Board 8 > Resident Evil 25th Anniversary Timeline Project

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I know this is a day late but I had expected and hoped to get my internet back yesterday but it was today instead. Nevertheless, on we roll!

Welcome, my fellow B8ers, to a project Ive had cooking in the back of my mind ever since the calendar year rolled over yet again. Yesterday marked the 25th anniversary of my favorite franchise of all time: Resident Evil. Resident Evil is a series I feel has been with me my whole life, whether it s from my mom playing it while I wasnt even a year old yet back in 96, to ten years later when Id play that original game in the series myself for the first time ever, to the most modern releases in a series that may very well be more popular than it ever has been before. The growth of this series has been nothing short of astounding to witness, and since I was 10 years old, Ive been here for the peaks and valleys of its RE2 remakes and its Umbrella Corps and everything in between. Still, were not really here to discuss series history as it pertains to reality; rather, we are here today to discuss its in-depth, in-universe lore and history. By all accounts, the storyline of Resident Evil is one of convoluted plot points, new viruses arriving on a weekly basis, inconsistent character appearances, and a whole spiders web of conflicting canon and non-canon sources. So, why do I care about this so much? Well, despite everything, theres an inherent mystery of the unknown that keeps me coming back and mining the depths of REs files, character moments, and enemy encounters to their fullest extents. Its story has been tied into its gameplay from day one: finding leftover notes from former survivors wasnt just an exposition dump, it was a way to truly immerse the player and accent the horror of the mansion, a warning to not end up like the brain-munching sucker you just wasted on the way to read said file, a way to give human context to otherwise faceless mooks, and an indispensable tool for literally solving some of the mansions most esoteric puzzles. Playing as an officer of the law, you also felt like it was your duty to collect this evidence and make sure whoever was behind this was brought to justice. Throughout the series constant gameplay changes and iterations, this method of storytelling has always been a consistent identity marker for the franchise, an ingenious method of making each new game feel scary again as you uncover the carnage of yet another viral outbreak and the tragedies and atrocities that happened sometimes mere moments before your untimely arrival. This narrative device is something oft mimicked in the survival horror genre, but I feel like no game truly captures the sense of awe and mystery you get from the RE series, either over-explaining things with boring walls of text or just using files as puzzle-solving tools like Silent Hill generally does. But, thats really just one reason why I adore the series lore; its just the cherry on top of complex conspiratorial plots, a goofy, diverse personality-driven cast, and some of the most messed-up monster backstories in the entire horror genre. Prepare yourselves for a deep dive of the series lore that spans video games, movies, mangas, and stage plays? Yes, It will all be discussed here, today and in the next few weeks as the 25th anniversary of Resident Evil gets underway, so strap in and prepare yourself for one of the most wild rides in all of video game storytelling, and we will start not with a game, but appropriately, a file.

Before we begin, Id like to provide a little overview for what this timeline project will entail:
1. ALL canon entries in the series no matter what they are (this should be obvious). Any events that take place prior to Weskers Report 2 will be discussed as they come up.
2. Original AND Remake events will be discussed, except in the case of RE1 as its in my opinion that OG RE is largely irrelevant story-wise and anything in that game can be found and then some in REmake.
3. Some non-canon entries will be discussed in the context of canon events, and they will be marked.
4. I will highlight certain files, characters, enemies, or even items if I find them interesting enough to bring up
5. Please allow concessions for simultaneous events. For example, its a lot easier for me to cover something like Claire A/Leon B by playing through all of the former first instead of switching constantly between the two, even if that would be more timeline accurate.
6. Since RE games often have multiple pathways, scenarios & endings, I will only be focusing on the most agreed upon canon of events with maybe only some mentions of other possibilities for fun.
7. Feel free to ask me any questions pertaining to the franchise along the way! Its very possible I could miss something, get something wrong, or gloss over something so its important keep me in check and on my toes!

The timeline (yellow highlight is canon):
https://1drv.ms/x/s!AuizEczRvCHkiHLuXEUvAjkV7cjY?e=7daJ9Q

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Chapter 0 Origins of Evil (July 1978-July 1998)
Overview
The beginnings of Resident Evil are just as much horrific as they are tragic. Almost all of the early timeline in RE lore is dominated by Umbrella and their seedy inhumane research, primarily led by series antagonist Albert Wesker, his partner-in-crime William Birkin, and other well-known Umbrella execs and scientists, such as the enigmatic Ozwell E. Spencer, the Progenitor creator James Marcus, and down at the Antarctica facility, 10-year old prodigies Alexia & Alfred Ashford. This perfect storm of genius minds and immoral results-driven research will forever change the course of human history, and make it so civilization is in constant fear of the next bio-terror attack. It didnt happen overnight however, & as we will soon see Wesker narrate as such, was a disgusting, grueling process that mined the depths of human depravity.

Canon Entry 0.1: WESKERS REPORT 2
http://projectumbrella.net/articles/Weskers-Report-II#OfficialJapaneseTranscript
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-zBIN_6XhWlWKlX3HPiLTgWkRvmtVVXI

Summary
Weskers Report 2 is a file written by Wesker, detailing his early work and history at Arklay Mansions research facility, his relationship to William Birkin, his plans & ambitions for the future, & cursory details about Umbrellas operations. Despite its name WR2 indeed comes before all events in the series, and works as a prologue to the franchise as a whole. The whole report is actually addressed to Ada Wong, presumably to aid in her mission uncovering Umbrellas secrets.

Part 1 (1978)
20 years before Raccoon City would experience a nightmare, Albert Wesker and William Birkin were simply young, ambitious scientists, Wesker just turned adult and Birkin two years his younger, and assigned to Arklay Laboratory to work on the T-Virus project: a bio-organic weapon created from a strain of the Ebola virus mixed with the Progenitor virus. This powerful & dangerous virus would, in essence, be used to make the dead walk, to create outlandish and indestructible weapons in the form of monsters, and seek out others to infect in the process. Wesker was wary about the whole situation, especially in regards to the man who assigned him there: Spencer, Umbrellas founder. However, Wesker still maintained a keen interest in the research, and at the sight of a certain rotting woman (who well come to know as Lisa Trevor), both Wesker and Birkin had their interested piqued even further.

