The genre-definingResident Evilfranchise has released quite a few games since the launch of the first back in 1998. While the majority of the main entries in the series are ordered chronologically, there is an intricate web of side games that take place all over the series timeline; a large portion of theResident Evilgames focus on the events of Raccoon City, which acts as a catalyst for most of the events in the series.
The earlierResident Evilgames were structured around the Umbrella Corporation being the big bad, which suits the mix of horror and conspiracy thriller themes that the series encompasses. The Umbrella logo became synonymous with evil big tech with zombies and other mutated creatures being the result of Umbrella’s recklessness or malice. As the series progressed, Umbrella’s power and presence deteriorate in lieu of more focus on the protagonists of the series, with Umbrella serving as mostlyan easter egg inResident Evil Village.The series maintains many of the same themes today, though, replacing Umbrella with other shadowy organizations.
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Raccoon City in the Late 1990s
As mentioned, a lot of the earlyResident Evilgames focus on the events in Raccoon City. The very firstResident Evilexplores the infamous Spencer Mansion, but the events ofResident Evil Zeroactually take place beforeResident Evil.This prequel followsBilly Coen and Rebecca Chambersas they explore Arkley Mountains, an area just outside of Raccoon City. The story takes place a mere 24 hours before the events of the first game.
Resident Evil 2andResident Evil 3take place in September of the same year as the first game, 1998. These games take place at roughly the same time and explore more of the iconic location.Resident Evil 3also ends with the destruction of Raccoon City,but is not the last game to take place there.Resident Evil: Resistance, Resident Evil Outbreak,andOutbreak File #2all take place shortly before Raccoon City’s destruction.Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon Citygives players an opportunity to play as an Umbrella security team during the Raccoon City outbreak.
Resident Evil: Code VeronicaandResident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronicafollow Claire Redfield’s search for her brother Chris, whileResident Evil: Darkside Chroniclesretells many events of the former two games. Finally,Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chroniclesre-tells the events ofResident Evil 0,Resident Evil,andResident Evil 3. Somesmall stories that happen in or around Raccoon City at the time of the outbreak also feature.
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Post-Raccoon City and the 2000s
Resident Evil Survivortakes place on the outskirts of Sheena Island not long after the destruction of Raccoon City.Resident Evil Gaidenis a non-canon game thatfollows Leon S. Kennedyand Barry Burton, but contradicts many key points of the series.Resident Evil: Dead Aimis a light gun shooter that takes place in 2002 on an Umbrella owned ocean liner, Spencer Rain.
Resident Evil 4takes place in 2004and begins the series departure from Umbrella as the big bad. In this game, Leon Kennedy explores a rural village in Spain plagued by a parasite known as Las Plagas. While the Umbrella Corporation does crop up in future games, especially in lore building,Resident Evil 4establishes the company’s downfall, though other forces do pick up their mantle. One of the other big antagonists the first few games set up is Albert Wesker, who doesn’t meet his end untilResident Evil 5.
Resident Evil: Revelations, originally released for the Nintendo 3DS, takes place shortly afterResident Evil 4- this time following Jill Valentine aboard the Queen Zenobia cruise ship. The bioterrorist organization, Il Vetro, has adapted the T-virus in this game, continuing the work of Umbrella. This is common for the post-Umbrella games to create a larger narrative unity across the franchise.Resident Evil 5takes place in 2009, following Chris Redfield and his new partner Sheva Alomar in Kijuju Africa. This game is focused on another Las Plagas outbreak, and has plenty of callbacks to Umbrella too, not least of which is Wesker.Resident Evil: Mercenaries 3Dis a Nintendo 3DS game that features the mercenaries minigames fromRE4andRE5.
Jake, Ethan, and a Rebrand in the 2010s
Resident Evil: Revelations 2is set betweenResident Evil 5andResident Evil 6,and follows Claire Redfield andBarry Burton’s daughter, Moira.Resident Evil 5wasn’t received particularly well and was criticized for having over-the-top action sequences. While the sixth game does not seem to reflect this feedback, ithe seventh entry in the series truly reclaims its mastery of horror.
Resident Evil 6features Leon, Chris, Ada Wong, and introducesWesker’s son Jake Muller. The game has four different campaigns and received a mixed reception. The sixth game failed to be a return to form for the series, but it did have some improvements over the fifth game. Ultimately, fans felt the series was still too focused on fast-paced action rather than the slow unnerving horror of the earlier games. However, the reaction to this game andRE5,did have an obvious influence on the direction of the seventh game.
Umbrella Corpstakes place around the same time asResident Evil 6and introduces a new organization using Umbrella’s name. This game received overtly negative reviews, but then in 2017, the franchise reemerged as a forerunner in survival horror.Resident Evil 7: Biohazardintroduces Ethan Winters, a seemingly indestructible devoted husband searching for his wife in a derelict plantation in Louisiana. The game, set in the same year as its release, pays very deliberate attention to the staples of survival horror; it was praised as being a particularly scary game to play, particularly in VR.
The most recent addition to theResident Evilfranchise,Resident Evil: Villagerepeats the most effective elementsof the seventh game. Set three years after the previous title,Villagecontinues Ethan Winters' storyline, who this time is searching for his daughter in a small European village.Villagealso makes some bold choices for the series, introducing vampires, lycanthropes, and other mythical creatures aside from mutated human zombies. The choice seems to be working for the series, with the game receiving good reviews. Of course, this all only accounts for the timeline in the games, which is further expanded in novels, films, and comic books. As the series that defined the survival horror genre, theResident Evilfranchise has developed a deep and complicated lore over the last three decades.
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