The undead are "popular"

Capcom has said the decision to include zombies in Resident Evil 6 was due to fan feedback.

Following the feedback regarding enemies in Resident Evil 4 and its successor "weren’t classic zombies", fans "really wanted them" for Resident Evil 6.

"We tried to respond to the requests and put them in this game. We tweaked them a bit so they aren’t the same zombies you would expect. The zombies when you first see them, they shamble around slowly. But, if they spot you or they get closer they break out into a sudden dash and try to grab you. We tried to make this as instantaneous as possible. Some of them will leap out at you. For the most part, they are zombies, but they have a bursts of energy here and there that give them a little extra oomph."

RE6's zombies will possess weapons, but Kobayashi explained the developers implemented this feature in order to remind players that the aforementioned zombies used to be humans.

"It’s not that we decided zombies should use weapons per se, it’s just that we wanted to get across the feeling that these used to be people and people either picked up weapons when they were fighting or they used certain objects when they were alive. They have this instinctual ability to pick up these things and use them.“It’s not that they are purposely using weapons, it’s in the back of their mind because they used to use weapons before they became zombies."

There will be different methods of how the player can interact with zombies upon fighting them, with a "key component" due to be shown in the coming months.

Resident Evil 6 will release worldwide on October 2, 2012.