Capcom has published a live-action Resident Evil Requiem trailer that showcases our best look yet at the ruins of Raccoon City, a few weeks before players get to explore it for themselves.
The live-action short features Longlegs actress Maika Monroe, who plays a mother living in Raccoon City shortly before its infamous zombie outbreak. Things sadly do not end well for her (or her daughter) in this three-minute short film that is meant to set the scene ahead of Requiem’s arrival.
Fans can now find the short film by scanning QR codes found on viral marketing appearing in New York’s Time Square and around Hollywood. Alternatively, its YouTube link is now live and fans are sharing it around social media:
Capcom released a live action short film for Resident Evil Requiem called ‘Evil Has Always Had A Name’https://t.co/5yf0Dm7cTL pic.twitter.com/bkl11bxCyC
— Stealth (@Stealth40k) February 2, 2026
The trailer features cops, dogs, and numerous background actors as zombies. A wide shot shows the huge crater left by the missile strike at the end of Resident Evil 3, designed to ultimately neutralize the city’s undead outbreak. At street level, the city subsequently looks post-apocalyptic, with burnt out cars and part-collapsed skyscrapers as far as the eye can see.
Fans are already discussing the trailer’s end, which features two shadows moving past. Dialogue is then heard saying “That’s the last of them, facility secured,” and then “Copy that, Raccoon City is ours.” These voices certainly don’t sound like Requiem’s leading duo of Leon S. Kennedy and Grace Ashcroft, so who are they? And who has claimed the city now — Umbrella?
Resident Evil fans have known for some time that they will finally get to return to Raccoon City in the series’ upcoming Requiem, which is set to tie-up long-gestating plot threads related to the location and to the shadowy Umbrella Corportation that have been dangling ever since the franchise’s origins. An early trailer for Requiem featured a glimpse at the ruined city, and Leon’s former Raccoon City Police Department headquarters.
How much more will we get to explore? With only a few weeks to go until launch, Capcom seems to have kept much of Resident Evil Requiem under wraps. That said, the game’s director recently made a point of clearing up fan speculation that the game will be open world.
“This year is the 30th anniversary of the Resident Evil series, so it feels like no coincidence that 2026’s Resident Evil Requiem is combining the best ideas of the saga into what appears to be a fantastically constructed tribute to everything that makes the series so great,” IGN wrote in our recent Resident Evil Requiem final preview. “Do you like tense survival horror? It’s here. Wanna go all guns blazing with intense action and a quip-obsessed hero? You get that too.”
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
