Summary
As anyone who has played the series will know very well, the stories of theResident Evilgames are as wacky and bizarre as they come, being packed full of twists and turns to keep players engaged throughout an entire playthrough. However, these games have also become renowned for their secrets and Easter eggs, many of which reference important future events in the respective game, or even the series as a whole, giving players a taste of what’s to come.
Though some of these are very on the nose and obvious, Capcom also isn’t shy about getting a little more cryptic with their foreshadowing, dropping subtle and cryptic nods for players to look out for whilst trying to survive the nightmarish adventure. These hints can be difficult to pick up at first, but they prove why theResident Evilgames are so worth replaying, since there’s always something new to discover with each new playthrough.
Spoiler Warning: due to the nature of the list entries exploring foreshadowing, twists, and reveals, there will be major narrative spoilers for theResident Evilvideo games discussed below.
The Spencer Mansion, which is the iconic setting of the first game, is a building full of terrifying horrors that will leave a lasting impression on anyone who manages to escape the unnerving building in one piece. One monster who is unusually sympathetic, though, is Lisa Trevor, a young girl who was separated from her family by Wesker and used as a test subject, transforming her into a mindless mutant who is forced to wander around the dark underground chasms by her lonesome.
Lisa isn’t encountered until a little later in the first game, but if players try to get through the underground gate as soon as they possibly can, they will hear the girl’s screams and chains shackling on the floor, despite her not being physically shown on screen. The intensity of the cry makes it clear that this was no ordinary zombie, but nobody could have guessed just what was truly lurking beneath the Spencer Mansion.
Project Wesker is briefly described by Spencer in the main story ofResident Evil 5, but players can learn a little more about Wesker, and more specifically, his sibling, in a special memoir featured in theLost in Nightmares DLC. Written by Spencer himself, who was overlooking the project, he talks about how pleased he is with Alex’s progress, claiming that she is far superior to all the other kids and can adapt to other people’s behavior just by watching them.
Alex Wesker hadn’t even been mentioned up until this point in the series, and while the note itself got fans interested, it was secretly foreshadowing Alex showing up as the main villain in theRevelations 2spin-off game. The Project W report is easy to miss, but it reveals the true identity of the villain who Claire and Moira would eventually come up against later in the timeline.
Because Krauser was first introduced to the series with theniche Darkside Chronicles spin-off game, more specifically the Operation Javier mission, it meant not everyone knew who he was when he showed up to confront Leon in the originalResident Evil 4. However, the remake mixes things up a bit by including Krauser in the intro cutscene in the background of Leon’s narration, though he’s only given a very brief amount of screen time, and is never specifically mentioned by name.
All that’s shown is Leon going hand-to-hand with the soldier, who seems to be holding off his attacks without breaking a sweat, foreshadowing their epic knife duel later in the main story. Considering the rest of the introduction is re-used scenes from the second and third remakes, purposefully including a brief sequence of Krauser was a clever way to reference his inclusion in the game to new players without outright spelling it out.
After being rescued by Chris and placed in a seemingly safe and secure location, Ethan and Mia were free to live a peaceful life with their daughter Rose, though it’s not long before Mia starts acting a little strange. In the intro toResident Evil Village, Mia can be seen reading Rose a scary tale about local myths and monsters. Ethan picks up on this, confessing that it’s a little weird why she would be reading it considering Rose’s age.
After Ethan reminds Mia why they were re-located, as a way to give Rose a peaceful life, his “wife” immediately snaps back, claiming that her memory is “just fine.” In truth, these small and subtle indications were hints that this was actually an impostor, who ends up being none other than Mother Miranda, who stole Rose to try and revive her own daughter as part of a sick and twisted ritual.
Wesker doesn’t make a physical appearance inthe remake ofResident Evil 4until the very end of the story, when he shows up to make one final announcement before the credits roll. As Ada makes her getaway from the island moments before it’s blown to smithereens, she receives a surprise call from Wesker, who talks about his grand plan to usher the world into a “new age,” which he claims will impact billions of lives.
It’s not made clear what exactly Wesker is talking about here in the scene itself, but longtime fans will know that the iconic villain is detailing his grand scheme of spreading Uroboros across the planet, which is explored inResident Evil 5. This scene was not featured in the original game, so it’s a clever way to get newcomers to the series hyped to see what on Earth Wesker could be planning for the near future.
At the beginning ofCode Veronica, players are led to believe the mysterious and utterly terrifying Rockfort Island is watched over by the Ashford Twins, especially after seeing them both on thecreepy videotape. However, some of the early files make it clear that something isn’t quite right with this mysterious duo, with a prime example being the Secretary’s Note. In this intriguing file, a man working on the island talks about how he would often see the beautiful Alexia Ashford standing in the window of the palace from a distance, but whenever he asked Alfred about her, “it only enraged him.”
In fact, he even goes as far as to claim his own life was at risk from asking so many questions about Alexia. This odd and bizarre note hints that Alexia is actually in cryo sleep by the time the game starts. What’s actually been going on in the palace is Alfred will dress up as Alexia every now and again and even mimic her voice due to his unhealthy obsession with his sibling, which players may have been able to pick up on before it’s officially revealed if they read the secretary’s personal writings.
Not long intoResident Evil 5, it’s made clear that Jill Valentine, a fan-favorite protagonist from the first and third games, was no longer around to support Chris on his missions. It turns out Jill had sacrificed her own life to take out Wesker once and for all while on a dangerous mission with Chris not long before. Despite that, Chris would find himself thinking about Jill constantly near the beginning of his new adventure in Kijuju, though it initially seemed to be nothing more than a hang-up he simply couldn’t get over more than anything else.
However, later in the game, it turns out Jill is not only alive, but was also playing the part of Wesker’s masked assassin throughout the story, who had been a constant thorn in Chris and Sheva’s side. While this was a pretty shocking reveal, it was hinted at in the first hour of the game’s story through Chris, encouraging players to wonder whetherthe legendary Valentinereally was out there still alive and kicking or not.
Unlike most protagonists in the series, Ethan isn’t a super-cop or highly skilled secret agent. Instead, he’s just an average guy who finds himself trapped inside a creepy estate resided over by a violent family of psychos, but the one unique ability he does have up his sleeve is regeneration. Somehow, without it ever being explained, Ethan is able to restore his hands and legs with little more than a sprinkle of First Aid medicine.
Considering even a single spray from aFirst Aid Spraycan get someone back up to speed in theResident Eviluniverse, it wasn’t farfetched to believe this was simply Capcom going to the extreme with this idea of healing items curing any kind of injury, no matter how severe. In reality, these gory moments were teasing the fact that Ethan’s body is simply running off the Mold parasite after he was killed inResident Evil 7by Jack, which isn’t revealed until the end of the eighth mainline game.
