Thanks to Capcom's Resident Evil 4, fans got reintroduced to a more action-packed survival-horror experience. Unlike previous Resident Evil entries, RE4 and its sequel Resident Evil 5 allowed players to become more tactical and skillful with their zombie shootouts and takedowns. Moreover, these entries explored more interesting facets of the zombie viruses that plagued the series.
After all, RE4 had Leon Kennedy explore a remote Spanish village with seemingly-"conscious" zombies. Meanwhile, RE5 takes Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar to Africa to investigate a mysterious virus. However, despite the different settings, it seems the two games have more common elements that tie them together.
10 New Enemies, New Missions
Umbrella Corporation's demise didn't mark the end of bioterrorism in the Resident Evil series. In fact, the power vacuum Umbrella Corporation left had led to the creation of both anti-bioterrorism groups and other malicious entities. For instance, Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield co-founded the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. Unfortunately, their team often found themselves at odds with the Federal Bioterrorism Commission, although they shared the same goal.
Opposite the BSAA and the FBC are various groups that aim to use BOWs to rise in power. These include the enigmatic company Tricell, as well as terrorist organization Il Veltro.
9 Terragrigia Panic
Unfortunately, the existence of bioterrorism groups meant the risk of bioterrorism attacks. One such attack happened in 2004, in the aquapolis or floating city of Terragrigia. This Mediterranean Sea-based city sank to the sea when a bioterrorist attack either killed the citizens or left the city infested with BOWs.
In this tragic event, it's revealed that Il Veltro orchestrated the incident. In retaliation, the FBC redirected the sun's heat off the Regia Solis energy matrix into the city, forcing it to sink along with Il Veltro's members, culling the terrorist threat.
8 A Tale Of Three Ships
A year after the Terragrigia Panic, BSAA members Chris and newcomer Jessica Sherawat became missing-in-action while on the hunt for evidence of the alleged resurfacing of Il Veltro. As a result, Jill Valentine and her new partner, Parker Luciani, search for the latter pair's whereabouts. Unfortunately, when Chris and Jessica reestablish communications, Jill and Parker went MIA. As Chris and Jessica search for the latter, BSAA dispatched a new team to search for Il Veltro's return.
All these events occur within Revelations, where the protagonists explore three ships and an airstrip. The BSAA soon discovers that their head, Clive O'Brian, orchestrated Il Veltro's return. However, O'Brian soon reveals that his true plan was to expose Morgan Lansdale, the FBC director, as the architect of the Terragrigia Panic and the funder of FBC. At the end of the game, the FBC got dissolved.
7 Angela's Diary
Prior to the Degeneration film, Capcom released a novella that turns out to be Angela Miller's diary. Miller, a major character in the film, serves as police officer who becomes obsessed with WilPharma Corporation, a pharmaceutical company. According to a news bulletin from anti-BOW NGO TerraSave, unethical clinical trials of WilPharma drugs had test subjects show signs of Cannibal Disease.
Throughout the novella, Angela's search brought her to Washington D.C., Harvardville, and even Chicago. Angela speculated that the WilPharma tests maybe for a project with the Pentagon. Unfortunately, Angela stopped outright investigating when her livelihood was put at risk. However, Angela does get invited to an upcoming TerraSave demonstration, leading into the film.
6 Degeneration
In Degeneration, Claire Redfield - working for TerraSave - ends up in the middle of a T-Virus outbreak in Harvardville Airport. Eventually, Claire gets reunited with Leon Kennedy from RE2, now the designated government agent on the case. Claire speculated that WilPharma may have caused the outbreak, only for a WilPharma truck to arrive outside the airport with vaccines. When that truck explodes, Claire becomes convinced of the company's "benevolence." However, a tour of their facility reveals their possession of various viruses as well as vaccines.