Part 2 (1981)
As T-Virus research was well under-way, reports of a new head researcher at the Antarctica facility reached Arklay: 10-year old Alexia Ashford. This appointment particularly perturbed Birkin; despite his genius, Birkin was petty and jealous, and no longer being the youngest chief researcher ticked him off to no end. In his jealous rage, Birkin increased his research efforts ten-fold, all the while putting the female specimen through a special kind of hell, with constant injections of the Progenitor virus into her system, but, miraculosly (or not depending on your view-point), she survived every experiment. Meanwhile, Wesker expresses large concerns, as the T-Virus was technically ready to be used as a weapon but was not enough to satisfy Spencer.

Part 3 (1983)
In a surprising turn of events, Alexia, the young head researcher, had just died, a result of clumsy experimentation with her T-Veronica virus (or was it? Find out later in Code: Veronica!). This news perked up Birkins mood quite a bit, even though nothing on the research front was found in quite a long time. As Wesker and Birkin continued to toil away in their seemingly dead-end work, Wesker notes the weird surroundings of the lab, a prominent forest that would be the perfect breeding ground for the spreading the virus even further. It might be time for Wesker to get a change of surroundings, especially since the once promising female specimen has been all but forgotten as a failure.

Part 4 (1988)
A lot has changed. Wesker had already spent ten years of his life toiling away at Arklay. Birkin, now married and a father. The research had advanced just as considerably: a breakthrough on the Tyrant was made, a weapon capable of taking and executing orders. The only problem was it needed a very specific host to avoid the typical mutations like Hunters and zombies from forming. Enter: the Nemesis prototype, a parasitic entity that could assume control of a body and be deployed in to combat. However, bodies possessed by Nemesis had short life-spans and could not contain it; suddenly, the female specimen had a new use. With her ultimate durability, the female ended up absorbing the Nemesis, inadvertently crafting the beginnings of the G-Virus project.

Part 5 (1995)
After the previous breakthrough, Wesker transferred into the Information Bureau to get closer to informatio on Spencer, while Birkin went to continue work on his G-Virus project. Both men had long since left Arklay behind (besides a few visits from Birkin), and had not seen each other for a long time, but had returned to put the female speciment through one last experiment: her termination. Now that that she had accepted the Nemesis parasite and the G-Virus was proceeding well without her, she had outlived her usefulness and had become a danger to the staff due to her slight intelligence boost from the Nemesis. Chief researchers were changing hands again, to John (Adas boyfriend). As Lisa was confirmed dead, Wesker lamented to himself the extents of Spencers planning and manipulation.

FILES:
Albert Wesker
As the origins of Weskers character, Wesker demonstrates his own evolution from a somewhat naive (but still smart & ambitious) scientist to the cunning & calculating individual we eventually see in RE0 & RE1. Its hard to know how twisted certain events are, as its told from Weskers perspective, but to me the report feels clinical & factual like how an actual scientist would present such information. You can tell though Wesker has a certain camaraderie with Birkin that he just doesnt have with any other character, and I think this is definitely a solid piece of characterization for him that is influential for some later events.

William Birkin
Through Weskers eyes, Birkin can be perceived as anti-social, petty, and jealous, but thinking highly of his abilities as a scientist and research partner. I like the touch of Wesker acknowledging that Birkin surpasses his own intellect; you would never picture someone like Wesker admitting that for anyone else. Again, it shows how solid their friendship really is and how important their partnership was in instigating practically all events in the series.

Umbrella
By Weskers account, Umbrella, their leaders, and even their buildings are just grimy hellholes were the worst nightmares you can imagine occur on a daily basis. Dead researchers and outdated, dangerous work environments were commonplace. Spencer, the brains behind it all, is a mystery even Wesker cant crack. When I picture the lab located deep under Arklay, I just picture concrete hallways soiled with mold and soaked through with an unnatural dampness as if the walls were sweating profusely, as twisted creatures writhe behind glass and cages, barely resembling their former selves. Just the most literally toxic work environment you can imagine. Some of the best concepts early RE explores are these very locations.

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My Personal Thoughts:
I love this report a lot. Not only does it do a great job of filling in a lot of blanks for early RE lore, it works as a great horror story on its own and really gives a lot for your imagination to chew on with vivid imagery and fantastic character development, especially as Wesker & Birkins relationship developments over the course of years. Theres a real sense of conspiracy and unbridled nastiness to the whole narrative, which will be important tenents to early RE storytelling going forward. I recommend listening to the reports for an immersive experience, narrated by the real-life Wesker, D.C. Douglas.

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Canon Entry 0.2: RESIDENT EVIL ZERO


Summary
The prequel to the Mansion Incident, Resident Evil Zero stars rookie S.T.A.R.S. officer Rebecca Chambers on her first mission and the ex-Marine on the way to his own execution, Billy Coen. Throughout several Umbrella-operated facilities, Rebecca and Billy form an unlikely alliance as they attempt to survive an outbreak in its mere infancy, while delving into the mysterious locked-away secrets of the Umbrella Corporation, uncover a conspiracy ten years in the making, and learn the horrifying truth of a leaked virus that will change the world forever.

Part 1 - Ecliptic Express (July 23, 1998 20:17)

It's early night, and the Ecliptic Express, an Umbrella owned and operated train, is on its way to the Umbrella Executive Training School, re-opening after a 20 year closure due to illegal experiments conducted by Dr. James Marcus, one of the original key researchers in the development of the T-Virus. The train is attacked by a mysterious man in white, using leeches to infiltrate and infect all passengers heading to the facility.


