency life, and we haven’t heard from him since, with Ethan Winters’ story becoming the new focus in Resident Evil 7 and Village.
What You Miss If You Skip Resident Evil 6
The saga that began with the Umbrella Corporation meddling in bioweaponry and ultimately unleashing a zombie plague on Raccoon City has naturally led to a mountain of a timeline.
If you do skip Resident Evil 6, then you’d be missing out on a significant portion of Leon Kennedy’s journey from rookie cop to world-weary US agent.
We haven’t got all that much information about what Leon’s been up to in the years since Resident Evil 6, so to really get anywhere close to where Leon is at in Requiem, the story of Resident Evil 6 is important as context.
Outside of Leon’s sections, and maybe Ada’s, there’s not too much to be gained from playing the rest of Resident Evil 6 regarding Requiem. The story of Requiem seems to be returning to the source to some degree, so while the outbreaks of Resident Evil 6 could still have a connection to current events, this seems like it has more to do with the old Umbrella than Neo-Umbrella.
Historically, how does the Resident Evil Timeline line up with Requiem
Resident Evil Requiem is set in the present day, so there’s effectively the entire Resident Evil library to get into ahead of its release, but you probably don’t have time for that. If you do, here’s the chronological order of mainline Resident Evil games to get you up to speed before Requiem. The vital ones are highlighted.
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Resident Evil 0
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Resident Evil
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Resident Evil 3 (first half)
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Resident Evil 2
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Resident Evil 3 (second half)
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Resident Evil Code: Veronica
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Resident Evil 4
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Resident Evil 5
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Resident Evil 6
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Resident Evil 7
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Resident Evil Village
There’s a host of side games too, but perhaps the most vital are the ones that you can’t very easily play. The PS2 Outbreak titles have a huge story connection to the original Resident Evil trilogy and to Requiem protagonist Grace Ashcroft.
You could also play the non-canon game Operation Raccoon City for the What If? nature of killing off Leon Kennedy, but I’d rather you didn’t suffer needlessly.
You can also fill in some holes with the CG films, which show us some Leon Kennedy adventures not featured in the games. There’s even a reunion with Claire Redfield.
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