Resident Evil is one of the most iconic and well-loved horror franchises in video game history. Since its first game released in 1996, Resident Evil had been terrifying fans across the globe. With novels, action figures, movies and a recent Netflix adaptation, Resident Evil shows no signs of slowing down.
Key to the franchise's success are standout characters like Chris, Leon and Jill, the head-scratching puzzles, and the settings. The apocalypse began in a lab near the infamous Raccoon City which led to a virus turning the population into zombies and monsters. The corporation behind almost every evil and sinister move in the Resident Evil series is of course the notorious Umbrella Corporation.
6 Stairway Of The Sun
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Gardening is a nice hobby to have — cultivating plants, maybe a few strawberries, or even a sunflower or two. The name "stairway of the sun" is given to a flower native to West Africa, which funnily enough is a relative of the humble sunflower. This flower was the beginning of it all, responsible for many disasters, tragedies and potentially world-ending events.
According to Resident Evil lore, Stone Age tribes of the region believed one of their members became a God after eating the flower and not dying from its toxic effects, very similar to Marvel's Black Panther story. Umbrella started research on the flower in 1960, discovering that its genome contained Progenitor. Oswell Spencer set the wheels in motion for mass culturing of the plant in the laboratories leading to their use in bioweapon technology.
5 T-Virus Project
Umbrella eventually gave the name T-Virus to their strains of mutant genome extracted from the flowers found in West Africa. They put time and money into the project to eliminate the need for a standard army set-up. Instead, Umbrella planned on selling their work as bioweapons to fund their Wesker project.
In 1978, research breakthroughs led to the virus changing from extremely contagious to one that would change the host body in multiple ways. Superhuman strength would be bestowed on the infected person. However, severe brain damage and heightened aggression, along with a cannibalistic appetite, were the extreme side effects.
4 Umbrella Europe
Umbrella Europe was the title given to the six laboratories spread over different European nations that were all owned by Umbrella. The actual headquarters for Umbrella Pharmaceuticals was also situated in Europe, known for its in-house competition with Umbrella USA.
By far the most significant achievement of the European branch of Umbrella was its Nemesis Project. Set up as a direct response to William Birkin's revolutionary work with bioweapons, the Nemesis Project was designed to create a bioweapon similar to the Tyrants. The main difference between Nemesis and the Tyrants was the intention for Nemesis to retain some state of intelligence to prevent the mindless killing of civilians.
3 NEST
A gigantic underground laboratory built into the mountains of Arklay, NEST's primary function was to research the G-Virus and was overseen by Dr William Birkin. Famous as one of the antagonists in Resident Evil 2, Birkin ended up becoming a horrific-looking hulking tyrant with a giant eyeball on his shoulder.
The G-Virus came once again from research on the progenitor virus and was designed to be more effective than the T-Virus. The G-Virus effects on the body change the host's appearance to more monstrous inhuman forms than the T-Virus. This was displayed effectively on Birkin himself when he was infected with a strain of it. Later, Birkin would later destroy NEST by activating the self-destruct mechanism.
2 The Wesker Project
Albert Wesker was the leader of the STARS team sent to the mansion in the first Resident Evil. A cold and calculated man who wore sleek leather clothing and sunglasses, Wesker was a man with many plates spinning at all times, making deals with various shady organizations for his gain.
Wesker was created during an experiment led by Oswell Spencer known as Project W, or the Wesker plan. Utilizing research on the progenitor virus, the goal was to create an army of super humans, who all were given the shared name of Wesker. This project was so secretive that Umbrella corporation did not even keep the plans in the archives.
1 Raccoon City Incident
The most famous incident in the entire Resident Evil series has to be the Raccoon City Incident. This event occured in the late 90s after the T-Virus was released in the lab. Raccoon City became an apocalyptic hellish place. Zombies, monsters and mercenaries out for personal gain were only some of the atrocities that took place.
Featured in four titles in the main series from Resident Evil Zero to Resident Evil 3, the Raccoon City disaster was pure chaos and horror for all parties involved. Wesker and the STARS team were sent to investigate reports at the Spencer Mansion. Little did the rest of the team know that Albert Wesker had sinister plans of his own that would affect the entire world.