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Franchise / Resident Evil

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Welcome to the world of Survival Horror. note 

"Like any corporation involved in dangerous research, it all boils down to risk versus reward for the Umbrella Corporation. In this case, the risk is zombies, and the reward is zombies."
— Cracked, "6 Evil Corporations in Movies (With Terrible Business Plans)"

Resident Evil (known in Japan as Biohazard) is a Survival Horror and Science Fiction video game series. It has since branched off to become a media franchise consisting of comic books, novelizations, a live-action film series, and a variety of collectibles (including action figures, strategy guides, and publications). Developed by Capcom and produced by Shinji Mikami up until 2005, the game series has sold over 127 million copies as of 2023.

The premise of the original Resident Evil was that the Umbrella Corporation was conducting sinister experiments in a mansion outside of the "Midwestern" town of Raccoon City, and a team of SWAT-like police called the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, or S.T.A.R.S., stumbles onto it in an investigation of several cannibalistic murders. Further games expanded on this premise, and it has since become one of the most critically and commercially successful action-horror games series of all time in addition to coining the term survival horror. This also includes four CGI films, Degeneration, Damnation, Vendetta, and Death Island, set in the same universe as the games. The latest installment, Resident Evil Village, was released in May 7, 2021 on the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X, and PC.

The live-action movie franchise starring Milla Jovovich was also moderately successful; it spawned six movies, with the last one, The Final Chapter, released in 2017. A Continuity Reboot, Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, came out in 2021.

The following is a list of game titles in the series, ordered by their year of release and platforms they were released on.

The main series is comprised of:

Spinoffs include:

Crossover appearances include:

  • Teppen (2019)
  • Capcom vs.:
    • Marvel vs. Capcom 2: Jill appears as a playable character, drawing from her appearance in the first game.
    • Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Chris and Wesker appear as playable characters, drawing from their appearances in 5. The Ultimate version adds Nemesis, and later the Resident Evil 5 version of Jill as DLC.
    • Marvel vs. Capcom: Infinite: Chris and Nemesis return as playable characters, completely unchanged from 3.
  • Namco × Capcom: Bruce McGivern and Fong Ling from Dead Aim are playable characters.
  • Project × Zone: Massively Multiplayer Crossover between Capcom, Namco, and Sega characters (and Nintendo in the sequel). Naturally, Resident Evil represents the Capcom side with Chris and Jill as playable characters, and Leon being added in the sequel. Other RE characters and monsters make appearances as well.
  • Super Smash Bros. Ultimate: Chris, Jill, Leon, and Wesker were added to the game as Spirits in a 2019 update.
  • Dead by Daylight: Resident Evil content was announced to be added to the game on June 15th, 2021; eventually revealed to be Leon and Jill as Survivors (with Chris and Claire, respectively, playable through DLC skins), Nemesis as a Killer, and Raccoon City as a map during the 5th Anniversary live stream on May 25th, 2021. It later became the first third-party effort to receive a second batch of content, bringing in Ada and Rebecca as Survivors, Albert Wesker as a Killer, and DLC skins modeled on Carlos, Sheva and HUNK.
  • Fortnite: Resident Evil cosmetics were leaked in a datamine on October 23, 2021, being officially announced and released on the same day. Dubbed the “S.T.A.R.S. Team” Collection, it includes Chris Redfield in both his Resident Evil 5 and Village attire, Jill Valentine in her Resident Evil 1 and 3 (Remake) attire, a typewriter, a green herb, the “Hot Dogger” knife from 3 (Remake), the stun rod from 5, an emote with an actual Umbrella.. umbrella, and a loading screen. On March 16, 2023, another cosmetic set dropped, including Leon Kennedy in his 4 (Remake) attire with his attaché case as his back bling, and Claire Redfield in her 2 (Remake) attire with a set of keys to the RPD Station as her back bling.

Comic books from DC's WildStorm imprint include

  • Resident Evil: The Official Comic Magazine (1998-1999) - An anthology magazine.
  • Resident Evil: Fire and Ice (2000-2001)
  • Resident Evil CODE:Veronica (2002) - An American localization of the BIOHAZARD CODE:Veronica manhua.
  • Resident Evil (2009-2011)

The Paul W.S. Anderson live-action film series includes the following films:

The rebooted film series consists of:

There is also a straight-to-video CGI movie series, which are set in the continuity of the games:

Some prequel manga have also been made, some of which is canon according to Capcom.

  • Resident Evil - A series of novelizations written by S.D. Perry for the first five games (RE-1-3, Code: Veronica and Zero), with two original novels set around the events of RE2.
    • The Umbrella Conspiracy, a novelization of Resident Evil.
    • Caliban Cove, an original novel set after the first game starring Rebecca Chambers.
    • City of the Dead, a novelization of Resident Evil 2.
    • Underworld, another original novel set after Resident Evil 2 starring Rebecca, Leon and Claire.
    • Nemesis, a novelization of Resident Evil 3.
    • Code: Veronica, a novelization of the eponymous game.
    • Zero Hour, a novelization of Resident Evil 0.

Tabletop games include:

Two stage plays and a musical were launched in Japan, which are canon according to Capcom.

  • Biohazard: The Stage (2015)
  • Musical Biohazard (2016)
  • Biohazard: The Experience (2017)

Some Fan Games were notable enough to get their own pages, such as...

Other media tie-ins include a number of manhuanote , radio dramas and mobile phone games.

The Character Sheet is here.

This series is the Trope Namer for:

  • Master of Unlocking: Barry's infamous denomination of Jill Valentine, who's an expert lockpicker, from the first game.
  • Survival Horror: A marketing term used for the original Japanese release, of which it caught on to an entire genre.

This series contains examples of:

Note: Each game in the series now has its own page, as do the films. If a trope or an example of one only applies to one game in the series, or only to the films, put it on that page.

