Resident Evil Timeline From RE1 To RE Village Explained

Resident Evil is one of the most successful survival-horror franchises of all time, and its influence has spread into live-action films, stage plays, novels, and more. The franchise celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2021, and there’s a lot of history to dig into with that.

There are actually multiple different continuities that run through the various pieces of Resident Evil media, but the main one is known as the Prime Universe. This follows the timeline of the main Resident Evil games, as well as a few spinoffs.

With the impending release of Resident Evil Village, it’s helpful to have a look at the full timeline of the series leading up to this point. Keep in mind that it’ll only be covering the main games for this timeline and not include the CG movies or the spinoffs, including the upcoming Netflix show Resident Evil: Infinite Darkness.

RE0 & the Ecliptic Express Incident – July 1998

Shortly before the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team infiltrates the Spencer Mansion, Bravo Team member Rebecca Chambers had to face her own nightmare. Just like with the STARS Alpha team, Bravo is investigating a string of cannibalistic murders in the Arklay Mountains, which eventually leads Rebecca to investigate the mysteriously stalled Ecliptic Express.

Rebecca teams up with escaped convict Billy Coen as the pair discover all of the train’s passengers have been turned into zombies. As the train stops at an Umbrella Corporation facility, Rebecca discovers the project of the company’s co-founder Dr. James Marcus, who unearthed a progenitor virus and decided to combine it with leech DNA. Resident Evil 0 provides a bit more context on Albert Wesker’s betrayal of STARS and the history of the Umbrella Corporations creation of bioweapons.

RE1 & the Mansion Incident – July 1998

The Spencer Mansion of Resident Evil is where everything really started, seeing STARS Alpha Team investigating the disappearance of Bravo, with Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine at the heart of everything. In the mansion and connecting research facility, the STARS team learns about the illegal experiments conducted by the Umbrella Corporation. In these experiments humans and other creatures were exposed to the T-Virus, turning them into zombies and undead creatures.

While exploring the Umbrella lab, the STARS members also discover a terrifying bio-organic weapon named Tyrant. At this juncture, the leader of Alpha Team, Albert Wesker, reveals his role as a double agent along with his plan to wipe out STARS using the Tyrant. In the end, Jill and Chris defeat both Wesker and Tyrant and manage to escape the mansion after activating its self-destruct protocol. Of course, Wesker didn’t actually die in the mansion, and had a lot more in store for the heroes.

RE2 & Raccoon City – Sept/Oct 1998

The Raccoon City incident is the first major biological outbreak in the Resident Evil series, and it would set the stage for almost everything else that came after. Resident Evil 2 introduced Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield, showing the duo’s struggle to survive in a city overrun by zombies and other nightmarish creatures. Leon arrives in the city for his first day as a police officer, only to find out his entire precinct has been whipped out. Meanwhile, Claire is on the hunt for the brother, Chris Redfield, but eventually finds out that he’s traveled to Europe for unknown reasons.

Throughout the course of the game, it’s revealed that the Raccoon City Police Chief was hiding evidence of Umbrella’s experiments at the Spencer Mansion and outskirts, and Leon meets a woman named Ada Wong, who claims to be an FBI agent investigating the company. Both characters are relentlessly stalked by Mr. X, a more perfected version of the Tyrant players encountered in the first Resident Evil.

Claire meets a young girl named Sherry Birkin, while Ada and Leon infiltrate Umbrella’s underground laboratory. Sherry is the daughter of William Birkin, the creator of the G-Virus. Leon recovers the G-Virus sample and activates the self-destruct protocol of the lab, but is stopped by a mutated version of William Birkin. Eventually, Birkin is defeated but Leon is betrayed by Ada, who reveals herself to be a mercenary looking to sell the G-Virus to the highest bidder. As the facility explodes Ada (seemingly) falls to her death while holding the G-Virus, but Leon manages to escape and rendezvous with Claire and Sherry aboard a leaving train. Unfortunately, they’re once again ambushed by the mutated William Birkin, but finally manage to kill the scientist, letting the trio escape the horrors of Raccoon City.