Two hours later, S.T.A.R.S. (Special Tactics and Rescue Service) Bravo Team flew into the Arklay Mountains from Raccoon City, on a special investigation into the mysterious cannibalistic murders taking place around the region over the blistering summer months. The team consisted of Captain Enrico Marini, comms specialist Richard Aiken, weapons expert Forest Speyer, pilot and rear-security Edward Dewey, chemist and pointman Kenneth J. Sullivan, and of course, medic and new recruit Rebecca Chambers. Though not technically a S.T.A.R.S. member himself and despite already having a pilot on-hand, RPD officer Kevin Dooley would be piloting the helicopter, due to his previous track record of serving with the unit previously and proving instrumental in the search for survivors. Shortly into the flight, the helicopter would experience engine troubles and Kevin would be forced to crash-land in the woods of Arklay. Cutting their losses for now, Kevin stayed behind and Bravo dispatched out into the forest beginning their investigation. Not too long into their search, Rebecca spots an overturned MP vehicle with two corpses inside, and a court order for the execution of a soldier named Billy Coen for unlawful death of human beings during time of war. Bravo splits up from here, as Rebecca stumbles upon a train, stopped dead in its tracks in the middle of nowhere. Steeling herself, Rebecca enters the train, and encounters a bloodbath of strewn luggage and scattered corpses. Entering the next cab over, Rebecca uncovers something far worse: to her pure shock and utter horror, one of the corpses rises and attacks her, as behind her, two more close in.
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Canon in Gameplay #1
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RE0 and many other games in the series occasionally offer the chance for unique scenes and scenarios to play out depending on player choice. In this early scene, players can choose to either run away from the encroaching zombies or have Rebecca gun them down. Choosing the latter unlocks an extremely short scene where Rebecca expresses her confusion at the risen corpses, thinking "they were dead".
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The Conductor
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There's a unique zombie in this early scene, identifiable by his conductor uniform. Based on a keycard found later in the train, his name is Jimmy Lewis. If not killed here or in subsequent pass throughs, Lewis will serve as a minor nuisance as he follows you from train car to train car, serving a small recurring role as an antagonist for the true ammo conservationist.

With the corpses at her feet unmoving once more, Rebecca presses on to the next car, knowing deep down there's probably more where that came from. She has her first brush with Billy Coen but it's not a friendly introduction, as Coen as his gun trained on her, and Rebecca's rookie status shines through, as though she maintains her calm under pressure, she lacks the assertiveness to stop Coen from walking away from her. Rebecca has little time to dwell on this, as suddenly her teammate Edward Dewey crashes through a window, warning her of zombies and monsters in the forest (nothing we didn't know already, but the effort was still appreciated). Rebecca, in her status as medic, of course does nothing to even attempt treating Edward's wounds as Cerberus crash in after him. Rebecca takes them down with relative ease and goes after Billy. Billy suggests a team-up to survive this crazy nightmare while giving Rebecca a little ribbing; Rebecca has it in the back of her mind that this man supposedly killed 23 people and just takes this, even going upstairs to the dining car on her own to prove something to this legally convicted criminal (look, RE0 is far from perfect alright). Regardless, Rebecca encounters a friendly old man in the back of the dining car, but oops, he's not a friendly old man, he's a leech monster, and Rebecca is overwhelmed and swarmed with the buggers until Billy rushes upstairs, shooting the leeches off Rebecca before doing a bullet time dive to accurately snipe two leeches. Maybe this Billy guy isn't so bad after all. The train begins operating again under unknown circumstances; knowing he could've easily left her to die, Rebecca reluctantly agrees to the team-up.
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Canon in Gameplay #2
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At this point, Rebecca and Billy will be partnered up for a majority of the game bar a few key moments. Just as soon as they're together though, they're forced to split up almost immediately; it's up to one character to head to the engine car, while the other restores power to the rest of the dining car. Doing the latter keeps one character trapped inside a small kitchen area while still being able to pass items to the other with a dumbwaiter. The way the partner scene is directed, the canon is for Rebecca to investigate the engine car while Billy investigates the roof, though gameplay wise this isn't a smart move. Billy is more adept in combat in both firearm power and health durability, so the more likely scenario on a first playthrough is for Billy to head to the engine car. While this changes little canon wise, it's a minuscule thing to watch out for if interested in a canon playthough.

With Billy trapped in a small room and the engine car locked with a keycard, Rebecca detours through the conductor's office looking for something to jimmy Billy's door open. She finds an ice pick, note detailing what happened to previously said keycard, and then fights a giant scorpion known as the Stinger. If there's one thing RE0 loves it's its random bugs, arachnid, and mutated mammals that show up with no explanation or deeper backstory than "[animal] infected with T-virus". Rebecca frees Billy and they get the keys necessary to secure the keycard. It turns out it's USS (Umbrella Security Service) operating the train, and they're being commanded by Wesker & Birkin, but they're short lived as they overrun by leeches. HUNKs they are not unfortunately. With no one controlling the train, it starts to speed out of control and Billy and Rebecca are forced to activate the emergency brakes, located at the back of the train.


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Canon in Gameplay #3
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There's a choice here for either Billy or Rebecca to head to the back of the train. The clear choice is Rebecca: along the way you will encounter a zombified Edward, leading to a nice emotional scene between the two teammates, where you are forced to kill your former friend. Once again though, Billy does make more sense gameplay wise to make getting there easier.

The duo do some quick math to activate the brakes, but it's not enough. The train crashes, and our pair finds themselves out of the frying pan and into the fire, as we pick up next time with the Umbrella Management Training Facility.

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As someone with only a cursory knowledge of RE story this topic is excellent.

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Extremely excited for this. Tag.

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Why you put so many 5's in your name?

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Because I was annoyed they didn't have any of the names I actually wanted. In retrospect though I'm kinda glad I have this username now, it's more timeless.

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Part 2 - Umbrella Management Training Facility
With the Ecliptic Express overturned at the end of its last ride, Billy and Rebecca emerge from the wreckage, miraculously alive and only a little worse for wear. With no point in hanging around a burning pile of metal, the pair head the only way they can: into the Umbrella Executive Training Facility (also known as Umbrella Research Center or Umbrella Management Training Facility depending on where you're localized). Despite its elegant mansion-esque design, this was indeed a school and among its many rooms you can find a lecture hall, library, operations room, and several lab support areas including a gas chamber and animal storage area. That's long in the past however; Rebecca and Billy stumble upon it long closed and abandoned, and are initially greeted with the piercing sight of James Marcus, whose portrait dominates the central staircase of the facility. Rebecca recognized him as the weird leech man she had almost been killed by earlier. Elsewhere, unbeknownst to them, Billy and Rebecca are being surveyed by Wesker and Birkin, who in turn are being monitored by the man in white, who resurrects a copy of Marcus using leeches right in front of their eyes. It looks like whatever is going on here, it's motivated by revenge against Birkin and Wesker.

