Resident Evil Requiem’s endings, defined

Resident Evil Requiem has a sophisticated story, although that shouldn’t come as a shock to anybody who has stored up with the collection over 30 years. Capcom’s survival horror video games are stuffed with evil organizations and similarly-named viruses that may be powerful to maintain straight. At first, Requiem appears to be getting away from all that with its new character, Grace Ashcroft, however it quickly turns into clear that’s not the case. In truth, Requiem is likely to be essentially the most lore-intensive sport in Resident Evil’s historical past, because of what number of unfastened threads it makes an attempt to tie up in its ending.

Even in the event you’ve performed each sport within the collection, the finale would possibly nonetheless depart you scratching your head with its mess of correct nouns. That can assist you unpack all of it, right here’s a breakdown of precisely what occurs on the finish of Resident Evil Requiem and the way it ties into the collection’ previous.

This text incorporates spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.

Slightly setup is required, as a result of there are a couple of mysteries swirling round Requiem forward of its ending. The primary is that Leon S. Kennedy is investigating what’s been dubbed Raccoon Metropolis Syndrome. Those that survived the bombing of Raccoon Metropolis again in 1998’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis are struggling long-term negative effects. They’ve developed black rashes on their pores and skin and are slowly dying from the an infection. Leon has a case of it himself, so he’s notably invested in determining what has occurred.

In the meantime, Grace Ashcroft is kidnapped by Dr. Victor Gideon. It’s unclear why for many of the sport; all Grace is aware of is that it has to do with one thing referred to as “Elpis.” By way of lore paperwork collected all through the sport, Grace begins to piece collectively what precisely Elpis is. At first look, it looks like one other T-virus variant that’s going to show the world into zombies. Traditional. However the deeper the story goes, the extra that’s referred to as into query.

There’s additionally Zeno, a secondary villain who certain seems to be so much just like the very lifeless Albert Wesker. All we actually find out about him is that he needs to make use of Elpis for evil. We additionally study that he’s a part of The Connections, a shadowy group talked about in Resident Evil Village.

All of this reaches a climax when Leon and Grace enter ARK, an Umbrella Company analysis facility beneath Raccoon Metropolis. There, Grace finds some long-hidden secrets and techniques involving the origins of the corporate, how its work was lined up by the US authorities, and what really occurred to its enigmatic co-founder, Ozwell E. Spencer. All of it culminates in a tense second the place Leon and Grace discover the room containing Elpis samples. Leon is simply too weak to withstand when Zeno arrives to cease the 2 from destroying Elpis. Grace is given a remaining alternative as she stands in entrance of the machine containing Elpis: save or destroy it. Two endings sprout from that alternative.

The very unhealthy ending

In case you select to destroy Elpis, you’re handled to an especially bleak ending. ARK begins to crumble as Zeno freaks out. Grace is ready to get away from him, however Leon is simply too weak to combat him off. Because the platform Leon and Zeno are standing on collapses into the abyss, Leon seems to be up at Grace and says “Not less than I might prevent.” It’s a fruits of his character arc all through Requiem. Leon’s complete story revolves round his survivor’s guilt from the destruction of Raccoon Metropolis. He was, in any case, a rookie cop when it occurred. He escaped city with Claire Redfield, however left tens of 1000’s to die when the US authorities bombed the town to include the zombie outbreak taking place inside it. He will get to redeem himself by saving Grace.

That victory is short-lived. Zeno shoots Leon within the head at point-blank and kills him. Grace watches in horror as each Leon’s physique and the still-living Zeno fall into darkness. She survives and Elpis is gone, however at what price? The story ends there, with no remaining boss combat.

The true ending

That’s the depressing model. The canon ending occurs if Grace chooses to not destroy Elpis. It sounds counterintuitive, however Elpis is definitely an antidote, not a virus. Within the build-up to the encounter, we get a reasonably main revelation about Ozwell E. Spencer. It seems he felt immense guilt over all these mutagenic viruses he created. On the finish of his life, he created Elpis as a remaining act of repentance. It received’t convey again the lifeless, however it will possibly not less than destroy all zombie bioweapons and remedy the Raccoon Metropolis survivors.

