Analysis - Main Narrative

Written By Shaan Singh

3-Act Structure - Nightmare For The Living

Requiem, releasing on Resident Evil's 30th Anniversary, reconnects with the franchise's history by featuring familiar faces with evolving motives and new character who must prove themselves. Unlike typical 3-act structures that escalate gradually, Requiem sustains a consistent tone throughout as Leon and Grace confront the horrors that await them in the dark.

As the story progresses, it keeps topping itself into a true Bespoke Resident Evil experience. When we first set foot into the decrepit Wrenwood Hotel, Grace is immediately terrified from the 1st instance, and her fear only continues to get driven up as she is forced to confront the terrors of the latest bio-weapon outbreak and the trauma of her past. As is typical, each hero becomes the target of a stalker who hunts them relentlessly. For Grace, her stalker takes the form of “The Girl”, a hideously grotesque creature that looks like it was ripped out of a child’s nightmare.

Leon faces no such stalker. At his age, he does not run from his problems or avoid them. He dives headlong into danger, as his years of knowledge and experience prove to be his saving grace—no pun intended. Leon’s action scenes often resemble Keanu Reeves’ John Wick, with devastating results for the infected. Even as both heroes wade through terror caused by the new villain Victor Gideon, they prove their valiance when the time calls for it.

As our heroes attempt to understand the devastation of their past and the secrets beneath the ruins of Raccoon City, they confront many difficult truths. Throughout the 1st & 2nd acts, the mystery at the heart of the tragic outbreak continues to take centre stage, as we are drip-fed clues to the true motives behind the destruction of Raccoon City. As we enter the 3rd act and the adventure begins to wind down, both our heroes gain a much clearer understanding of how the arcs of their lives have led to the story's final moments.

Dual Protagonists - Leon & Grace

With multiple protagonists involved, it can be hard to keep a story focused without either individual story feeling intrusive. Thankfully, Requiem does not suffer from this problem to any great extent. Capcom knows our hearts are with Leon, but, realising how easy he makes the game feel, they know we need Grace to make the game feel like a true horror.

Leon & Grace are polar opposites, but each has a clear drive. Leon has been fighting bio-weapons for the past 30 years, motivated by both duty and the desire to atone for those he failed to save in Raccoon City. Grace, drawn into the field due to her personal connection to her mother’s past and the events at the Wrenwood Hotel, seeks not only survival but also answers and closure related to her own family history and trauma.

Grace is a completely different story. While an FBI agent, she is more of a Desk agent who typically does not go out in the field, preferring the comfort of her computer. While she is no stranger to deep tragedy, she is definitely unprepared to face the terror that awaits her. While she may not be prepared as Leon, she is certainly no slouch as she proves herself time & time again throughout Requiem’s story.

Both Leon and Grace remain relatable. Leon offers moments of unintentional levity as he confronts bio-weapons, while Grace’s anxiety, heightened by unfolding terrors, highlights her adaptive strength and resourcefulness in unexpected situations.

Dual Villains - Gideon & Zeno

Stepping into the role as our new antagonist is Dr Victor Gideon, a former T-Virus researcher who seemed to have gone to ground when Umbrella fell. Gideon seeks to continue his research and exert control using bio-weapons, driven by loyalty to his unseen master’s vision of a better world. He shares the spotlight with the Albert Wesker lookalike Zeno, whose own motives initially appear enigmatic but competitive. Resident Evil has always presented villains whose goals revolve around reshaping the world through bio-weapons, fueled by their sense of superiority and arrogance.

Reflecting on 30 years of Resident Evil, the main goal of our villains is simply to remind us of the past, to evoke nostalgia and help us remember when we could see who we were fighting. First, you have Victor Gideon, a towering man with a harsh complexion, rotted teeth and a somewhat concerning Snake fetish. While his methods are monstrous at best, his motives are more mysterious. Antony Byrne brings an almost uncomfortable calm to the character that you might actually like to have a conversation with. I would have loved to have seen a greater focus on Gideon, but near the end of the 1st Act is where we meet villain #2, who proceeds to take the spotlight that could have been Victor’s.

