Resident Evil Requiem’s endings, explained

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

Even for those who’ve performed each sport within the sequence, the finale would possibly nonetheless go away 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 sequence’ previous.

This text comprises spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem.

Just a little 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 uncomfortable side 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 a lot 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. Basic. However the deeper the story goes, the extra that’s referred to as into query.

There’s additionally Zeno, a secondary villain who positive seems loads 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 coated up by the USA 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 just too weak to withstand when Zeno arrives to cease the 2 from destroying Elpis. Grace is given a closing selection as she stands in entrance of the machine containing Elpis: save or destroy it. Two endings sprout from that selection.

The very unhealthy ending

Should you select to destroy Elpis, you’re handled to a particularly bleak ending. ARK begins to crumble as Zeno freaks out. Grace is ready to get away from him, however Leon is just too weak to struggle him off. Because the platform Leon and Zeno are standing on collapses into the abyss, Leon seems up at Grace and says “At the least I might prevent.” It’s a fruits of his character arc all through Requiem. Leon’s total story revolves round his survivor’s guilt from the destruction of Raccoon Metropolis. He was, in spite of everything, a rookie cop when it occurred. He escaped city with Claire Redfield, however left tens of hundreds to die when the USA authorities bombed town to comprise 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 value? The story ends there, with no closing boss struggle.

Picture: Capcom by way of Polygon

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 fairly 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 closing act of repentance. It received’t carry again the lifeless, however it could possibly at the very least destroy all zombie bioweapons and treatment the Raccoon Metropolis survivors.

In order that’s what Grace does. She injects Leon with Elpis and rapidly reverses his situation. All is properly 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 can throw a world order constructed round warfare into chaos. That doesn’t actually make a whole lot of sense, as Zeno angrily factors out. Gideon responds by killing him, calling him a “low cost imitation” (implying that he does certainly seem like Wesker on function), after which turning into a large monster. An enormous boss struggle 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 latest video games, swoops down to avoid wasting 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 seek out Leon and Grace secure and sound. A information report ties up some free 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 recommended that the federal government intentionally drove Umbrella out of business to cowl its involvement.)

One closing post-credits scene reveals 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, establishing a sequel about no matter occurred there.

Picture: Capcom

The bonus lore

Should 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 comprises some essential data. For starters, it reveals that Spencer started his analysis amid the Chilly Warfare, fearing a return to the “horrors of the Second World Warfare.” His concern that humanity would repeat its worst crimes led him to hunt an evolution of the human race. That imaginative and prescient bought mutated by his co-founder, James Marcus, who as an alternative used that concept to show individuals into residing bioweapons. Inner politics ensued. Marcus was pushed out, and Spencer began creating Elpis inside ARK.

What was the cope with 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, nevertheless it’s nonetheless left very mysterious. They have been concerned in prison exercise within the Nineteen Eighties and have since been pulling a whole lot of strings behind the scenes. In truth, they have been answerable for the 1998 Raccoon Metropolis bombing ultimately. 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 army 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 technique to make amends for his crimes. After his demise, Spencer left Grace within the care of Alyssa Ashcroft, the journalist who carried out his closing 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 huge bads. Umbrella Company was all the time only a cog in a a lot larger machine. There are a whole lot of retcons packed in there, so don’t get too hung up on plot holes. That is the place the sequence stands as is, and we’ll actually see extra of it, judging by Requiem’s post-credits scene.