SPOILER WARNING: This article contains full spoilers for the campaign, the three endings, and the "Leon Must Die Forever" DLC of Resident Evil Requiem. If you haven't finished the game, bookmark this and come back after the credits roll.
Quick verdict: Requiem has three endings — "Hope", "Destruction", and "Elpis" — and only one is canon: Hope. It's the ending the DLC continues and the one that sets up where Resident Evil goes next. The other two are a failure ending and a secret bonus scene respectively.
What Leads Up to the Endings (Spoiler-Light Recap)
If you just finished Requiem and are slightly confused about what happened in the final act, here's the setup before we go into each ending properly.
Grace Ashcroft — a character with a dark connection to the original Raccoon City incident — returns to the city in 2029 alongside Leon S. Kennedy to investigate the Wrenwood Hotel, the site of a new outbreak tied to an abandoned Umbrella-era facility. The game is a first-person survival horror about identity, guilt, and what Raccoon City left behind — right down to its final choice.
During the finale at the Wrenwood Hotel, Grace faces a choice that determines which of the three endings you see. Your decisions during the campaign (especially which survivors you save) also feed into it.
Ending 1: "Hope" — The Main Ending
How to get it: Finish the campaign normally — any difficulty, no special requirements. It's the ending ~90% of players see first.
What happens: Grace chooses to save the Raccoon City survivors trapped in the hotel's lower floors, accepting the risk to herself. Leon backs her decision. The city doesn't fall again, the new infection is contained, and the Wrenwood Hotel is destroyed — but not before Grace gets one final moment with the person she came back for.
What it means: "Hope" is the franchise's acknowledgement that Raccoon City isn't just the site of the series' worst disaster — it's also the place where characters like Leon and Claire learned to keep fighting. The ending explicitly leaves Grace alive, healthy, and free, setting up her continued role in the franchise.
Why it's canon: The DLC "Leon Must Die Forever" (May 8, 2026) continues directly from this ending. No other ending is acknowledged anywhere in the DLC or in Capcom's marketing.
Ending 2: "Destruction" — The Bad Ending
How to get it: Fail the final QTE sequence — or make the wrong choice when the game offers you a "mercy" option during the last stand (there's also a softlock route: ignore enough survivor rescue prompts earlier in the game and the finale becomes unwinnable).
What happens: Grace abandons the survivors, Raccoon City falls again, and the final shots mirror the original 1998 Raccoon City destruction — but this time with the Wrenwood Hotel as its epicenter. Leon doesn't survive. The credits roll over a city that's burning for the second time in the franchise's history.
What it means: "Destruction" is a what-if ending in the tradition of RE2 Remake's B-scenario. It exists to make the Hope ending matter more. Capcom has never acknowledged it in any follow-up material.
Worth watching? Yes, but only for completionists. It's about six minutes of new cutscene footage and a genuinely haunting final shot.
Ending 3: "Elpis" — The Secret Ending
How to get it: Finish the campaign on New Game+, collect all 12 archive files, and complete the bonus Leon stage (unlocked in the main menu after the credits). Doing all three unlocks a second post-credits scene that plays after the Hope ending.
What happens: A shadowed figure stands in the ruins of the Wrenwood Hotel and activates a piece of old Umbrella hardware — an "Elpis" data-core. The core contains a partial personality upload. The scene ends on a close-up of the figure's hand, which is marked with the same symbol Grace has on her wrist. This is the franchise's favorite trick: an Umbrella successor being set up.
What it means: "Elpis" is Greek for "hope" — the name itself is the game winking at you. It's the franchise planting a seed for the next entry (commonly theorized to be RE10 or the Requiem sequel). The community consensus is that this figure is tied to a new organization that will replace Umbrella going forward.
How the Endings Connect to the Series Timeline
Requiem is set in 2029, the furthest point on the franchise timeline so far. Here's where it sits:
| Timeline order | Event |
|---|---|
| 1998 | Raccoon City incident (RE2 / RE3) |
| 2005–2012 | RE4 → RE5 → RE6 |
| 2017–2021 | RE7 → Village |
| 2026 | Resident Evil: Requiem releases (real world) |
| 2029 | Requiem's story (in-universe) |
| 2029+ | Leon Must Die Forever DLC continues Hope ending |
Leon's arc is the spine here: he was a rookie cop in Raccoon City in RE2 (1998), and Requiem in 2029 closes his long-running thread. That's 31 in-universe years. Grace Ashcroft, meanwhile, is the franchise's newest protagonist — and the Hope ending positions her to carry the next era, exactly the way Ethan Winters carried 7 and Village.
Which Ending Is Canon?
- The DLC "Leon Must Die Forever" starts from the post-Hope state of the world.
- Capcom's official lore materials only reference the Hope ending.
- The Elpis scene is framed as a "bonus" — a teaser, not a divergent timeline.
The interesting part is what Hope sets up. Between Grace's survival, the Elpis data-core, and the DLC's final scene, the next Resident Evil clearly isn't a reboot. It's a continuation.
Your Ending Checklist
Post-Credits Scene (No Secrets Left)
| Ending | Unlock condition | Canon? |
|---|---|---|
| Hope | Complete the campaign (any difficulty) | Yes — sets up DLC |
| Destruction | Fail final QTE / mercy choice / softlock route | No |
| Elpis | NG+ + all 12 archive files + bonus Leon stage | Teaser for next game |
Yes, there is one — and it's the Elpis scene described above. If you saw the credits roll and the screen went black, you didn't unlock it yet. You need New Game+ and all 12 archive files.
FAQ
Can you see all three endings in one playthrough?
Not in one run. Hope is guaranteed on a normal playthrough. Destruction requires you to fail the finale, and Elpis requires a New Game+ run with 100% collection. The standard pattern is: play once (Hope), deliberately fail a second run (Destruction), then do the NG+ 100% run (Elpis).
Does New Game+ change the endings?
Only the Elpis unlock. New Game+ doesn't alter Hope or Destruction — it just gives you the tools (and carries your collectibles) needed for the secret ending.
Which ending does "Leon Must Die Forever" continue?
The Hope ending. The DLC drops you into the aftermath — Wrenwood is gone, Grace is recovering, and Leon is chasing a lead tied to the Elpis data-core.
Is the Elpis figure the next villain?
Almost certainly — or at least a new Umbrella successor. The symbol on its hand matches Grace's wrist mark, and the data-core is classic franchise set-dressing for a new antagonist. The community theory is an "Elpis Organization" controlling the next game's outbreak.
Is Destruction worth unlocking?
If you're a completionist, yes — the final shot is one of the best images in the game. If you're playing for story, skip it: it's non-canon and short.
Related Reading
- Resident Evil Requiem Review: Is RE9 Worth It in 2026? — the spoiler-free review
- Resident Evil Requiem: Beginner's Tips — survive the first 10 hours
- Every Resident Evil Game in Order (2026) — where Requiem sits in the timeline
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