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The mainline Resident Evil story is one connected continuity, not a series of resets. The clearest path runs from Resident Evil 0 and the mansion disaster in July 1998, through the destruction of Raccoon City, the rise of global bioterror, and the Winters family story in Resident Evil 7 and Village. Resident Evil Requiem, released on February 27, 2026 and set in October 2026, is the current endpoint of this timeline. Recurring survivors, Umbrella’s research legacy, rival bioweapon programs and the consequences of Raccoon City connect every era, even when the protagonist, setting and gameplay style change.
How are the Resident Evil games connected?
The games share a cumulative canon. Umbrella’s virus research creates the first outbreaks; survivors carry the consequences into later investigations; and each attempt to control, sell or destroy bioweapons produces the next crisis. The numbered games form the spine, but Resident Evil 0 and Code: Veronica fill important gaps, while Revelations, Revelations 2 and The Umbrella Chronicles act as connective tissue.
The story also changes scale. The first games are about a secret laboratory and a trapped police team. After Raccoon City, the threat becomes a worldwide market for viruses, parasites and engineered organisms. The Ethan Winters games narrow the focus again to one family, but they remain tied to the same bioterror ecosystem rather than starting a new universe.
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What is the Resident Evil timeline in chronological order?
The dates below are in-universe dates. Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3 are a deliberate overlap, so neither should be treated as a completely separate sequel that starts only after the other ends.
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| Game | In-universe date | What it contributes |
|---|---|---|
| Resident Evil 0 | July 23–24, 1998 | Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen uncover James Marcus, early Umbrella research and the T-virus before the mansion incident. |
| Resident Evil | July 24–25, 1998 | S.T.A.R.S. investigates the Arklay murders, finds Umbrella’s underground B.O.W. lab and discovers Albert Wesker’s betrayal. |
| Resident Evil 3: Nemesis | September 23–October 1, 1998 | Jill Valentine’s escape from Raccoon City begins before RE2, overlaps its outbreak and concludes afterward. |
| Resident Evil 2 | September 29–30, 1998 | Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield survive the Raccoon City outbreak, encounter the G-virus and escape the collapsing city. |
| Resident Evil – Code: Veronica | December 1998 | Claire’s search for Chris reaches Rockfort Island and Antarctica; Wesker pursues T-Veronica research. |
| Resident Evil 4 | 2004 | Leon, now a government agent, battles Las Plagas and Los Illuminados while Ada and Wesker pursue separate objectives. |
| Resident Evil Revelations | Approximately 2004–2005 | Shows the BSAA, Jill and Chris during the transition from Umbrella’s collapse to organized anti-bioterror operations. |
| Resident Evil 5 | 2009 | Chris and Sheva confront a Las Plagas-linked operation, Tricell’s research and Wesker’s Uroboros plan. |
| Resident Evil 6 | 2012–2013 | Leon, Chris, Jake, Sherry and Ada face the C-virus and the worldwide consequences of Raccoon City’s destruction. |
| Resident Evil Revelations 2 | After the earlier global arc | Continues Claire and Barry’s stories and the series’ experimentation with new bioweapons. |
| Resident Evil 7: Biohazard | 2017 | Ethan Winters searches for Mia, uncovering Eveline, the Connections and the Mold in Louisiana. |
| Resident Evil Village | 2021 | Chris’s operation draws Ethan into a European village, where Mother Miranda, the Lords and Rose expand the Mold storyline. |
| Resident Evil Requiem | October 2026 | FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft investigates deaths linked to Raccoon City while Leon returns as a second major playable lead. |
Resident Evil 0 — July 23–24, 1998
Rebecca Chambers, a rookie member of S.T.A.R.S.’ Bravo Team, and convicted former Marine Billy Coen investigate the Ecliptic Express and an abandoned Umbrella training facility. The game introduces James Marcus and exposes the early Progenitor research that leads to the T-virus. It explains why the mansion disaster is not an isolated accident: Umbrella’s internal power struggle and reckless experimentation are already in motion.