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    # - F 
  • Abnormal Ammo: Gas, acid, flame and freeze rounds for grenade launchers.
  • Aborted Arc:
    • The epilogues in RE3 implied that nearly every main character was going to join forces to stop Umbrella. The only real thing to come out of this was Claire and Chris reuniting in Code: Veronica and Leon becoming a government agent in RE4. The rest? Chris and Jill reunite offscreen, Barry's and HUNK's roles in the series were reduced to minigame cameos (until the former's return in Revelations 2), Ada Wong still used the same name and identity in subsequent appearances, Sherry is left unmentioned for the course of the entire franchise up until Resident Evil 6 where her so-awaited reunion with Claire is revealed to have happened long ago offscreen and is only briefly explained in a file, and Umbrella goes down offscreen from the stock market after Albert Wesker exposes their crimes against humanity to the public. While Resident Evil Gaiden attempted to follow through with this implication with Barry and Leon working together in the game, the game was later considered non-canon from both fans and the writers themselves.
    • This is expanded on somewhat with Chris, Jill, and Wesker in the final scenario of The Umbrella Chronicles.
    • The infamous cliffhanger of Resident Evil Gaiden heavily implied that the Leon shown was actually the BOW Parasite in disguise. While the game was later made non-canon, this was originally going to foreshadow a "Fake Leon" enemy that the real Leon would encounter during an early version of Resident Evil 4 before it was later rewritten.
    • Two Radio Drama's made by Flagship and the writers of the game were released after Resident Evil 2 to continue certain character arcs. One was about Sherry being separated from Claire after being pursued by Umbrella agents and Raccoon city being destroyed by a missile to contain the outbreak and taking refuge in the nearby town of Stoneville where another outbreak soon happens and she meets a girl named Meg who promised to help her reunite with Claire. Another radio drama was about Ada's mission after escaping Raccoon City where agent HUNK managed to obtain Sherry's pendant with the G-virus and delivered it to the head of Umbrella's French division, Christine Henry, who is related to one of the founding members of Umbrella. During the drama, Ada manages to kill HUNK and his men as well as Christine Henry while realizing her feelings for Leon and planning to leave her life as a spy behind her to pursue him. However, later games events retroactively made the events of the radio drama's non-canon since Sherry was taken in by the US government in order to force Leon to work with them and Ada is still a spy after the events of the game while HUNK is also stillalive. However, Raccoon City was still destroyed by a missile at the end of Resident Evil 3 and there are still files in the Nintendo 64 version of Resident Evil 2 that mentions Stoneville and HUNK receiving the order to deliver the G-Virus to Christine Henry.
    • Wesker's men from Resident Evil Code Veronica, the Hive-Host Capture Force, were built up as antagonists for a future game. By the time Wesker is fought in Resident Evil 5 however, they are nowhere to be seen and Wesker is working with Tricell instead. Originally they would have been the main villains of an earlier version of Resident Evil 4 before it was later rewritten and the only notable thing they did after Code Veronica was assisting the Connections with the creation of Eveline.
    • The Stinger for Revelations shows that Raymond and Jessica are working for Tricell with "Jessica's report" revealing that they worked directly for Excella Gione after obtaining a sample of the T-Abyss virus and seems to hint there will be another game expanding on their roles but nothing has been brought up about the virus or the characters since then. Revelations 2 not being a direct sequel only makes things worse. According to the Resident Evil 6 Official Complete Guide, Tricell believed that the T-Abyss Virus was too dangerous to use as a bioweapon and used it's position to prevent it from getting onto the black market.
  • Ace Custom: The "Samurai Edge" pistols made by Joseph Kendo for S.T.A.R.S.. They are customized and precisely machined Beretta 92fs (96fs for Barry's) pistols and issued only to RPD officers chosen to join the S.T.A.R.S. unit.
    • Jill, Chris, Wesker, and Barry all received versions with additional customizations tailored to their own specifications. Making them Ace Custom Customs!
    • Leon's "Silver Ghost". A heavily customized MUP (the H&K USP in the real world). This pistol was also made by Joseph Kendo.
  • Action Commands: Becoming quite popular after RE4 and The Umbrella Chronicles. Especially in Press X to Not Die form.
  • Action Girl: All the playable female characters, not including Ashley and a young Sherry.
  • Actionized Sequel: The clearest example is RE4, but even RE2 had more of an emphasis on fighting than the first. RE1 gave players very little ammunition to deal with enemies, forcing players to pick their battles. RE2 on the other hand, gives you a whole lot more, to the point you could probably kill everything in the game and still have ammo left over.
  • Alliterative Name: Barry Burton, Helena Harper, Alfred, Alexia, and Alexander Ashford.
  • All There in the Manual: A lot of supplemental info can be gleaned from the manuals, novels, and other associated media.
  • Always Night: For all the early games, which last through the night and end at dawn. Finally averted in 4 and 5, which both start in the daytime. The sun going down is a signal that things are about to get worse.
    • Actually averted in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. It starts during the daylight hours; you just can't tell because of the camera angle and the fact that half the city is on fire, so the sky is filled with smoke.
    • During Claire's final part in Code: Veronica, when she battles the Nosferatu, it's dawn or very early morning. During Chris's game, it's mid-morning, and when he rescues Claire, it's high noon.
      • Which is tricky considering they're in Antarctica, below the Antarctic circle. A region which alternates days/nights of six months each.
      • More specifically, Antarctica in December, which should be bright out and roughly 15-25 degrees F. Instead, it's apparently cold enough to freeze a room full of water in a few hours.
    • Resident Evil 4 (Remake) starts at night, unlike the original game, but goes over multiple day/night cycles over the course of the story.
  • America Saves the Day: Lampshaded in RE4 and RE5. And still played straight.
  • And I Must Scream: The fates of Lisa Trevor, Rachael, and Alexander Ashford.
  • And Now for Someone Completely Different: Used in most games of the main series until 5 threw in co-op gameplay. You'll take control of the player character's partner at some point to have them assist by finding items or solving puzzles for them. Averted in 0 since both playable characters are introduced early on and stay as the only ones you can play as for the whole game.
  • And Then John Was a Zombie: A staple in the series.
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Another staple in the series.
  • Anti-Frustration Features: The item boxes in the classic series allows you to store items and retrieve them from a different item box so that you don't have to backtrack to specific boxes every time. Originally, the first game didn't have the feature in the beta, but the unlinked item boxes came back in the remake as an optional game mode.
  • Anyone Can Die: In a shower of shocking gore. If they are really lucky, they'll stay dead, because if not…
  • Apocalyptic Log: A way of saving the games, and way too many logs left by the various researchers and doomed citizens in the games.
    "4 — Itchy. Tasty."
  • Arbitrary Gun Power: Ever since the first game, a magnum handgun has more stopping power than an assault rifle, and an old RPG-7 (always with warheads that aren't even implied to be armor-piercing) trump absolutely everything else in lethality, even a Kill Sat.
    • In 6, the Desert Eagle and S&W Model 500 pack more firepower than a .50 BMG Anti-Materiel Rifle!
  • Aristocrats Are Evil: A good number of the series antagonists come from aristocratic backgrounds, such as Ozwell E. Spencer, the Ashford family, James Marcus, and Ramon Salazar.
  • Arrange Mode: This trope is a staple of the early re-releases and ports of the games, altering the locations of items and enemies (and occasionally going further - for example, a medallion necessary for progression in the first title, normally found in one piece, is split in halves that must be assembled in the Arrange Mode.)
    • Resident Evil: Deadly Silence includes the Rebirth mode, which rearranges enemy placements, moves key items around, and includes puzzles that utilize the DS touchscreen and microphone.
    • The Nintendo 64 port of Resident Evil 2 has an exclusive randomizer mode that randomizes ammo and health item types every playthrough.
    • The essence of this mode also appears in the Madhouse difficulty from Resident Evil 7, which, much like its predecessors, reshuffles the locations of items and enemies throughout the Baker residence. However, Madhouse also reduces the amount of items the player is given and introduces cassette tapes as items, serving a similar function to ink ribbons from the first three titles.
  • Artifact Title: Not the original Biohazard title, but the localized English name of Resident Evil. As the very first title took place within a mansion, "resident" makes sense within the context of the game, though this gradually loses its meaning as the later releases are mostly set in increasingly open outdoor areas, and not somebody's actual home. While actual manor houses and castles do pop up every now and then, most prominently in RECV, 4 and 5's Lost in Nightmares DLC, these are mostly set pieces rather than the entire encompassing setting of their respective games. It was not until the release of 7 that the setting was moved back inside an actual residence again. However, with all of that said, the word "resident" can simply mean "present within" or "latent", and does not have to refer to a house.
    • Although the Resident in later games could likely also be referencing the residents of the cities and towns they take place in, especially the local Card Carrying Villains and their willing subordinates.
    • Averted with the series' Japanese titles of Biohazard. Biohazard means a biological outbreak, which is usually what causes the zombie outbreak in each game.
  • Artistic License – Physics: The franchise has a tendency towards playing fast and loose with the laws of physics, usually in the name of awesome set pieces or monsters.
  • Artistic License – Biology: The viruses in the franchise are extremely guilty of this, doing things that simply wouldn't make sense or be biologically impossible. Heroes also routinely shrug off or survive things that would leave a real person hospitalized or dead from a concussion or internal injuries.
  • Artistic License – Medicine: The series often uses vaccines to treat people who have already been infected, usually by viruses. Outside of some cancer treatments, a vaccine is used to provide immunity or resistence to people who have not been infected by a disease. For someone who has already been infected by a virus, you'd need an antiviral to treat them, and the vast majority of them need to be taken multiple times over a period of days at least, usually in pill form or using an IV, rather than a single direct injection like the games usually show.
  • Ascended Meme: The original Resident Evil was notorious for having what is still possibly the worst voice acting in video game history. Barry himself lent to most of the unintentional humor with his atrocious lines, some of the most famous being when he tells Jill "you were almost a Jill sandwich!" after saving her from the ceiling trap" and calling her the "master of unlocking" after giving her the lockpick. Since then, Capcom has almost never failed to reference his old lines when Barry is mentioned or makes an appearance.
    • Both his infamous lines below are referenced in Dead Rising with a store called "Jill's Sandwiches", which touts its owner as being "a master of sandwich making."
    • In 5, when you remove Jill's mind control device from her chest, you get the achievement "Masters of Removing." And in 5's Mercenaries Reunion, one of his melee moves is called the Barry Sandwich.
    • During one of his finishers, he will pull out his Samurai Edge after throwing the enemy onto the ground and shouts "I have THIS!"note  before delivering the finishing blow.
    • In Wildstorm's tie-in comic for the second game, a flashback shows Wesker assembling the S.T.A.R.S. team that goes into Raccoon City. He mentions Jill as an afterthought, saying that he knows nothing about her other than Barry's assurance that she's the master of unlocking.
    • In Revelations 2, after Claire is almost crushed by a trap, she remarks that she was almost a "Claire Sandwich", to which Moira exasperatedly asks if Barry tells that story to everyone. Later, Barry calls himself the master of unlocking, after using a crane to destroy a locked door. And to round out the nods to his infamous lines, he takes "I have this!" and it turns it into a Pre Ass Kicking One Liner at the end of the game during the final battle with Alex.
  • Atrocious Arthropods: Some of the Bio-Organic Weapons or B.O.W.s for short, have been insects or arachnids transformed into terrifying monsters.
    • Resident Evil: The Web Spinner and Black Tiger are spiders who have grown into giants as a result of exposure to the T-Virus while the remake introduced the Chimera a creature created by combining human and fly DNA.
    • Resident Evil 0: Two of the bosses the main protagonists Rebecca Chambers and Billy Coen face are the Stinger and the Centurion a giant scorpion and centipede respectively.
    • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis: The Drain Deimos and Brain Sucker are massive humanoid insects encountered on multiple occasions by the protagonist Jill Valentine.
    • Resident Evil – Code: Veronica: One of the bosses fought by Chris Redfield is a giant black widow spider which was created by the T-Virus.
    • Resident Evil 4: The Novistadors are giant insects who serve as a host of the Las Plaga parasites, they are capable of turning themselves invisible as well as spitting corrosive acid as an offensive weapon.
    • Resident Evil 5: The Reapers are African cockroaches that have been transformed by accidental exposure to Uroboros.
    • Resident Evil 6: The J'avo are a class of mutant whose body parts transform into arthropod creatures.
    • Resident Evil 7: In the Old House giant insects created by the Mold are encountered as common enemies by the protagonist Ethan Winters.
  • Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Some animals are zombified by the T-Virus, but others just get really big. Examples include spiders, centipedes, scorpions, sharks, and crocodiles.
  • Author Appeal: Shinji Mikami's acknowledged that Jill is his favorite character, which could explain her widespread appearances in other games.
  • Awesome, but Impractical: Several weapons in the franchise fall into this category, usually combining high damage with a slow firing rate or awkward controls.
  • Back from the Dead: Wesker and plenty of monsters have this quality.
  • The Bad Guy Wins: Up to 5, Wesker pretty much always got what he wanted whenever he was involved in the plot except during the Arklay disaster. And even then, he gained superpowers out of it.
  • Badass in a Nice Suit: Optional costumes for Wesker tend towards sleek business suits, usually in the Mercenary battle mode.
  • Badass Longcoat: Wesker, Mr. X, and Nemesis. Leon gets one as an alternate costume for completing RE4.
  • Badass Normal: A staple of the series, which mostly features ordinary humans capable of taking on super-powered weapons
  • Bag of Holding: Not the characters themselves (except in Survivor), but the omnipresent item boxes, which are all interconnected to let you access the same stash of items no matter which one you open.
  • Battle Couple: With the fact that almost every partnership in the game is male-female, there are cases where it isn't hard to stretch it into this.
  • Bare Midriffs Are Feminine: A few bonus outfits and Claire's main outfit in Code: Veronica. There's also Sienna "Party Girl" Fowler of Echo Six in Operation: Raccoon City who wears an outfit like this.
  • Beware the Superman: The later installments of the series tend to boil down to Badass Normals with Charles Atlas Superpowers vs. parasite-empowered superhumans.
  • Big Bad: At first, the Umbrella Corporation led by Ozwell E. Spencer, but Wesker gradually takes over as the main antagonist and puppet master throughout the series.
  • Big Creepy-Crawlies: Some of the smaller ones are bigger than Jill's ass, and they grow in size from there, to the point where one game has a spider so large it could crush a tank.
