Resident Evil is one of the longest-running series in video game history. The people behind the series definitely know how to keep players interested, though not without sometimes falling for weird plot twists. Here’s a timeline explaining every single main event in the history of Resident Evil.
Some of the earliest events in the timeline were later add-ons, so for those entries, I’ll be putting the name of the game that added them to the fold in front of the date when they took place.
1800s – (Resident Evil 5)
Henry Travis, the wealthy businessman behind Travis Trading, finds inspiration in the exploits of David Livingstone and moves to Africa.
1890 – (Resident Evil 5 )
Travis Trading began exploiting Africa’s mineral resources. The company’s value skyrockets.
1919 – (Resident Evil Village)
Miranda, an East European villager, gets infected by a mysterious mold.
1950 – (Resident Evil 5)
Travis Trading began collecting biological samples in Africa.
1952 – (Resident Evil Village) Ozwell E. Spencer meets Miranda after an accident in the snowy fields of an undisclosed village in Eastern Europe.
1960 – (Resident Evil 5)
Travis Trading spawns a new company, Tricell.
1960 – (Resident Evil Code Veronica)
Edward Ashford goes to Africa in an attempt to find something called the progenitor virus.
1962 – (Resident Evil)
Ozwell E. Spencer and architect George Trevor built the Spencer Mansion, the place where the original Resident Evil takes place, on the outskirts of Raccoon City.
1962 – (Resident Evil 5)
Researchers discovered the progenitor virus.
1968 – (Resident Evil)
Umbrella Corporation was founded
1969 – (Resident Evil Code Veronica)
Alexander Ashford starts project Code Veronica.
1981 – (Resident Evil Code Veronica)
Alexia Ashford, the ten-year-old genius daughter of Alexander Ashford, becomes Umbrella’s lead researcher.
1983 – (Resident Evil Code Veronica)
Alexia supposedly dies in a virus-related accident
1988 – (Wesker’s Report 2)
William Birkin discovers the G-Virus
Umbrella begins developing a weapon called “Tyrant” and begins the third stage of the Nemesis project
1991 – (Wesker’s Report 2)
Umbrella greenlits the G-Virus project. Albert Wesker begins working at Umbrella’s Intel department.
1996 – (Resident Evil)
The Raccoon City Police Department creates S.T.A.R.S, the special ops team that Chris and Jill Valentine, the two protagonists of the first game, are part of. Umbrella pulls the strings and gets Albert Wesker to be its leader.
1998 – The events of the original Resident Evil/ REmake take place
The S.T.A.R.S. team arrives at the Spencer mansion to face off against countless horrors. Albert Wesker is outed as a traitor and seemingly killed by the Tyrant. Chris and Jill manage to kill the Tyrant and make it out alive before blowing up the mansion.
22 September – (Resident Evil 2)
A shadowy task force shoots scientist William Birkin. Knowing that he’s about to die, William self-injects the G-Virus and turns into a monster. A massive outbreak ensues.
29 September – The events of Resident Evil 2 take place
Rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, the sister of Chris Redfield from RE1, join forces to survive hordes of zombies and other monsters in Raccoon City. They manage to escape via train after killing a heavily mutated William Birkin.
28 September – The events of Resident Evil 3 begin to take place
Jill Valentine has to escape Raccoon City while also avoiding Nemesis, a new Tyrant-type enemy programmed to hunt down S.T.A.R.S. members.
01 October – The events of Resident Evil 3 come to a close
Jill manages to kill Nemesis and escape Raccoon City before a nuclear blast destroys the city.
27 December – The events of Resident Evil Code Veronica take place
Claire and Chris Redfield take on the Ashford clan and a super-powered Albert Wesker on Rockfort Island. They manage to kill both Alfred and Alexia Ashford but can only temporarily get rid of Wesker. The siblings escape the island and promise that they’ll destroy Umbrella once and for all.
2003 – (Resident Evil 5)
Proof that Umbrella was behind the biohazardous outbreak in Raccoon City and the city’s subsequent bombing emerges. The company collapses.
Early 2004 – (Resident Evil 4)
A man named Lord Saddler arrives at a rural location in Spain and convinces the population to drink what he calls “sacred blood.” This substance actually contains a parasite called Las Plagas. Every adult in the village gets infected, and every child dies.
Saddler’s group, Los Illuminados, has ex-US military spec ops soldier Jack Krauser kidnap Ashley Graham, the daughter of the US president.
October 2004 – The events of Resident Evil 4 take place
Leon S. Kennedy arrives at the unnamed Spanish village and immediately gets attacked by its inhabitants. He manages to get to Ashley, but not before they both get infected by Las Plagas. He then finds a cure, kills Saddler, and manages to return Ashley back to US soil.
At the same time, spy Ada Wong manages to capture a sample of Las Plagas for her employer, Albert Wesker.
2006 – (Resident Evil 5)
Chris and Jill Valentine set out to arrest Ozwell E. Spencer, founder of Umbrella. Spencer dies, and Jill Valentine seemingly dies as well after falling off a cliff.
2009 – The events of Resident Evil 5 take place
Chris and Sheva battle Tricell and Albert Wesker in Africa. This time, the protagonists face off against a biological agent called Ouroboros. They find out that Wesker has brainwashed Jill Valentine, who is now at his command. Chris and Sheva manage to save Jill and finally kill Wesker.
2012 – The events of Resident Evil 6 take place
Chris Redfield, Jake Muller, Leon S. Kennedy, and Ada Wong face off against Derek Simmons and Neo-Umbrella in a globe-trotting adventure as Simmons tries to use the new C-Virus to take over the world. They kill Simmons and save the world.
2014 – (Resident Evil 7)
Jack Baker comes across a shipwreck and rescues a woman named Mia Winters and a mysterious girl called Eveline.
2017 – The events of Resident Evil 7 take place
Ethan Winters heads to Louisiana in an attempt to find his missing girlfriend, Mia Winters. Ethan has to fight off both the Baker family and Mia herself, as they’re all under the influence of Eveline, a new kind of sentient bioweapon. Ethan manages to kill Evelin and rescue Mia.
2021 – The events of Resident Evil Village take place
Miranda kidnaps Ethan’s daughter. Ethan follows her to a mysterious village in Eastern Europe in an attempt to rescue his daughter. Ethan manages to kill Miranda but dies in the process. Chris Redfield rescues Mia and her daughter, Rosemary Winters.
2037 – Resident Evil Village: Shadows of Rose takes place
Rosemary Winters gets rid of the evil powers that reside in her.
That’s all for now, but you can rest assured that this series won’t be slowing down anytime soon.