Well, it's time for things to slow down a bit. Rebecca and Billy have a school to explore. Through environmental storytelling and file acquisition, we can piece together just exactly happened here, both when it closed down in 1978 and now just on the cusp of its reopening 20 years later. The zombies encountered here are from the First and Second Investigation Units, respectively made up of soldiers and scientists sent by Wesker and Birkin to secure the school from BOWs and take stock of medicine and lab equipment that could be invaluable for research. Things obviously didn't turn out too well for them. Around the facility you can see evidence of recent activity from the units: a fire burning criminalizing documents in the conference room, scaffolding for restoring artwork in the assembly hall, corpses that have not fully zombified yet, and files left behind detailing some chemical acquisition.

Rebecca and Billy fight there way through the decrepit facilities, uncovering not only the recent events but also some brief peeks into the facility's past too. There's a diary from the assistant director talking about Birkin & Wesker as students there, with others from Marcus himself to have them become rivals. (Not with a friendship that strong!) Last names are conveniently left out of the document so Rebecca doesn't spoil the events of the Mansion Incident for herself. A diary from Marcus helps show a little of the origins of the T-Virus, which, as detailed in Wesker's Report II, came from Marcus' Progenitor virus mixed with leech DNA. He clashes with Spencer over utility of the virus and uses human subjects to get ahead in his research. Rebecca and Billy also come across skeletal remains of former students used for Marcus' research.


Oh, Rebecca and Billy also have a little tussle with a giant centipede, known as the Centurion. It's an appropriately disgusting enemy, but again it kind of just comes out of nowhere. And you would tend to think there should be several of these things crawling around but no there's only the one and it's never really even spoken about.


After learning what they can about the former Umbrella stomping grounds, Rebecca and Billy make their way into the basement to turn off the steaming boiler and move further under the facility, but this basement can be more accurately described as a hidden torture chamber and prison filled with some remnants of Marcus' sick research methods, human or otherwise. Rebecca has to head into the torture chamber on her own, where she succeeds in turning off the boiler but gets attacked by an Eliminator, bitten to be precise, before the floor collapses from under her, as she's left dangling for her life in the lower sections of the facility. Poor girl can't catch a break.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KXRpq4H2X28
Billy finds her past the formerly active boiler and pulls her up just in the nick of time. This proves a real bonding moment, as Billy opens up to Rebecca about his past and why exactly he was being transported to his execution. A year prior, Billy and his Marine unit were in the jungles of Africa intervening in a civil war, looking for a guerrilla unit's base, but intense heat and guerrilla attacks eliminated almost all the men. Billy and three others survived long enough to find that the base they were looking for was merely an innocent village. Billy's commanding officer ordered the village to be killed, not wanting the trip to be for nothing, but Billy refused and was knocked out and blamed for the whole thing, leading to now. The story moves Rebecca enough to not report Billy to her captain Enrico, but Billy remains still indifferent to the whole situation. As an aside, I love Rebecca's little thinking idle animation after the scene, like she's still contemplating and processing what she heard. Great touch! Billy's backstory is also quite interesting me, as war crimes is a topic almost never covered by the series; I wish it was more fleshed out but what's here still adds another dynamic of horror to the game.

Meanwhile, Wesker and Birkin see the writing on the wall: the return of Marcus means Umbrella is finished. Wesker's heading back to Raccoon to gather the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team to gather combat data on the T-Virus at Spencer Mansion, while Birkin is cleaning up what's left of their mess at the URC before continuing his work on the G-Virus. With this many pots heating up at once, something is bound to come to a head soon. But, we will take a quick aside next time as Wesker strikes off on his own little mission.

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What's up with Rebecca's Eliminator bite?
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Rebecca Chambers is the only character to get bitten by a T-Virus infected creature in a canon cutscene and not get infected with the virus. While it's not really brought up, there are several possibilities for this: she's immune, "dry bite" meaning no fluid was passed between the host and victim, or simply the infection was staved off. Either way, it's a weird thing to show and not really care about, as usually something like that is a big deal.

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RE has always been one of my favorite series, and you're doing a great job with this.

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Snake5555555555 posted...

Rebecca Chambers is the only character to get bitten by a T-Virus infected creature in a canon cutscene and not get infected with the virus.

We see Richard get bit by Yawn in Umbrella Chronicles! He got poisoned, sure, but never showed any T-Virus symptoms. In Chris' route he even recovers enough to make it all the way to the aqua ring by himself, so he was definitely feeling okay. But then, you know... sharks.

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FFDragon posted...

We see Richard get bit by Yawn in Umbrella Chronicles! He got poisoned, sure, but never showed any T-Virus symptoms. In Chris' route he even recovers enough to make it all the way to the aqua ring by himself, so he was definitely feeling okay. But then, you know... sharks.

Ah yeah that's true, that totally slipped my mind! I wonder now if these early T-Virus creations were just more unstable in terms of spreading the virus despite making the virus have close to 100% infect rate as possible.

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That's so weird to me that a zombie game would have a character get bit and then just...not do anything with it.

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I gotta get around to playing 0 and REmake HD.


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FFDragon posted...

We see Richard get bit by Yawn in Umbrella Chronicles! He got poisoned, sure, but never showed any T-Virus symptoms. In Chris' route he even recovers enough to make it all the way to the aqua ring by himself, so he was definitely feeling okay. But then, you know... sharks.

Possibly a snake bite where it injects its venom is different than a bite intended to eat the victims flesh
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Are all the times the player gets bit during gameplay just non-canon?
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Jakyl25 posted...

Are all the times the player gets bit during gameplay just non-canon?

Yeah this is implied, except during the Outbreak games I'd argue.

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I wonder if we'll get an RE0 remake

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I could honestly see it happen at one point. There's a lot of untapped potential there: the expanded origins & fates of Bravo Team, more Umbrella lore, maybe even some incorporation of RE0 manga scenes.

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Need a Separate Ways add-on for Enrico tbqh. Getting from the Labs to under the mansion must have been a hell of a journey.

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That would be amazing.

