Is Mercenaries Returning? RE Requiem Files Say Yes

Capcom has officially confirmed that a free mini-game is coming to Resident Evil Requiem before its story expansion drops. The studio hasn't said what that mini-game is. But buried in Requiem's own game files, a dataminer may have already answered the question for them.

SYRKOV on X shared findings last week showing ten unused music tracks hidden in Requiem's backend, none of which appear anywhere in the base game. "I was digging through Resident Evil Requiem files and found something that could be related to future extra mode / Mercenaries," they wrote, along with instructions on how to locate the tracks yourself. And after listening to them, I'm pretty convinced this is Mercenaries.

A couple of the tracks are relatively ambient; one sounds like it could be safe room music. But the fourth track is where things get interesting. It's fast, frantic, and layered over a ticking clock sound that carries over from a previous track. If you've played Mercenaries in any Resident Evil game, you know that timer is the heartbeat of the entire mode. You're always racing against it, smashing time-extension pickups while chaining kills to keep your score climbing. Tracks seven and nine follow the same pattern: high-energy combat music that would feel completely at home in a score-attack gauntlet.

Why This Feels Like a Lock

Capcom hasn't explicitly confirmed Mercenaries for Requiem, but the evidence is stacking up in a way that makes denial almost comical. The mode has appeared in Resident Evil Village and Resident Evil 4 Remake. Requiem's combat system has been widely praised, and the game has sold over six million units already. A GameStop listing previously referenced a Mercenaries mode before being pulled. And now we have ten unused tracks sitting in the game's files, several of which sound like they were composed specifically for a timed arcade mode. At some point, the circumstantial evidence stops being circumstantial.

I'd be surprised if this turns out to be anything else. Requiem's combat is tight enough that a Mercenaries mode could end up being the best version the series has ever had. The RE4 Remake iteration was already excellent, but Requiem's mechanics feel like they were built for exactly this kind of high-pressure, score-chasing loop. If Capcom nails the enemy variety and map design, this could be the thing that keeps players in the game for months after the credits roll.

The free mini-game is expected sometime next month, ahead of the story expansion that director Koshi Nakanishi has said will " deeper into the world of Requiem." Rumors point to that expansion being focused on Leon S. Kennedy, though Capcom hasn't confirmed that either. Last month, during the Resident Evil series' 30th anniversary celebrations, executive producer Jun Takeuchi promised that "even more wonderful experiences" are on the way. Mercenaries would be a strong way to start delivering on that.

Requiem is available now on PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Nintendo Switch 2. The Switch 2 version is part of the Resident Evil Generation Pack, which bundles it with Resident Evil 7 Gold Edition and Resident Evil Village Gold Edition for $89.99 and just came back in stock at Amazon after weeks of being unavailable.