This list contains spoilers!
Summary
TheResident Evilseries has featured some extremely memorable and pretty bizarre stories in its time, with many of them being packed full of unexpected twists and turns. As fans of the series will be well aware, theResident Evilgames never shy away from getting pretty weird when it comes to the stories, and while this can make them a little outlandish at times, it has also resulted in more than a few unexpected turns that made everyone do a double take upon seeing them for the first time.
From sudden betrayals to fake deaths, all the way to long-lost siblings popping up out of the blue, there have been plenty ofResident Eviltwists that help to make their respective games more memorable and exciting to venture through. Therefore, it’s time to match these sudden story swerves against one another to see what makes each one so impactful, and which stands as the best of them all.
Resident Evil Revelationsintroduces a plethora of new characters to the cast. One of the most important of which is Clive O’Brian, the director of the BSAA. Despite much of the game presenting him as a caring father figure to Chris, Jill, and the other agents, it is suddenly later down the line revealed that the Veltro mission, which Jill and Parker had been sent on, was all made up by him.
Despite the objective being a hoax, Jill and her new partner still barely made it off theQueen Zenobia shipin one piece, since the whole place was crawling with Ooze monsters. Though it’s explained O’Brian only did this to eventually lure out Lansdale, it was still a shocking moment to see how willing the director was to throw away the lives of his comrades.
Though it was clear Capcom would be messing around withResident Evil 4’s story a little for the remake, most fans assumed the characters and their motivations would remain largely the same. Luis, however, received a surprising amount of new development, with one unexpected reveal coming around the halfway point of the story where he admits his past affiliation with Umbrella.
Needless to say, this took not only Leon by surprise but also new and longtime fans alike, as everyone who has played the series is aware of just how much chaos this group has caused in the past. However, it also feeds into Luis' goal of wanting to make up for his past mistakes, especially since it’s also revealed he was part of the branch that worked onthe Nemesis.
For the first few hours ofRevelations 2, players are given no indication at all as to who the main villain of the game is. Though there is someone who constantly talks toClaire and Moirathrough radios to mock them, they never show their face. Later in the game, once Barry joins the story, he starts to suspect Albert Wesker himself might be the one pulling the strings after Natalya mentions the surname.
However, to everyone’s surprise, this figure would turn out to be Alex Wesker; the only other known subject of the Wesker project. Though she and Albert are technically siblings, they don’t exactly have a budding rivalry. Instead, Alex looks up to Albert, which is why she goes to such extreme lengths to avenge him throughout the story ofRevelations 2.
It’s well established early in the story ofCode Veronicathat Alfred, the maniacal head of the Ashford family and leader of the grand Palace, has a twin sister. Players can find acreepy videotapethat shows Alfred and Alexia tearing the wings off a dragonfly together, so it’s a mystery why she no longer seems to be around. Claire eventually uncovers that Alfred’s obsession with Alexia caused him to dress as her and even copy her voice, which was already a shocking revelation.
That’s not all there is to Alexia’s story though, as it’s then revealed Alexia has been in a stasis pod for many years within an Antarctic Umbrella facility. While many had presumed Alexia simply died long ago, which would explain Alfred’s obsession, the fact she has simply been lying dormant and enhancing her powers took everyone by surprise and resulted in a chaotic final battle.
Though this twist does admittedly show up very early in the story ofVillage, it’s such a sudden turn that it still stands as one of the most talked about events in the series' history. Just as Ethan and Mia seem to be settling down and getting things together after the Baker estate incident, Chris Redfield, one of the most beloved characters in the franchise, barges in, shoots Mia dead and kidnaps the couple’s daughter, Rosemary.
It really did seem as though Capcom was willing to make Chris a straight-up villain for this game, especially with this harrowing depiction of the character who had seemingly completely lost his mind. While the reveal later on in the game that this version of Mia was Mother Miranda was also a great reveal, the speed and intensity of this twist make it much more impactful.
Despite it being shown that Jill sacrificed herself to kill Wesker prior to the beginning ofResident Evil 5, Chris is still adamant that she’s somehow alive, even with everyone doubting him. During his and Sheva’s mission to apprehend a black market dealer known as Irving, a mysterious masked figure continues to stop the pair in their tracks. It was easy to assume this was just one of Wesker’s latest followers, similar to Excella, who would carry out the mastermind’s every whim.
Once the hood came off though, the skilled assassin turned out to be none other than Jill Valentine,who had been brainwashed by Weskerafter the two survived the fall. Seeing Jill again is already a massive surprise, but revealing she had been a minor antagonist for this long made this moment even more memorable.
Wesker wasn’t always the major villain of the franchise. In fact, he started as a good guy in the first game, being the captain of the S.T.A.R.S team who were sent into the Spencer Mansion, where they came up against all kinds of nightmarish horrors. For a good portion of the game, Barry is the one who players are made to feel suspicious about, with even Wesker himself supporting the idea.
Therefore it’s even more shocking when players discover Wesker is not only an Umbrella agent but also orchestrated the entire incident as a test. As if that wasn’t enough, moments after, Wesker is stabbed by a Tyrant, and then injected with an Experimental Virus, turning him into thesuperhuman formmost fans are familiar with.
While Ethan’s journey through theBaker’s estatewas a dangerous one to put it lightly, it was somewhat believable that he would be able to make it out by the end, since he is the protagonist after all. ThroughoutResident Evil Village, though, weird things start happening to Ethan’s body. His limbs reattach like their Lego pieces, and he is able to just suck up attacks that would outright kill most regular humans.
Just as Ethan is about to reunite with his daughter, he falls into a hallucinatory state where he is told he is simply nothing more than a product of the Mold; the infection that crept into the Bakers in the last game, which is beginning to crumble away. Revealing that the main character has been dead since the previous game was a risky move from Capcom, but one that ultimately led to the most emotional finale in the franchise.