Resident Evil — July 24–25, 1998
Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine and the surviving S.T.A.R.S. teams follow a series of murders into the Arklay Mountains. The mansion is a cover for Umbrella’s underground laboratory, where the team finds biological weapons and evidence that Albert Wesker has been manipulating the operation for his own agenda. This is the foundation for both the Umbrella conspiracy and the long-running Chris-versus-Wesker conflict.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Resident Evil 2 — September 1998
These games tell parallel sections of the same catastrophe. Jill’s story begins on September 23, before Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield reach the city on September 29. Jill faces the Nemesis pursuer and the breakdown of Raccoon City, while Leon and Claire move through the police station, sewers and Umbrella’s research complex in search of an escape. Jill’s conclusion comes after the central events of RE2, which is why a strict date-based order cannot reduce the pair to “third game, then second game.”
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Resident Evil – Code: Veronica — December 1998
Claire Redfield continues searching for Chris after the Raccoon City disaster, first on Rockfort Island and then in Antarctica. Chris arrives to rescue her, while Wesker pursues the T-Veronica project. The game is therefore a major bridge, not disposable side material: it keeps Claire and Chris active, develops Wesker’s independent ambitions and leads directly toward the later struggle over advanced bioweapons.
Resident Evil 4 — 2004
Six years after Raccoon City, Leon works for the U.S. government and is sent to Spain to rescue Ashley Graham. The main threat is Las Plagas and the Los Illuminados cult rather than the classic T-virus. Ada’s parallel mission and Wesker’s interest show that the old Umbrella power struggle has not vanished; it has become a contest among cults, corporations and buyers seeking usable biological weapons.
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Resident Evil 5 — 2009
Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar investigate a Las Plagas-linked operation in Kijuju. The story reveals that Tricell has continued Umbrella’s research and confirms that Jill survived the events surrounding Wesker. Wesker’s Uroboros plan turns the series’ recurring obsession with controlled evolution into a proposed global upheaval, bringing the Chris-and-Wesker arc to its decisive confrontation.
Resident Evil 6 — 2012–2013
RE6 expands the series into a global bioterror story with several connected campaigns. Leon, Chris, Jake Muller, Sherry Birkin and Ada Wong are linked by the C-virus, the political fallout from Raccoon City and Albert Wesker’s legacy through his son Jake. Destroying Umbrella has not solved the problem; viruses and research now circulate through governments, terrorist groups, mercenary networks and private programs.
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — 2017
Ethan Winters travels to Louisiana looking for his missing wife, Mia. The Baker estate reveals Eveline, the Connections and the Mold, establishing a different biological framework from the T-virus and Las Plagas. The shift to first-person survival horror and a new lead character can feel like a restart, but Chris Redfield’s appearance and the continuing bioterror network place the game firmly in the established continuity.
Resident Evil Village — 2021
Three years later, Ethan and Mia are living in Europe with their daughter, Rose. Chris’s operation pulls Ethan into a remote village ruled by Mother Miranda and four Lords. The game expands the Mold’s history and explains why Rose matters to the future of the setting, while resolving the immediate Winters family arc begun in RE7.
Resident Evil Requiem — October 2026
Requiem is the ninth main game and was released on February 27, 2026. Its story is set in October 2026, not in the release year as a flashback. FBI analyst Grace Ashcroft investigates deaths among survivors of Raccoon City, while Leon Kennedy serves as the second major playable lead and deals with an illness linked to the old disaster. The premise makes the long-term impact of Raccoon City explicit: the 1998 event is still producing victims, evidence and political consequences decades later.
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They are optional for a numbered-game run, but useful when you want a fuller account of how characters and institutions move between eras.
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The Umbrella Chronicles
This game compresses and retells major Umbrella-era incidents, including the mansion period and Umbrella’s eventual downfall. It is a recap and connective overview rather than a new chronological chapter that must be inserted between every other game.
Revelations
Set around 2004–2005, Revelations explains the BSAA’s development and gives Jill and Chris a story during the transition from Umbrella’s collapse to institutionalized anti-bioterror operations. It fits naturally after the early RE4-era material and before RE5.
Revelations 2
This later side story returns to Claire and Barry and continues the series’ interest in experimental bioweapons. Place it after the major RE6-era events when following the connected canon, before the full Ethan-focused shift.
The Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes
The remakes retell the same 1998 events with modern presentation and mechanics. They are not additional incidents in a second timeline, so playing both the originals and remakes is a choice of version, not a requirement to make the chronology complete.
