Warning: Incorporates (very minor) spoilers for the ending of Resident Evil Requiem.
In an intersection of my specific pursuits that I most definitely did not have on my 2026 bingo card, followers of the Resident Evil franchise – and particularly its recently-released ninth major entry, Resident Evil Requiem – have abruptly turn into obsessive about a really totally different favorite of mine: sci-fi otome gacha cellular recreation Love and Deepspace.
Typically when followers of a well-regarded trade staple like RE take a sudden curiosity in a newcomer like LaDS, particularly one which’s very overtly female-gaze-coded, it is to dunk on one thing they discover objectionable. So I used to be very pleasantly shocked to study that members of the Resi neighborhood have actually taken to LaDS due to a sudden fondness for one of many characters – and it simply so occurs to be my very own clear favorite husbando, aloof but kindly physician Zayne.
So, what made the Resi fandom determine to undertake LaDS basically and Zayne particularly? Effectively, all of it comes all the way down to a small scene in RE9 that gained a disproportionate quantity of consideration: a slight gesture co-protagonist Leon Kennedy makes within the recreation’s good ending that was interpreted by many gamers as him eradicating a marriage ring from his inside jacket pocket, presumably putting it again on his finger now that the hazard of the state of affairs has lastly handed. This all occurs whereas Leon’s again is to the digital camera, by the way, so there’s a great deal of ambiguity at play right here; however nonetheless, fandom did what fandom does and ran with the concept.
Officers at Capcom have gone forwards and backwards on whether or not this was intentional or not, with recreation director Koshi Nakanishi initially dismissing the favored fan interpretation, however later electing to fire up additional hypothesis by showing to lean into the concept. Both means, although, there is no placing that genie again within the bottle, and conjecture is now rife as to who Leon may need married throughout his 13-year-long absence from the video games’ timeline. Ada? Claire? Ashley? Chris? Somebody altogether extra shocking? On condition that Leon has generated a type of adorably awkward chemistry with principally each different character he is shared a scene with since 1998, the probabilities are considerable.
However simply what does this should do with Love and Deepspace? Effectively, even if you happen to do not play the sport, its huge reputation signifies that anybody who spends ample time on social media might be conversant in the lovingly realised, hyper-detailed 3D fashions of the 5 love pursuits – and post-Requiem, it did not take keen shippers lengthy to level out that LaDS’ Bachelor #2, Zayne, bears a robust similarity to the theoretical youngster of Leon and his long-time frenemy-with-benefits Ada Wong.
There’s a sure resemblance between Zayne’s sharp options and people of Ada’s newest mannequin within the RE Engine video games, for certain; and whereas the likeness to Leon is a little more tenuous, assuming {that a} desire for curtained fringes and sensible but dapper fits is genetic amongst bundles of pixels, I can positively see that too.
There’s additionally the outstanding coincidence of each Zayne and RE9-era Leon having outstanding scarring on their palms as a serious plot level, though I am unsure most Resi followers have gotten that far of their reasoning but. Regardless, although, these exhibiting a tongue-in-cheek desperation to “show” by some means that their ship is the one which sailed off-screen are going all-in on the speculation that Zayne is the offspring of a Leon/Ada marriage. If nothing else, Leon’s seemingly bottomless nicely of terrible puns certainly signifies that he is a primary candidate for fatherhood.
As a Resi fan who’s additionally well-versed in LaDS lore, I declare that there are execs and cons to this principle, as you’d anticipate. Leon, Ada, and Zayne are a uncommon group of online game characters for whom we have now fairly agency canonical delivery years, in order of October 2026 when RE9 takes place, we all know that Leon is round 49, Ada a number of years older at 52-ish, and Zayne a mere babe of 5 (since he will not begin exchanging longing appears with LaDS’ heroine till far-off future yr 2048). So the Wong-Kennedys could be older dad and mom, for certain, however it’s not completely unfeasible, particularly in the event that they managed to tug their entire will-they-won’t-they schtick out nicely into middle-age, which feels believable.
Additionally, not less than in LaDS’ English localisation, Zayne does not even have a canonical final identify, so I imply… it might simply be Kennedy, or Wong, or some hyphenated mash-up of the 2, definitely. Sadly for this principle, although, he’s actually the solely character in Love and Deepspace whose dad and mom are each recognized – and are actually nonetheless alive, even making an occasional look within the story. And whereas they are not vital sufficient to the plot to have names, they do have a firmly established backstory: each are docs, like their son, and have spent a lot of the previous a number of many years in far-flung locations offering humanitarian emergency medical outreach — which makes them appear distinctively un-Leon-and-Ada-like.
So on stability it is beginning to appear like Capcom and Infold have not really been secretly collaborating on maybe the least possible however arguably greatest online game crossover ever – however I do love a shared universe principle, the extra unhinged the higher, so I am onboard even when my inside lorekeeper cannot cease declaring these pesky contradictions. Sure, regardless that I’ve at all times personally most popular the concept of Leon ending up with both Claire, Ashley, or Luis (sob) – that is the primary time I’ve significantly thought-about dabbling in Aeon (that is Ada/Leon delivery, for the uninitiated).
Wait, I’ve simply realised: “Aeon’s Canon” was, I child you not, the seemingly arbitrary and nonsensical identify of the brand new Zayne card launched for LaDS’ second anniversary again in January! I imply: “Aeon” is “canon”? I take all of it again, this can’t be a coincidence and is evidently proof of a deep-level multi-developer conspiracy…
Different LaDS followers are additionally revelling within the sudden enjoyable of discovering their favorite recreation within the Resident Evil fandom’s highlight, with some even declaring that Zayne’s private Mr Hyde – his alt-universe doppelganger and occasional main-timeline bodysnatcher Dawnbreaker, a person ostracised as a suspected serial killer when he’s actually euthanising victims of an incurable cosmic an infection simply earlier than they remodel into harmful monsters – does type of really feel like he originates from the world of Resident Evil, really, so who’s to say that is not the place the connection lies? It is all coming collectively.