Zeno, by contrast, focuses on personal power and form. When he first appears before Grace, emerging from darkness into sunlight, his presence presents both charisma but deep danger. Zeno’s motivation Centers on obtaining Elpis to shape a world he can control, believing this will lead to ultimate perfection. His similarities to Wesker—the style, attitude, and abilities—underscore his desire to make an impact that rivals previous antagonists.

Zeno resembles Wesker, not just in appearance but in attitude, Demeanor, and abilities. Coming across the corpses of several BSAA agents who have been left in Raccoon City for a long while. Using his gear, Leon witnesses an attack that leaves a squad of troopers ripped apart and blasted into oblivion. At the centre of the attack is Zeno. It was an interesting introduction to the man, and I would have hoped to have seen him be a greater threat, but he somewhat contradicts Victor’s presence, and it becomes a subtle competition on who can command the screen more.

Both characters clearly want the same thing, access to Elpis, but their motives appear to be very different as they vastly contradict each other. With the reveal of their motives, however, they are able to shed the masks they have shown each other and the world, and also see how different they are. Zeno wants Elpis because he believes it will show him the path to creating a world that he can control and make perfect. Victor is different, beholden to his master’s motives; he seems to be nothing more than a loyal pawn that wants to follow his true master’s will, and honestly, it’s not entirely unclear if we should let him go forward with his plan.

agency - Leon's Illness

The ignition of this grand horror story is a string of recent murders. Recently, 5 bodies have shown up, apparently murdered. All of them were covered in a strange black substance and, more disconcerting, survivors of Raccoon City. At the heart of this investigation is Leon. While it seems he may be just on another assignment, he has his own personal motive.

Leon suffers similar symptoms, with the same black substance on his hand and neck. His handler and fellow survivor, Sherry Birkin, is also afflicted. While investigating the Rhodes Hill Care Centre, Leon finds Gideon’s research notes. The notes reveal that the black markings are symptoms. The T-Virus infection, dormant for 30 years, has mutated and now threatens our heroes’ survival.

While Leon is not one to accept a fate like that lying down, he begins a long dance as he trapeses through the ruins of Raccoon City and the demons of his past. For Leon, the day of the outbreak was his first day as a Rookie cop. He became a cop to help people, and now he has to help himself. As Leon’s illness progresses, he begins to resign himself to the fact that he might not be able to do that. Instead of giving up, he decides to focus his efforts on the one thing he can do: save Grace.

As narrative agency goes, it is not one unfamiliar to Leon, as he has been the victim of the bio-weapons he has fought before, being infected with “The Plagas” in 2004. What makes this time around different is, of course, the big obvious; it’s been nearly 30 years since his debut and returning to Raccoon City seemed to be the closing of the arc.

agency - Grace's Past

Grace defies the typical Resident Evil protagonist. Where others are resolute and composed under pressure, she is shy, shaken, and anxious, yet her determination to navigate the nightmare is admirable. Her journey is deeply personal due to her ties to her mother, Raccoon City survivor Alyssa Ashcroft.

At the start of the journey, the 5th body in a string of killings is found at the Wrenwood Hotel, the same place where Alyssa was killed. As Grace returns to the place where her deep-seated trauma was born, her scars reveal themselves and show just how unprepared she is to face the world of Resident Evil, but it’s exactly why she must continue on her journey.

When Grace fails to protect a child she finds at the Rhodes Hill centre, Emily, she is overcome with deep feelings of failure. Grace blames herself for Emily’s death, just as she blamed herself for Alyssa’s. When in feelings of grief, feelings of self-blame are sadly very common, and they have shaped Grace into the person she has become. As she comes to terms with Emily’s death, in comes Victor and Zeno, prepared to give her all the answers she seeks and why Emily is gone.

Here, the venture into Raccoon City gives her the opportunity not just to learn the truth about her Mother and Emily, but also to move forward. Grace, like Leon, is defined by her past, but unlike Leon, she has the chance to change things, which I will touch on later. Grace’s past and purpose are strong, and it is what propels her to move forward, even in the face of overwhelming odds and countless horrors that await her.

agency - The Truth of Raccoon City

Anyone who is a fan of the Resident Evil series knows about the Raccoon City outbreak. The greatest disaster in the series' history, which lifted the veil on the world's greatest dangers. While other catastrophes have occurred each year in China, Louisiana, and Eastern Europe, Raccoon City is where it all started for so many of our brave heroes. The home of Umbrella, the terror’s hidden beneath the depths of the city, proved to be a crucible for heroes like Leon, Claire, Chris & Jill and would prepare them for the years ahead. When the outbreak threatened to expand outside the limits of the city, the government chose to destroy the city in a massive cover-up.

