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.
9. Wesker’s desk drawer is now an infamous location in the history of Resident Evil 2. In the remake, it contains a weapon component; in the original, after hitting the action prompt 50 times, you were “rewarded” with an inappropriate photo of Rebecca Chambers. In 2026, after looking at Barry’s to-do list, you’ll find a note about a book called ‘Medicinal Benefit of Herbs’, showing that it’s been returned to the library by Wesker. Make your way over to the library to find this book, look inside, and once again you’ll find the photo of Rebecca, with a note referring to her as “Rising Rookie Rebecca”. RRR then happens to be the code for Wesker’s briefcase, in which you find a charm of his iconic sunglasses.
10. Once you’ve left the RPD, make sure to head left, and you’ll be able to revisit the parking garage, the location where Leon first met love interest/frenemy, Ada Wong. In here, you’ll find a cute bear charm, the same one seen on the keys that Ada hands to Leon in Resident Evil 4.
11. In the RPD, you’ll once again come face-to-face with Mr. X. But did you notice that Grace actually bumps into him, too? Well, not really, but the guy that she brushes against the streets of Wrenwood at the very start of the game sure does look like he’s wearing Mr.X’s outfit…complete with the fedora hat he wears in the RE2 remake.
12. Like Tofu and Mr. X, there’s also another returning Resident Evil 2 legend, who, although never outright named, is quite clearly everyone’s favourite no-nonsense mercenary, Hunk. This unlockable character from the original Resident Evil 2 (and many games that came after) turns up as a boss in Requiem’s final act, and somewhat lives up to his legacy, with Leon declaring him to be a tough bastard after they duke it out to the death. RIP Hunk.
Resident Evil 2 isn’t the only game from the series referenced in Requiem, though, with the previous entry, Resident Evil Village, also getting a couple of nods.
13. Just after you reach the helipad, you enter a room full of items to examine. One of these is a wine bottle which has the name Dimiterscu written on it, clearly referring to everyone’s favourite goth mummy from Resident Evil Village. The bottle is labelled “Sanguis Virginis”, which is the same wine used to solve a puzzle in Village’s castle location.
14. Later on, in Spencer’s study, you can see a picture of a lone woman with the letter M on it. This refers to Mother Miranda, the big bad of Resident Evil Village and (as we find out at the end of that game) Ozwell E. Spencer’s idol and inspiration.
15. One of Requiem’s big bads is Victor Gideon, who sports some significant jewellery. Look close and you can see a snake motif on his ring. The same snake motif is seen on Krauser’s knife in RE4.
16. Requiem also has a reference to the silliest of Resident Evil’s puzzles, with Grace pointing out the ludicrous systems of opening doors in these zombie-infested mansions. When inserting the Red Gem into a door at the Rhodes Hill Care Center, Grace rightly states, “How do normal people get in here?”
17. But perhaps no door in Resident Evil is more iconic than the original game’s loading screen animations between rooms, something that is referenced near the beginning of the game with a slow zoom on the door before the chainsaw-wielding Doctor attacks Leon.
That battle is complete chaos, with a host of cool interactions with the chainsaw. There are a couple of brilliant details you might miss, though.
18. The chainsaw is unwieldy at the best of times, spinning wildly when on the floor. If you manage to kill a zombie while they’re still holding it, the chainsaw will end up dragging the fallen flesh eaters along for the ride.
19. A zombie can also be impaled with a still-operational chainsaw, the revving blade protruding straight through their rib cage. Don’t let them get too close, though, because if they grab you, then they’ll drive their chest with the chainsaw directly into yours.
20. It’s quite clear that many of the other zombies roaming the halls of the Rhodes Hill Care Center have their own personalities, but there are also medical records you can find that share their names and defining traits, with a personal favourite being Eileen Zimmerson, one of the singing zombies whose personality disorder is described as “main character syndrome”.
21. Meanwhile, the enormous mass grinding its way through the hallways who we know as “Chunk” is actually called Thomas K. Jackson, and the version Leon takes on is called Timothy B. Jackson. So they’re actually brothers, both with irregular eating pattern disorders.
22. Interestingly, several zombies still retain traits from their mortal existence, like the cleaning zombie, who is super focused on scrubbing the blood out of the mirror. She will, however, also move locations to clean up the gore you create by killing other zombies.
23. Later on, when Grace and Emily meet Harry Reed, most would progress on with the story while Emily is safe in the helicopter. If you’re a psycho, though, Capcom has prepared custom dialogue for Harry should you, for some reason, decide to unload on the whirlybird.
24. Capcom has also layered subtle instructions into the environment when Leon first takes to the motorbike in Raccoon City, with a billboard appearing very early on that says “Learn to Steer” just after the player takes control.
25. Leon is a master with his equipment, as shown when using a flashlight with his handgun. When you go to reload, Leon will smoothly tuck the flashlight into his shoulder, making for a very slick and detailed animation.
26. Also interesting: when reloading, both Grace and Leon will retain the magazine if there are still rounds in it. If it’s empty, they’ll discard it.
The final details are, at the time of writing this, part of an unsolved mystery, so answers might be out there by the time you watch this, but they’re super cool nonetheless.
27. After taking out the Tyrant, you’ll notice a basketball court with a suspicious-looking head in the middle. Shuffle kick that head along until it goes through the hoop, and you’ll get a new action prompt that tells you “There’s no time for playing around”. Instead of pushing forward to the orphanage, head back to Kendo’s gun shop, and you’ll now find a prompt on a headless Toy Uncle bobblehead that reads “just ignore A”. Our first theory was that this was a reference to the ending choice, since the first option (or “A” ending) isn’t the canon one, but we’ve since stumbled on something else that might explain it further…
28. The final mystery is a doozy that we’ve yet to solve, but here are the hidden clues we have so far. After your escape from The Girl in the elevator shaft, her arm will be severed and available to pick up. It didn’t appear to serve any purpose until we decided to run it through the analysis machine you use to upgrade your crafting recipes.
After solving this puzzle, you’re shown a black screen that says ‘Let’s Play’, and a sequence of letters: G,A,U, and C. Based on the prior clue, I think it’s safe to ignore A.
Hidden in the game are some clues to what these letters mean. In an hourglass you can find and rotate, U is revealed to be linked to the number 380,000. In Grace’s blood analysis report, C is 4.2 LY, and on the side of the blood analyser device, there’s a sticker that says G = 15,000,000.
What does all this mean? Well, our guess was that it’s the distance to the moon, sun, and nearest star, which also happens to be the sequence buttons for the puzzles in the Rhodes Hill Chronic Care Center. After using the G, U, C sequence and translating them into moon, sun, and star inputs for the machine, entering that code triggers a creepy laughter sound effect.
What does that mean? That’s where we’re stumped! Hopefully, you’ll already have the answers and can drop it in the comments.
And that’s everything we’ve spotted so far in Resident Evil Requiem. Did we miss any cool Easter eggs, or are there small gameplay details we missed? Let us know in the comments.
Dale Driver is an Associate Director of Video Programming at IGN. Be thoroughly bored by following him on Bluesky at @daledriver.bsky.social
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