What order should I play the Resident Evil games?
Choose based on whether you value in-universe chronology or the way the original releases reveal information.
Strict chronological order
- Resident Evil 0
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and Resident Evil 2 as an overlapping pair
- Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil 5
- Resident Evil 6
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Resident Evil Village
- Resident Evil Requiem
Use this order if seeing the events in calendar sequence matters most. Start RE3 before RE2, then finish RE3 after RE2‘s outbreak window, rather than forcing a clean one-game-after-the-other split.
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Best first-time story order
- Resident Evil
- Resident Evil 2
- Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
- Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
- Resident Evil 4
- Resident Evil 5
- Resident Evil 6
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Resident Evil Village
- Resident Evil Requiem
Add Resident Evil 0 immediately before RE1 if you want its prequel context, or play it after RE1 to preserve more of the original reveal structure. This is a practical narrative recommendation, not an official required order.
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Canon-complete order
Use the strict or first-time order above, then add The Umbrella Chronicles for a compressed Umbrella recap, Revelations after the early RE4-era material, and Revelations 2 after the RE6-era material. This route gives Claire, Jill, Chris, Wesker and the BSAA more connective context than a numbered-only run.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.What are the major story arcs?
The Umbrella and T-virus arc
RE0 and RE1 show how research becomes an operational disaster. RE2 and RE3 show the consequences in Raccoon City, while Code: Veronica carries the surviving characters and Wesker’s ambitions into the post-city era.
The Wesker and competing-bioweapons arc
RE4 replaces Umbrella’s monopoly with Las Plagas, cults and corporate buyers. RE5 reveals Tricell’s continuation of the work and places Chris, Jill and Wesker at the center of a final confrontation over Uroboros.
The global-bioterror arc
RE6 shows the result of bioweapons becoming widely distributed. Its multiple campaigns reflect a world where no single company controls the threat and where Raccoon City’s destruction still shapes governments and survivors.
The Winters and Mold arc
RE7 and Village change the tone from institutional conspiracy to family survival. Ethan, Mia and Rose are the emotional center, while the Connections, Eveline, Mother Miranda and the Mold connect that family story to the established biological-weapons history.
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The Raccoon City aftermath
Requiem returns directly to the unresolved human cost of 1998. Grace’s investigation and Leon’s involvement show that Raccoon City is not merely nostalgic background; it remains an active source of illness, deaths and evidence in 2026.
Does gameplay style change the way the timeline feels?
Yes. RE1, RE2, RE7 and Grace’s sections in Requiem emphasize vulnerability, exploration and resource management. RE4, RE5 and much of RE6 lean harder into action and set pieces, while Leon’s Requiem sections continue that contrast. The mechanics change, but the continuity does not: each style reflects the scale and kind of crisis being presented.
Can the story be revisited outside the games?
A physical option is Resident Evil 2: The Board Game, a licensed Capcom adaptation focused on the Raccoon City chapter. Its publisher describes it as a cooperative game for one to four players and lists 24 miniatures, 26 double-sided tiles, 155 cards, dice, tokens, a rulebook and a scenario book. It revisits the setting as a tabletop scenario rather than adding a new event to the video-game canon.
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Are the Resident Evil movies and television shows part of this game timeline?
No. The live-action films and television productions are separate adaptations with their own continuities. They may reuse names, creatures or locations, but they do not supply missing chapters between the mainline games.
Can I skip Code: Veronica and still understand Resident Evil 4 and 5?
You can follow the broad plot, but you will lose important context for Claire, Chris and Wesker. The game explains why those characters remain connected after Raccoon City and helps the later Wesker conflict feel like a continuation rather than a sudden new rivalry.
Why does Resident Evil 0 sometimes feel out of place in a first playthrough?
It is a prequel released after the original game, so it explains background material that the first game originally left mysterious. Playing it before RE1 gives chronological context, while playing it afterward preserves more of the series’ original discovery order.
Is Resident Evil Requiem set before or after Resident Evil Village?
It is after Village. Village takes place in 2021, whereas Requiem is set in October 2026 and follows an investigation involving Raccoon City survivors and Leon Kennedy.
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