Resident Evil Requiem Originally Included Boss Fight with Zeno

We know that Capcom cut quite a bit from Resident Evil Requiem, the series' ninth installment, which was released this February—ranging from the original concept as an online game to several characters from previous entries. And now it has come to light that the game also featured a battle against one of the supporting villains.

Well-known data miner keff0m discovered scripts in the Resident Evil Requiem files that point to a full-fledged, playable battle against Zeno, a villain working for Victor Gideon who bears a striking resemblance to Albert Wesker in both appearance and demeanor. According to the files found, this was a full-fledged boss battle featuring hand-to-hand combat, parrying gunshots, an expanding arena, and even moments where Leon used a sniper rifle to attack the villain. Other interesting files mentioned include Leon’s mention of Chris Redfield, as well as the Raccoon Police Department.

A Cut Boss Fight With Zeno Was Discovered in Resident Evil Requiem's Game Files.

A lot of code from the cut boss fight is still in the game files, showing how Zeno was supposed to attack and behave during the fight. However, the files needed to bring the fight back are missing from both the PC and PS5 versions.

Zeno's moveset during the boss fight:

• Melee combos
• A slow, heavy punch
• A charging tackle toward the player
• A dive attack (he jumps and keeps re-aiming his landing spot at the player)
• Parries
• An attack involving stealing or knocking away the player's weapon
• A sniper phase where Zeno moves away from close combat and runs to different spots to shoot at the player.
• A throw attack

Although Zeno didn't get much screen time in Resident Evil Requiem, the villain may return in the upcoming DLC for the ninth installment, as well as in Resident Evil Veronica—at least, that's what Monica Denizen, who is the ex-girlfriend of Craig Burnatowski, the voice actor for Zeno, as well as Wesker in the Resident Evil 4 Remake, says.

Other details that didn't make it into Resident Evil Requiem have also recently come to light. According to Dusk Golem, the ninth installment was originally titled Apocalypse and featured an open world and several key characters—not only Leon S. Kennedy, but also Adou Wong, Jill Valentine, and Sheva from Resident Evil 5.

Resident Evil Requiem is available on PC, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2. Capcom is officially developing a DLC, which doesn’t have a release date, and confirmed details as of now.