Capcom’s string of recent Resident Evil remakes don’t just overhaul gameplay; they also reimagine key story elements, tying the series together more cohesively. For example, in RE3 Remake, it’s revealed that Nemesis was created using the Las Plagas virus from RE4, directly bridging the gap between games. RE4 Remake furthers that connection, with Luis now being part of the team who created Nemesis.
Because of these narrative tweaks, the two games feel less disjointed, flowing into each other more naturally. But it also creates a few contradictions, like Leon Kennedy fighting U-3 in the original, but not in the remake. Yet, somehow, both versions of each game are canon according to reputable leaker and insider Dusk Golem, who claimed that while fans tend to headcanon the originals and remakes as being in separate timelines, “Capcom doesn’t view it that way at all.”
Capcom’s hand at RE canon is sometimes loosey-goosey. Key events, character deaths, dates, BOWs, etc, are all canon and kept pretty consistent. But specifics are kept blurry and up to fan interpretation.
That means that Jill Valentine both visits RPD and doesn’t; Nemesis attacks Jill in her apartment first, but also at the police station she never visits; and Brad Vickers is killed by zombies, though he also dies by Nemesis’ hands. The original Resident Evil 4, meanwhile, sets up a plotline that never really goes anywhere: Jack Krauser working undercover in the Illuminados cult with Albert Wesker to resurrect Umbrella. The remake dropped this plotline entirely and instead has Krauser devoted to Illuminados, with a personal vendetta against Leon that even sees the obscure Darkside Chronicles referenced.
It’s impossible to reconcile all these changes, but then again, Rebecca Chambers can die in RE1, when we know she’s still alive in the story, and the ‘Jill Sandwich’ line was cut from the remake when it’s referenced in future projects. Even then, just the fact that Chris and Jill are separated into two distinct playthroughs contradicts ‘canon’. None of it really matters: it’s the broad strokes which Capcom cares about. Everything else is up to you.
Capcom Also Considers Resident Evil Revelations To Be A Mainline Game
Another interesting tidbit that Dusk Golem revealed in regards to Capcom’s view on Resident Evil canon is where it places entries like Revelations. While these were originally conceived as smaller tie-ins, explaining what characters like Jill Valentine and Claire Redfield were up to between games, and released for less powerful hardware like the 3DS, they are now reportedly considered as important as the numbered entries.
“All the numbered ‘mainline’ entries are canon,” he explained. “Capcom consider the Revelations games basically mainline entries […] Spin-offs are case-by-case basis, the canon ones are:
- Survivor
- Survivor 2
- Dead Aim
- Outbreak
- Outbreak File 2
- Umbrella Chronicles
- Darkside Chronicles
- Umbrella Corps
- Resistance
Gaiden, RE:Verse, Operation Raccoon City, the mobile games, etc, aren’t considered canon.”
So, next time you sit down for a Resident Evil marathon (which, let’s be honest, I’m sure plenty of us are doing in the wake of Requiem’s reveal), make sure to include Revelations. The pair, along with Code Veronica, are numbered games at heart.
Resident Evil 2
- Released
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January 25, 2019
- ESRB
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M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Intense Violence
- Engine
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RE Engine
