Resident Evil Timeline
The complete story of the Resident Evil universe — from the Spencer Mansion in 1998 to Requiem's return to Raccoon City in 2018.
The Arklay Incident & Spencer Mansion
S.T.A.R.S. Bravo Team goes missing in the Arklay Mountains. Rebecca Chambers survives alongside convict Billy Coen, uncovering the T-Virus origin tied to James Marcus and Umbrella. Alpha Team including Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Barry Burton arrives the following day. Their captain Albert Wesker reveals his betrayal, unleashing a Tyrant and faking his death.
Origin of the T-Virus and the entire Umbrella conspiracy. The Spencer Mansion is the starting point of the entire series.
The Fall of Raccoon City
The T-Virus spreads into Raccoon City. Umbrella scientist William Birkin injects himself with the G-Virus after being shot by special forces attempting to steal his work. Rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and college student Claire Redfield fight to survive the outbreak. Jill Valentine is simultaneously hunted by Nemesis, a bio-weapon designed to eliminate S.T.A.R.S. members. The US government launches a missile strike, destroying the city.
The Raccoon City incident defines Leon, Claire, and Jill's entire arcs. The ruins of this city become the setting for Resident Evil Requiem (RE9) in 2018.
Umbrella's Collapse
Following the Raccoon City disaster, Umbrella faces criminal prosecution and massive public backlash. Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine participate in the final operation to dismantle Umbrella's last facility. The corporation officially dissolves in 2003.
Umbrella collapses but its technology, researchers, and bioweapons scatter to rogue states and black-market organizations, fueling every subsequent outbreak.
Leon's Mission to Spain
Six years after Raccoon City, Leon S. Kennedy is now a DSO agent assigned to rescue the U.S. President's daughter Ashley from the Los Illuminados cult in rural Spain. He encounters Ada Wong once again and discovers the Plaga parasite, a new biological weapon distinct from the T-Virus.
Marks the transition of the series from zombie horror to a new era of action-survival. Establishes Leon as a top-tier government operative.
Global Bioterrorism Era
Bioterror spreads worldwide. Chris Redfield and the BSAA combat outbreaks in Kijuju, Africa (2009), targeting Tricell's Uroboros bioweapon and a resurrected Albert Wesker. Wesker is killed in a volcanic crater in 2009. By 2013, the C-Virus causes simultaneous outbreaks across China, Eastern Europe, and the United States. Leon, Chris, Ada, and Jake Muller (Wesker's son) converge in a massive multi-front crisis.
Closes Albert Wesker's arc permanently. Expands the universe's global scope. Leon's exhaustion and trauma from this period carry into Requiem.
Ethan Winters & The Mold Threat
Ethan Winters is dragged into a Louisiana plantation overrun by the Mold bioorganism, controlled by Eveline, an Umbrella-engineered bioweapon. After surviving, Ethan's family is attacked again in 2021 in an Eastern European village controlled by Mother Miranda. Miranda seeks to use the Megamycete, a vast fungal network, to resurrect her daughter Eva. Ethan sacrifices himself to destroy the Megamycete. His daughter Rose survives.
Introduces the Mold as a new class of biological threat. Rose Winters and the BSAA's increasing secrecy are plot threads potentially relevant to post-Requiem storylines.
Requiem — Return to Raccoon City
DSO agent Grace Ashcroft investigates a bioterror incident at the Wrenwood Hotel, 20 years after Raccoon City's destruction. She crosses paths with a scarred and weathered Leon S. Kennedy. Together they uncover that Victor Gideon, an Umbrella remnant, has been conducting illegal bioweapon research using the ruins of Raccoon City as his base. The ARK Facility hidden beneath the city houses a new bioweapon called Elpis.
RE9 closes the loop on the Raccoon City legacy and introduces Grace Ashcroft as the series' new central protagonist.