Resident Evil (1996 game)/plot (2025)

Backstory[]

The Spencer Mansion was constructed in the Arklay Mountains in the 1960s by George Trevor, an architect who subsequently disappeared. The mansion housed an underground laboratory used by Umbrella Pharmaceuticals for top-secret bio-weapons development on behalf of the U.S. military. Soon after the completion of the "ε strain" virus in 1998, the virus broke out and infected the staff, causing noticeable necrosis of the skin and severe brain damage that limited their intelligence and triggered excessive hormone production. This made them murderously angry, obsessively hungry, and caused them to grow several inches. In their volatile state, they were unable to prevent their mutant test subjects from escaping, leading to a number of deaths among hikers and suburban residents. In July 1998, the Raccoon Police Department, unable to solve the murder and animal attack cases, handed over the investigation to S.T.A.R.S., an elite law enforcement unit funded by Umbrella.

Game[]

The game begins on the night of July 24, 1998. The S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team, sent out the night before to investigate the killings, has dropped out of radio contact, and the Alpha Team is dispatched to the Arklay Mountains in their own helicopter to find them. While searching the area, S.T.A.R.S. member Joseph Frost finds a severed hand still clutching a handgun. He is soon attacked by mutated dogs and subsequently killed. The other S.T.A.R.S. members flee back to their helicopter, but the pilot Brad Vickers has already taken off and abandoned them. Spotting a large building in the distance, the four remaining S.T.A.R.S. members run toward it in hopes of finding shelter from the dogs.

Depending on the character chosen, either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine will fail to reach the mansion door, and the team is now down to three members: the player, Captain Albert Wesker, and another character. While talking in the entrance hall, a gunshot is heard from the building's west wing. Captain Wesker orders the player to investigate (with Barry, if playing as Jill). The player finds a pool of blood next to the fireplace in a dining hall and soon discovers the decapitated remains of S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team member Kenneth J. Sullivan, being eaten by an infected man. When they return to the entrance hall, no one is there.

During exploration, the player will find two other Bravo Team members. On the terrace, they may find the body of Forest Speyer, who was injured by zombies and subsequently attacked by crows (he is dead in the original game, but alive and infected in Director's Cut). In the east wing, the player will also find Richard Aiken, whom they can help if alive, by recovering medicine to treat a large bite mark; he dies regardless but will offer his radio if treated. Elsewhere in the mansion, the player finds files that describe the disaster, how the staff slowly went insane and killed one another, and how a man in sunglasses stopped outgoing phone calls to cut them off from the rest of the world. Eventually, the surviving scientists and researchers began killing themselves upon showing symptoms of infection.

During the initial exploration of the mansion, Jill will run into Barry in pre-determined locations based on the player's path. He may help her escape a ceiling trap; give her ammunition for the Bazooka; show her Forest's body, or talk to her in a study room. For Chris, he will find Bravo Team survivor Rebecca Chambers, either attending to Richard's wounds or in the west storeroom. If Chris finds her with Richard, she will accompany him to the storeroom after his death if Chris arrived in time for the medicine; if he takes too long and Richard is already dead, she will disappear. Chris will later meet her in the bar, where she plays the Moonlight Sonata to trigger the opening of a secret room.

Following the defeat of the Yawn enemy, the player moves on to a courtyard populated by Cerberus, infected dogs. They will quickly move on to the Guardhouse, where a giant plant's vines can attack the player, and where bees have taken over a gallery. Underground is a flooded room which housed a water tank that has smashed, allowing several sharks to swim freely in shallow water. The compound V-JOLT may be used to weaken the giant plant, Plant 42 (as Jill herself in Jill's story, or Rebecca and Chris in Chris's). After killing the plant, the player will run into Captain Wesker, who tells them to reinvestigate the mansion; in Chris's story, he says that Jill has disappeared, while in Jill's story, he cautions her about Barry's unusual behavior.

Returning to the mansion, the player finds it populated by more powerful bio-weapons called Hunters. After defeating the Yawn, the protagonist jumps down a hole leading to George Trevor's hidden tomb, which itself leads to passages to the kitchen. In Jill's story, Barry drops a rope, and she will either wait for him to return or continue down to the passage. In Chris's story, Rebecca will be confronted by a Hunter somewhere in the mansion, which will kill her if it takes too long to find her.

After leaving the mansion, the protagonist climbs down a hole behind the waterfall in the courtyard, leading to tunnels abandoned by Umbrella in the 1960s. In Jill's story, she finds Barry already there and he asks to go with her. If she agrees, he then asks to go first. If she refuses, he then asks if she will stay while he goes alone, and she can refuse or accept to do so. Deep in the tunnels, Jill finds Enrico Marini, Bravo Team's captain, who is injured and believes S.T.A.R.S. were set up to be wiped out in the mission. He is not sure who the traitor is, but he believes Jill is not involved. Regardless of who accompanies Jill, an unseen individual shoots Enrico before he can reveal more information. If Jill refused Barry's request to accompany her, he will be killed by a Hunter in the tunnels.

After navigating the courtyard, the protagonist makes it to a water fountain that hides the secret entrance to the Arklay Lab. While exploring it, they will discover film directly linking Captain Wesker with the laboratory, as a senior researcher in their bio-weapons development team and security chief. If they gain access to the cells for imprisoning human test subjects, they will find one of the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team members (Chris if playing as Jill, and Jill if playing as Chris) who Captain Wesker took hostage earlier in the game.

The protagonist will later head down an elevator into level B4 towards the culture tank room. Jill will be confronted by Captain Wesker, who will reveal he received orders from Umbrella to use S.T.A.R.S. to reach the lab and return crucial bio-weapons research data to them. Barry is revealed as his subordinate, forced to act under the threat of his wife and daughters' death. If Jill waited for the rope back in the mansion, Barry will turn on Wesker and shoot him. If Jill did not wait and Barry survived the underground tunnels, he will take off for the heliport and be killed along the way. In Chris's story, he (and Rebecca, if she is alive) meet Wesker outside the elevator. If Rebecca is alive, she will be shot and, although wearing a bullet-proof vest, be knocked out. In any case, the protagonist will enter the culture room to witness the Tyrant, which will wake up and attack the player. If Wesker is there, he will be impaled and killed. If Barry is there, he will be slapped and knocked out.

Following the defeat of the Tyrant, if the partner character is still alive, the self-destruct system will be activated. The protagonist will receive a radio call from Brad asking for their response. If the protagonist has obtained Wesker's Master Key, they can use it to save their imprisoned comrade and make their way to the helipad.

After arriving at the helipad, the protagonist will fire a rocket into the air to signal Brad to pick them up. If the self-destruct system was activated, the Tyrant will appear on the helipad and engage in a final battle with the protagonist. In this case, the Tyrant may also attack and potentially kill the partner character. During the fight, Brad will drop a rocket launcher, which the protagonist can use to defeat the Tyrant. If the self-destruct system was not activated, the game will simply end with the surviving characters boarding the helicopter.