RE3 & Raccoon City Part 2 – Sept/Oct 1998

STARS member Jill Valentine has taken up residence in Raccoon City while investigating Umbrella, and she’s quickly thrust into the heart of the outbreak. Resident Evil 3 starts one day before the events of Resident Evil 2, and as the city falls apart Jill and another STARS member, Brad Vickers, are hunted by a new bioweapon created by Umbrella named Nemesis. While escaping the monster Jill runs into Carlos Olivera, a member of the Umbrella Biohazard Countermeasure Service, a group designed to help save critical targets in the case of an outbreak. She meets the other members of the team, including Nicholai Ginovaef in the subway.

Jill learns about the subway cars the Umbrella team set up to evacuate civilians and leaves to reactivate the Subway’s power. Meanwhile, Carlos and another member named Tyrell head to the Raccoon City Police department to find Dr. Nathanial Bard, who may have a cure for the T-Virus. Unfortunately, Carlos talks to Bard via a video call and learns that he’s actually holed up at the hospital. At the same time, Jill, still pursued by Resident Evil 3’s Nemesis, ends up getting injected with the T-Virus by the monster and falls unconscious.

En route to the hospital, Carlos discovers Jill and takes her to Bard’s location, hoping to find the vaccine. Upon arrival, Carlos learns that Bard has been murdered, but he administers the single dose of the vaccine to Jill. As Carlos and Tyrell learn of an impending missile strike on the city, Carlos travels to the underground Umbrella lab to try and find more doses of the vaccine. Jill wakes up on the day of the strike and learns from Tyrell that it won’t happen if they can obtain the vaccine. As the pair follows Carlos to the Umbrella lab Nemesis appears once again, and murders Tyrell.

Still having to evade Nemesis, Jill manages to synthesize the vaccine but also learns that Nicholai, who’s been hampering her the whole time, is a double agent hired by an unknown party to sabotage Umbrella. The ever-persistent Nemesis once again attacks Jill, and Nicholai steals the vaccine and runs, leaving her to fight the creature. Jill finally manages to put Nemesis in the grave using a rail gun and pursues Nicholai. Cornered on a helipad, Nicholai destroys the vaccine before being taken down by Jill with the help of Carlos. The two heroes manage to escape using Nicholai’s helicopter just before the missile strike levels Raccoon City.

Code Veronica & the Rockfort Island Incident – Dec 1998

Three months after the events of Resident Evil 2, Claire is still searching for her brother, leading her to infiltrate an Umbrella facility in Paris. She’s discovered by the complex’s security forces and imprisoned on Rockfort Island. In a strange twist of events, she’s freed by the man that captured her and learns that there’s been a T-Virus outbreak on the island. As she explores Claire meets an inmate named Steve Burnside, and the two team up to make it out alive.

Shortly they encounter the warden of the island, Alfred Ashford, who houses a second personality of his sister, Alexia Ashford. It’s also revealed that Albert Wesker is on the island and is the one who started the outbreak. Making their way through, Claire and Steve find a seaplane and use it to escape to Umbrella’s facility in Antarctica which, of course, has also been hit by an outbreak. There Claire discovers Alexia Ashford is actually alive but preserved in cryosleep. Alfred, who pursued Claire, attacks them and before he dies he revives his sister using the T-Veronica virus.

Meanwhile, Chris Redfield arrives at Rockfort island looking for Claire, only to find out she’s not there. While he searches the island Chris runs into Wesker and discovers his former ally now has superhuman abilities. Wesker’s goal is to recover a sample of the Veronica virus, and when he finds out Alexia is alive both he and Chris make their way to the facility independently. When Chris arrives in Antarctica he manages to save Claire, but the pair stumble upon Steve and find out he’s been experimented on and mutated. Claire manages to take down Steve, and he admits his love for her just before dying. At the same time, Wesker and Chris fight the mutated Alexia and defeat her, but Wesker manages to retrieve Steve’s body for experimentation. Chris and Claire barely manage to escape before the facility explodes, hiding its secrets forever.

RE4 & the Abduction of Ashley Graham – Fall 2004

Now a member of the Secret Service, in Resident Evil 4 Leon Kennedy is sent to a remote village in Spain to rescue the president’s daughter, Ashley Graham. A cult known as “Los Illuminados” is suspected of holding Ashely, and upon his arrival in the village Leon is immediately attacked by its inhabitants. Leon is captured by the village leader, Bitores Mendez, and injected with the Las Plagas parasite. This parasite controls the mind of its host and turns them into a zombie-like being.

