After just over four years sinceResident Evil Village’s debut, fans of the hit survival horror game series were pleasantly surprised on Friday, June 6th with the announcement of the ninth main installment in theResident Evilseries,Resident Evil Requiem. Formally announced at the end of the 2025 Summer Games Fest,Resident Evil Requiemis slated for a late February 2026 release date in coordination with multiple celebrations forResident Evil’s 30th anniversary. While little is currently known aboutRequiem’s story or gameplay, fans worldwide are already excited about one crucial aspect of the upcoming game: the return to Raccoon City post-Resident Evil 3.
A Brief History of Resident Evil’s Raccoon City
Raccoon City is the most prominent setting intheResident Evilfranchise, with the city and its outskirts having appeared in multiple games including:
Set in the United States’ midwestern region of Arklay County, Raccoon City is ground zero for much ofResident Evil’s events and catastrophes, with the villainous pharmaceutical company, the Umbrella Corporation, developing the zombie and monster-producingT and G-virusesin Raccoon City.
InResident Evil 1, Raccoon City’s Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS) agents are sent to the city outskirts to the Spencer Mansion to investigate reports of cannibalistic encounters. Here, STARS agents Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, and Rebecca Chambers encounter zombified city residents and mutated animals and plants as they discover a secret Umbrella research facility beneath the mansion. While most STARS agents die in the Spencer Mansion incident, they were able to stop the zombie outbreak from spreading beyond the mansion’s grounds. However, mere months after the surviving STARS agents returned to Raccoon City,Dr. William Birkininadvertently starts a new zombie outbreak in the city after infecting himself with the G-Virus and accidentally causing the T-Virus to infect rats and the city’s water supply.
The Fall of Raccoon City
Within a matter of hours of Birkin’s infections, most of Raccoon City is overrun with zombies, mutant creatures, and rampant experiments from Umbrella’s several research facilities beneath the city. To prevent information about the Spencer Mansion incident and the Raccoon City outbreak from getting out, Umbrella deployed a modified Tyrant mutant designated Nemesis to wipe out STARS. Meanwhile, another Tyrant called Mr. X was deployed to eliminatethe Raccoon City Policeand track down samples of the G-virus. Despite the overwhelming odds, a few city residents such as Leon Kennedy, Claire Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Sherry Birkin managed to escape the city just before the U.S. government deployed a missile to destroy Raccoon City and the monsters therein.
The Potential Role of Raccoon City in Resident Evil Requiem
InResident Evil Requiem’s reveal trailer, it primarily follows the new protagonist, FBI agent Grace Ashcroft, daughter of investigative journalistAlyssa Ashcroft fromResident Evil Outbreak, as she’s assigned a new mission to investigate a pathological crime scene at a location called the Wrenwood Hotel. The location of this hotel is currently unknown, but it’s stated to be the place where Alyssa Ashcroft was murdered eight years ago. Grace is then shown to be captured at an unknown location before eventually revealing the burnt-up remnants of Raccoon City and ground zero of where the missile impacted the city in 1998.
While other unknown characters and monsters are briefly shown inResident Evil Requiem’s trailer, it’s unknown if these scenes are taking place in the hotel, somewhere in the city’s ruins, or in an entirely different location. However, little is known about what happened toRaccoon City in the years following its destruction, so Grace’s investigation into a new unidentified disease could lead her to the Wrenwood Hotel, which could be located near the border of Raccoon City. This could in turn lead Grace to travel to Raccoon City’s ruins to discover a connection between the disease and potential mutated remnants of the T or G-virus. At the very least, the trailer suggests Grace may explore the ruins of the Raccoon City Police Department to possibly begin retracing her mother’s steps.
While Alyssa Ashcroft is best known for appearing in theResident Evil Outbreakgames, she is mentioned a few times inResident Evil 7, having investigated disappearances and mysteries tied to the Baker family incident.
