Datamine Reveals Traces of a Removed Zeno Battle in Resident Evil Requiem

Files in Resident Evil Requiem contain code related to a complex battle between Zeno and Leon Kennedy. Warning: this article contains information about the story of Resident Evil Requiem. One of the modders and explorers fa

In the Resident Evil Requiem files, there are codes that relate to an elaborate fight between Zeno and Leanne Kennedy.

Warning: This news contains information about the story of Resident Evil Requiem.

One of the modders and explorers of games files with the nickname keff0m has found evidence of a deleted battle in the game Resident Evil Requiem. The presence of a significant amount of unused code indicates that at some point in the development process, Capcom planned to design a full-fledged fight with Zeno, the game's villain. In the final version of the game, this character, who looks and behaves very similar to Albert Wesker, is affiliated with the criminal organization The Connections.

He spoke directly with Leanne S. Kennedy does not enter the battle and eventually dies during the cutscenes of the story. However, a review of the executive scripts of the game has shown that Capcom was busy designing a big battle with this character during development; A fight that wanted to take advantage of a complex behavior pattern and a diverse set of unique offensive moves.

Based on the discovered codes, the creators had planned a diverse set of combat moves for Zeno, covering both close combat and ranged attacks. This character could deal a heavy and slow blow to players after multiple hits in a row in one-on-one combat and charge towards them at high speed. Also, Zeno was able to jump into the air and constantly change his landing spot to precisely match the position of the game's hero.

The defensive capabilities of this boss were designed to be equally extensive. Zeno could actively parry incoming attacks, throw his opponent around, and knock Lian off her feet or even grab her weapon during close range combat. In addition, there was a dedicated stage for long-range combat. In this section, Zeno would break close contact with the player, quickly change his shooting position in the combat environment, and counter the players with accurate shots from safe positions.

Despite the many details in the character's animation patterns and AI logic that were found in the configuration files, the modders have not been able to recreate this duel in the current versions of the game on PC and PlayStation 5, because the game files lack some essential parts, including the triggers to activate the presence of the enemy, the dedicated geometry of the combat environment, and the phase change scripts that connect the battle logic to the story flow of the game.

It seems that the Capcom team decided to remove this fight in the final stages of production. Perhaps problems with the pacing of the final part of the game or the desire of the creators to keep the story focused on the confrontation with Victor Gideon played a role in this decision. As a result, part of the work done to design this battle remains in the form of remnants of hidden codes in the game files.