Fans of Resident Evil love to complain about how the story in Resident Evil 2’s remake doesn’t make sense b𓄧etween Leon and Claire, but an incoꦍnsistent canon is basically the lifeblood of Resident Evil. All three game very casually and liberally featured loose canon, continuity incompatible between games but vague enough where any one scenario made perfect sense without ever making real 🤡sense.
It’s weird, but it’s a certain✃ charm only a s💯eries like Resident Evil could pull of💯f. Of course, the series would start moving away from this approach to canon post-Code Veronica, but the remakes at least show that 🐓Capcom is more ൩than comfortable letting Resident Evil’s canon be influenced by the g♔ameplay first, even at the ex🎶pense of keeping the plot sensible.
10 RE1: The Arklay Mansion Survivors
Only four characters “officially” ꧟survive the events of Resident Evil 1. Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Bar🍷ry Burton, and Rebecca Chambers all canonically survive what transpires inside of the Arklay Mansion. One problem, though: neither of the game’s two playthroughs can end with all four characters surviving.
Chris’ best ending ends with him,🃏 Jill, and Rebecca getting out alive. Jill’s, on the other hand, ends with her, Chris, and Barry getting out alive. Barry isn’t seen again in Chris’ playthrough and Rebeꦍcca isn’t even mentioned in Jill’s. Yet, all four of these characters canonically get out of the mansion via helicopter.
9 RE1: Wesker’s “Plan”
Fans of the series like to rag on Code Veronica and Resident Evil 5 for making Wesker, well… Wesker, but the first game di▨dn’t exactly put its best foot forward with the characඣter. Even thinking about his “plan,” if it can even be called that, for a second reveals just how little sense it makes. Wesker and Irons working together to screw over STARS? Alright, digestible.
Wesker personally luring Alpha Team into the Arklay Mansion? Iffy, but it’s implied he has a safe roꦛom in the mansion. Wesker just allowing Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca to make a considerable amount of progress inside? Honestly, r⭕eally weird. Wesker should have realized by the time Chris killed a gigantic zombie plant that Alpha Team was better off dead for his plan to work. He waited too long to drop the act and paid the price.
8 RE1: Almost Everything About Rebecca
If nothing else, the Resident Evil remak༒e at 𒁃least tries recontextualizing Rebecca in conjunction with Resident Evil 0. She’s clearly exhausted and on the brink of losing her sanity. She’s been awake for days and has watched almost all of Bravo Team die. That explains her personality in the remake, it doesn’t explain ev🌄erything else.
Rebecca is just too young to be in the position she’s in within Bravo Team. Not even 20, Rebecca’s age is just too improbable to make sense of. Her personality in the 🌠original release also doesn’t match her immediate backstory as she’s a bit more chipper. Then there’s just the fact she never appears in Jill’s route.
7 RE1: Chris And Jill’s Questionable Backstories
Like Rebecca, Jill is younger than she should be to be in STARS, but she’s at least in her mid-20s. Assuming Jill just excelled from a young age, this works. Her coexisting with Rebecca, though? Eh, butౠ wha✤tever, we’ll put that aside. Unfortunately, Jill’s background becomes messy when looking into her “service history,” long enough to imply some improbable ages.
Chris doesn’t fare much better either. Although older than Jill and in his mid-20s, Chris’ background has his discharged from the Air Force, but somehow not dishonorably with some sources suggesting Chris hit a superior. It’s messy, but even then, Chr💃is isn’t old enough to justify his service record either.
6 RE2: How Did Leon And Claire Get Into The City?
It’s established in pretty clear𝓀 terms betwཧeen both Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 that R🗹accoon City was in full lockdown. It’s kind of the whole premise of🐻 both games as Leon, Jill, Claire, and Carlos are all trapped inside the outbreak… but hꦏow do Leon and Claire get in? They don’t even pass any barricades or signs, just🐻 ending up at a sudden blockade.
The remake muddies things even further with its opening radio s𝓡egment. Raccoon City is already under quarantine, but (presumably) its radio station is working and someone is calling in to discuss zombies. The same ones in Raccoon City. It just doesn’t mesh together under critical thought.
5 RE2: The A And B Plots Don’t Line Up (Even In The Original)
Fans of the original Resident Evil 2 love giving the remake (deserved) f🍬lack for not having the Zap System in place for Leon and Claire’s A/B plots, but it’s important to remember that they were never truly compatible with one another. Even the most sensible r𒁃oute (Claire A/Leon B) featured its share of contradictions.
This is also ignoring the fact that later games references ev🍌ents from all four routes. It’s hard enough reconciling🏅 two routes, but four? That’s just complete and utter nonsense and there’s no amount of headcanon that can make details line up. It’s likely why the remake streamlines the story so much.
4 RE2: Ada’s “Death”
Ada has two fake out deaths in the original Resident Evil 2: one where she plummets down a pit that definitely would have killed her, and one where she does not blatantly fall to her death. Guess which one was the canon fa⛎ke out? Worse yet, the former is reused for the remake and it arguably makes even less sense.
There’s just no way Ada can survive a fall from that high, and she doesn’t have her fancy grappling hook at this 💫point (even in the remake). Accepting that Ada can fall dow🌃n that hole in a game as grounded as the remake is asking for a lot when it comes to suspension of disbelief.
3 RE2: Mr. X
Those who have played Resident Evil 3 will know that there’s actually more tﷺhan one Mr. X. Five of them were sent to hold off the United States army at the Umbrella Disposal Facility during the outbreak. Logically, there cou💮ld be two Mr. Xs inside of the remake’s R.P.D. It would clear up how Birkin could kill Claire’s Mr. X after all.
Unfortunately, it’s been explicitly confirmed that only one Mr. X was sent to the R.P.D. and that Leon and Claire’s rou🧔tes were always intended as alter🍎nate universes. They’re not truly meant to be compatible. Interestingly, though, The 4th Survivor lends credence to the two Mr. Xs theory.
2 RE3 & CV: Jill Kills The Tyrant, But Chris Watches Wesker Die
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis ಌestablishes very firmly that Jill fought the Tyrant in Resident Evil 1. By that token, this also means Jill’s route is the canon one in the first game. ⛎Rebecca somehow survives, but only the player character ends up fighting Tyrant. Unfortunately, this is immediately contradicted by Code Veronica confirming that Chris watched Wesker die.
These events only happen in the༺ routes where each character in the playable character. In other words, they’re completely incompatible with one another. There’s no scenario in-game where Chris can watch Wesker be impaled by the Tyrant while Jill ultimately fights the Tyrant. Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil 5 would lat🎃er suggest they simply went 🍬through the mansion together with no one imprisoned.
1 RE4: The Off-Screen Dissolution Of Umbrella
Resident Evil 4 making it so Umbrella dissolved as a company off-screen made eco♔nomic sense at the time and even allowed RE4 to capture a new audience of gamers without any of the series’ narrative baggage, but let’s not act🗹 like throwing away five games worth of buildup was at all a smart move on RE4’s part.
Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, and Code Veronica all set Leon, Jill, Claire, and Chris up for a final showdown with Umbrella. Leon was 🎃arguably the only one who needed one more game of build-up. But then his game got rid of everything and Umbrella Chronicles & Resident Evil 5 were forced to course correct narratively.