  • Bilingual Bonus: The 4th, 5th, and 6th games all feature enemies conversing in other languages, without subtitles to clue players in. As such, anyone that understands the language gets something extra.
  • Bio Punk: The whole series is about biotechnology gone wrong, with first three games centered around a man-made Zombie Apocalypse engineered by MegaCorp turned terrorist group Umbrella Corporation, a couple games that have mind control parasites as the true main villains, another zombie plague in the sixth game, and a Festering Fungus in the seventh and eighth. And there's genetically-engineered Super Soldiers throughout, too.
  • Biological Weapons Solve Everything: Disassembled down to its core. The entire series' cause and effect is due to its major antagonists believing playing God with viruses and microbiological flora will benefit mankind. In fact, this creed has only proven to make everything worse.
  • Bioweapon Beast: The majority of enemies encountered in the franchise, besides the zombies. The most iconic are the Hunters and the Lickers, but each game provides some unique horror engineered by Umbrella or its successors.
  • Bittersweet Ending: Every. Single. Game. Some games focus more on this aspect than others, but every single entry in the franchise revolves around the protagonists barely surviving a disaster by the skin of their teeth. The heroes may have survived, but everyone else unfortunate enough to be caught up in the event is dead or worse, entire towns have been destroyed, and the global threat of bio-terrorism remains. In some cases, the truth regarding most biohazards end up getting covered up to avoid backlash and panic with some of the main characters even getting sick of constantly getting involved such as when Leon strains his friendship with Claire after refusing to help expose the truth of Secretary Wilson's crimes in Infinite Darkness while later getting sick of getting involved by Vendetta and when Chris is disgusted by the BSAA covering up the truth of the Dulvey incident causing him to defect from the organization and learn that they started using Bioweapons as well.
  • Black Market: After the suspension of its business license in the aftermath of the Raccoon City Destruction Incident, the Umbrella Corporation illegally sold its viral agents and other assets to various interested parties (i.e. other pharmaceutical companies, criminals, insurgents, terrorists) to keep the company afloat in the face of gradual bankruptcy. Despite the dissolution of Umbrella following the conclusion of the Raccoon Trials, the bioweapon black market became an important part of the global illegal arms trade. Javier Hidalgo, Svetlana Belikova, Derek C. Simmons, and other personages have all acquired weaponized viruses through this black market. In particular, people such as Albert Wesker and Glenn Arias became major players of the global bioweapon trade, continually researching and selling bioweapon agents. Before its shutdown, the pharmaceutical company TRICELL Inc. had deep connections to the bioweapon black market, having purchased the t-Virus, the t-Veronica virus, and Las Plagas parasites from Wesker, acquired the G-Virus through the purchase of WilPharma assets and acquired the t-Abyss virus through its spies Raymond Vester and Jessica Sherawat. After Tricell's shutdown, its assets eventually drifted into the general black market, with people such as Glenn Arias acquiring them for their own use.
  • "Blind Idiot" Translation: The first game featured an awful lot of English typos, grammatical errors, and just plain goofy phrases that slipped through the QA net (including, not least of all, "Welcome back to the world of survival horror"). It did get better in subsequent games as the sequels got better budgets. The irony, of course, is that all the Biohazard games prior to Revelations only had English voice acting with Japanese subtitles. It gets even worse in non-English localizations, at least in the German version. For example, Jill's lockpicks are called "Dum-dum Geschosse" (dumdum bullets) instead of "Dietriche", the correct translation for lockpicks. And if you happen to understand English, you'll notice that what the characters are saying is often very different from what the subtitles read.
  • Body Horror: One of the major sources of horror in the franchise, with viruses and surgeries transforming people into horrific monsters.
  • Bold Inflation:
    • "What IS this?"
    • "Wooah! This hall is dangerous".
    • "It's a weapon. It's really powerful, especially against living things."
    • "Just... take - a - look - at - this! It's Forest. Oh my GOD."
    • "DON'T - OPEN - THAT - DOOR!!"
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Hunters and Lickers in the first few games, chainsaw wielders in 4 and 5. RE5 has the Licker Betas. Super long reach, essentially one hit kills, very fast draining of health.
  • Brain Monster: The Lickers are T-Virus zombies which have mutated further and have had their brain extend out of their cranium. Despite the (relative) boost in intelligence, they also become more bestial; crawling on all fours and attacking based on sound with an elongated tongue.
  • The Bus Came Back:
    • Sherry Birkin, who appeared in Resident Evil 2, was almost never heard from again until Resident Evil 6, where she returns all grown up and works as a government agent.
    • Barry Burton, who hasn't been seen since the original game, returns as a major character in Revelations 2.
    • Rebecca Chambers, who also hasn't been seen since the original game and its prequel, makes a major appearance in, of all things, a theatrical play called Biohazard: The Stage set between Resident Evil 5 and 6 (circa 2010). She is working as a university professor in Australia when a viral outbreak occurs and Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans arrive to suppress it.
  • Canon Immigrant:
    • The Red Queen, a computer system from the movies, appears in The Umbrella Chronicles.
    • If you look closely, you'll notice Alice's rejuvenation chamber during the extra mission.
    • The laser trap room right before Saddler's weird little throne room in RE4 was definitely lifted from the first RE movie. It was removed in the game's remake however.
    • The Umbrella Chronicles has the first movie's laser hallway. No, seriously, it's the laser hallway from the movie.
  • Canon Welding: Subverted. Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 implies that Phenotrans (the evil zombie making corporation from Dead Rising) is a subsidiary of Umbrella. Though UMVC3's sole reason to exist is fanservice, and was never meant to be taken seriously as actual canon for either series.
  • Capcom Sequel Stagnation: The series took a while to move pass the year 1998, even long after the year has already transpired in real-life. RE3, which was released in 1999, is actually a parallel sequel to RE1 set around the same time period as RE2 (having been originally written as a side-story), while Survivor and Code: Veronica, both released in 2000, transpire only a few months after the original trilogy. RE4, which was supposed to be released shortly after Code: Veronica, underwent a period of development hell, and the games that were released in between were a remake of the first game, a prequel (RE0), two online games (Outbreak and Outbreak File#2) set during the RE2/RE3-era and a spinoff (Dead Aim) that actually took place in the present year of its release (2003). Every numbered entry in the series since RE4 have all taken place around the years of their releases, with only side-games like the Chronicles and Revelations series being set in-between to fill-in timeline gaps.
  • Captain Obvious: Barry Burton, Ingrid Hunnigan. The franchise in general has lots, especially in the older main series entries. One of many examples: "A lockpick. I can unlock the simple locks with this." when examining the lockpick in Resident Evil 2.
  • Car Chase Shoot-Out
    • Resident Evil 5: After Doug saves them from some Majini, Chris and Sheeva board a jeep to go meet up with some of the BSAA forces in another village to chase after Irving. However some of the Majini give chase in their own jeeps and motorcycles, forcing the pair to defend their ride as they make their way across the Savannah.
    • Resident Evil 6:
      • In Chris and Piers campaign, they chase down who they think is Ada through the streets of China with some of her goons trying to stop you. Depending on who you play as, you'll either be driving or shooting at first, then switch at the halfway point.
      • In Jake and Sherry campaign, the pair manage to escape the Family compound they were being held in by grabbing a motorcycle and fleeing through the streets of China with the Family's forces in pursuit. If you're playing as Jake, you have have to manually steer the motorcycle through the chaos, while as Sherry you just have to shoot the pursuers coming after them.
  • The Casanova: Luis and Carlos at least talk a good game.
  • Celibate Hero: In spite of considerable Ship Tease in every entry, no one ever seems to hook up in the franchise. Barry Burton and Ethan Winters hold the distinction of being the only playable characters in the franchise with families, with Barry having a wife and two daughters and Ethan having a wife and a daughter.
  • Charles Atlas Superpower: Back in the day, Chris Redfield just wasn't as good as Jill Valentine. Oh, he had higher stamina, sure, but he couldn't carry as much, and he didn't get access to the grenade launcher like Jill did. He fared a little better in Code: Veronica, on account of getting some cooler toys to play with and a possible ten inventory slots, but still got the crap knocked out of him by Wesker in the end. As of Resident Evil 5, he can knock enemies through closed doors with a right hook and is fully capable of killing a man by punching him in the ass.
    • At the end of 5, he infamously PUNCHES a roughly 60 ton boulder up and out of a ditch.
  • Chekhov's Gunman: Chris is this to his sister. Thanks to his training, Claire survived Raccoon City, Rockfort Island, and Harvardille.
    • Jill Valentine counts as "Chekhov's Gunwoman". She was infected with the T-virus in RE3, but was cured thanks to Carlos Oliveira synthesizing a cure. Following her tackling Wesker through a window, Wesker discovers the T-virus antibodies in her bloodstream, which he would later use to further his experiments with Uroboros.
    • Wesker's son Jake Muller qualifies, as he has the antibodies which can cure the C-virus. Instead, Carla Radames uses his antibodies to make the C-virus more potent.
  • The Chew Toy: To quote President Evil's RE plot analysis FAQ, "someone on the development team hated Brad's guts."
  • Child Prodigy: Characters in the series have a habit of packing more into their lives before they hit 21 than most people go through in a lifetime. Albert Wesker, William Birkin, Rebecca Chambers, and particularly Alexia Ashford all play this trope straight, but even the main protagonists tend to have training or skills that they shouldn't given their ages. The most notorious case thereof is with Jill, who has a wildly implausible military background for a woman who's only 23 in the first installment.
  • Chinese Girl: Ada Wong and Fong Ling.
  • Chivalrous Pervert: Leon's a funny case in that he definitely has the chivalry going on and engages in some joking flirtation, but aside from the one time he kissed Ada when he thought she was dying, he never actually makes a move.
  • Clipped-Wing Angel: This happens a lot in the series. Birkin from RE2, Nemesis in RE3, Tyrant Morpheus in Dead Aim, Alexia in Code: Veronica, Saddler in RE4, and Wesker in RE5 all transform into giant monsters that are noticeably slower, dumber, and less effective than their superhuman normal forms. Remember — if it can't hit you, it can't hurt you.
  • Clone Angst: The plot of RE6 is heavily driven by this, as the clone seeks revenge against their creator by destroying the world. Simmons had one of his subordinates, Carla, turned into a copy of Ada Wong against her will. Robbed of her memories and identify, she was brainwashed into believing she was actually Ada — just one that loved Simmons. As her memories and identity started to re-emerge, she went insane and decided to tear down the world order in revenge.
  • Clown-Car Grave: Zombies will sometimes respawn in areas where there is no place for them to have come from. This is especially notorious as some rooms they will respawn infinitely every time you enter, but you have limited ammo.
  • Combat Tentacles: Loads of bosses, but Villager and Soldier Ganados take the cake; their Plagas often manifests itself as a tentacled brain with a huge scythe tentacle. Nemesis also had tentacles, but he only used them as a finishing move until his coat gets burned off, then he used them all the time.
  • Company Town: Raccoon City was controlled by Umbrella.
  • The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: Outside of Zero and Outbreak, none of the classic games actually keep track of enemy health if you leave a room, essentially if you only shoot a zombie until it collapses and runs past it, it'll have full health again if you re-enter that room meaning you've wasted your ammo compared to if you finished it off.
  • Conveniently an Orphan: Chris, Claire, Leon, and Sheva fall under this according to novels and guidebooks, with Jill also possibly qualifying (we don't know what happened to her dad). This, of course, leaves them free to go save the world. No indications are given of Ada's parentage, but judging by her choice in occupation, they're likely either estranged or dead. With Jake, it is a major character trait. In fact, the only characters in the entire series with at least one confirmed parent are Ashley, Steve, Sherry, and the multiple generations of Ashfords (Capcom felt the need to give them an entire family tree).
  • Cool Key: Practically a staple of the series, especially in the older titles.
  • Corporate Conspiracy: Umbrella Corp is publicly your friendly neighborhood pharmaceuticals and cosmetics firm, but it's all to cover up their real business — genetically engineering Synthetic Plagues and Bioweapon Beasts. In fact, they're less a corporation indulging in a little illegal behavior on the side, and more a criminal organization with a pharmaceutical corporation as its front. And as it turns out the real conspiracy isn't creating bioweapons, but creating Immortality, the true goal of CEO Ozwell E. Spencer.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive: The entire executive board for the Umbrella Corporation, particularly Ozwell Spencer. Albert Wesker later qualifies.
  • Covert Group with Mundane Front: The Umbrella Corporation poses as a pharmaceutical company, but they really deal with bio-organic weapons. Notably their pharmaceutical work is actually more profitable than their illegal dealings and some members of the group, like co-founder Edward Ashford and his son Alexander Ashford, wanted to stick strictly to pharmaceutical work. It's ultimately revealed the company's CEO Ozwell E. Spencer is an Evilutionary Biologist with serious A God Am I tendencies, and he couldn't care less about all the money Umbrella makes unless it's being used to push him toward his goal.
  • Cut Lex Luthor a Check: The Umbrella Corporation had enough legitimate profit as the world's leading pharmaceutical company to not be dabbling in bio-weapons. And on top of that, when you consider what they are able to accomplish with their research, they'd probably make much, much more money pursuing something legitimate and marketable, as opposed to selling mutants and skinless dogs on the black market. It ends up biting Umbrella in the ass — after Umbrella zombified and then nuked Raccoon City, the US government froze Umbrella's assets, the price of their stock dropped, and the company was forced into bankruptcy. However, it's actually justified insofar as Oswell Spencer's ultimate goal with Umbrella was to mutate a virus he'd discovered into something that would make him godlike and immortal; all the zombies, skinless dogs, and mutants were byproducts of this research.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: A regular occurrence since the first game. From enemies dying incredibly fast where it would take a player more ammunition (such as Steve ambushing a Bandersnatch in Code Veronica), to enemies that should be going down suddenly taking way more damage than usual (like Barry's magnum revolver taking multiple shots to kill a regular zombie when the player minces them with one) or inexplicably becoming nigh-invulnerable (like whenever people have to deal with the Raccoon City zombie hordes, as cutscene zombies just keep tanking damage short of a Boom, Headshot! compared to their in-game counterparts). This isn't even getting into acrobatic antics; every game roots the characters to the ground outside of an interactable or Quick Time Event, but come the cutscenes and flips, cartwheels, grappling hooks and massive falls are just standard as it gradually melded its way back into gameplay the further in the series you get.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!:
    • 4 and 5 change the buttons each time you do a Quick Time Event to keep you from memorizing the buttons.