In the film's climax, Angela Miller's brother Curtis becomes estranged and motivated to destroy WilPharma. Unfortunately, Curtis becomes infected and mutates into a giant monster. Following Curtis's demise, Claire, Leon, and Angela realize the airport incident was a ruse by a WilPharma executive to sell the viruses to the highest bidder. At the end of the film, WilPharma is shut down - only to be bought by Tricell.
5 Losing Jill
Players of RE5 might be surprised at the reveal of Jill's death in the game. Thanks to RE5's "Lost in Nightmares" DLC, players get in a flashback that details Chris and Jill's mission to find Oswell Spencer, the previous head of Umbrella Corporation. This mission will turn out to be Jill's last, as well.
This mission, taking place in 2006, took the pair to an estate in the hopes of arresting Spencer and getting a lead on Wesker's location. However, what surprised the pair are dead bodies of security officers and puzzles that vaguely resemble those of the Spencer Mansion in RE1. Despite getting a confrontation with Wesker, Chris and Jill proved inferior to Wesker's superhuman abilities. And when Spencer was about to kill Chris, Jill lunges at Wesker and sent the two of them over a cliff.
4 P30 Project
Fans might see that Jill's reveal as an ally of Wesker as a surprise in their first run of RE5. However, it seems there's more backstory to Jill's allegiance with Wesker than simply having a femme fatale counterpart to Sheva. For instance, Jill didn't die in the cliff fall. In fact, Wesker kept her body in cryostasis in a Tricell outpost near Kijuju, Africa, for his Uroboros experiments.
Wesker soon discovered that Jill's prior vaccination to the T-Virus inserted a dormant mutant strain in her system. In turn, Jill produced more potent antibodies resistant to the lethal Uroboros strain Wesker was developing. Thanks to Jill's natural defenses, Wesker made Jill a test subject for his P30 Project. Unlike Tricell's Plaga Project (in RE4), Wesker designed the P30 to develop super-soldiers.
Thanks to a special device, Wesker's P30 Project has transformed Jill into a killing machine: imbued with superhuman abilities with a mind susceptible to control.
3 Experience Kijuju
Capcom released alternate-reality material as part of the marketing campaign leading to RE5's release. In Expeirence Kijuju, foreign employee Adam wrote about his experiences as a miner in the country. Unfortunately, his jolly topics soon explore odd things he found in the Kijuju Autonomous Zone: body parts, mass gatherings, fights, and even executions. Throughout the blog, Adam ended up hiding inside his room for his own safety.
At the end of the blog, Adam wrote he heard shooting from a man and a woman bearing the "BSAA" logo. In turn, Adam realized the violent events he's experienced may have been related to bioterrorism. As it turns out, the man and the woman Adam described were Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar.
2 BSAA Remote Desktop
Aside from Experience Kijuju, accounts of information analyst "Ryan" can be read in the alternate-reality BSAA Remote Desktop. The site had more technical reports about violent incidents in the Kijuju Autonomous Zone. As part of the BSAA's West Africa Branch, "Ryan" was part of the team looking for Ricardo Irving, a black market dealer of BOWs.
Unfortunately, "Ryan" ended his participation in his untimely death, courtesy of an unknown assailant. This assailant will turn out to be BSAA's Suzuki M., who in turn served as a Tricell spy. Interestingly, Suzuki's original plan involved partnering with Chris in the Kijuju mission. Unfortunately, her status as a new member had her superiors deny her request.
1 Evolving Mankind
Albert Wesker's goals of "reviving" Umbrella in his own image culminated in his Uroboros Project. Wesker gained inspiration from a conversation with Oswell Spencer, who revealed Umbrella Corporation's secret eugenics goal of creating superior humans. In turn, Wesker's Uroboros Virus would have to kill humans except those with special genetic characteristics.
Using Jill and other people's bodies, Wesker developed his Uroboros Project that Wesker geared towards "evolving" mankind. The original Uroboros Virus turned out to be extremely lethal, with only Jill's antibodies capable of giving any chance of survival. However, successful Uroboros-enhanced subjects should theoretically have enhanced strength, speed, durability, and stamina.