Leon finds himself imprisoned with Luis Sera, one of the researchers of Los Illuminados, and the two work together to escape. After going their separate ways Leon finally rescues Ashley from a church and learns the true plan of Los Illuminados from its leader, Osmund Saddler. The cult plans to use the Plagas they infected Ashley with to force her to inject the President of the United States with a sample, thus granting them control over him. After being attacked by Mendez again Leon manages to kill him, and he and Ashley take refuge in the castle near the village. Unfortunately, they meet another of Saddler’s minions named Ramon Salazar.

While evading enemies and traps the pair are separated, but Leon meets up with Luis once again. Luis gives Leon a sample of Las Plagas, as well as pills that can slow the infection, but he’s killed by Saddler who also takes the sample. Another surprise awaits Leon in the castle as he runs into Ada Wong from Resident Evil 2.

Continuing his search for Ashely, Leon heads to a nearby island and runs into another ghost from his past, Jack Krauser. A former comrade of Leon’s, Krauser was presumed dead years ago, but he’s the one responsible for Ashley’s kidnapping. It’s revealed that both Krauser and Ada are under the direction of Albert Wesker, who wants a sample of the Plagas parasite. Leon kills Krauser and removes the Plagas from both himself and Ashley using a device. He then defeats Saddler with the help of Ada, only to have her, once again, steal the sample from him at the last moment.

RE 5 & the Kijuju Autonomous Zone Incident – March 2009

Chris Redfield, as a member of the BSAA, is sent deep into Africa to hunt down a black market bioweapon dealer named Ricardo Irving. There he meets up with a new partner, Sheva Alomar, who will assist him in the task. Following in the footsteps of the BSAA Alpha Team, the pair arrives in a remote town only to find its residents all infected by Las Plagas, now known as Majini. Chris and Sheva are saved by Delta Team, who have a photo with Chris’ old partner, Jill Valentine, who’s supposed to be dead. Determined to find Jill, Chris decides not to report to HQ, and the pair pursue Irving.

Finally cornering Irving on his boat, he injects himself with the Plagas and transforms. With his dying breath, Irving directs Chris to a nearby cave, one which is containing the plant that was used to create Umbrella’s previous viruses and a new strain named Uroboros. In the cave, Chris also finds evidence that Tricell, the company behind the BSAA, has continued Umbrella’s research in a secret underground lab that contains thousands of test pods, one of which is Jill Valentine’s, even though she’s not in it. Tricell’s CEO, Excella Gionne, reveals that she and Wesker plan to launch rockets filled with Uroboros all over the planet.

As Chris and Sheva are about to apprehend her they’re stopped by Wesker and a mind-controlled Jill. Chris and Sheva manage to pry the mind-control device off of Jill, but Wesker and Gionne escape in the process. While pursuing Wesker, Chris and Sheva kill Gionne and take samples of the virus from her. Finally, the pair confronts Wesker in an active volcano. By using the samples from Gionne and plenty of weapons, Chris finally puts an end to Albert Wesker once and for all.

RE6 & the Edonian Civil War, Bioterror Attack in Tall Oaks, and Bioterror Attack in Liangshing China – Dec 2012-June 2013

Resident Evil 6’s convoluted plot follows the stories of four different protagonists – Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield, Jake Wesker, and Ada Wong. Chronologically the story starts in a European country called Edonia, with the biological son of Albert Wesker, Jake. DSO Agent Sherry Birkin has been sent in to extract Jake out of the civil war, so he can be used to create a vaccine for the C-Virus. At the same time, Chris Redfield and his team from the BSAA are sent to Edonia to fight the infected, but most of his unit is wiped out by Ada Wong. Chris goes into exile from trauma and Jake and Sherry are captured by the person that appears to be Ada.

Six months later the story picks up in Tall Oaks, after the US President admits his involvement in Raccoon City and mutates during a press conference. Leon Kennedy and his new partner Helena Harvey pursue National Security Advisor Derek Simmons to China, who’s a part of Neo-Umbrella and responsible for the outbreak in Tall Oaks. Everyone’s paths converge in Liangshing China, which is now in the middle of a massive C-Virus outbreak.

Chris Redfield and his partner Piers deploy in the city to fight the undead, while Jake and Sherry escape from the Neo-Umbrella facility. Leon and Helena encounter the real Ada, and learn about the other “fake” Ada who is actually a bioweapon working for Neo-Umbrella. After that, Leon and Sherry run into each other, and Sherry gives him Jake’s medical info for safekeeping. The four pursue Simmons, and while Leon and Helena corner him Jake and Sherry are captured once again.