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It's weird that Rebecca being bitten would be included at all. Since RE0 is a prequel, and she's in Resi 1, as well as one of the animated films taking place years later in-universe, her survival is a foregone conclusion. Given the short time between 0 and 1, maybe holding off the infection during the events of the games, but turning off-screen shortly after would have been plausible, but the aforementioned film means that isn't the case.

I thought it would've been neat in Vendetta if when she was injected with the A-Virus something about her having T-Virus would've been brought up, even if just in passing, or it mixed together somehow.

But she does also have one other obscure canon appearance in Resident Evil The Stage, as well as the little report she writes on Billy's "death" by RE2.


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Tag, I enjoy the franchise but have only played maybe half of the mainline games (4-7, revelations 1 and 2 and re2make) so seeing more of the backstory is nice

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I'm of the opinion that RE has an amazingly in-depth backstory, while simultaneously having the most frustrating aborted plotlines (see: Ada and the Organization) in gaming history.

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Canon Entry 0.3 - Beginnings 1 (RE: Umbrella Chronicles)

Summary
While Rebecca and Billy continue to dick around the URC, it's time for Wesker to leave and execute his plan of luring S.T.A.R.S. to the Spencer Mansion for combat data. Barring a little retcontinuity in dialogue and where Wesker ends up (in RE0 he's taking the A-2 elevator in NEST but in Beginnings he starts outside the Monitoring Room), Beginnings hashes out and fills in a few small blanks from the overall story of RE0.

Middle of the Night, July 23, 1998

Wesker strikes off from Birkin and is heading back to the training facility to depart back to Raccoon. RE vets will recognize this starting area as the Marshaling Yard in RE2, and Rebecca will later pass through this area as well, flirting a pass through with NEST (the underground lab from RE2). Wesker has to turn on the power to use the tram car. The zombies here are remnants from the investigation units, who had attempted to retreat back to safety from the training facility and labs. I'm not quite sure why there are BOWs closer to NEST but you gotta have a game somehow I guess. Wesker turns on the power and heads back, but encounters the Proto-Tyrant on the way back up.


The Proto-Tyrant, as the name suggests, is the first attempt at a Tyrant, deemed a failure due to a heavily exposed nervous system and lack of intelligence. Despite this, this prototype was fast and hit hard, and although it was to be disposed of, was inadvertently released during Marcus' outbreak. Wesker belittles the experiment however and makes short work of it. Wesker proceeds on to the training facility.

Personal Thoughts
This is obviously a short chapter and not very important in the grand scheme of things. It all rather seems pointless actually and a lot of events here don't even really line up that cleanly with RE0, but I personally make it fit by explaining how the tram car got back to Marcus' labs and leaving Proto-Tyrant by the Marshaling Yard train elevator for Rebecca to encounter again later. When it comes to RE canon, sometimes your head canon works better than the actual games!

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Canon Entry 0.2.1. - RESIDENT EVIL ZERO (CONT.)

Summary
Rebecca and Billy move on from the Umbrella Executive Training Facility and push deeper into the heart of Marcus' leech research, and an unexpected separation will test the young rookie's bravery and loyalty in the face of dire odds. Then, at last, the ultimate confrontation with James Marcus... but, will the T-Virus nightmare really end there?

Part 3 - The Chapel Facade and Marcus' Laboratories
Rebecca and Billy can only dwell on the past for so long... after all, they have an outbreak to survive. They find themselves in the school's former dormitory, which looks more like Jigsaw's torture dungeon. In an "itchy, tasty" moment, they find a journal from a past student, detailing how his friend got sick from touching one of Marcus' leeches, and the infection spreading him to him as he loses cognitive awareness. Turning into a zombie is far from a fun process. It's time to get out of this god-forsaken place for good. Earlier, Rebecca and Billy had unlocked some doors being barred by knights' swords, and it was here they discovered an inaccessible escape route in an observatory that needed three tablets to be opened. One of those tablets was here in the dorms. Time to hunt down the other two!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaAzq1xrqMI
Through some healthy team-building exercises combining Rebecca's smarts with Billy's strength, the tablets are secured. Along the way, Billy shows some hidden depth as he needs to play the piano to open a hidden passageway. This is actually a great character moment for both Billy & Rebecca; anyone who has played original RE1 or REmake earlier that year will assume Rebecca has the chops to play the piece but she still needs a bit more practice!


R&B use the tablets to twist the observatory and uncover their escape route. It leads out to a small inlet and grand but decaying chapel, a facade of holiness that hides the hellish experiments of James Marcus underneath. One person has to stay outside the unlock the doors; there's no canon gameplay separation this time so maybe it's better just to send Billy in this time. Seems innocent enough; but wait, is that a giant bat?! Correction, that was a giant bat. A hole opens in the ceiling, requiring the hookshot. Fuckin' hell, we left that all the way back at the scene of the train derailment. Ugh, fine, let's go get it, Rebecca, fuckin' bullshit.

The hookshot gives them access to power on the elevator just outside the chapel and at last they enter the fabled labs of James Marcus. These claustrophobic halls with wealthy interiors are a hive of leeches and mimicries of Marcus, and unfortunately, Rebecca & Billy are forced to separate again to explore different floors of the labs. Again, there's no real canon path here, but one cutscene where you find an old photo of Marcus does slightly change depending on who leave on the first floor. It's back to investigation mode with one key discovery: more origins of Marcus' Leech research, and it looks like he expanded on his previous idea of using human test subjects as he starts using students and employees as food for his "children". You can see the human test subjects contained in capsules. Chilling stuff, and in an extra macabre twist, the growth rate of his leeches is used as a code to access the cable car room. Other creepy rooms include a morgue and a room for caged BOWs where you encounter two hunters.

Rebecca and Billy meet up again and activate the cable car, and just as they are about to go on their merry way, Billy is attacked by an Eliminator and falls over a railing. Rebecca is left on her own. She takes the cable car over to the Marshaling Yard, where Wesker and Birkin were only just recently. Kind of crazy to think she can take that side tunnel down through the sewers and end up in the RPD. Although thinking about some of the location logistics here is enough to give one a headache. Rebecca takes the train elevator down and has an encounter with her captain Enrico in the opening section of NEST from RE2, her first face-to-face encounter with a Bravo Member since Edward on the train. and he tries to get her to come along with him to the Mansion, but Rebecca begs to stay behind and look for Billy. Enrico caves and lets her, in what would be their final interaction together.