The truth of Raccoon City has always been a murky one. From the history we know, after Umbrella tried to seize the G-Virus from its creator, William Birkin, it went horribly wrong. Birkin was mutated by his own creation and caused the spread of his G-Virus throughout the sewers of Umbrella’s city. Not only that, but due to the escape of the T-Virus from the Spencer Mansion in the Arklay Mountains near Raccoon City, it didn’t take long for the city to fall.

Buried by the Government to cover up their involvement, the whistle was about to be blown when, in 2013, the sitting President was going to tell the world everything. For his efforts, before he had the chance, he was assassinated when he became the victim of the Virus he sought to shed light on. As Leon & Grace find their respective mysteries, intersecting at the ruins of Raccoon City, they uncover breadcrumbs that all lead to an uncomfortable truth: Raccoon City wasn’t destroyed to stop the spread.

When you add up zombies still roaming the city, dead BSAA troops and no record of anyone ordering the missile strike that destroyed the city it’s not too far of a leap to come to that conclusion. Entering Raccoon City, the city proves far from lifeless, which, as you can imagine, was a great surprise for Leon. Finding the City roaming with zombies that were meant to be dead, including some new BSAA zombies, what was the point of the missile if it failed, unless it didn’t?

Yes, it may have stopped the spread, but the truth is far more terrifying. As Zeno is committed to unlocking Elpis, he has to give up the goods to Grace if he can feign trust. According to Zeno, Grace is the key to unlocking Elpis, which is described as Oswell Spencer’s Magnum Opus, his greatest creation. To prevent anyone from getting it, the outbreak in Raccoon City provided the perfect opportunity for anyone to destroy the city and destroy Spencer’s influence. It would also open “Pandora’s Box” as the “evils” within escaped the city and subjected the world to a brutal onslaught. For better or worse, the Truth of Raccoon City will now also haunt our heroes and the world for many years to come.

Stakes - Leon's Fate

Leon has been a staple of the series since his introduction in Resident Evil 2. Having braved the horrors of Raccoon City, Leon has thought his way out of the most dire of situations for the last 30 years. The village in Resident Evil 4 & China in Resident Evil 6 have never been enough to slow him down as he has fought through everything that got in his way. Not only that, but even as a rookie cop, he has been a pillar of strength and comfort for other characters in the series and even for us players.

Learning that Leon might not survive this latest tale is something that has greatly worried me ever since I saw the black substance along his neck. Naturally, Leon is not one to go away quietly, so however he goes, we know he was going down fighting. As Leon moves through Raccoon City, trudging through the ruins of his first nightmare, it’s like his journey is coming full circle. His arc started in Raccoon City, and it might end in Raccoon City. As stakes go, there is nothing higher than losing a beloved hero and long-standing protagonist of a series, and it was a genuine concern that made me fight harder to keep Lon alive, at least so he could see one more journey to its end.

Stakes - The Release of Elpis

There have been many viruses and parasites that have created the bio-weapons we know & fear. The T-Virus, G-Virus, Las Plagas, the Mould, and now we are dealing with an enhanced version of the T-Virus. Known for its ability to reanimate dead cells, which is what creates the classic zombies, the ones we meet in this game are far more tragic.

30 years of experimentation have resulted in zombies that are both durable and smarter. These are not your typical roamers who wander aimlessly, but zombies that retain their traits from when they were alive. At every turn, we find zombies of the former workers at the Rhodes Hill clinic who use weapons, repeat their old routines, and even speak. At one point, we had to take down a zombie that, on several encounters, said they were sorry, which made me feel really bad for them. The terrifying “Girl” that Grace encounters is also a result of the enhanced T-Virus experimentation, but this pales in comparison to what Elpis is meant to be.

