There’s only about a month left until Resident Evil Requiem, the ninth installment in Capcom’s classic horror series, finally launches. While the game was announced as early as 2024, it wasn’t until December 2025 that Capcom revealed Leon S. Kennedy, one of the series’ most beloved protagonists, would be making a big comeback. The grand reveal of his new, aged-up design at The Game Awards 2025, prompted numerous fan reactions, with the Japanese fanbase nicknaming him “hot uncle” or “ikeoji” (イケおじ, attractive old/middle-aged man).
With the release of Requiem just around the corner, AUTOMATON recently had the opportunity to attend a joint media interview with director Koshi Nakanishi, who told us more about the “ikeoji phenomenon” of Leon Kennedy. Apparently, it took a lot of time and care to refine his “hot uncle” look to perfection, and much of it is thanks to the women development staff who made sure every detail was right, Nakanishi suggests.
“We’ve spent quite a lot of time polishing Leon’s visuals. Leon has many fans among Capcom employees, and women in particular were pretty strict when reviewing his design. They would point out and comment on even the finest details like the wrinkles on his neck. When I mentioned that story in the past, a female fan told me, The women developers at Capcom did a really good job (laughs).”
“Throughout the development process, Leon was thoroughly refined, and I think we managed to come through with a design that would make anyone’s heart throb,” Nakanishi adds. The aged-up hot uncle design seems to have captured the hearts of Japanese fans regardless of gender, and has also made rounds in the English-speaking community as well.
However, Nakanishi suggests that, rather than the visual aspects, he was getting a lot more opinions on how to build Leon’s personality, especially considering that Leon is a veteran in-universe. Compared to the newcomer Grace, he has experienced so much horror that being scared or startled by something would just be out of character for him, and he now has an extremely long backstory if we count all of his previous appearances in the series. “Every staff member had their own interpretation of Leon’s 30-year-long history, so they would tell me things like, Leon would definitely not act like that in this kind of situation. So, there were more opinions about what he’s like on the inside compared to his looks, and after many discussions, we were able to settle on something that clicked for us. When players see this Leon in the game, hopefully they will be able to find their own interpretation of him as well.”
Resident Evil Requiem is set to release on February 27, 2026 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows (Steam).
