Resident Evil 9 introduced by RE7 director: ‘it feels substantial’

Resident Evil 9 is now officially in production, with Resident Evil 7 director Koshi Nakanishi announced as the director of the new game, whatever it may be called.

2017’s Resident Evil 7 was something of a soft reboot for the series, after the disappointing fifth and sixth entries, and had a much stronger horror atmosphere than them and the subsequent Village. Whether that will be the case for Resident Evil 9 as well is currently unknown.

The announcement was made during a spot in Friday night’s Capcom Next showcase, but there was no indication of when a full reveal would take place or what kind of release date the game is aiming for.

‘We’re making a new Resident Evil. It was really difficult to figure out what to do after 7,’ said Nakanishi.

‘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.’

On the face of it, that doesn’t seem to offer any information but multiple rumours have already suggested that the new game will be open world (supposedly using tech from Dragon’s Dogma 2), which would certainly be a substantial change for the franchise.

The rumours about Resident Evil have been contradictory of late though and it’s hard to tell whether that’s because of bad information or Capcom changing their mind.

The most recent suggestion is that the game is still on schedule for release next year, which makes a reveal at The Games Awards in December likely – especially as Capcom has used Geoff Keighley events multiple times in the past, to announce new games.

As for the rest of the Capcom Next event, there was a lot on the new Dead Rising remaster – which definitely is a remaster, not a remake.

The upcoming Ace Attorney Investigations and Marvel Vs. Capcom compilation also got some screen time and so did Kunitsu-Gami: Path Of The Goddess, which will be getting a free demo that we strong recommend you check out.

Capcom’s next big release is Monter Hunter Wilds, which is out next year but doesn’t currently have a release date. That makes it hard to know whether it or Resident Evil 9 will come out first, if the latter is close to being finished.

Resident Evil 9 could potentially launch late next year but we’d imagine that early 2026 is probably a more realistic release window, although there’s been no real pattern in the release months for the last few modern titles – although Resident Evil 7 did release in January.