In order that’s what Grace does. She injects Leon with Elpis and shortly reverses his situation. All is effectively till Gideon enters the scene. His assumptions about Elpis being a superweapon have been fallacious, sure, however he nonetheless has a imaginative and prescient. With Elpis having the potential to wipe out all virus-based weapons, he believes that may throw a world order constructed round warfare into chaos. That doesn’t actually make quite a lot of sense, as Zeno angrily factors out. Gideon responds by killing him, calling him a “low cost imitation” (implying that he does certainly appear like Wesker on objective), after which turning into a large monster. An enormous boss combat ensues, with Leon again at full well being. Our heroes kill him, however are left trapped inside ARK. They settle for their impending demise because the lights exit.

After which, a deus ex machina! The BSAA, an anti-bioweapon group that has appeared in current video games, swoops down to save lots of them. A soldier passes Leon a message from “Captain Redfield,” as in Chris Redfield. We don’t hear what that message is, however we quickly flash ahead to search out Leon and Grace secure and sound. A information report ties up some unfastened ends: Umbrella’s secrets and techniques are uncovered and the Justice Division opens an investigation into the US authorities cover-up surrounding it. (It’s prompt that the federal government intentionally drove Umbrella out of business to cowl its involvement.)

One remaining post-credits scene exhibits us two issues. One is that Grace continues working with the FBI after the story wraps up. The opposite is a little bit of sequel bait. Again at ARK, the BSAA troopers are lifeless. They’ve been killed by one other group of troopers from a thriller group, who retrieve one thing off-screen. The sport ends, organising a sequel about no matter occurred there.

The bonus lore

In case you’re nonetheless confused about all of it, don’t fear: Your reward for beating the sport is a 60-page lore doc that fills in each single hole. This incorporates some essential data. For starters, it reveals that Spencer started his analysis amid the Chilly Battle, fearing a return to the “horrors of the Second World Battle.” His worry that humanity would repeat its worst crimes led him to hunt an evolution of the human race. That imaginative and prescient acquired mutated by his co-founder, James Marcus, who as a substitute used that concept to show individuals into residing bioweapons. Inside politics ensued. Marcus was pushed out, and Spencer began creating Elpis inside ARK.

What was the take care of Marcus? It seems he had ties to The Connections, the group Zeno was a part of. We get far more element about what that group is right here, however it’s nonetheless left very mysterious. They have been concerned in prison exercise within the Nineteen Eighties and have since been pulling quite a lot of strings behind the scenes. In truth, they have been chargeable for the 1998 Raccoon Metropolis bombing not directly. They’re those that lobbied the US authorities to launch a missile on the metropolis — to not cease the an infection, however to cease Spencer, destroy Umbrella, and seize their belongings. That plan labored, and The Connections gained management of ARK and Elpis, assuming it was a brand new weapon.

The rabbit gap goes deeper. We study that Tricell, the villainous navy group that Wesker was working for in Resident Evil 5, was additionally tied to The Connections. And we additionally study that President Benford was killed in Resident Evil 6 as a result of he was going to reveal all this.

As for Grace? It seems she was Spencer’s adoptive daughter. He took her in as one other strategy to make amends for his crimes. After his demise, Spencer left Grace within the care of Alyssa Ashcroft, the journalist who carried out his remaining interviews.

There are some finer particulars, however that’s the gist of it. Spencer was out for redemption, and The Connections have been the true large bads. Umbrella Company was at all times only a cog in a a lot greater machine. There are quite a lot of retcons packed in there, so don’t get too hung up on plot holes. That is the place the collection stands as is, and we’ll definitely see extra of it, judging by Requiem’s post-credits scene.