Resident Evil Requiem is back in Steam's top 40 most-played games after Capcom gave the horror sequel a free Leon S. Kennedy mode.
On Steam's public most-played chart, Resident Evil Requiem was No. 38 at 17:50 UTC on May 9, up from No. 116 in the previous weekly comparison. Steam's latest weekly data listed a 25,023-player peak, while the live reading showed 19,715 players in-game.
The movement gives Capcom's 2026 sequel a visible Steam rebound months after launch, and it lands immediately after the release of Leon Must Die Forever. Gamers Now covered the free Resident Evil Requiem DLC when it arrived on May 8, but the next day's chart position shows the update also put the game back into a busier part of Steam's most-played list.
Leon Must Die Forever gives Requiem a post-campaign hook
Resident Evil Requiem is Capcom's latest mainline survival horror entry, starring FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft and returning series veteran Leon S. Kennedy. Its Steam store page describes the game as a dual-protagonist horror story with first-person and third-person play, returning players to Raccoon City after its 1998 disaster.
Capcom's Steam announcement for Leon Must Die Forever says the mode unlocks after players complete the story. It challenges players to clear multiple stages as Leon, collect enhancer abilities, survive a time limit and face a boss at the end. The same update also includes bug fixes and PC support for DualSense adaptive triggers, vibration functions and motion sensor features.
The mode matters for the Steam trend because it gives finished players a new repeatable challenge instead of only another campaign pass. It also leans into Requiem's action side, with Capcom positioning Leon's mode as faster and more replayable than the main story.
A chart rebound for Capcom's horror sequel
Resident Evil Requiem does not need a top-40 Steam placement to prove it has an audience. Capcom's sequel has already had a major year, and Gamers Now previously reported that Resident Evil Requiem had reportedly reached 7 million sales.
What stands out this weekend is the size of the Steam chart recovery. A jump from No. 116 to No. 38 moves Requiem out of the lower comparison band and places it near the kind of long-running multiplayer games, live-service updates and weekend-heavy releases that usually crowd Steam's upper half.
Steam's most-played chart tracks activity rather than purchases, so the ranking should be read as player momentum around the update. For Requiem, that is still meaningful. Leon Must Die Forever has turned a free extra mode into a clear reason for PC players to return, and the game is visible again near Steam's top 40 while that update is fresh.