Part 4 - Treatment Plant and Marcus's Defeat
Rebecca presses on, and has a fight with the Proto-Tyrant previously seen in Beginnings. Despite her inexperience and the small arena, Rebecca has the chops to put this Tyrant in the ground. Going up an elevator, she spots Billy from a walkway, but he is swept away further into a new area; the treatment plant. Rebecca presses into the plant, activates the power, and fights her way through to reach Billy. She pulls Billy out of the rushing water, but feelings of relief are corrupted once they spot what this treatment plant was really used for: disposal of Marcus' test subjects, as a mass grave of bones is spread out before them. Billy experiences PTSD and flashes back to Africa. For Billy, the casualties of so-called science is all too familiar for him.

Well, there's not much to do anymore but end this thing. Rebecca and Billy figure out the plant's complex navigation, take on the Proto-Tyrant for the last time, and encounter some new frog creatures known as Lurkers. If these guys catch you, it's game over as they swallow you up, unless your partner fights them off. After all this craziness, it's time for the final encounter with Marcus. They finally see the man in white face to face, and he transforms into the older version of Marcus. He explains how during his research, Spencer had Marcus assassinated orchestrated by Wesker & Birkin. Marcus' body was dumped but one of his leeches entered his body and during a ten year span recreated Marcus' memories, personality and appearance. In reality, the Marcus we see here is just the Queen Leech, and she sickeningly transforms from the human Marcus to a huge leech monster, in a wondrous moment of body horror. Rebecca and Billy pool their might together and take her down. They take an elevator platform up but the Queen Leech is still on their tail, now further mutated. In addition to this, the facility is about to self-destruct (due to Birkin triggering it). She crashes through the platform, sending Rebecca and Billy flying. They realize the only way to end this: using daylight, the leech's natural weakness, to their advantage. Rebecca opens the shutters while Billy is on combat duty, and eventually, the sunlight floods in. She's weakened but not dead, Rebecca tosses Billy a magnum revolver, as he delivers the iconic line "Hey, Queenie, feast on this!" as the Queen Leech is obliterated in the shining sun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kgQRH6Gf7rI
The facility explodes, but Barry & Rebecca are long gone. On a cliff-side basking in the early sunrise, Billy throws away his handcuffs, metaphorically a free man. It's almost as if working with Rebecca and surviving this outbreak rectified the events of his tragic past, or at least eased the pain a little. Rebecca grabs his dogtags: officially, Billy Coen is dead. They salute one another as Billy says goodbye to Rebecca, forever parting ways.

Later, Rebecca makes her way to the Spencer Mansion, and the nightmare will soon begin again.

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reminds me I need to finish my 0 HD platinum playthrough.

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Personal Thoughts
RE0 is a little bit of a mess. Billy Coen is a great character who I think deserved a little more fleshing out. And I think they should've had a better reason for having Rebecca and Billy team-up (the Umbrella Chronicles retelling works a little better in this regard). Bravo Team is a total non-entity sadly and the ones that do make voiced appearances are often interjected in confusing and pointless ways. I think the background story with Marcus and Umbrella is very interesting though and the URC is a detail-rich area that rivals the Spencer Mansion with huge amounts of environmental storytelling. What happens to Rebecca's character (timeline wise) after this game is a bit contentious too in regards to how she's portrayed in this game, which I think strikes a nice balance of fearful apprehension mixed with her cop training and sense of duty, whereas REmake and other games go too far in the former. Overall, it's an okay game that maybe could've been told in another Wesker's Report or similar supplemental material like a comic.

Whatever the case, next time we mop up Wesker's Beginnings scenario and take a look at Rebecca's brutal night before the real mansion incident begins.

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If anyone has read the Dark Id's Resident Evil Let's Plays, they take some comedic liberties, especially with Billy, who becomes an abrasive jerk with a massive ego who calls himself BILLY F****** COEN! At the end of Resident Evil 0, Rebecca kills him, and from there, his ghost becomes a recurring antagonist, haunting other characters and occasionally possessing BOWs to try and kill them.

GavsEvans123 posted...

If anyone has read the Dark Id's Resident Evil Let's Plays ...

I'm a fan of his stuff on the LP Archive, yeah. Some of the RE stuff is a bit cringey in retrospect, but his RE0/REmake ones were great.


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GavsEvans123 posted...

Dark Id's Resident Evil Let's Plays

I loved the hell out of these back in the day! They were probably some of the first let's plays I ever got in to in general. Been ages since I read them.

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Canon Entry 0.3.1. - Beginnings 2 (Umbrella Chronicles)


Summary
Rewinding back a little bit to just before the Umbrella Management Training Facility explodes, we finish up Wesker's escapades in the facility and introduce a Chronicles-exclusive canon character in Sergei Vladimir.

Early Dawn, July 24, 1998
Wesker ascends from the tram car and crosses the chapel bridge back to the facility. Wesker knows time is running out due to Birkin heading to activate the self-destruct mechanism. The facility now swarms with Crimson Heads (the further mutation of a zombie) making getting out of here no easy feat, but Wesker has no trouble fighting his way through. At the crash site of the Ecliptic Express, Wesker encounters Sergei Vladimir, and his personal bodyguard, Ivan.



Sergei Vladimir is a high-ranking executive of Umbrella, exceeding Wesker and closely trusted by Spencer. Sergei has a complex history even for this series, serving as a colonel in Spetsnaz where he would become involved in an experiment that resulted in ten clones of Sergei being created. When the Soviet Union collapsed, Umbrella would poach Sergei and his clones, using the latter in their Tyrant research. This branch of research would lead to the Talos Project, which was developed on the side at Arklay Labs. This research is why Sergei is here in Raccoon, recovering the project before it became totally lost to the outbreak and eventual Mansion detonation. Sergei also has connections to Nicholai Ginovaef.

Ivan meanwhile is a specially enhanced T-103 designed especially for Sergei to act as a personal bodyguard. Ivan is basically what the ultimate goal of the Tyrant project is: able to blend in with human society while taking orders, coupled with powerful speed and strength.

