This article contains spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.
Resident Evil Requiem finally sees the series return to Raccoon City, so it’ll surprise no one that it’s campaign is loaded with Easter eggs and references to the past. From deep cuts referencing 1998’s Resident Evil 2, to nods to more modern games in the franchise, here are 28 brilliant little details we’ve spotted in Resident Evil Requiem so far.
For veteran fans, the unquestionable highlight of Requiem is Leon’s return to the RPD. Well, its ruins – it definitely didn’t look like this last time. As expected, the dilapidated department is packed with references to the past.
1. Before you enter the doors of the Raccoon City Police Department, you’ll notice the streets around you feel very familiar. Look behind you, and you’ll see the tanker that separated Leon and Claire, and then subsequently exploded, still in the exact same position it was 28 years prior.
2. Right next to the tanker is a building with ARUKAS written on it, which is a reference back to the original 1998 game, which in turn referenced Street Fighter Alpha 2’s Sakura. Arukas is Sakura spelt backwards. Perhaps surprisingly, that isn’t the only Street Fighter reference you can find, but there are a couple of steps before we get there.
Once Leon is finally reunited with the RPD, he’s flooded with memories of his traumatic experience.
3. In Resident Evil 2, just before you’re introduced to the Licker, you find a dead police officer with its jaw sliced almost completely off. 28 years later, that police officer (well, his skeleton) is still in that exact same position, now notably sans jaw.
4. Also still in the RPD are the remnants of all the strange puzzles Leon and Claire had to solve, frozen in time and covered in dust. The Lion statue puzzle in the main hall is declared by Leon to be the oddest of them all when he says, “This puzzle was weird”.
5. A trip to RPD wouldn’t be complete without a snoop around the S.T.A.R.S office, and although you can find lots of cool details in there, such as Jill’s beret, it’s Barry’s scavenger hunt that’s the most fun.
After following the two clues, you’ll find a hidden key for a locker. This key has the word Jojo written on it, and for those who don’t know, Jojo is a reference to the Japanese manga JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, which was also written on a locker in the original 1998 version of Resident Evil 2.
6. The Jojo key opens a locker that contains a whole host of goodies, including Barry’s gift of two tickets to the Raccoon City Zoo, a location that appears in the Resident Evil Outbreak series, which also happens to be the game our hero Grace’s mom, Alyssa, is from.
7. At the base of this locker, though, is a wealth of PS1 nostalgia, which includes boxed copies of the original Resident Evil, Street Fighter Alpha 2 and Mega-Man 8. There’s also a poster for Street Fighter Alpha and what looks to be a TEMU PS1 that looks more like a Sega Saturn than a classic PlayStation.
8. Later on, on the ground floor of the RPD, you can spot random appearances through the cracks in the wall of everyone’s favourite edible hero, Tofu, who was an unlockable playable character in the original Resident Evil 2. Tofu, beret and all, peeks out to say hello. And yes, if you’re quick enough, you can pop a shot at him to do some damage to his squishy consistency.
I’m not sure what the exact trigger is for Tofu, but it feels like it’s just after you pick up Barry’s To Do List, which also appears to be the trigger for the next detail.