    • In RE5, this is part of the dynamic difficulty system. The button combinations become more complicated as the difficulty rises.
    • In Revelations (on Xbox), you aim with the left trigger, and fire with the right trigger … except for one boss, where you lock on a missile with the left trigger, and fire it with the "A" button. If you try to fire it with the trigger like you do with every other weapon, you fail the boss fight.
  • Dark Action Girl: Ada Wong, and Jill Valentine during most of RE5.
  • Dark and Troubled Past: Billy Coen never got over the massacre he was forced to inflict on a village of innocent people, and to make matters worse, he was framed for ordering said attack. He would have been sentenced to death if not for the train incident and Rebecca being the kind woman that she is, letting him go free and writing up a fake report that he was killed during the incident.
  • Dating Catwoman: Ada and Leon.
  • Déjà Vu: Claire starts Revelations 2 the same way she started Code Veronica, being captured, knocked unconscious and locked in a jail cell with no weapons.
    • At the Tall Oaks University for the beginning of Leon's campaign in Resident Evil 6, he drives a police car that ends up crashing.
    • Also during the Tall Oaks part of Leon's story, when he and Helena team up with some survivors, there are a rookie police officer and a woman among them. Reminds you a bit of Claire and Leon in Resident Evil 2. Only the woman here has a boyfriend, and unlike Leon and Claire, this rookie cop and woman don't survive the events of this game.
  • Demoted to Extra:
    • HUNK and Rebecca in post-RE3 sequels, as they only returned for The Mercenaries minigames.
    • Revelations 2 is the first full-game appearance for Barry and Claire since RE1 (for Barry) and Code Veronica (for Claire). However, Claire did have a starring role in Degeneration.
  • Department of Redundancy Department: Sure, B.O.W. (bio-organic weapon) combines Fun with Acronyms and Not Using the "Z" Word, but apparently no one at Capcom realized that all bioweapons are organic — at least until Umbrella starts weaponizing Vulcans.
  • Disposable Pilot: Happens repeatedly throughout the series, to the point of being a Running Gag.
  • Does This Remind You of Anything?: The main healing item in all the games is "green herbs." Which, when mixed together, are resting as a fine powder on a sheet of rolling paper. This is actually a pretty common method of preparing traditional herbal medicine in Eastern cultures (the games were made by the Japanese, after all), but in America, it comes off like someone over at Capcom is a fan of The Grateful Dead.
  • Do Not Run with a Gun: More like Do Not Walk With A Gun. The earlier games in the series, except Outbreak File #2 and Dead Aim, don't let you move and shoot simultaneously. In the exceptions, you move so slowly that it's barely worth the effort. This trope is finally averted with the two 3DS games and Resident Evil 6. You are able to aim and fire your guns while on the move. Not only this, you can also reload and switch your weapons on the run instead of standing still while performing said actions and praying that nothing hits you for those few precious seconds.
  • Dropped a Bridge on Him: Helicopter pilots have notoriously low life expectancies in this series. The longest one has lived is two chapters. In particular, someone on Nemesis's design team really had it in for Brad.
    • Even before that, he was a zombie in 2 (but only encountered under special circumstances), which proves that Capcom hated him so much, it took two games to tell the entire story of his gruesome fate.
  • Early-Installment Weirdness:
    • In the original game, Wesker is totally shocked when the T-002 turns on him despite it retroactively being a part of his plans. This is considerably toned down in the remake, and the first game's depiction in Umbrella Chronicles removes any reaction from him altogether.
    • In the original Code: Veronica, Wesker is outclassed and afraid of Alexia, CVX changed this to make him look around Alexia's level, and no game afterwards made him get beaten up to make someone else look stronger. His own death in Resident Evil 5 even showed him being Defiant to the End instead of someone who runs away from danger once his powers are of no use anymore.
    • In either version of Code: Veronica, Wesker's a joke character in Battle Game, having only a knife as his weapon and no superpowers to compensate for it, making him be just a regular character, while everyone else has guns with infinite ammo. Mini games in later games tend to give him some of the strongest load outs and implement his powers in some way.
  • Easter Egg: Examine Wesker's desk 50 times in RE2 to find a reel of film containing a picture of Rebecca in a basketball outfit.
  • Egging: Eggs are recurring items in 4 that you can either consume for health, or throw at enemies (they do little damage though).
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Sort of. The different types of grenades are more effective against some creatures than others. A Licker in the second game, for instance, can take two point-blank regular grenades to the face and keep coming for you, but one Acid round will do them in. And fire tends to be particularly effective against plants. The fifth game even features Fire, Liquid Nitrogen, and Electrical grenades.
  • Elite Zombie: The wide variety of zombie equivalents and Bio-Organic Weapons makes this trope well-represented in the franchise, with all falling at least partially under the archetype of "Bio-Zombie". For a game-by-game list...
    • Resident Evil: From the beginning, the game-line has had the Undead Animals B.O.Ws, with the zombie dog, zombie crow, zombie snake and Giant Spider making their debut here. It also features the unique zombie shark enemies. If "true" B.O.Ws count, the Hunter and Chimera also counts as a representative of the "Feral" archetype, ambushing the player and attacking with wicked claws; Hunters can leap huge distances and Chimeras can climb on the walls and ceiling. The Updated Re Release added Crimson Heads, which evolve from "dead" zombies if they weren't decapitated, burned, or had their knees shot out. These are examples of the "Runner" archetype, characterized by their ability to run almost as fast as the player, and their wickedly sharp claws, which do far more damage.
    • Resident Evil 2: In addition to returning Undead Animals (dogs, crows, giant spiders), it also has the Licker, a "Feral" type zombie with Wall Crawl abilities and a long-ranged tongue-whip attack. A giant moth zombie is an Optional Boss in the lab, and the Ivy B.O.W is an example of the "Brute" archetype, being slow, lumbering but extremely tough. The Resident Evil 2 (Remake) has the G-Spawn, which combine the "Brute" and the "Vomit Zombie" due to being able to spew poisonous slime on a player they grab, and the Ivy Zombie ,which replaces the Ivy B.O.W and is a "Regenerator" type elite.
    • Resident Evil 3: Nemesis: "Ferals" are very well represented here, with two distinct types of Hunter, as well as the Drain Deimos and Brain Sucker, which are Underground Monkey versions of the Chimera from the first game. The classic Undead Animals return, along with the newcomers Sliding Worms, which are giant zombie leeches, and zombie roaches.
    • Resident Evil – Code: Veronica: The Bandersnatch is a deadly B.O.W which combines aspects of a "Brute" (very bullet-resistant and hits like a truck) with a "Feral" (can use its arm to grapple-shot across the room). It can also hit the player from quite a distance. The unique "Anatomist Zombie", the undead remains of the sadistic prison doctor, are also a "Brute" type, being so tough that it takes grenades to bring him down efficiently. Undead Animals consist of the ever-appearing zombie dog, a reskinned Giant Spider, zombie bats, poisonous giant moths, and the electrically charged Albinoid. "Ferals" in the form of the classic Hunter and its Poisonous Person counterpart the Sweeper make an appearance as well.
    • Resident Evil 0: Undead Animals proliferate; dogs, crows, giant spiders and bats all make a reappearance, joined by the Mutant Leech, Lurker (giant frog), Eliminator (zombie ape) and Plague Crawler (genetically engineered giant bug). Most of the bosses are Undead Animals as well, with the Stinger (giant scorpion), Centurion (giant centipede), Giant Bat, and Queen Leech. Hunters return to fill the "Feral" role, and an "Armored Zombie" appears in the form of the zombie of S.T.A.R.S member Edward Dewey. Finally, the Mimicry Marcus, or Leech Zombie, is a combination of "Brute" (high durability, high damage) and "Boomer" (self-destructs upon death unless killed with fire), with the addition of a Bandersnatch-like range.
    • Resident Evil 4: This game switched over from the traditional Plague Zombies of the franchise to Parasite Zombies, which can sometimes expose their parasites to gain new combat abilities, so they double as the "Mutating Zombie" archetype. It also features an Undead Animal example in the form of the Colmillos; parasite-infected wolves, an "Armored Zombie" in the deadly Garrador, a new "Feral" in the form of the flying, invisible-becoming Novistador bug-men, and a "Regenerator" in the Regenerador and Iron Maiden.
    • Resident Evil 5: The Mutating Parasite Zombies and infected dogs return here. The Duvalia is a mutation that fills the "Armored Zombie" role. Lickers Beta make an appearance to fill the "Feral" archetype, and the Reaper is a cockroach-based mutant that serves as a "Regenerator". "Armored Zombies" also make an apperance in the military base section of the game.
    • Resident Evil 6: The basic enemy for three of the four campaigns, the J'Avo, is a deadly combination of a "Zombie Soldier" and a "Mutating Zombie". The result is a zombie that uses guns, and which can selectively transform into all kinds of horrible ways to gain increased lethality. Worse are the Complete Mutations, of which the most categorizable is the Napad, an "Armored Zombie/Brute" hybrid. The Rasklapanje is a "Regenerator" type monster. The Bloodshot is a "Runner/Brute" hybrid. The Whopper is a fat, slow but extremely tough "Brute". The Shrieker is... well, a "Screamer" type.
    • Resident Evil 7: Biohazard: Crawler Molded are "Feral" types, and Fat Man Molded are hybrids of "Brutes" and "Vomit Zombies".
    • Resident Evil: Outbreak: These games are full of Undead Animals, with the addition of "Ferals" thanks to Hunters and Lickers.
    • Resident Evil Survivor: Undead Animals are well-represented, with dogs, crows, roaches, spiders, moths and alligators all being present. The Licker, the Hunter and the Ivy B.O.W are all here as well. And then there's the newcomer of the UT Trooper, a "Zombie Soldier".
    • Resident Evil: Revelations: Chunk Oozes are "Boomer" type zombies, exploding in an effort to kill the player. Wall Blisters and Scarmigliones are "Armored Zombies". Hunters reappear, along with the invisibility-capable Farfarellos, to fill the "Feral" archetype. There are even some Undead Animals, in the form of the Fenrir (wolf) and Ghiozzo (fish).
    • Resident Evil: Revelations 2: It's hard to really determine what isn't an Elite Zombie of some form in this game. The two most categorizable are Ironheads, which are "Brutes", and Orthruses, which are Undead Animals.
  • Empowered Badass Normal: Wesker, starting with Code: Veronica. He is shown performing moves akin to those seen in The Matrix, up to and including dodging bullets. RE6 features a pair, in the form of Wesker's Heroic Bastard son, Jake Muller (super strength) and Sherry Birkin (healing factor).
  • End-Game Results Screen: Several games in the series feature this, and often give bonuses for high ranks.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: Surprisingly, the RE world's regular T-virus zombie outbreaks are not a threat that may lead to this, as they seem relatively self-contained even with minimum government intervention (the Extinction movie is another story entirely). Also, the plot of at least three of the series' major bad guys (Dr. Marcus in RE0, Saddler in RE4, and Wesker in RE5), although Wesker was the only one who ever came anywhere close to implementing the plan.
    • One of the novels has a scientist who seeks to cause this. He is stopped by Rebecca.
    • Carla Radames in RE6, full stop.
  • Enigmatic Institute: Umbrella Corporation secretly makes different types of viruses, particularly the T-Virus and the G-Virus.
  • Equal-Opportunity Evil: Umbrella has absolutely no issue hiring just about anyone for any position in their organization. They have hired scientists of multiple nationalities, male and female. They've even hired teens and pre-pubescent children and made them the heads of important bioweapons projects. It seems to Umbrella, the only thing about you that matters to them is how well you can serve the company.
  • Everybody's Dead, Dave: Happens to HUNK a lot. To quote the chopper pilot: "Once again, only you survived, Mr. Death." In Chronicles, he abandons squadmates for his own gain.
  • Everything's Better with Sparkles: Important items will sparkle, often as a way to avoid a Pixel Hunt (for finding them but not for using them).
  • Evil Brit:
    • It's worth noting that Wesker's evilness increases in direct proportion to his Britishness as the series goes on. Also rather interesting to note that in many of the later games, his voice has an uncanny resemblance to Severus Snape.
    • Also, the Ashford clan, a whole family of evil Brits, including Code: Veronica antagonists Alfred and Alexia Ashford.
    • The head and co-founder of the Umbrella Corporation is Sir Oswell E. Spencer, who is also British.
  • Evil, Inc.: Umbrella Pharmaceutical Company was founded by a group of creepy English Evilutionary Biologists, who wanted to create a race of superhumans and Take Over the World. While the company is a massive conglomerate that has multiple subsidiaries dealing in legitimate businesses, almost all of these serve as some sort of front for the company's illegal activities in creating biological weapons. Things ultimately go so bad that after the US government ends up nuking Raccoon City, Umbrella's stocks plummet as nobody wants to work with a company that has such a massive stigma attatched to it and the United States drives the company into bankruptcy by freezing its assets and filing a massive amount of lawsuits at it.
  • Evilutionary Biologist: Any scientist appearing in the franchise is sure to be one, since viral weaponry and monsters are the primary focus.
  • Exposed to the Elements: A perfect example is when Claire and Steve end up in Antarctica in light clothes. Particularly Claire, who is in a midriff-baring t-shirt. However, they do not complain, seeing as they have other things to worry about, nor does the cold seem to effect them. In the Battle Game, though, during a certain point of Claire's game, after defeating all the zombies, if you walk back a few steps, she will do a special animation where she shivers.
  • Face Full of Alien Wing-Wong: William Birkin tries to implant G-Embyros into several people after being transformed by the G-Virus. This involves trying to shove a small monster down the victim's throat, with all victims but Sherry dying shortly afterwards.
  • Fade to Black and Fade to White: Dying has the screen fade to white, followed by a quick scene of the character meeting their end (or a camera pan showing their dead body) before fading to black.
  • Feminist Fantasy: The original Resident Evil games debuted at a point in time when horror movies were extraordinarily trendy among girls in Japan, and as such, have a lot in common with those movies. This includes capable, independent female characters who are often the protagonist and a few who are major antagonists. The wider world of the franchise is one in which women were allowed to serve as combat operatives in the U.S. military by the early 1990s and where a woman's capability and reliability in a dangerous situation is simply taken as read and never questioned by any male character, even when they're an antagonist.
  • Fixed Camera: The original PS1 trilogy, REmake, and Zero all featured pre-rendered backdrops with fixed camera angles, while Code: Veronica featured real-time 3D environments with a moving camera that follows the player around (similar to the original Dino Crisis). This changed in RE4, naturally, when the series became more action-oriented.
  • Former Regime Personnel: Sergei Vladimir, Nicholai Ginovaef, and Spectre all worked for the Soviet Government prior to its collapse.
  • Full-Frontal Assault:
    • Lickers, Regenerators, Iron Maidens, and Bloodshots are stark naked. And mean.
    • The zombies at the end of any of the first five games. They are always tougher and bite harder.
    • Most Tyrants, with the exception of pre-mutation Mr. X, Nemesis, the Ivans, and Thanatos.
    • Deborah from 6.
    • Alexia's clothing burns off when she transforms, with vine-like growths covering her naughty bits.
  • Fun with Acronyms: The Special Tactics and Rescue Service (S.T.A.R.S.), The Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (B.S.A.A.), The Umbrella Security Service (U.S.S.).