Sergei sends down Ivan to teach Wesker a lesson about disobeying orders, but even this advanced form of Tyrant is no match for Wesker. The facility detonates giving Wesker an opening to escape, but Sergei has bigger matters at hand: the retrieval of TALOS. Wesker heads back to Raccoon City to regroup with S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team. The Mansion Incident is close at hand.

Personal Thoughts
Not much to say on this one. Sergei is kind of a "whatever" character to me and unneedlessly complicates the lore but it's always good to see more Wesker.


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Canon Entry 0.4 - Nightmare 1 & 2 (Umbrella Chronicles)

Summary
After separating from Billy, Rebecca heads to the mansion in search of her teammates, but passes out from exhaustion in the Residence, waking up to a new, brutal nightmare.

Nightmare 1 - July 24th, 1998
Rebecca finds the Spencer Mansion empty and quiet, and, needing rest from the previous day's events, falls asleep in one of the Residence rooms. Rebecca has some sort of nightmare/psychic premonition about Yawn, the giant T-virus infected snake that now inhabits the mansion, but the arrival of fellow teammate Richard Aiken startles her awake. Aside from Rebecca herself, Richard receives the most character development of Bravo Team, showing him as sort of a protective figure to Rebecca during this scenario. It may seem like he even has a crush on her, however, Richard actually has a girlfriend and it truly is just the relationship that comes with being fellow officers.

Rebecca and Richard team-up to find Enrico, fighting their way to the monster infested Residence. Web Spinners in particular guard the halls, and it gets so overwhelming that they are forced to jump into the caverns below the mansion, right into the very nest of the spiders. Rebecca especially hates them! R&R fight their way back to the surface level, and enter the main mansion. Throughout all this, Richard motivates Rebecca and helps her keep her cool even when things start to become dire.

Nightmare 2 - July 24th, 1998, shortly before S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team's arrival

Entering the mansion, more encounters with monsters ensue. Rebecca mentions Billy in passing and mentions her nightmare to Richard; Richard reminds her to remember her training to make it through this alive. They make their way to the main hall, but the front door is locked. Rebecca wants to expose this incident and uncover more information, but they have to survive first. Going upstairs, they catch a glimpse of Sergei and Ivan, carrying T-011 away from the mansion. Rebecca and Richard head out to the Mansion terrace, where crows burst through the window. Rebecca takes a tumble down some stairs, and events start to really affect her as she wonders if they're the only two left. Richard promises to back her up to the end, but that's easier said then done when Yawn enters the picture. It pursues the pair relentlessly to the mansion library, where they are forced to make a stand and fight it. They do considerable damage, but Yawn lunges at Rebecca, forcing Richard to push her out of the way, becoming entrapped in the jaws of the snake himself. Richard is thrashed around before being thrown by the beast. With Richard now wounded and poisoned, Rebecca must remain strong, as Richard has hope back-up will come.

Personal Thoughts
Now this is a scenario I enjoy a lot. I love getting to know Richard a little better and this scenario helps mend the gap between RE0 and RE1's Rebecca character development, as this clearly shows Rebecca start to slowly lose her grip on all the horrific events she keeps taking part in. Plus, it's just cool to see the origins of a famous Resident Evil scene. I also like the visual inventiveness of Rebecca's nightmare.

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Seems fitting:

https://www.reddit.com/r/salty/comments/mkilkj/how_it_feels_like_to_explain_the_entire_resident/

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Chapter 1 - The Mansion Incident (July 24, 1998 - July 25, 1998)

Overview
Perhaps the most infamous event in RE history, the Mansion Incident is the true beginning of Resident Evil's massive web of biohazards and outbreaks as we know it today. Whether it's through the campy dialogue of OG RE1, the intensely dramatic, decrepit & dusty Gothic mansion of REmake, or through the tinted shades of Wesker in Umbrella Chronicles, the Mansion Incident stands out as a stark example of how dangerous these outbreaks are on a small scale before the expansion into a citywide catastrophe.

Canon Entry 1.0 - RESIDENT EVIL (CHRIS & JILL)

Before we begin, it's important to note there's no concrete canon interpretation of the Mansion Incident's events we can see from our own perspective, but just keep in mind that Chris & Jill are both active in the Mansion and that Rebecca & Barry both survive the incident no matter what endings are shown. I will take some artistic liberties in my retelling of the events, but I will try my best to keep them rooted in the game's real scenes.

Part 1 - Spencer Mansion (Night, July 24th, 1998)

Alpha Team is flying around the forest zone situated in Northwest Raccoon City, looking for the helicopter of their compatriots, Bravo Team. Alpha Team is the much more elite unit of S.T.A.R.S. and is of course the team that represents some of the most famous characters in the series: Albert Wesker, captain; Chris Redfield, point man; Jill Valentine, rear security; Barry Burton, weapons specialist; Brad Vickers, pilot; and Joseph Frost, omniman. Of course, Alpha Team was doomed from the start. After Wesker's recent escapades at the URC, Wesker returns quickly to Raccoon City to launch the next phase of the Arklay investigation, but it's all secretly just a ploy to gather combat data on the STARS members at Arklay Mansion. Before deployment, Wesker threatens Barry's family, allowing him to use Barry as his personal puppet during the Mansion Incident. Chris' opening narration expounds on some of the background incidents going on in Raccoon at the time: strange murders, disappearances, victims being attacked by large groups, the monstrous by-products of Umbrella's immoral experimentation encroaching on quiet suburban life in Raccoon City.

Alpha Team touches down and immediately burst on to the scene. Not much out of the ordinary, save for the body of Bravo pilot Kevin Dooley, discovered by Joseph Frost who flees in disgust at the visceral scene.
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The Remake Difference
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In original RE, Joseph only finds a severed hand, implied to belong to Bravo member Edward Dewey, though it isn't ever mentioned in game, only in-manual. In the prototype of RE0 for N64, Edward appears with a bloodied hand, possibly a placeholder or implication that his model would eventually feature the bloodied stump.
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Alpha Team is ambushed by a pack of Cerberus. Frost has no chance as his arm becomes trapped in the tight jaws of the a dog, before being completely overrun by the pack. Jill unloads her pistol into the pack with ill effect, and stands in shock still trying to fire an empty gun as she witnesses the sickening nightmare unfold before her; this brief pause almost costs Jill her life as the Cerberus charge at her next, but Chris saves her with a well-timed pistol shot. Alpha Team attempt to make a break towards their helicopter, but the cowardly Chickenheart Vickers takes off without them. It's Chris next up on the chopping block as a Cerberus lunges towards him, but now it's Wesker's turn to save his life. With some of the pack thinned out, this gives the team enough time to seek shelter in a mysterious mansion up-ahead.