Zeno, whose purpose seems to be exposition, tells Grace that Elpis is the greatest Virus that Umbrella ever created. A Virus that seems to allow whoever has it to control the wills of others. The ultimate form of domination, if Elpis fell into the hands of Gideon or Zeno, the world would fall under their will, which is the best-case scenario. Of course, the only way to gain access to Elpis is Grace, who, as our villain’s parrot, is the key to realising it. Strangely enough, our villains would not get what they expected when Grace released Elpis.

Character Arc - Grace's Trauma

I’ve talked a lot about who Grace is and how her past has shaped her, but it also helps her to see a path forward. Witnessing her mother’s brutal murder, Grace has been deeply affected by her death, as she thought it was her fault. Given the opportunity to go back & confront her past, Grace rises to the challenge but is deeply ill-prepared for it. It’s even worse when we find out that she was lured there by Gideon.

Gideon has been looking into Grace for a long time, since attempting to orchestrate her kidnapping, but when his attempt failed, he had to find his moment to get her. Grace’s trauma ensures she embodies the role of our survival-horror hero. Attempting to find an escape, Grace meets a young girl named Emily, seemingly blind and locked in a room where no one is meant to access. Seeing a kinship in this girl, she begins to grow closer to her, eventually even purposefully going into the lair of “The Girl” When Emily is seemingly killed, Grace takes the blame and dwells heavily on her failure to save the young child, until Gideon & Zeno promise to give her the answers she seeks.

Learning that she is the key to Elpis, Grace finds herself at the heart of something she struggles to understand, but thankfully Leon is there as a strong pillar of support. When Leon & Grace reunite, Grace learns about Leon’s illness and willingly offers her help to save him and stop our villains. This sees a sharp change in Grace’s demeanour as she becomes more sure of herself, even if she is still unprepared to face the bigger dangers of Umbrella’s meddling.

By the end of her journey, Grace is more sure of herself and puts to bed the demons of her past that have waited to emerge for years. While still behind a desk, she is less shy and more sure of herself than she has been in years. At the start of her game, when her boss approached her, she seemed startled at the mere mention of her name, but by the end, she was calm at his approach. It’s a small detail, but it’s one that Grace has passed her first step to becoming a true Resident Evil hero.

Character Arc - Leon's Acceptance

Leon has been through much in the past 30 years, and he hasn’t always walked away unscathed. After the events of Resident Evil 6, he found himself bereft for a short time, drowning himself away to forget. He has always kept moving and been forced to go from one fight to the next. Ever since his first encounter with Umbrella’s bio-weapons in Resident Evil 2, he has been a rock and quickly adapted to every situation.

Regardless of that, Leon has never truly dwelled on everyone he has lost and the people he couldn’t save. When he thought Raccoon City could still be saved, he fought to save everyone, but then he lost it all. He turned that pain into his greatest strength, but that didn’t mean those people stopped haunting him. For 30 years, he has kept going not just for himself but for them, to honour their memories. Returning to Raccoon City has brought back some haunting memories for him, as this is where it all started.

For Leon, Grace’s predicament gave him an opportunity to save someone and make a difference, and he was fully committed to the task, even if it meant that he wouldn’t be making it out. While some might see it as martyrdom, it is simple who Leon is. He became a cop to help people, and if he could save 1 more person, he would.

Metaphor - Elpis

In Greek Mythology, Elpis was the Goddess of Hope. Hope is the one thing that everyone clings to: Hope to live better lives, hope to find love, hope to be happy. Despite its title to the contrary, Hope is rampant throughout Resident Evil. Even our villains have hope, hope that they will unlock the key to perfect humanity, hope to become more powerful than anything on the planet and hope to defeat death itself.

When we first hear of Elpis, Gideon is having a gentle conversation with Grace, who tells her that she is the key to realising Elpis. Naturally, we think Elpis is just another virus, but clues and secrets are given to us that help us understand its true nature. When Zeno has Grace, he tells her that he believes Elpis is a virus that will ensure full world domination. How he thought that is unclear, as there are a few research notes that we gain access to that tell us Oswell Spencer was the founder of Umbrella and the progenitor of every nightmare and every death that the series has ever focused on. It is because of him that the world has faced a nightmare where, at any moment, peace can be shattered, and the innocent are taken. Elpis was Spencer’s greatest achievement, a virus that could shake the balance of the world. Elpis is his final hope, but hope for what, is exactly what Grace would find out.