    G - O 
  • Gaiden Game: Resident Evil Gaiden. It's right in the title.
    • Operation Raccoon City was stated from the beginning to be an alternate-reality scenario.
  • Game-Breaking Injury: RE2 was the first game to begin having the heroes' body language reflect their remaining health. If they took too much damage, then they would start limping and not move as fast as they normally do. If you were low on health and had to run away from a group of zombies or a huge boss, then you were in for a rough night.
    • At 1/4 health in RE5, you go into the "Dying" status and have to have your partner resuscitate you, while at 1/2 health, you're limping and holding in your guts.
    • Particularly powerful attacks can knock you flat on your back in Revelations, rendering you vulnerable and only able to shoot right in front of you with your pistol. You have to hammer Y in order to pick yourself back up.
  • Game Mod: In RE2 and RE3, a GameShark could be used to swap around playable character models. Try running through the whole game as Tofu or completing 4th Survivor or Extreme Battle modes as Sherry.
    • Play magazine was rather excited about a rumor you could play as Rebecca in RE2, thanks to a glitch with the station gate. Can't be done without a GameShark. Or PC reskin mods.
    • The PC ports of RE4 and RE5 have also developed quite a large modding community, mostly based on reskins and new models, but also occasionally new missions or Mercenaries stages.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: Zombies can't shamble through doors you open if they trigger a scene transition, but are shown in a cutscene to be capable of opening gates with enough effort. Subverted later on when they do in fact have a chance of ambushing you from the other side of a transitioning door once you go to open it, and later on with Crimson Heads, which follow you through doors until you manage to kill them. In later games (Outbreak), they do follow you through doors, but require some effort. A player can slow things down by holding the door or barricading it, but it'll open. Though averted in the original game. After encountering the first zombie and running to Barry, the door she came through is closed, but the zombie opens it and comes through. This was fixed in the R Emake, in which in her haste Jill left the door open.
    • In RE2, there's an exception to this. Opening one particular door in a usually-safe savepoint room results in two zombies moving into the room. Afterward, if you try and open that same door again, Leon or Claire will refuse, saying it's too dangerous out there. And then there's Mr. X, who won't follow you through doors, but does knock down two walls to get to you.
    • Also of note is the zombies themselves. In the PSX games at least, the cutscenes show them to be almost completely impervious to bullets, shambling quickly towards their prey regardless of the dozens of bullets going into them. In the actual game, the zombies are much slower and easier to kill. Also, the cutscenes show the main characters taking the zombies out with just one or two bullets. This combines Plot Armor and Almost Lethal Weapons.
    • And in regards to the zombies (namely, the T-virus zombies, as it is explicitly said that the T-virus spreads through bites and contaminated fluids), no matter how many times your player character gets chewed on by them, they will never turn into zombies themselves. The changing rate from human to zombie is also inconsistent — in the opening of 2, a truck driver is bitten by a zombie and is shown to have zombified fairly quickly (you can see him as a zombie as his truck is driving towards the car Leon and Claire are in), while both Marvin Branagh and Jill in the third game spend at least a few days with the T-virus in them — Jill gets vaccinated in time by Carlos, and while Marvin is not so lucky, he doesn't turn into a zombie until the A scenario is roughly half over.
      • This issue is partially averted in the Outbreak games, as all of the player characters begin the game infected with the T-Virus. Being bitten or scratched by any zombie will accelerate your virus gauge. Simply put, a player that is constantly being hit by enemies will die and return as a zombie much faster than one that stays out of danger.
  • Gatling Good: A few of the games let you get your mitts on a huge gatling gun.
  • Genre Shift: From 1996 to 2002, the series was a horror-puzzle franchise that featured massive conspiracies, with each installation raising more questions than it answered, and spawning a weird and insular but highly dedicated fan community. Beginning with RE4, and more strongly with RE5, the series is a deliberate blend of action and horror, with some games and scenarios tilting more toward the action end of the spectrum than the other. This has simultaneously fractured and vastly expanded the online fan community.
  • Ghost Ship: The Starlight from Gaiden, the Spencer Rain from Dead Aim, and the Queen Zenobia from Revelations.
  • Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: A staple of the series. The sewer alligator and the mutated worms come to mind.
  • Giant Spider: A staple of the series to invoke fear. The first three used tarantulas, Resident Evil – Code: Veronica had exotic black widows, Resident Evil 4 gave it a break and had a few normal spiders, and Resident Evil 5, aside from spider-like enemies, had normal (though still big) African spiders. The Video Game Remake of 1 redesigned the boss spider into the Australian funnelweb, the Lost in Nightmares DLC had big spiders, and the Chronicles games have a lovely mix of giant spiders. Goes into overdrive in RE6 where the entire themed virus transformation is bugs.
  • Giggling Villain: Twins Alfred and Alexia Ashford are both prone to evil giggling.
  • A God Am I: Several villains develop a God-complex, most notably Alexia Ashford and Albert Wesker.
  • Gone Horribly Right: Pretty much every game until 4 involved a disaster that was caused by one or more of the Umbrella Corporation's many bioweapons R&D program working too well and going out of their control, and in at least two instances one of the researchers on said program(s) went crazy and ultimately instigated the disaster (whether intentionally or unintentionally).
  • Good Is Not Soft: Most of the playable characters would qualify: they are either good decent people who just happen to be badass and are in law enforcement or the military, or normal people who are an example of Rousseau Was Right and fully capable of surviving an outbreak, the main exceptions would be Ada (having a large role in 4, morally ambiguous and Good Is Not Soft) and Alex who starts out as a mercenary.
  • Gory Discretion Shot: Averted most of the time, until RE5.
  • Groin Attack: Interestingly in Umbrella Chronicles, during the 0 Scenerio. Shooting the leechmen in the crotch is very efficient in slowing them down.
  • Handcannon: Many pistols — and especially the revolvers — are ridiculously oversized. Heck, in RE4, one of the unlockable weapons is even named "Handcannon". In general, magnums tend to cause more damage than things like grenade launchers or point-blank shotgun blasts.
  • Hate Plague: Las Plagas, which also turns the entire society into Bee People. Why do you think Ashley was kidnapped in the first place?
  • Head Crushing:
    • In Resident Evil 0 and the Resident Evil (Remake), if downed zombies latch onto the Player Character, the character will, upon getting loose from their grip, crush the zombie's head under their foot.
    • Resident Evil 2 (Remake): Mr. X punches his way through a wall to grab Ben Bertolucci by his head, and then crushes it in his hand. He can do the same to the player if he grabs them and they have no way to free themselves.
    • Resident Evil 3 (Remake): One of the Nemesis's kill animations has him crush Jill Valentine's head by stomping on it with his foot and leaving only bloody fragments behind as what's left.
  • Healing Herb: A staple in the series, and they can be mixed together for stronger effects. Green recovers health, blue cures poison, and red cannot be used by itself, but it can be mixed with a green herb to make it stronger. Resident Evil 4 also uses yellow herbs, which extends your life meter. It's never explicitly stated how the herbs are used, though Resident Evil 5 makes the herbs be applied to the body like a spray can and Resident Evil 6 compresses herbs into easy-to-swallow tablets.
  • Healing Factor: Sherry Birkin, thanks to her exposure to the G-Virus.
  • Healthy Green, Harmful Red:
    • Green herbs are the most common and basic healing item in the franchise, with all other herbs being useless unless combined with said green herb.
    • In games prior to Resident Evil 4, your health was indicated by a heart rate meter. At full health, it was green and showed your status as "Fine". When you are near death, it's red and your status is "Danger", typically meaning you are one hit away from death.
  • Heart Container: Yellow Herbs in RE4 and the Degeneration mobile game.
  • Hellish Pupils: Wesker's cat eyes are the first sign of his self-imposed infection kicking in.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Done on five separate occasions:
    • In Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Mikhail sacrifices himself to save Jill and Carlos.
    • In Resident Evil – Code: Veronica, Steve sacrifices himself for Claire.
    • In Resident Evil 5, Jill sacrifices herself to save Chris. It didn't quite take, because neither she or Wesker died. And Sheva attempts to sacrifice herself to save everyone from Wesker. Chris stopped her because he was thinking of what happened to Jill.
      • If you can trigger the special sequence during the final battle, Sheva holds back from shooting at Wesker because it would hit Chris as well. Chris says to do it anyway, but Sheva instead takes out her knife and goes to town.
    • In Resident Evil 6, Piers sacrifices himself, injecting himself with the C-virus, to save Chris and defeat the Haos.
    • In Resident Evil: Village, Ethan stays behind to detonate the bomb to kill Miranda once and for all after knowing that his wife and daughter are now safe.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Mutant Steve. You can only 180 turn and run away, and you are bound to take at least one hit unless you're very quick with dodging at the battle's start.
    • Lisa Trevor's first phase is also unbeatable.
    • Although Nemesis can be defeated in every encounter, he'll always come back for more, and with so few weapons and ammo your first few encounters with him, you almost are always forced to run.
  • Hopeless War: It's a common theme throughout the series that the war against bioterrorism is a hopeless endeavor, exemplified through multiple series mainstays having crisis of confidence upon realizing that they're no closer to stopping it than when they started decades ago. Both Leon and Chris turn alcoholic throughout the course of their careers to cope with it; Chris quit the force outright to spend his time getting drunk prior to the event of Resident Evil 6, while Leon neglects his work to do the same during the event of Resident Evil: Vendetta. This is even brought up as a plot point during Resident Evil: Death Island, with the main villain delivering a personalized "Reason You Suck" Speech to each major protagonist for failing to make any lasting impact throughout their long crusade, no matter the cost. As of the latest chronological game in the series, Resident Evil Village, the timeline has moved well into the late 2030s (over 20 years since said villain's speech) and the war against bioterrorism is still ongoing since the 1990s. Worse still, even the supposed good guys are getting bioweapons◊ of their own to combat bioterrorism, ensuring that the proliferation of it will never end.
  • Humanoid Abomination: Wesker. He keeps the shades on for a reason.
  • Humans Are the Real Monsters: A common theme throughout the series, most of the monsters that are encountered are victims of human greed, lust for power or delusions of grandeur.
  • Iconic Sequel Character: Nemesis first appeared in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis and has gone on to make an appearance as a main antagonist in Resident Evil: Apocalypse and as a playable character in Marvel vs. Capcom 3.
  • Iconic Outfit: There are several characters in the franchise that have well remembered outfits.
  • The Immune: 10% of the world's total population are immune to the various strains of the Progenitor Virus. By current world figures (circa 2018) that's roughly 770 million people. The good news? Even if there was a global pandemic, humans would still survive. The bad news? They can still get torn apart and devoured by the ravenous infected majority.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Creatures with really big claws, particularly Tyrants, will do this as a finisher. Other notable practitioners are William Birkin, Nemesis, the Garradors, and Saddler. Wesker doesn't even need claws to do it.
  • Implacable Man: Most bosses, but Nemesis, Mr. X, Lisa Trevor, and Wesker are the most famous.
  • Inventory Management Puzzle: The series is in love with the trope. You can only carry a limited amount of items, which forces you to decide if you want to pick up that healing herb right now or wait until you can find the next save room to store your items and come back later. Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil – Code: Veronica would introduce weapons that can take up two item slots instead of one. Resident Evil 0 doesn't use item boxes, but allows the player to dump their items on the floor so they can come back later when they need them. Resident Evil 4 would use an attache case whose space is determined by how you organized your items and how you rotated them. Code Veronica attempted to somewhat soften the pain by letting you use a green herb on the spot if your inventory is full.
  • It's the Only Way to Be Sure: Every Umbrella facility has a handy self-destruct device. Also, the government bombs Raccoon City into powder to stop the T-Virus from spreading.
  • Joke Character: Tofu, a sentient brick of tofu who has a knife and wears a combat harness and beret.
  • Jump Scare: Zombies, dogs, and crows crashing through windows. The Nemesis and Mr. X crashing through walls. Zombies reaching through barricades. The player walking through a hallway to find a zombie right in front of them which was previously hidden by the camera angles (this happens quite a few times in REmake).
  • Just Eat Him: Several of the monsters, particularly those of the giant-animal type, will do exactly this as a finisher.
  • Just Friends: Jill and Chris.
  • Kidnapped for Experimentation: Poor Jessica and Lisa were victims of this.
  • Kill It with Fire: Molotov, incendiary grenades, and flamethrowers in each game up to 5.
  • Large Ham:
    • Alfred and WESKER!
    • CHRISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS
    • MIIIIIIIIIIIIIKE! LEEEWWWIIISSS!
    • JOSSSSSSSSSSSSSSEPH!
  • Last-Name Basis:
    • Wesker. That may as well just be his driver's license — "Wesker".
    • Krauser, Salazar, and Saddler.
    • A variation in 4: Salazar never uses Leon's first name. He only ever calls him "Mr. Kennedy" or even "Mr. Scott Kennedy".
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The games have been released, re-released and remade for over twenty years now, and there is no guarantee that new players have played them in order of original release, so this trope is increasingly likely to happen.
  • Late to the Tragedy: Nearly all of the protagonists of each installment arrive at their respective settings after the initial viral outbreak. Exceptions include Jill in RE3, Claire and Steve in REC:V, and most of the Outbreak player characters.
  • Life Meter: The first three games, Zero, Code Veronica, and the remake of the first game had a then-unique health bar in the form of the EKG, which was only visible if you bought up the inventory screen. The amount of health you had was noted by color, heart rate, and name (green: fine, yellow: low fine/high caution, orange: low caution, red: danger, and purple: poison). In addition to color and name, the character's heart rate would go down, and if they were poisoned, their heartbeat would become irregular. Starting with 4, a more traditional health bar took place of the EKG.
