Resident Evil Requiem Writer Officially Teases First DLC Details

4 hours ago 4

Published Oct 7, 2026, 10:18 AM EDT

Willa Rowe is a contributing writer at Polygon, covering games and entertainment. She is a New York-based journalist and critic whose work has been featured in Kotaku, Digital Trends, the A.V. Club, GamesRadar+, and more. She also co-hosts the Girl Mode podcast.

One of the horror series' most important characters will be heavily involved

Grace in Pandora in Resident Evil Requiem

Capcom has already confirmed that Resident Evil Requiem will eventually get story DLC, but not much information has been shared officially beyond that. Well, a writer on the project just casually dropped some major details about what fans will see in the eventual expansion. It seems like the base game's focus on series antagonist Oswell Spencer will continue — which may also tell us a lot about an eventual Resident Evil 5 remake.

Franchise fans are probably well acquainted with Spencer. The mansion the first game takes place in is named after him, and he's one of the founders of the Umbrella Corporation, which is responsible for all those darn zombie viruses. He's been portrayed throughout the series as a pretty unequivocally bad dude, finally kicking the bucket in Resident Evil 5. So imagine fans' surprise when Requiem brought him back through flashbacks that suggested he was far more repentant toward the end of his life than previously believed. It seems this is part of a larger plan at Capcom for the Resident Evil series.

While speaking with the Distance Nerding podcast at Meadowlark Comic Con, Requiem writer Haris Orkin revealed that there is an arc for Spencer in Requiem that helps the player understand him and that "In the DLC you will understand it even further." He quickly adds that he "probably shouldn't say that." This would support rumors that players will return to the Spencer Mansion in Requiem's DLC, possibly to give one more perspective on the events that led to the first game.

What does Spencer's arc mean for a Resident Evil 5 remake?

Chris Redfield prepares to punch a boulder in Resident Evil 5.

Spencer's characterization in Requiem leans dangerously close to completely rewriting him. One inconsistency arises from his portrayal in Resident Evil 5's Lost in Nightmares DLC. The last time we see him alive, Spencer continues to seem unrepentant for his actions. Those events take place after the flashbacks in Requiem, which now suggest Spencer had some desire to rectify his wrongdoings. Capcom could potentially use a Resident Evil 5 remake to streamline the series' lore.

It's all but confirmed Capcom will remake Resident Evil 5. The remakes have been incredibly successful and there are only a handful of mainline games left that could receive the treatment. While previous remakes have lightly changed plot elements, Capcom could completely rewrite canon in a remake of Resident Evil 5. This would establish the remake as the definitive version, which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing, as it could give Capcom a chance to fix the game's many other thematic issues.

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