Theme - Rememberance

As this is Resident Evil’s 30th anniversary release, the past is a heavy thing to focus on so that we can fully understand the scope of how Raccoon City shook the world. Everything about Requiem is about remembering the past, even going back to Raccoon City to uncover the truth behind the tragic city. For Leon, it gives him an opportunity to remember everyone he believed he failed and how far he has come. Sometimes it’s easy to focus on those he didn’t save rather than those he did save. While the ledger may be fairly unbalanced, it doesn’t stop the good he has done.

Returning to Racoon City was a chance to give us some closure on not being able to save it, for one reason: we could never have saved it. “The Connections” wanted Raccoon City destroyed so that they could publicly shame Spencer and take control of Umbrella. Umbrella was at the forefront of bio-weapons research & development. They created monsters we could not even dream of in our worst nightmares. Under the watchful eye of “The Connections”, whatever was left of Umbrella has quietly continued its work on bio-weapons development and spread them across the world. All because “The Connections” wanted Elpis for themselves.

Returning to Raccoon City allows Leon to confront some older enemies as well. When he first fought against zombies, the Lickers and of course, The Tyrant, he was just barely able to win. Returning to Raccoon City, these old enemies have endured, but, unfortunately for them, Leon is no longer the man he was 30 years ago. Facing off against his old enemies shows how far he has come, and his wealth of experience allows him to kill these terrors quickly where he once struggled. At the forefront of his mind, Marvin, Kendo & so many others he couldn’t save would continue to haunt him for years, but this would be the time where he could truly avenge them.

Multiple Endings - Destroy or Release Elpis

We haven’t seen alternate endings in a Resident Evil game for a long time. In more ways than one, depending on the genre, they can either be great or greatly frowned upon. RPG’s are known for having more than 1 ending for our characters, depending on player actions. It is what makes us watch our actions and carefully think through a situation. Resident Evil: Requiem brings back the ability to have multiple endings, but with no choices leading up to it.

Requiem allows us to follow the clues we have seen and to make 1 final decision regarding Elpis. In the centre of the ARK, Umbrella’s (hopefully) last facility in Raccoon City is the key to Elpis. A computer that will do 1 of 2 things. If the password entered is correct, it will release Elpis; if it is wrong, it will destroy the facility they are standing in. With Leon leaning on Grace just to walk & Zeno waiting for them in the centre of ARK, Grace has a hard choice to make.

Destroy Elpis: I’ll be the first to admit, I chose this option on my first playthrough. It seemed like a bit of a no-brainer, but what I was not prepared for were the consequences of what this decision would leave me with. In the wake of Elpis’ destruction, Zeno tries to take Grace & Leon with him, but Leon, being who he is, ensures he is the only one Zeno takes. In a final fight where he barely lays a finger on Zeno, our beloved and popular hero is killed, his last words, “At least...I could save you,” as Grace escapes, as Leon planned. Leon’s body is left in ARK, and Zeno falls into the pit.

This ending absolutely shattered me, and I was so sad to see that this would be Leon’s end, but thankfully, this wouldn’t be the end. At the end, we are allowed to rewind back to our final decision. It initially seemed unclear, but as I watched the “Release Elpis” ending, I understood everything.

Release: Elpis: As Grace releases Elpis, Zeno takes one of the vials and injects it into himself, seemingly powering, but Grace has had a suspicion for some time. When she first encountered a zombie at the Wrenwood Hotel, she sustained a bite, but she has not shown any symptoms. There have been strange things that Resident Evil have tried to brush over, like when Ethan Winters first reattached his severed leg after it was cut off by Jack Baker.

It turns out that Elpis was never Spencer’s greatest bio-weapon, but rather his great atonement. Elpis is an anti-viral that completely reverses any viral-based infection. The T-Virus and every other subsequent virus that has followed would be useless if Elpis were ever released ot the world. As Zeno found out the hard way, he lost all his abilities in his haste to become the first person injected with Elpis. To save Leon, Grace injects him, and he immediately recovers, but this shows Gideon’s true motives.