    • The Sega Dreamcast version of 2, 3 and Code Veronica had a visible EKG in the VMU screen.
    • The Playstation 4 version of the Resident Evil 2 remake uses the light bar on the controller to show health level.
  • Light Gun Game: The Gun Survivor and Chronicles games.
  • Lovecraftian Superpower: Even those human (or formerly human) villains who do go outright One-Winged Angel with mutation will generally have strange claws or Combat Tentacles.
  • Made of Iron: Most of the cast, really, since the most common enemy attack involves zombies chewing through your jugular vein. And many of the otherwise-human characters can survive being shot several times with little problem. Jill Valentine took a rocket to the face, and simply shrugged it off.
  • MacGuffin: Chris has two: Leon emails him about Claire's plight in Code: Veronica, and he receives a big one regarding Jill in Resident Evil 5.
  • Mad Scientist: William and Annette Birkin, Albert Wesker, the Ashfords, and James Marcus. The underlings are either extremely wary (they have no choice — they're usually locked into what facility they're in) or kept in the dark about things. With a side of Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter from the adult Sherry.
  • Maker of Monsters: The Umbrella Corporation is responsible for creating Bio Organic Weapons, animals and humans transformed into monstrous beasts. Some of their products include Cerberus, highly aggressive mutated dogs; the Hunters, hulking reptilian humanoids; and human-derived monsters such s the Lickers and the Tyrant, in addition to manufacturing different viruses such as the T and G strains which are used to create the monsters.
  • Malevolent Architecture: The series is, at a whole, more or less the platonic ideal of this trope.
  • Man-Eating Plant: The Ivy plant and Plant 42, the latter of which ate several researchers before anyone noticed. Really goes to show just how much Umbrella really cares about its work force.
  • The Many Deaths of You: The franchise is well-known for its graphic and varied death scenes, particularly in games 4 - 6.
  • Market-Based Title: In Japan, the series is known as "Biohazard" (since the overall theme is viruses). However, when it came time to bring it to western markets, the name "Biohazard" was too generic to trademark in English speaking countries (plus it was already used by a band and at least one other game), so it was changed to Resident Evil.
    • Resident Evil 7 features both titles globally by way of making each market's main title the subtitle in the opposite. So in Japan it's known as "Biohazard 7: Resident Evil" and elsewhere as "Resident Evil 7: Biohazard" (the way the logo is used to highlight the number "seven" even works across both, as a Roman numeral "VII" features in the last three letters of "EVIL" and an Arabic "7" is highlighted in the 'Z' of "BIOHAZARD").
  • Mask Power: Standard wear for the Umbrella Security Service, and most memorably worn by HUNK.
  • Master of Unlocking: Trope namer. Typically, the female PC has a set of lockpicks as a special item to explain why she can get into places the male PC can't.
  • Meaningful Name: What kind of animal is famous for spreading, by bite, a disease that makes the afflicted animals become violent and crazy? Raccoons.
  • MegaCorp: The Umbrella Corporation. Their front is a pharmaceutical company, but their real business plan consists of "let's inject this zombie potion into an animal and see what happens" while giving OSHA the finger. Notably, when the government finally had evidence of Umbrella's misdeeds in the Time Skip before Resident Evil 4, they destroyed the company by applying a massive embargo to its activities, crashing their stock prices and eventually running Umbrella out of business. Years later, its Suspiciously Similar Substitute, TRICELL, suffered much the same fate after the main people behind it were killed in the events of Resident Evil 5 (it's heavily implied that the remainder of the company didn't survive the investigations prompted by the clues Chris and Sheva uncovered in Kijuju).
  • Metropolis Level: Some of the games in the series have been set in the fictional Raccoon City which saw its civilians turned into zombies or killed by monsters called Bio-Organic Weapons or B.O.W's for short as a result of a T-Virus outbreak, resulting in its destruction by a nuclear missile.
  • Mighty Glacier: Several enemies are very slow, but have high durability and damage output to compensate.
  • Minigame: A staple of the series, usually involving short missions where you guide a character around an area and take out as many BOWs as possible within a time limit.
  • Model Museum:
    • The Resident Evil 2 (Remake) and Resident Evil 3 (Remake) both have one of these, filled with models for characters, weapons, and monsters that are unlocked after completing challenges.
    • Resident Evil 4 has a display of character and enemy models, which are obtained by doing well in the shooting gallery Mini-Game.
    • Resident Evil 6: Finding all of the serpent emblems in each chapter of a character's story adds a model to the collection cabinet of that character. These models can then be viewed individually in the Collections Arcade.
  • Monster Closet: Dogs and zombies coming through windows? Check. A zombie bursting out of a literal closet? Check. Licker crashing through the one-way mirror? Check.
  • Mood Whiplash: Raccoon City. It seems like the developers spent all night thinking of the cutest, most innocent name possible while still sounding subtle enough to be an actual city name that would be taken seriously. note  for a town that would become a complete hell on earth.
  • The Mountains of Illinois: Though Raccoon City is in the Midwest, the climate and topography don't fit. The novelization moves it to Pennsylvania.
  • Multiple Endings: Most of the games have this in some form, though Outbreak and File #2 take the cake with more than 20 possible endings each.
  • Mysterious Backer: The organization that Ada Wong really serves throughout the series has never been revealed. There are hints that they are very powerful and know about multiple secrets throughout the world such as Umbrella's experiments, The Los Illuminados and The Family.
  • Mysterious Waif: Lucia from Gaiden.
  • Neck Snap:
    • HUNK in The Mercenaries.
    • Chris in Resident Evil 5.
  • Never Split the Party:
    • In those games where you're either escorting someone or have a partner, it's generally in your best interest to stay close together. Whenever the plot separates you, it's generally so it can throw a really big monster at one character.
    • Subverted in Resident Evil 0 in which you are separated quite a few times, but many times it's only to solve puzzles that require you being separated. As well as you can leave your partner anywhere, anytime, but you may get a call from him/her saying they're having trouble with monsters, in which you have to race back to where you left him/her and help them.
  • Nobody Poops: Toilets appear to be very scarce in Raccoon City. An issue of the British publication NGC Magazine handwaved this saying that the citizens of Raccoon had evolved beyond such base needs, as well as lampshading said trope by saying, "And can you blame them? Everytime you nip off for a quick dump there's always a bleedin' zombie in the bath."
    • The guardhouse in the original had several apartments, each with a fully equipped bathroom (again including zombies). Reasonable if the guardhouse is a modern addition.
    • In the Umbrella Chronicles Raccoon's Destruction scenario 2, you wade through a subway and visit several bathrooms. Again, they're full of zombies.
  • No Celebrities Were Harmed: Many of the characters bear an uncanny likeness to various celebrities.
    • Ink-Suit Actor: Though likely unintentional, Claire bears a more-than-passing resemblance to Alyson Court, her voice actress. Same deal with Irving.
    • Jill's likeness is that of model/actress Julia Voth.
  • No Flow in CGI: The original games were pretty bad at this. Claire's ponytail was pretty much the only concession that things attached moved differently.
  • No One Could Survive That!: In Leon's B scenario and its Darkside Chronicles recreation, Ada gets slammed against the power generator pretty hard by Mr. X. And it in fact appears that She's Dead, Leon. But she's back up to throw a Rocket Launcher to Leon during the battle with his final form. It's better than Leon's A scenario, though, where Ada falls down a Bottomless Pit and still shows up to give Claire the rocket launcher.
  • Not a Zombie: A franchise staple, whenever someone encounters a zombie for the first time. This is usually how a Red Shirt cop or soldier will end up being killed.
  • Not His Sled: The entire point of Arrange Mode in 1 and 2, and Madhouse Difficulty in 7, all of which rearrange the positions of weapons, enemy spawns and even Plot Coupons in an attempt to keep you on your toes for a second playthrough.
  • Notice This: Oftentimes, your character will look at objects that could need picking up. Or enemies in the room. Anything else sparkles or is a hidden item. Starting with 4 this is used to help point out nearby offscreen enemies.
  • Numbered Sequels / Stopped Numbering Sequels: A weird combination. Completely 100% canon games which meaningfully advance the plot are numbered; subtitled games are spinoffs or one-offs that haven't received any follow-up. The exceptions to this rule thus far are Code: Veronica, Revelations and Village. Revelations got a numbered sequel of its own while Village is Resident Evil 8 with the differently colored letters showing the Roman numeral for 8. The canon doesn't only extend to the numbered games (with Code: Veronica and the Revelations games), but to various side games as well. Gaiden and Operation Raccoon City are not canon while the rest is 100% canon.
  • Obligatory Swearing: Despite the very gruesome nature of the series the dialogue remained fairly tame in profanity for many years, the cast would react to extreme violence mostly with “damn” and once in a while with “shit”; Resident Evil 7 came in however and with it the dialogue then matched all the violence, usage of “fuck”, “motherfucker” and many variations are plenty, and with the remake for Resident Evil 2 it seems strong cuss words are here to stay for a while.
  • Off with His Head!: Many clawed creatures and bosses will do this as a finisher, depending on the game. Earlier games tend to feature it, while later installments reserve decapitations for zombies (Code: Veronica, though, didn't even have that). For example, one of Rebecca's possible deaths in the original Resident Evil was to have her head cut off by a Hunter; the REmake version of the scene is instead a Shadow Discretion Shot, and the Hunter just cuts her throat. Both 4 and 5, though, have heads falling off or exploding left, right, and center. Humourously, in 4, if Leon looks up Ashley's dress while climbing, she'll call him a pervert; this is flagged so that she'll still say this if Leon is decapitated and his head rolls under her while facing up.
    • Subverted in 5. The chainsaw doesn't cut the protagonist's head off.
      • Granted, it's clearly supposed to; they just got lazy about modeling it.
  • Ominous Walk: Ganados and Majini will often run towards you until they get within a certain distance and inexplicably start using this trope. Hunters seem to enjoy this as well.
    • Something about the way Wesker walks suggests he was a fan of The Joker.
    • Tyrants love it, too. Though they at least are still suffering from the effects of being cryogenically frozen. Once they shake it off, they turn into a machine.
  • Once an Episode:
    • Just about every final boss has been finished off with a rocket launcher.
    • The whole setting of the story is destroyed by a gigantic explosion, 9 times out of 10 caused by a Self-Destruct Mechanism.
    • There's always a crank that must be used in order to progress. Gets lampshaded by Chris in the Lost in Nightmare scenario for Resident Evil 5 where he wonders why Spencer has a fetish for cranks.
    • Almost anyone who is a helicopter pilot won't survive for long.
    • In the classic line (1, 2, 3, and Code Veronica), there's always naked zombies in the labs.
    • Without fail, if he has a coat Leon WILL lose it fairly early in the story.
    • Resident Eviiilll
  • One-Man Army: Every single playable character with the exception of Ashley in Resident Evil 4 is this by default, but the best examples are Leon and Ada in Resident Evil 4, who both manage to take out a swarm of Ganado and monsters by themselves over the course of the game.
  • One-Steve Limit: Subverted. With so many background characters in both main titles and spinoffs, a few names tend to be repeated among them. There's quite a few Edwards (Dewey and Ashford), Josephs (Frost and Kendo), Georges (Trevor, Scott, or Hamilton), Kevins (Ryman and Dooley), Jacks (Hamilton, Krauser, Norman, or Baker) and even Alberts (Wesker and Lester). There's even more than one Steve (an Umbrella researcher by that name in RE1 and Steve Burnside).
  • One-Winged Angel: Pretty much every human Big Bad will turn into a horrible abomination against God. However, they are often reduced to Clipped-Wing Angel in their final form, eg. Birkin and Nemesis.
  • Only Sane Man: Edward Ashford was the only one of the original founders of Umbrella who actually wanted to use the Progenitor Virus for legitimate medical research to benefit humanity. His son and his grandchildren make up for his lack of batshit insanity in spades.
  • Orwellian Retcon: The original version of Wesker's Report that was sold as a pre-order bonus with Code: Veronica originally stated that Sherry was taken captive by Wesker's men after the events of 2. This contradicted the epilogues in 3, in which Sherry and Leon were both taken into custody by the U.S. Government after they were split from Claire. As a result, later reprints of Wesker's Report removed this information completely.
  • Our Zombies Are Different: There are several distinctive zombie types present across the series, which also gives rise to the presence of Elite Zombie strains.
    • The classic zombie strain, present in numbered games 0-3, Code: Veronica, and the Outbreak games, combines Artificial Zombie, Plague Zombie, and Flesh-Eating Zombie: they are zombies animated by a deadly Synthetic Plague with somewhat Ebola-like symptoms, and driven by a hunger to feed on living flesh.
    • The hosts of Las Plagas, seen in Resident Evils 4 and 5, are a Parasite Zombie/Technically-Living Zombie hybrid; humans infected with a macroparasite that renders them crazed and dangerously violent to the non-infected.
    • The victims of the C-Virus from Resident Evil 6 can either become zombies when exposed to the airborne form of the toxin, which are fundamentally identical to the classic zombie strain, or they can become J'avo, which are an Elite Zombie and a Technically-Living Zombie.
    • The first Revelations game contains T-Abyss zombies, which fit the same tropes as the classic zombie strain, but which are hideously mutated into blood-drinking aquatic monsters.
    • The second Revelations game has the T-Phobos zombies; these are a Plague Zombie/Technically-Living Zombie hybrid, turned into mutilated, pain-blind, homicidally crazy creatures through a combination of the virus and cruel experiments performed on them — as such, they engage in the same kind of primitive tactics and weapon-use as Las Plagas hosts. T-Phobos zombies will ultimately starve to death and then reanimate as the Rotten, which are basically a slower and weaker version of the classic zombie strain.
    • Resident Evil 7 takes the Artificial Zombie element to the extreme, replacing the iconic zombies with the Molded; homicidal masses of genetically engineered fungus which are only "zombies" in that they prefer to use human corpses as the basic material to grow from.
  • Over-the-Shoulder Murder Shot: An iconic moment of the franchise. In the first game, a zombie (the first one you ever encounter in the game) does this as he's eating Kenneth. Bonus points for being able to later find and watch a video of it from Kenneth's perspective filmed on his camera.

