I’ve played through Resident Evil Requiem twice now, and when you’re playing through a game a second time with little distance between both playthroughs, you gotta take in the little moments to keep yourself from getting bored by something you just saw. For me this meant having Leon Kennedy on low health so I could hear all the pained grunting sounds he makes as he struggles to make his way through the environment. For reasons.
Capcom says that it was the mission of the women at the company to make sure that Leon in his 50s became everyone’s “hot uncle,” and that meant consulting with the design team on details as small as the wrinkles on his neck.
“We’ve spent quite a lot of time polishing Leon’s visuals. Leon has many fans among Capcom employees, and women in particular were pretty strict when reviewing his design,” director Koshi Nakanishi said in a group interview translated by Automaton. “They would point out and comment on even the finest details like the wrinkles on his neck. When I mentioned that story in the past, a female fan told me, ‘The women developers at Capcom did a really good job’ (laughs).”
“Throughout the development process, Leon was thoroughly refined, and I think we managed to come through with a design that would make anyone’s heart throb,” Nakanishi added. The aged-up hot uncle design seems to have captured the hearts of Japanese fans regardless of gender, and has also made rounds in the English-speaking community as well.”
After playing through Requiem twice, I can confidently say that those women at Capcom succeeded, are god’s strongest soldiers, and allies to the gay community. Leon has been one of my formative video game crushes since 2005, when I was drawn to his fine-as-hell character design in Resident Evil 4 long before I knew I was gay. And my god, Requiem manages to effortlessly capture his sensual aura and swagger in every motion. His reload animations? Sexy. His violent kills that should make me recoil in disgust? I’m swooning. His stupid dad joke quips at every horrifying thing he witnesses and experiences, which should be just as repulsive as the way he kicks a zombie man’s head open against a brick wall? My pants are already gone.
If there’s one thing I know about me it’s that I love a man over 40 and I especially love them if they’re tortured, broody, look like the light left their eyes years ago, and they have arms that barely fit into their tight shirt. Watching Leon flex those things as he works to pry open a warped door? Cinema.
Anyway, Leon, if you read this, I’m free this weekend because I already played your new game, and I’m far more consistent than Ada Wong is. You won’t have to wonder where we stand.