Gideon is in awe over Spencer’s, his true master's, achievement, but for all the wrong reasons. Rather than seeing it as the greatest gift for the world that would render all bio-weapons useless, Victor declares Spencer has developed Aranchy. Not realising Spencer’s true motive, Victor wants to take the stage as the only one he can eliminate all viral-based weapons. An egotistical man who cannot understand when someone has regret and wants to fix their mistake, instead, all he sees is power. With Leon saved, he is able to eliminate Gideon and, with Grace’s help, is able to close the book on the chapter of both their lives and move on. They may not be done fighting, but they have the gift of hope that they can still save people.

Retcon - Spencer's Legacy

Oswell Spencer is a complicated character who had good motives but twisted means. Having seen the ruin of war and so much death, he became obsessed with elevating humanity and, in his attempt, indirectly created the T-Virus. Spencer was self-righteous, a man who wanted to achieve greatness and become humanity's saviour, yet could never see the people he harmed along the way. After the Raccoon City incident, Umbrella and Spencer were bought before the courts, and Umbrella went bankrupt, and now we know why.

“The Connections” wanted control of Spencer’s legacy, and the Raccoon City outbreak gave them the best opportunity. As for Spencer, he went into hiding. In Resident Evil 5, we learn that Wesker murdered Spencer after learning all the answers to his own past and Spencer’s motive. He wanted to become a God, and he was arrogant enough to believe he could. Wesker killed him when he got everything he wanted.

What is a potential retcon is learning of Spencer’s motives behind Elpis. An anti-viral that could completely destroy his life’s work could be seen immediately as a sign of remorse, and perhaps he did. At one point, he invited Alyssa Ashcroft to interview him, a chance not afforded to many. It’s here that Spencer would give his final word for the world. It would also be where he would bestow a child in his care to Alyssa. A child who was perfectly normal, as Spencer said, but perhaps so much more. This child was Grace. For Spencer, this was a chance to bestow happiness on at least 2 people and to plant the seeds of his hope in the world.

What makes this a retcon is that, in his final moments, Spencer showed no remorse whatsoever for his actions and even seemed proud of them, treating them as a means to an end. It’s hard to reconcile this version of Spender from Resident Evil 5 with the one who tried to fix his mistakes years earlier in one of Requiem’s last chapters. As it stands, it seems to be nothing more than a retcon, but it could just be that Spencer was putting on a front for Wesker, keeping him from seeing his regret. While I was satisfied with seeing Spencer’s atonement, I can understand that not everybody would agree with me, but I do feel it is a fitting end to Spencer’s Legacy.

End Credits Scene - A Happy Ending?

When I thought Emily had died, I was left heartbroken. When playing as Grace, it became more than just helping her escape from Rhodes Hill; it became about getting this child out of the horrifying place. This child, who was blind, had chosen to trust us, chosen to go with us, and I was committed, alongside Grace, to saving her. When we thought she died, I was left reeling when I saw Emily resurrect as some kind of monster. At first, I thought she was going to turn into another copy of “The Girl”, but it was arguably something much worse. As in typical fashion, Emily needed to be put down when Leon arrived, and we thought that was the end of it.

Thankfully, at the end, we learn from Leon that he didn’t hit anything vital, and with Elpis in hand, Grace gains a glimmer of hope. At the end, we see Grace is back to work and has physically recovered from her ordeal. On the phone, we learn that both he & Sherry are fine, and now he & Grace seem to have a budding friendship, with Grace gushing about how well Emily is doing. Having taken the young girl into her care, the future is bright for Grace & Emily, seeing 3 generations of the Ashcroft family side-by-side. Perhaps best of all, Emily has regained her sight and can now see the future ahead of her.

Unfortunately, that is not all. In the ruins of the ARK, Umbrella, or rather “The Connections”, has sent their soldiers to retrieve something. What exactly is an excellent question. Zeno’s body could still be of use or some vials of Elpis might have survived the ruin. Either way, the Nightmare is far from over.

Shaan Singh
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