Alpha Team is now down to Chris, Jill, and Wesker; Barry was separated from the group and they have no idea where he ended up. Cerberus still can be heard barking outside the main doors of the mansion, but there's no way they can get in. Before they can even catch a breath, a gunshot rings out. Is it Bravo Team? Barry? Either way, they have to investigate. Wesker stays behind as Jill and Chris enter the dining room adjacent to the main hall. Empty, but shows recent signs of use, such as a fireplace still burning bright. There's one more door to check: leading into a hallway, they hear faint sounds of crunching. Turning the corner, they witness the source: a man crouched down, eating the corpse of what used to be their comrade: Kenneth. The man turns around but it is no man; his rotting deformed face clues Chris & Jill into one fact: whatever happened to the dogs outside also happened to the people here. They take down the hideous creature, and report back to Wesker. Except, there is no Wesker. Now he's missing too, and Chris and Jill are left to wonder just what the hell they are going to do now. Being such a big mansion, it's probably best to split up despite the dangers the house poses, with periodical check-ups back in the main hall. With the plan agreed upon, Chris tackles the West Wing while Jill takes the East.


Chris heads upstairs and enters a balcony area overlooking the dining room. Another walking corpse but Chris sneaks by it entering a winding hallway with a staircase leading down. It's the same everywhere, zombies infest the mansion, but at the bottom of the staircase, Chris enters a medical storeroom where he stumbles upon a much more pleasant sight: Bravo Team members Rebecca and Richard! Rebecca, being a rookie, does not know much about Chris yet but their meeting is still quite the relief. Rebecca explained what happened to Richard, laying in the sickbed as the serum Rebecca found works magic throughout his body. He'll live, thankfully. With some supplies found in the medical room and new teammates to back Chris up, maybe survival will be possible after all.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hlsElEN-gY
On the other side of the mansion, Jill winds through the corridors of the ground floor, dodging zombie dog ambushes and rising bathtub zombies, testing her mettle... and her stomach. One room grants her some extra firepower: a shotgun, but upon leaving, the ceiling starts to cave in on top of her. Both doors now locked, she's certainly doomed; except, what's that, a voice outside the door? Jill calls for help, and one magnum shot later, the door swings open, and the pleasing sight of Barry helps pull Jill through the door to her safety. She was almost a Jill sandwich! Reunited with Barry, he's flaky as to just what exactly happened with him, but Jill is just relieved she's alive. Jill wants to team-up with Barry to better explore the mansion, but Barry has something he wants to check and tells her to just go on separately.

The investigation phase begins anew and puzzles need to be solved. Chris and Jill meet back up in the main hall to report their findings, and take a peek outside into a graveyard. A morgue leads down deep into the Earth, where a coffin hangs opposite a wall of four faces. Is this mechanical contraption the key to escaping the Mansion? With a goal in mind, Chris & Jill head their separate ways again.

Back in the west wing, Chris does some home gardening and kills weeds, then recruits Rebecca to help solve a piano puzzle. Though Rebecca requires some practice, she nails the Moonlight Sonata and a secret passage opens. One puzzle leads to the next and eventually Chris has a key for the attic. The attic is cobweb central, but even more alarming is the giant snake that slithers out to face Chris, the same one that attacked Richard earlier. Chris lacks the firepower to face Yawn directly, but he's guarding a mask, he has to get by! Chris heads back to recruit Richard, who's feeling a little better and ready for payback on the slithering beast. Together, with Richard's assault shotgun and Chris' handgun, they force Yawn to retreat back deeper into the mansion. Two masks down, two to go.


Meanwhile, Jill goes solo and uses her smarts to easily solve some brain teasers, such as a knights block puzzle and color-coded stained glass room. Jill bumps into Barry again, jumpier than ever, reading the suicide note of a poor researcher. It's important to remember these flesh-munchers were once humans with lives and emotions. With Jill's side of the masks acquired, she meets up again with Chris and heads back down into the morgue. Masks inserted, the coffin crashes heavily into the ground. An iron lattice closes trapping the pair inside, as a zombie rises from the coffin. No... this is different. With fast speed and razor-sharp claws, this is what happens when you leave a zombie dead for too long: Crimson Head. Chris and Jill barely defeat it, and get an emblem-like piece that opens up the back door of the Mansion. Well, they're out, but it's not quite what they're expecting...

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Alright, sorry for the longer wait than usual!

I couldn't fit it in the write-up, but I wanted to share a personal theory I've kept for awhile since I'll probably never get another real chance, it's nothing crazy but I like to ponder it:

It's that Brad was manipulated by Wesker to take off and leave Alpha Team behind, threatened much in the same way as Barry. His cowardly nature would've made him easy to manipulate and be a perfect cover in general. But I think even though Brad was cowardly he would absolutely never leave his teammates behind even in the most dire situations, unless there was someone like Wesker threatening him behind the scenes. The former opinion is the reason for his change of heart and why he ultimately decides to return and pick them up.

Like I said nothing crazy and it matters little, but I think it adds an interesting dimension to why exactly Brad abandons his teammates so quickly at the start.


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This is great, Snake5s. Makes me want to get some of the spinoffs like Umbrella Chronicles despite them not being on the same level critically as the main titles.

Glad you're enjoying! Part 1 of REmake took a while to write up because I wasn't sure how I wanted to present the information.

Yeah some of the spin-offs are definitely worth it, Chronicles especially since they're easy to get into and give you a lot of abridged lore on the series right off the bat.

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I'll be getting the Chronicles games soon as well. I didn't know they had been released on PS3 until very recently, and it's lucky I found out when I did, as with the store shutting down soon, it's now or never.

I want to get the spinoff collections on Switch, but I'm fairly sure the physical release is just a download code, which annoys me.