Resident Evil 9 Will Be Open World, Claims Insider

thegamer.com:

Dragon's Dogma 2 is finally here, and whether you love it or hate it, you can't deny the fact that it's Capcom's most ambitious open world project to date. It's a publisher known for experimentation, using its big blockbuster IP to push boundaries and deliver consistently new experiences to keep things fresh and exciting. Now that Capcom is experimenting with open world tech, it's been claimed that the publisher plans to use Resident Evil to build upon it.

This is according to reputable insider Dusk Golem, who has regularly leaked plans regarding horror franchises such as Silent Hill and Resident Evil in the past. They claimed on Twitter earlier today that Capcom is known for greenlighting new initiatives in threes, using the company's experimentation with the RE Engine in Resident Evil 7, Resident Evil 2 Remake, and Devil May Cry 5 as an example.

Dusk Golem then goes on to claim that Dragon's Dogma 2, Resident Evil 9, and Monster Hunter Wilds were all greenlighted similarly, under an initiative to build upon the RE Engine's open world functionality. Monster Hunter Wilds was rumored to be an open world title back when the game's first trailer dropped, but Resident Evil 9 being an open world title would be a major change for the series.

However, before you start worrying about the future of Resident Evil, Dusk Golem also explains that Capcom has made it a goal for all three of these projects to "retain the series DNA". It very much sounds like keeping the core identity of each series is important for Capcom, so even if Resident Evil 9 does end up being open world like Dusk Golem claims it will be, we can expect it to have that classic Resident Evil feel.

Unfortunately, we don't know much about Resident Evil 9, other than the fact that it could actually launch next year, but we do know that it's going to be a new beginning for the series after the events of Resident Evil Village. Now that Ethan Winters is no longer the series' primary protagonist, it would make sense