Capcom reveals cut Resident Evil Requiem chapter, teases Mercenaries-style mode

Capcom trimmed a full early chapter from Resident Evil Requiem, and that cut says a lot about what the studio is protecting: pacing. Koshi Nakanishi said the game had a “phantom” Chapter 2 that was removed because it did not fit the final structure, even though it would have landed shortly after the opening. He did not say whether that material would have followed Grace Ashcroft or Leon S. Kennedy, but he made clear that Capcom was willing to lose an entire chunk of the game rather than let the flow sag.

That kind of surgery is not new for Capcom. Nakanishi compared the process to editing text or video, the sort of hard trimming that happens when a project is being locked, not when it is being padded out. He also pointed out that Capcom cut a Chapter 2 from Resident Evil 7 during development, which makes Requiem feel less like a one-off revision and more like a familiar Capcom habit: cut aggressively, ship the sharp version, and leave the leftovers on the cutting-room floor.

The payoff for clearing the campaign appears to be a new mode that is locked behind a completed save file. Nakanishi described it as a mini-game based on the battles of the main game, and producer Masato Kumazawa suggested that players who finish the story during Japan’s Golden Week, which runs from April 29 to May 6, 2026, will be perfectly placed to jump into it. That timing points to an early-May arrival, and the structure sounds very close to Mercenaries, the score-based bonus mode that first showed up in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis in 1999.

If that is the shape of the mode, it fits the series’ best post-game traditions. Mercenaries-style content has always been about replaying combat with a cleaner, nastier focus, often through side characters or villains like Hunk or Lady Dimitrescu. Kumazawa also called the new addition challenging, which suggests Capcom wants this to be a skill check, not just a victory lap.

The timing matters because Resident Evil Requiem is already moving fast by franchise standards. Capcom said the game launched on February 27, 2026, then passed 6 million units sold, which the company described as the fastest any Resident Evil title has reached that mark. Capcom has also said more content is planned, and its own site identifies Requiem as the ninth mainline Resident Evil game. Between the cut chapter and the post-game mode, Capcom looks to be shaping Requiem around tight pacing in the campaign and harder, score-driven replay after the credits.