What Is The Storyline In The 'Resident Evil' Games?

In the first Resident Evil game, the story begins with a series of murders which occur in the Arklay Mountains region, which is situated north of the fictional Raccoon City, in 1998. A rescue team by the name of S.T.A.R.S (Special Tactics and Rescue Squad), are commissioned to investigate the murders. The Bravo Team, the initial team to be sent to the area, fail to report back, and the Alpha Team go on a rescue mission to find them.

The Alpha Team end up in a mansion, where they encounter zombies and other creatures, which leads them to discover the remains of most of their comrades throughout the house. Eventually, it is discovered that the mansion actually contains a laboratory which is owned by the international Umbrella Corporation, and that most of the creatures that the team have encountered are the result of experiments with a genetically modified virus known as the T-Virus.

Resident Evil 0 was set before Resident Evil 1, and explored the events that took place before the mansion incident. It showed the cause of the viral outbreak and what happened to the Bravo Team.

Resident Evil 2 took place two months after the events of the original game. S.T.A.R.S were unable to convict Umbrella for what they had done, resulting in Umbrella continuing their experiments in an underground facility. The company attempted to steal a scientist's (William Birkin) work, but failed, resulting in the T-Virus being spread by rats and Birkin injecting himself with his work (the new G-virus) to prevent Umbrella from stealing it.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis was set around the same period as Resident Evil 2, and saw the arrival of a new monster (Nemesis), sent by Umbrella to kill all S.T.A.R.S members. Resident Evil 3 saw the end of Raccoon City, which was completely destroyed by the Military to prevent the spreading of the virus. Raccoon City was wiped off the map.

Resident Evil Code: Veronica depicts the previous games' survivors attempts to expose the Umbrella corporation and sabotage their operations.

Resident Evil 4 was set six years after the events of the previous games, and began with the dissolution of Umbrella Corporation. The focus was set on a religious group known as as Los Illuminados which use a breed of ancient parasites called Las Plagas to turn victims into mind-controlled psychopaths known as 'Ganados'.