    P - Z 
  • Parasite Zombie:
  • Personality Blood Types: Blood types are listed in the intro.
  • Peace & Love Incorporated: The Umbrella Corporation was initially this. Their public face as a manufacturer of cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and other consumer products masked their bioweaponry and genetic engineering divisions.
    • Its slogans, seen in several games, include "Preserving the health of the people" and "Science for a comfortable life".
  • Personal Space Invader: Just about any game in the series have creatures with a grapple attack that they pull on the characters if they get too close. While somewhat limited to mostly Zombies in the original games, the sequels have greatly expanded this list. The Ganados and Majini are good examples.
  • Phlebotinum Breakdown: The T and G virus strains respectively, both have critical fusion flaws that prevent 100% of infected subjects transforming into the perfect B.O.W weapons. It was something Umbrella could not address. Only 1 in 10 million individuals infected with T will successfully become a Tyrant. Zombies... are the undesired end result. With G, its far more dangerous, and a G-virus outbreak would be inconceivably nightmarish, but its flaw is the lack of contagion. Not to mention it cannot spread to other hosts who are not related by its original host's DNA. Non-matches will reject its embryos... in a bloody mess.
    • Its also interesting to note, that 10% of the world's total population have a natural immunity to the various strains of the Progenitor Virus, even if directly exposed. One can assume this is the reason your in-game characters do not get infected from being bitten.
  • Pixel Hunt: The classic style games would often have this when looking for where to use an item, for the present or later. Some items that don't sparkle also require this.
  • Plain Name: Several of our badass survivor heroes have one; for example Chris Redfield, Claire Redfield, Leon Kennedy, Barry Burton, and Sherry Birkin. Jill Valentine at least gets a cool surname.
  • Plasma Cannon: As befitting a super-science criminal organization, Umbrella has made the linear launcher and charged particle rifle which are designed to roast virus mutants with a blast of plasma or charged particle bolts. In the games they show up, they'll instakill almost anything they're used on.
  • Playing with Syringes: The Umbrella Corporation practicse this so much they could put a copyright on it. For starters, they have a bad tendency to hire morally bankrupt sociopaths to head up viral weapons projects and then act utterly shocked when they start losing control of them. The viruses themselves would be of questionable effectiveness as biological weapons note and to call their security "piss-poor" is an insult to urine. Most of the games can basically be summarized as "the inevitable result of hiring a complete psychopath to inject any living thing he sees with a mutagenic virus" or "let's throw some military types in a box with our escaped mutants and call it 'gathering combat data'".
  • Plot Armor: No matter how many times the heroes are grabbed and bitten by zombies, they just walk it off with no infections to speak of. Especially insane in RE6 with a monster that unleashes toxic gas that turns anyone who inhales it into a zombie. To Leon and Helena, it only lowers health, or puts them into reduced bleedout at worst, even if the thing literally breathes that gas down their throats. There are multiple justifications, though, mostly meta.
  • Plot Device: Throughout the Resident Evil franchise, viruses and parasites old and new continue to survive and cause untold devastation because the global bio-weapons Black Market will always have the appropriate assets for sale off-screen, no questions asked!
  • Plot Hole: Quarantining Raccoon City, to keep the virus inside its walls. Makes sense, until the moment you realize. "What about the crows infected with the T-Virus? Who are free to fly outside of the city at any time." Unless they put a giant dome over the city, the virus should have spread across the entire midwest. Kinda justified with Raccoon City being mostly in the middle of nowhere and the infected crows focusing more on eating the survivors and zombies in the city, rather than flying away somewhere. Also the introduction of an antidote to the virus makes that less of an issue in general; the crows usually aren't going to kill someone who can get away from them.
  • Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Usually reserved for the final boss of each game.
  • Primal Fear: Darkness, death, monsters, being trapped (with or without something trying to kill you), being eaten alive, being hunted/chased, etc.
  • Progressively Prettier: Inverted with the majority of the original cast. Chris, Jill, Barry, Leon, and Claire have all aged over the course of the two decades-old franchise. They're all still attractive, but in the manner you would expect from someone that is middle-aged.
  • Psychopathic Manchild: Ramon Salazar in 4 is most likely about four feet tall with the proportions of a child, though he claims to be twenty. And is he psychopathic? Oh, yes. For an equally strong example in more frame of mind alone, Code: Veronica has the Ashford Twins, though one of them has an excuse. Their house is full of dolls, music boxes, and more, along with Alfred's fits of immaturity.
    • Lisa Trevor is an alternate version of this; she's an adult, and is wearing the skin of some of her victims as a shroud, but mentally she's a very young child desperately looking for her mother.
  • Put on a Bus: Several characters:
    • Rebecca Chambers had, in canon, escaped from the mansion with the rest of the team in Resident Evil, but has not made any future appearances in the storyline (other than being playable in a mini-game for Resident Evil 5) within the story and is never even talked about at all by the other characters who survived with her. She was the star of her own game, albeit a canon "prequel", but it was still made much later in the series. She does make a canon comeback in Biohazard: The Stage, as well as being a main character in the upcoming Resident Evil: Vendetta CGI film.
    • Barry Burton, another survivor from the first game, hasn't come back at all other than helping Jill and Carlos escape from Raccoon City at the end of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis. Like Rebecca, Barry also appeared in the Mercenaries mini-game for Resident Evil 5. However, he's one of the main characters of Resident Evil: Revelations 2.
    • Nicolai, who, through Word of God, manages to escape after killing all of his teammates so that he can be the sole survivor and hand Umbrella information for money in Resident Evil 3, has only made a further canon appearance in Outbreak's "Decisions, Decisons" scenario, as well as a non-canon appearance in Operation Raccoon City.
    • Sheva Alomar from Resident Evil 5 isn't seen or heard from ever again, and Chris, who came back for Resident Evil 6, doesn't mention her at all.
    • Carlos, who only made an appearance in Nemesis, escapes from the city with Jill and Barry, but nothing explains what happened to him after the aftermath. There's no epilogue made for him either.
    • Billy Coen still hasn't returned, despite being one of the more badass main characters in the series. But then again, he earned his happy ending.
  • Raising the Steaks: Zombie dogs are the most iconic, but there are also zombie bats and crows, for a start. Outbreak File 2 actually had a level taking place at a Zoo, leading to zombie hyenas, lions, and an Elephant.
  • Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Author S.D. Perry likes to portray the villains as rapists in the novels, with Irons (which actually fits — in-game, he was accused of two counts of rape in his past), Nicholai (nothing suggests he is), and Wesker (only a Epileptic Tree in Resident Evil 5) getting this treatment.
  • Reckless Gun Usage: Early games had this in droves, though the most recent examples (Degeneration and Resident Evil 5) have an almost obsessive focus on Gun Safety in the cutscenes. In-game, however, the characters do run with their guns down and safe, until you hold the button which readies them.
  • Recurring Boss: Many games feature a pursuer-type character that keeps popping up to chase you throughout the game, often in an unscripted manner. Examples include Mr.X and Nemesis from 2 and 3, Lisa Trevor and Zombie Forest from REMake, Rachel from Revelations, Ustanak from 6, and Jack Baker from 7.
  • Reduced-Downtime Features:
    • Resident Evil 0: Previous games required the player to travel back to item boxes if they wanted to swap items or discard one for later use. This game allows players to drop items wherever they are and pick it up again. This was a mixed blessing, as though it removed the need to run to an item box, it also created the real possibility that a player would forget where they dropped or left a crucial item, requiring them to backtrack everywhere in the hopes they could find it.
    • Resident Evil 4: Unlike previous games in the series, the Grid Inventory system of this entry takes the form of an attache case with limited grid squares that determine how much Leon can carry. A player with good organizational and space-management skills can carry a large number of weapons and items simply by making efficient use of the grid. Also, key items needed to unlock doors or solve puzzles were no longer carried in the player's inventory but in its own separate space, thus eliminating the need to make difficult choices when trying to solve puzzles.
    • Resident Evil 5: Unlike the previous game, all items take up the same amount of space regardless of size. While this means that a handgun takes the same amount of space as a rocket launcher, it also means that the player does not need to carefully organize their space. This game also allowed players to map items to specific buttons or angles of their control sticks, thus allowing instantaneous swapping/usage. Necessary due to the cooperative nature of the game, which does not pause the gameplay while the inventory is open.
    • Resident Evil 6: This game utilizes a scroll wheel to quickly access the player's inventory, thus allowing for quick use. Further, any mixable items (like herbs) are automatically highlighted so that players do not have to manually select them each time.
  • Relationship Labeling Problems: Although Everyone Can See It, the relationship between Leon Kennedy and Ada Wong is more of a situationship. They're willing to put the other's wellbeing over their own job and have had dates offscreen, but their jobs, in addition to their mismatched moralities, prevent any solid relationship from forming. In 4, when Ashley asks who exactly Ada is, Leon is unable to give a clear answer. By the time of 6, they still haven't quite worked out what their relationship is, but it's at a point where, when she tosses a ring to Leon, Ada has to clarify that it's not a proposal. In-game files label their relationship as "complicated".
    Ashley: So, who was that woman anyway?
    Leon: Why do you ask?
    Ashley: Come on, tell me.
    Leon: She's like a part of me I can't let go. Let's leave it at that.
  • Research, Inc.: The Umbrella Corporation and TRICELL, which were both into Pharmaceutical R&D.
  • Ret-Canon: Until the release of The Umbrella Chronicles, the only time it was ever stated that Umbrella had a computer system called Red Queen was in the Anderson film adaptation.
  • Revolvers Are Just Better: Revolvers are usually among the strongest weapons in the games.
  • Roar Before Beating: The larger monsters (such as zombie elephants, Gigantes, G-Virus larvae, and other loveable pets) do this. Hunters also shriek before doing their one-hit kill move.
  • Ruder and Cruder:
  • Rule of Sexy: Most of the characters' outfits, particularly their alternate ones.
  • Ruleof Three: In almost every game you'll encounter a locked door or other obstacle that requires finding three keys to advance at least once.
  • Running Gag: Valve handles. For whatever reason, Capcom loves to have the player find and use one in every game (twice in Outbreak File #2). It's even mocked in the live-action movies: you can see a valve handle thrown across the frame by an explosion in the trailer for Resident Evil: Afterlife.
  • Save-Game Limits / Save Token: Typewriter ribbons. Justified Trope as part of the player character's personal Apocalyptic Log. Lampshaded by Jill Valentine's verbal situation report when starting or restoring a game. A sitrep that ends with "I'm still...alive..." in a wondering tone complete with dramatic echo.
  • Say My Name: Pretty much all of the series. "LEON! HELP!" "ADA!" "BIRKIN!" "ALEXIA!" "JILL!" "BARRY!" "CLAIRE!" "SHEVA!" "CHRIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSS!" "WESKER!" And so on.
  • Scenery Gorn: A given, since it's survival horror.
  • Self-Destruct Mechanism: Just about every Umbrella laboratory or other important location of biohazard research is subjected to this trope, with the final final boss fight occurring while the detonation countdown is in effect.
  • Sequel Non-Entity: A famous abuser in the past. The protagonists' partner characters rarely ever got any closure aside from brief cameos in later installments and confirmation from Capcom that they had survived the events of their games. Rebecca was one of the most famous instances, with her next appearance being a prequel which similarly discarded its resident partner Billy Coen, until she finally returned to canon in Vendetta. Gun Survivor characters have never gotten any resolution, and the Outbreak games have only received nods as of Resident Evil 7: biohazard.
  • Sequel Number Snarl: Code: Veronica and Revelations are considered main titles in the series, while Zero is a prequel. As a result, there's more games in the main series than the numbered sequels would imply.
  • Shaped Like Itself: The monsters are officially called "Bio-Organic Weapons" by Umbrella. Bio and Organic largely mean the same thing.
  • Shotguns Are Just Better: In each game, the shotgun is a highly valued weapon because of its high power and spread, which makes it good for both crowd control with the omnipresent zombies, and for knocking down and killing things like Hunters and Lickers.
  • Short-Range Shotgun: Played straight, but nearly every enemy is a Personal Space Invader, so you'll hardly ever notice it.
  • Sigil Spam: The Umbrella Corporation's logo is everywhere.
  • Sliding Scale of Undead Regeneration: Zombies get type one, rot and don't heal. More advanced creatures get type 3, no healing, no rotting. G-virus creatures get type 4; no rotting; Healing Factor.
  • The Social Darwinist: After 15 years of Card Carrying Villainy, they finally throw this in as Wesker's angle with Uroboros in Resident Evil 5.
  • Solve the Soup Cans: If the Resident Evil series featured the original "soup cans" puzzle from The 7th Guest, it still wouldn't nearly be the most out-of-place puzzle in the series. The usual justification, if any, is that the people who designed these places were insane. Toned down somewhat from RE4 onward as part of the Genre Shift.
    • To give you an idea of how crazy the drinking water is in Raccoon, the RPD's weapons storage is easier to get into than the sewers (kinda-sorta-justified in that the sewers also serve as an access point to Umbrella's laboratory).
  • Songs in the Key of Lock: Moonlight Sonata.
    • The clock tower music box.
  • Spiritual Successor: To the Japan-only Capcom RPG Sweet Home (1989), one of the very first Survival Horror games.
    • Dead Rising was originally an attempt to make a Resident Evil style game that used the full capabilities of the then-new seventh generation consoles, particularly for large environments with hordes of zombies.
  • Sprite/Polygon Mix: The original trilogy, plus REmake and RE0, features 3D superimposed on prerendered backdrops.
  • Stripperiffic: Most of the female characters' alternate outfits.
    • The male characters get in on this action: in Outbreak File #2, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 6, and Revelations, you can unlock alternate outfits for various characters that are pretty suggestive. Chris seems to get the most of this action.
  • Stupid Evil: Let’s face the facts here: The Umbrella Corporation’s various mutagenic pathogens have a lot of potential for various medical breakthroughs should they water down or outright remove the more nastier side effects, and in doing so would 1. gather them more riches than they could have ever hoped for, even in comparison to selling bioweapons and 2. make Spencer’s dream of making a world of genetic supermen true, likely singing praises to him for helping them get to such a way anyway. It’s a shame that Spencer and his researchers along with his partners either spend their time backstabbing and murdering each other, using it to garner power for themselves, or going Ax-Crazy and turning into an Omnicidal Maniac.
  • Sunglasses at Night: Wesker always wears sunglasses, even during night missions. Not that this impairs his ability to shoot a zombie dog out of midair with a single bullet. At range. In the middle of the night. Later, he also uses them to hide the effects of his bio-enhancements, which turn his eyes a reddish-golden color.
  • Super-Soldier: The various Tyrants, Nemesis, Mr. X, the rest of the T series.
  • Surprisingly Easy Mini-Quest: Portions where you're controlling a side or sub character usually fall into this.
  • Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: After everything that has happened in the series, the ultimate downfall of Umbrella Corporation is not in the form of heroes having a climactic battle where they take down the leaders and blow up their headquarters. It happens offscreen and between games as everything that has come to light about Umbrella's activities results in corporate litigation, government regulators clamping down and their stock price crashing.
  • Survival Horror: Hugely popularized the genre. The first game in the series is actually the first game to coin the very phrase.
  • Swiss-Cheese Security: In the games that feature the Raccoon City outbreak, it's said the city was placed under a military-enforced quarantine. Apart from one cutscene in the Outbreak games, we never see said quarantine and people and helicopters regularly are able to enter and leave the city without being stopped.
  • Tank Controls: A main aspect of the series in early games. Rather than having the character moved in accordance to their position on the screen, pressing the d-pad upwards moves the player character towards his or her current direction, down moves him or her backwards, and left or right rotates the character. This was seen as a necessity due to the early games' use of fixed camera angles. RE4 alleviated this by adopting its behind the character camera, while RE5 and onward featured now standardized dual analog controls
  • Tap on the Head: In some of the games, the characters are knocked unconscious. Claire 3 times in Code Veronica
  • Tear Off Your Face: A few enemies throughout the series can do this (for example, the Novistators from 4 if they kill Leon with an acid-to-the-face attack).
  • Technically-Living Zombie: The Ganados and Majini, as well as some of the T-Virus affected monsters, but not the zombies themselves, who are explicitly described as having died.
  • Tentacle Rope: In the remake of the first game and Code: Veronica.
  • Terminator Impersonator: The Tyrant boss type, especially Mr. X, are a bio-engineered example of this trope. Some of them are deployed by the Umbrella Corporation as superpowered assassins whose job is to seek and destroy any survivors or witnesses of whatever crisis Umbrella has recently caused. The more incognito versions are often dressed in a Badass Longcoat, complete with a hat that might almost let them blend in as very, very large human. They are utterly relentless at pursuing the protagonists, who usually are forced to either run away or use heaps of precious ammunition trying to take it down temporarily.
  • Theme Initials: Ada Wong and Albert Wesker. Bit of a stretch, but the Birkins' first names are Annette and William.
    • It also seems that nearly every person involved with Los Iluminados has a last name that starts with an "S". Dr. Salvador, Osmund Saddler, Ramon Salazar, and Luis Sera. Bitores Mendez is the major exception.
  • Theme Naming: The series has had the t-virus, G-virus and C-virus (plus various sub-strains), and the A-virus is introduced in Vendetta, thus completing a full set of DNA nucleic acids.
  • There Is No Kill Like Overkill: You can be almost certain that the final boss is going to be finished off with a rocket launcher shot to the face.
  • Timed Mission: Crops up every now and again in the canon games, usually paired with the Self-Destruct Mechanism.
  • Tragic Monster: Lisa Trevor in the GameCube remake of the first game, and both Alexander Ashford and Steve Burnside in Code: Veronica. In fact, the majority of monsters the heroes fight throughout the series are tragic. Many of them were just regular people and animals living their lives, then without warning become a part of an outbreak that causes most of them to mutate into monstrosities. Hell, several others were captured as test subjects to test the mutation potential of several viral and even fungal strains.
  • Transformation Trauma: Most of the many One-Winged Angel mutations.
  • True Companions: There's a bit of Ship Tease found in some of the games, but in general this is the relationship between Chris and Jill. Jill is willing to sacrifice herself to save Chris from Wesker. While Chris is on his next mission, the moment he gets wind she might still be alive, he drops everything else to find her.
  • The Unfought: Albert Wesker is this until RE5. In the first game, he either gets apparently killed by the Tyrant's claw or by a Chimera in the lab's power room, only to come back in RE:CV. In all of the subsequent games, he is often mentioned and/or appears, implying he's the one setting up the events, but is never fought proper. Chris eventually gets back at him at the end of 5.
  • Unresolved Sexual Tension: The franchise has a tendency towards considerable Ship Tease between its partnered male and female protagonists, but nothing ever seems to be resolved between them. Barry Burton and Ethan Winters hold the honor of being the only protagonists in the entire franchise to have wives, while everyone else seems incapable of actually hooking up. The worst offenders are definitely Chris and Jill, Leon and Ada, and Jake and Sherry.
  • Unusable Enemy Equipment: Played straight in that you usually can't take guns, protective vests, etc. from dead bodies, but at least you can usually search bodies for ammo.
  • Unwilling Suspension: Ada at the end of RE4.
  • Updated Re-release: Resident Evil: Director's Cut, Resident Evil: Director's Cut: Dual Shock Version, Resident Evil 2: Dual Shock Version, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X, the GameCube remake of Resident Evil, Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Resident Evil Code: Veronica X HD, Resident Evil 4 HD, and now Resident Evil Chronicles HD Collection. For a while there, it seemed it was Capcom's goal to release every game in the series for every platform available.
  • Vague Hit Points: A recurring element in the franchise is that health is displayed by a cardiogram which is colour coded and labelled with a vague level like "fine", "danger", etc or a specific status effect (like poison), as well as changes in character animation (like limping, groaning and reduce moving speed). It adds to the tension since the player can never be quite sure how many hits they can take. The fourth through sixth games introduce a health bar, though the player’s exact HP is unknown.
  • Video Game Remake: A Gamecube remake of the original in 2002.
  • Villain Killer: Just about any main protagonist has racked up a large body count of monsters and zombies but a few stand out enough to qualify for this trope.
    • Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine are the original protagonists of the series and have taken down a large number of zombies and mutants. Jill famously killed Nemesis, a BOW created to hunt and kill members of STARS, while Albert Wesker, met his demise at the hands of Chris and Sheva in Resident Evil 5. Resident Evil: Vendetta also sees Chris kill Arms Dealer Glenn Arias. In Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, Chris kills Lucas Baker.
    • Leon Kennedy is no slouch himself. After surviving the events of Resident Evil 2, Leon Took a Level in Badass, becoming a highly skilled government agent tasked with dangerous and important missions. Leon has killed Cartel boss Javier Hidalgo, wipe out the entire Los Illuminados cult almost single-handedly and kill Derek C. Simmons, the corrupt National Security Advisor. The CGI animated movies only added to Leon's considerably high body count and he even helped Chris in the aforementioned killing of Glenn Arias.
    • "Separate Ways", Ada's playable section in 4, has her taking on an entire battleship of 400-500 soldiers and killing them all. She also slays Krauser, Wesker's Dragon. In 6, it is Ada who kills Carla Radames, the Big Bad of the game.
    • Resident Evil 7: Biohazard introduces new protagonist Ethan Winters whose search for his wife Mia brings him into conflict with the Bakers, a family of sadistic murderers. After killing most of the antagonistic Bakers, Ethan confronts and kills Eveline, the genetically-modified human responsible for corrupting the Bakers. Resident Evil Village, Ethan, courtesy of some training from the BSAA, has become a One-Man Army capable of taking on an entire village of monsters to save his daughter and ends up killing every single member of the Four Houses before putting down their leader Mother Miranda. What makes Ethan especially impressive is that he didn't start out as a cop, a soldier or government agent; he was just a regular guy with a civilian job who wanted to save his family.
  • Villainous Breakdown: Most notably Wesker at the climax of 5.
  • The Virus: Several viruses, but only the T and G viruses and Las Plagas are The Virus in the trope sense.
  • Virus and Cure Names:
    • The T-Virus and its vaccine Daylight because in the daylight, you don't need an umbrella.
    • The G-Virus and its cure DEVIL.
    • The Las Plaga virus and the Las Plaga Removal Lazer.
  • Was Once a Man: Most of the monsters you kill were humans subjected to viruses.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: In Resident Evil 5, some of Wesker's Motive Rants indicate that Wesker seems to genuinely intend to save the world. His method of doing so? Releasing the Ouroboros virus into the atmosphere.
  • What Happened to Mommy?: The deceased mother of Lisa Trevor in the remake of the first Resident Evil, as well as William in RE2. This is also Sheva's motivation for joining the BSAA in 5.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?:
    • Rebecca Chambers was gone for a very long time after the first game, despite having canonically survived the events (and also despite managing to be the main character in RE0). She appeared as a playable character in the non-canon Mercenaries 3D game in 2011, but it took until the Biohazard: The Stage play in 2015 for her to return to the main storyline, and then in 2017 in the Vendetta CGI film to finally make a proper appearance in the franchise.
    • Same goes for Carlos, Billy, and Sheva. Barry shows up briefly at the end of RE3 and took 15+ years to appear again in Revelations 2. Funnily enough, thanks to D.I.J.'s diary, we do know what happened to the actual mouse from Code Veronica.
    • Interestingly, the only peripheral character that actually had any development in a subsequent game is Ada, who you're sort of supposed to think died at the end of RE2. Oh, and Sherry Birkin, who's a playable character in RE6.
    • The franchise has many instances of Sequel Hook where a Greater-Scope Villain lurks or a side villain escapes scot-free. None of these instances have ever been followed up on. These include:
    • What happened to the pirate merchant guy?
  • Where the Hell Is Springfield?:
    • Raccoon City is stated as being in the Midwest, but the presence of high mountains makes this very unlikely. Fanon places the city in either Colorado or Pennsylvania, the only mountainous states that can be described as being remotely Midwestern, and the latter being where the novelizations placed it. There's also a fan theory that places the city in southern Missouri, which would make the "Arklay Mountains" part of the Ozarks.
    • The Spanish-speaking European country in RE4 is never explicitly stated, and Word of God says that this was deliberate. However, the fact that a) it's a Spanish-speaking European country, b) a satellite shot showed the Iberian Peninsula, and c) Luis claims to be from Madrid leaves very few choices as to what country it is.
      • The currency used in-game is pesetas... though Spain had already switched to euros at the time the game is set in, it's believable that the cult and parasitic infection in that area did isolate it from the outside world and its currency change.
      • However, they all have Mexican/Latin American accents, which don't match up with the supposed location. LA recording studios are going to have a lot easier time finding Mexican voice actors than Spanish.
    • Kijuju, the setting of RE5, is only described as being in Africa. The biggest hint as to where in Africa it's located is the fact that Sheva is from the BSAA's West African division. Given that Kijuju has a very varied geography, including mountains, swampland, an oceanic coastline, and an active volcano, not to mention a large oil field with a refinery, one possible contender for it may be in Cameroon, one of the few countries in Africa that has all of these geographic features. Also, the currency used in-game is the Nigerian naira. That still doesn't explain why all the enemies are speaking Swahili, which is an East African language.
    • One of the locations visited in Resident Evil 6 is the Republic of Edonia, a European country that used to be part of the Eastern bloc but descended into civil war during its transition to democracy. All we see of it is snowy mountains and vaguely Soviet-era architecture, along with a castle on a hill. Other than that, we have no indication of where it is. There's also the Eastern Slav Republic, which neighbors Edonia, though again, aside from that, we have no idea where it is. We get a hint of the ESR's location in Revelations 2 when a Russian radio news station briefly mentions the ESR is close to Smolensk, which indicates the country is somewhere between Belarus and Russia.
    • An early scene in Revelations has Chris and Jessica in "The European Mountains." The Alps? The Pyrenees? Maybe even the Carpathians?
    • Revelations 2 takes place on an island called "Sejm." The only real hint at its location is it having a Russian-speaking population and formerly being part of the Soviet Union.
  • Who You Gonna Call?: STARS in RE1, then the entire RPD after STARS was disbanded in RE2. BSAA in RE5. There's also STRATCOM in Dead Aim.
  • With This Herring: You often start out with a weak weapon (unless you're Kevin in Outbreak, but he can barely find any ammo). The games at least attempt to justify this:
    • Resident Evil 0 and 1 - You are a cop caught in a situation way over your head.
    • Resident Evil 2 - You blunder into the Zombie Apocalypse without warning.
    • Resident Evil 3 - Jill's off the force and doesn't have access to the guns any more.
    • Code: Veronica - Claire starts the game in prison in a cell with NO weapons, but once let out she starts off with a knife, and Chris loses a bag of weapons into the sea.
    • Resident Evil 4 - We never see what Leon had in the police car, and it's destroyed before he can return. He's also only going to the village to ask some questions about Ashley, and with that in mind, he's actually carrying a lot more gear than he really needs.
    • Revelations - Parker and Jill are only on the Zenobia in order to track down Chris and Jessica, and they have absolutely no idea that the ship is overrun with Ooze and other B.O.Ws.
    • Resident Evil 5 - Excella is setting you up.
    • Resident Evil: Outbreak - Most of the characters were just chilling out at a bar when the outbreak got really bad. Kevin and Mark both retain their weapons, as they are a cop and a security guard. The rest have to find handguns dropped in bathroom wastebaskets, beat zombies to death with scrub brushes, or hack and slash with kitchen knives.
    • Resident Evil 6 - Different explanation for each scenario.
      • Leon and Helena are simply talking to the president when a terrorist attack releases the C-Virus.
      • Chris and Piers actually start with assault rifles, but they're suddenly overpowered by giant monsters.
      • Jake is in a group of mercenaries who've been administered the virus (to which he's immune) disguised as a physical enhancer, and he's a brawler, so he doesn't bother carrying a gun. Sherry, on the other hand, knows she's in a dangerous place and only carries a handgun, but she has a healing factor.
    • Revelations 2 - Similar to Code: Veronica, Claire gets kidnapped and starts the game inside a prison on an island with no weapons whatsoever. Averted with Barry, however, as he actually came to the island prepared (such as having a pistol, an assault rifle, and a magnum revolver).
    • Resident Evil 7 - Ethan's a normal guy who couldn't know the true nature of the house Mia was being held in, and as such didn't come prepared.
    • Resident Evil Village - Ethan was taken from his home suddenly and his transport gets attacked. So he is left weaponless when he stumbles upon the namesake village.
  • Worst Aid: The franchise is not exactly realistic when it comes to handling injuries and first aid, in spite of much of the cast being trained first responders that should know better.
  • Wrestler in All of Us: From the fourth game onward, characters tend to pull off wrestling moves as finishers, most prominently Leon's ability to suplex zombies to death.
  • Your Head A-Splode: That's if you make a well-placed headshot on a zombie/Ganado/Majini.
  • Zombie Apocalypse: A very rare Averted Trope in a Zombie story in the games. Zombies are an ongoing issue the world deals with, that destroy the occasional area, but the world has not ended. The films fulfill this trope by the third movie.
  • Zombie Gait: A majority of the standard zombies in each entry walk very slowly, and T-virus victims even move with arms in pointed in front. This trope gets subverted in advanced mutations that make zombies move faster than usual.

 
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A Perfectly Normal RE Gunfight

Chris and Glenn have a close range gun fight.

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A Perfectly Normal RE Gunfight

Chris and Glenn have a close range gun fight.

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A Perfectly Nor...

Why's It Doing ...

Keeping Score

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Waking Up In Th...

Chris and Leon'...

The Castle Enco...