Everything has a spin-off these days, and the criticism rises to the question of: which spin-off is a spin-off too many?
Would a retired Resident Evil’s Leon Kennedy from fighting Umbrella and zombies fishing cozy game be too much of a stretch?
It certainly doesn’t seem to be much of a stretch for Resident Evil’s Hideki Kamiya, who was the director and character designer for Resident Evil 2 (including the attractive and witty Leon Kennedy). Kamiya didn’t stop there, as he progressed to do further games with such “small titles” as Devil May Cry, Viewtiful Joe, Okami, and of course, Bayonetta.
Despite being such a veteran in horror games which leave everyone with cold sweat and adrenaline, he had spoken up on X about going towards another path, “non-scary mode”. Apparently, even the strongest crave some lax fishing simulator. He admitted this while saying that he’s not very keen on coming back to Resident Evil any time soon.
Where’s Everyone Going? Fishing?
There’s a catch: Hideki Kamiya would come back if the games were different… In a very different genre. Cozy games. Which is a bit of a stretch to imagine Leon Kennedy with a basket picking up wheat or fishing during every possible season while being proud of his potato harvest.
“If I made it, it’d turn into a game where retired Leon goes fishing in the countryside, forages for wild veggies, bakes bread, walks the dog, tends a home garden, drives 50 km to the general store for supplies, invites old buddies over for a barbecue, fixes the neighbourhood grandma’s oven at her request, sells homemade lemonade at the local festival, but that’d be cool, right…?”
That does sound pretty cool, as it answers the question of what would Leon Kennedy actually do once he retires. He can’t keep using saws and every possible shotgun and grenade against zombies, right? A man has to take some time off after so many years of serving. Also, it would be an interesting way to dabble in the cozy market to reach fans of cozy games who wouldn’t normally venture into horror.
Despite Kamiya’s troll history, he seems to be genuinely into the idea of a cozy Resident Evil spin-off with Leon actually enjoying his life instead of trying to save it. He also mentioned on social media X that he would enjoy playing the game if Capcom would actually consider moving further with this idea.
Maybe we will get it if Capcom is listening and if we ask for it politely enough.
