If Resident Evil 9’s Jill Leak Proves True, It Can’t Go Unexplained

Posted by By our-little-miss-is-home November 19, 2024 161 Views 6 Min Read
If Resident Evil 9's Jill Leak Proves True, It Can't Go Unexplained

Another year is coming to an end, and the Resident Evil 9 rumors are still flowing. There has been some uncertainty about whether the next game in the franchise would be another mainline numbered entry, as despite Resident Evil 4‘s remake following up the eighth main game Resident Evil Village, rumors of multiple other remakes were already hot on their heels. However, if the current wave of alleged information is to be believed, Resident Evil 9 could be announced at December’s 2024 Game Awards, and the increasingly large pile of leaks is becoming hard to dismiss.




Supposedly, Resident Evil 9 represents the third in an RE Engine trilogy of sorts, alongside Dragon’s Dogma 2 and Monster Hunter Wilds. Capcom does appear to be expanding the proprietary engine’s capabilities to include open worlds via these projects, and with one out and the other approaching, Resident Evil 9 might be just around the corner. If so, it will be a huge step forward for the franchise, as it has never introduced an unbroken open world before. But the more things change, the more things stay the same, and RE9’s alleged decision to keep one character old-fashioned could end up looking strange.

every resident evil 9 leak so far

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Every Resident Evil 9 Leak So Far

A series of leaks about Resident Evil 9 have surfaced on the internet, suggesting a major new chapter in the horror franchise is coming.

Resident Evil 9 Could Mark Jill Valentine’s Return To The Games


The recent leaks for Resident Evil 9 are supposedly pulled from a couple of playtests that happened in 2024, with one focusing on series veteran Jill Valentine, and the other on RE2’s Leon S. Kennedy. Chris Redfield and Barry Burton are also described as being on comms for the duo, making Resident Evil 9 sound like the largest playable canon gathering of RE protagonists since Resident Evil 6. It will be nice to see these friendly faces again, especially since RE9 is supposedly the farthest game in the continuity yet, though that comes with its own share of issues.

Jill’s Old Look Doesn’t Line Up With Resident Evil’s Timeline

While a lot of Resident Evil’s protagonists begin the series in their 20s, the series’ attempts to roughly keep pace with real life means they are in their 40s and 50s now. Jill Valentine in particular is speculated to be around 50 if the RE9 leaks are right about the game’s place in Resident Evil‘s chronology, but that makes her appearance stand out. Whereas other characters like Leon are described as looking appropriately middle-aged, Jill is said to look just as young as she was in all of her prior appearances. Considering her estimated age, and how starkly she compares to Leon, Capcom has some explaining to do.


An Explanation For Jill In Resident Evil 9 Is Necessary

Street Fighter 6’s middle-aged Chun-Li is a recent example of this exact phenomenon in another Capcom game, albeit more fitting for Street Fighter’s less grounded setting — and arguably less pronounced than Jill, if the leaks are accurate. Jill’s major appearances include Resident Evil 1, 3, 5, and Revelations, not to mention the canon 2023 Resident Evil movie Death Island, and her clothing and hair color are the biggest changes between them. Death Island is set a couple of years before Resident Evil Biohazard, and even then Jill’s youth was at odds with Leon’s increasingly grizzled features.


Recent Resident Evil Lore Can Help RE9 Explain Jill’s Condition

Fortunately, there is an explanation for Jill’s apparently frozen age. According to Death Island, the T-Virus infection and vaccine Jill gained during Resident Evil 3, combined with further infections and natural antibodies during her pre-RE5 period in Albert Wesker’s captivity, has slowed her aging. Wesker’s mind control device was responsible for Jill’s other superhuman feats in her RE5 boss fight, but at least Jill got something good out of the ordeal. Resident Evil 9 needs to clarify this obscure lore detail if it stars Jill again, but at least it means the series should have one familiar face around for a long time.

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