Leon contacts Chris and asks him to rescue Sherry and Jake, then with the help of the real Ada they successfully kill Simmons. The pair evacuates the city after learning a missile is on the way. Meanwhile, Chris and Piers head to a Neo-Umbrella lab under an oil platform and save Sherry and Jake. A giant humanoid bioweapon named HAOS appears, with Chris and Piers trying to stop it while the others escape. Piers injects himself with the C-Virus to fight HAOS, then sacrifices himself so Chris can escape.

Jake and Sherry, on the other hand, battle and kill the Ustanak, then ride a platform out of the facility to safety. Ada’s story reveals that the fake her was a woman named Carla Radames, who was forced to mutate into Ada by Simmons. The ending scenes of Resident Evil 6 show Leon and Helena returning to duty, Chris staying with the BSAA to command a new squad, Sherry continuing to work with the DSO, and Jake returning to the life of a mercenary, this time fighting BOWs.

RE7 & the Dulvey Incident – 2017

Resident Evil 7 opens with a new character named Ethan Winters traveling to Louisiana in search of his missing wife, Mia. Ethan’s investigation takes him to an abandoned plantation, where he finds Mia imprisoned in the basement. While he tries to save her, Mia suddenly turns violent and attacks Ethan, forcing him to fight back and supposedly kill her. A mysterious girl named Zoe contacts Ethan and asks for his help recovering a serum, but soon Ethan is captured by Jack Baker and learns that the house belongs to the Baker family, who have all mutated. The house is also filled with strange, mold-like creatures.

While searching for the serums Ethan kills Marguerite Baker, but Lucas Baker captures both Mia and Zoe. While trying to save the two Ethan is confronted by Jack Baker, and he’s forced to use one of the serums to kill him. After rescuing Zoe and Mia Ethan is forced to choose who to give the serum. While players can choose to give the serum to Zoe, the actual canon choice in Resident Evil 7 is to give it to Mia.

While fleeing the Baker mansion via boat, Ethan and Mia are attacked by some kind of creature and split up, Mia’s memories are restored at this point, and it’s revealed she’s an agent from a criminal organization called The Connections. Mia was a handler for a new type of bioweapon codenamed E-001, who appears as a little girl named Evelyn. Along with her partner Alan, Mia was transporting Evelyn aboard a tanker, but the girl broke free, murdered Alan, and escaped the tanker, only to be found by Jack Baker in the swamp. Mia finds Ethan injured aboard the wrecked tanker and gives him a shot of Evelyn’s genetic material to save him.

Mia can resist Eveline’s control a bit, and locks Ethan out of the tanker, forcing him to explore the surrounding area. He stumbles upon a lab in an abandoned salt mine, where Lucas Baker monitored Evelyn with the help of The Connections. Ethan learns that Evelyn can infect people with a type of mold causing mutations, insanity, and more. This means the Baker family were basically her grotesque servants at this point, except for Lucas who was immunized in exchange for his work, and Zoe who was surprisingly resistant to her influence. Evelyn’s overwhelming desire for a family causes her to lure Mia and capture her before the events of the game.

Using the materials in the lab Ethan synthesizes a toxin that can kill Evelyn, and makes his way back to the Baker house. After battling through hallucinations he injects Evelyn and she reverts to the form of an elderly woman in a wheelchair, the one that’s appeared all around the Baker house during Ethan’s journey. Evelyn turns into a massive creature in a final effort, and just as Ethan thinks his life is over a mysterious military unit appears and helps him finally finish the bioweapon. The game’s final scenes reveal the military squad was led by none other than Chris Redfield, and Ethan and Mia are evacuated via a helicopter that bears a blue version of the Umbrella logo.

Resident Evil Village – 2021

Resident Evil Village picks up roughly three years after the Dulvey Incident in Resident Evil 7. Ethan and Mia Winters have moved to a remote location in Europe, and have a young daughter named Rosemary. That quiet new life is thrown into chaos when Chris Redfield appears and brutally murders Mia, kidnapping Ethan and Rosemary in the process. Ethan wakes up in a remote village, with no idea what’s happening or where he is.

Resident Evil Village launches on May 7 for PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

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