Resident Evil Requiem May No Longer Be a Multiplayer Game, But Those Bones Don’t Need to Be Buried

Resident Evil Requiem is the latest mainline installment in one of gaming’s most iconic horror franchises. Announced as the closer to the Summer Game Fest 2025 Opening Night, Resident Evil Requiem is set to return players to Raccoon City for the first time in over a decade. Playable from both the first and third-person perspectives, this new game looks to build on the success of the recent first-person titles, as well as the recent bevy of remakes of third-person Resident Evil entries.

Resident Evil Requiem will already be an ambitious turn for the series, but publisher Capcom almost made this entry a complete reinvention. Recently, director Koshi Nakanishi showcased some early footage of the project and also revealed that the development team experimented with several other gameplay styles. While one of the developer’s initial concepts will not come to fruition, it shouldn’t be off the table for future installments in the series.

Resident Evil Requiem’s Focus on the Past Cuts the Winters Family Down at the Knees

Resident Evil Requiem proposes a bold direction for the franchise that risks undermining everything that the last two games brought to the table.

Resident Evil Requiem Was Almost An Online Co-Op Game

Alongside Resident Evil Requiem’s recent appearance at the Capcom Spotlight event, Capcom has revealed several initial concepts and ideas the development team had in mind for the project, including an open-world game and a more action-focused iteration. One notable early iteration was an online, cooperative title, a stark contrast to the recent single-player Resident Evil entries. This would’ve been the first time a mainline Resident Evil game offered co-op since 2012’s Resident Evil 6.

While the developers found these ideas interesting to explore, Nakanishi noted that the team “realized that it wasn’t what fans wanted to see or play.” This brought them back to square one and helped them push Requiem back in a direction befitting the franchise’s roots. Thus, the team moved away from the planned action-oriented and co-op direction to craft a single-player Resident Evil title with greater appeal to the franchise’s longtime fans.

Capcom Could Give Resident Evil Outbreak Another Chance

While Resident Evil Requiem will not feature co-op or online play, this doesn’t mean Capcom should not experiment with it again. If the publisher doesn’t feel the style would work with a mainline entry, it could opt to revitalize 2004’s Resident Evil Outbreak, the first Resident Evil game to feature co-op and online play. A revival of Outbreak could serve as a solid, low-stakes way for Capcom to finally nail multiplayer in Resident Evil, something it struggled to do with Resident Evil: Resistance and Resident Evil Re:Verse in recent years.

Considering the direction of Resident Evil Requiem’s story, a revival of Outbreak feels all the more important now. Requiem will center around Grace Ashcroft, whose mother, Alyssa Ashcroft, was one of the eight playable characters in Resident Evil Outbreak. Bringing back Outbreak in time for Resident Evil Requiem will allow players to familiarize themselves with Alyssa without the game needing to focus too much on exposition, and as the former takes place around the destruction of Raccoon City, it would be a perfect prelude to Requiem’s return to the city.

While Resident Evil Requiem will not feature co-op or online play, this doesn’t mean Capcom should not experiment with it again.

A Resident Evil 5 Remake Would Bring Co-Op Back To Mainline Resident Evil

If Capcom wants to revive co-op in a mainline Resident Evil game, the long-rumored Resident Evil 5 remake would be a place to start. Resident Evil 5’s co-op was central to the overall gameplay, and a remake still offers a lot of room for improvement 16 years later. What’s more, a remake of a co-op Resident Evil game could also set the stage for the next proper iteration to integrate co-op in a way that Requiem couldn’t.

Resident Evil Requiem has already taken on various forms, and the need to recenter the game meant that its multiplayer direction bit the bullet. As a result, it may take a moment for Capcom to bring its horror franchise back into the world of multiplayer gameplay. Still, the skeleton of a strong co-op game is there, and between a revival of Resident Evil Outbreak or a remake of Resident Evil 5, Capcom has plenty of room to experiment with multiplayer in future Resident Evil titles.