The Story So Far - Resident Evil 4

On 24th July, 1998, the S.T.A.R.S. Alpha team was sent out to figure out what happened to the Bravo team. After landing, S.T.A.R.S. member Joseph Frost is killed by a mutant dog, prompting pilot Brad Vickers to flee in the helicopter.

The team then dashes to a mansion spotted in the woods, and depending on which character the player chooses to control, either Jill or Chris spends the night exploring the estate. They discover the fates of other S.T.A.R.S. members and a few dangerous secrets about the nature of the mansion – the Spencer Mansion, as it turns out.

Enrico Marini, the Vice-Captain of the Special Tactics And Rescue Service — or ST.A.R.S — tips off the player character that someone on Alpha team is a traitor, and the player eventually uncovers that the Umbrella Corporation was behind the illegal experiments resulting in the horrors roaming the mansion’s halls. So the player character eventually makes their way down to an underground lab, where they discover Albert Wesker — Captain of S.T.A.R.S. — is the traitor. Wesker then infects himself with a mutant strain of the t-Virus to give him a survival edge before introducing the remaining S.T.A.R.S. members to the T-002 Tyrant, an experimental hencanced human bio-weapon.

His monstrous creation fatally wounds Wesker, and the team defeats the Tyrant with the help of Brad, who heroically returns with a rocket launcher and the escape helicopter just in time. Thanks to the t-Virus running through his body, Wesker survives. As he tries to escape the self-destructing facility, Wesker is confronted by Lisa Trevor, who has been heavily mutated through decades of G-Virus testing. He manages to defeat Lisa and eventually joins Umbrella’s rival organisation as planned after betraying his team and revealing himself as a double agent. 

The game also features multiple endings, but the best ending sees the player character saving their partner as well as a team member found dying in the lab. And the bad ending shows Jill and Chris escaping and leaving Barry to die as the mansion explodes, with the Tyrant surviving.

While Jill tries to survive the outbreak, rookie R.P.D. officer Leon S. Kennedy and Chris Redfield’s younger sister Claire arrive in Raccoon City. After meeting and pairing up to survive a zombie attack, the two are almost immediately separated by a car accident. Leon and Claire agree to meet up at the police department. Unfortunately, the building is also infested by zombies. Claire runs into Sherry Birkin, a young girl being pursued by a monstrous weirdo who turns out to be her dad and Umbrella’s leading scientist, William Burkin.

It turns out ol' Billy B had planned to betray his bosses and sell his new G-Virus but was gunned down by Umbrella. Before dying, William managed to infect himself with the G-Virus, allowing the virus to spread into Raccoon City through the water system. Meanwhile, Leon runs into Ada Wong, an FBI agent looking to obtain the G-Virus to prove Umbrella’s corruption. In the sewers, Leon and Ada run into William’s wife, Annette, who is not a big fan of law enforcement. Leon and Ada chase her to a secret Umbrella underground facility called NEST to pursue the G-Virus.

Claire also arrives at NEST searching for a vaccine for a now-infected Sherry. Leon manages to obtain the G-Virus sample but runs into Willam, who, in his freakish form, mortally wounds his wife. Annette tells Leon that Ada is a mercenary looking to sell the G-Virus to the highest bidder. Ada demands the G-Virus, but Annette manages to shoot Ada before Leon can hand it over, and she then falls to her death, dropping the G-Virus sample. Claire then finds the vaccine and gives it to Annette to cure her daughter while she tangles with William, and Sherry is cured, but Annette eventually dies of her injuries. The facility is set to self-destruct, and Claire and Sherry board a train to escape with Leon. With NEST destroyed, the crew finally manage to escape the nightmare and, on the outskirts of Racoon City, vow to continue their fight against Umbrella.

In September 1998, Raccoon City becomes overrun with zombies after the t-Virus contaminates its water supply, infecting much of its population. Umbrella sees the outbreak as an opportunity to test its new bioweapons, and sends down the experimental B.O.W., Nemesis-T Type, with a mission to kill off surviving S.T.A.R.S. members. Elsewhere in Racoon City, Jill Valentine is infected with the t-Virus. Fortunately, Carlos Oliveria, a mercenary hired by Umbrella, is on the scene to cure Jill and help find the vaccine. At this point, our heroes find out the unfortunate news that the U.S. Government plans to wipe out Raccoon City with a missile strike, hoping to eradicate the infection.

Carlos and Jill head to another underground lab, this time creatively called Nest 2, but Nemesis is still alive and in pursuit. With the vaccine sample in hand, the two take out the abomination once and for all and escape the city before the missile strike. But it turns out that Nicholai, Carlos’s former-colleague-turned-secret-operative, is waiting and manages to destroy the vaccine vial. Jill and Carlos take down Nicholai, leaving him for dead and escape just before the missile arrives to floor Raccoon City for good.

Six years later, after the events of the last game, Umbrella is long gone due to a combination of government oversight and subsequent stock value crash. 

Leon Kennedy, once an R.P.D. rookie, is now a government agent sent to rescue the president's daughter, Ashley, from her kidnappers in rural Spain. While in Spain, he encounters some shady people who may have more to them than meets the eye…