Story Summary for Resident Evil 2 (Spoilers)
Resident Evil 2 is part of a trilogy of games that details the origins of the series’ story and lore. Taking place shortly after the first game –which is really a sort of prologue– it marks the beginning of things getting seriously out of control in Raccoon City. If you’re looking for a story summary of Resident Evil 2 and its remake, you’ve arrived at the right place because we’re going to break everything down.
Where Umbrella’s dubious bio-weapon experiments were before isolated to a mansion in the woods, Resident Evil 2 picks up the action as the T and G-virus outbreak is exploding to a full-scale disaster.
Here, we’re going to dive into a story summary of Resident Evil 2 and the fate of its main characters, so expect spoilers. Go play the game first if you haven’t already.
We recommend reading our Resident Evil 2 review if you’re just interested in impressions of the game. Alright, let’s dive into the story summary.
Resident Evil 2 Story Summary – Origins & Police Station
As we mentioned before, the first three Resident Evil games are closely linked to each other.
As we pick up the action in Resident Evil 2’s opening scenes, Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie police officer heading into town for his first day on the job meets Claire Redfield, the sister of S.T.A.R.S member Chris Redfield from Resident Evil.
Pursued by zombies as they head to the city’s police station, the two are separated after a car accident. And so begins the tale of two separate stories within the same game, which players can experience from both Leon and Claire’s side.
Leon’s primary concern is searching for survivors in the police station as he seeks an explanation for what is happening.
He does have a brief encounter with one surviving officer right before he’s taken by zombies, then later stumbles across Lieutenant Marvin, who helps him secure a way out via the station’s basement floor, but ultimately he finds the station void of human life.
Meanwhile, Claire also isn’t having much luck. She doesn’t find her brother, who as it turns out has gone on vacation and isn’t in town. You’d have thought he’d let her know, right?
Both Leon and Claire do bump into each other in one of the police station’s courtyards, but they’re not able to unlock the door to be reunited.
Suddenly, a helicopter that has collided with the station explodes, attracting the attention of several zombies. Once again they go their own separate ways.
Basement and City Streets
Making their way down to the underground areas of the police station, they both encounter a hideous monster with a giant eye protruding from its shoulder but manage to overcome it.
As it turns out, this is William Birkin, a scientist who we later discover has injected himself with the G-Virus. It is here that Leon and Claire’s individual stories branch in different directions.
In the underground car park, Leon meets Ada Wong, an “FBI Agent” who claims to be working on an investigation to blow the lid on the Umbrella Corporation’s bioweapon experiments.
Ada isn’t very forthcoming with information, but Leon pursues her to police station’s cells.
Here, he meets a survivor, who says he’s a whistleblower, locked up because Chief Irons feared he would blow the lid on his nefarious dealings with Umbrella. The survivor is then decapitated by some sort of creature on the other side of the prison wall.
Meanwhile, Claire meets a young girl named Sherry Birkin. She’s William’s daughter, which explains why she refers to the hideous monster with one eye protruding from its shoulder as her father.
After fighting Birkin, they move toward the underground car park and encounter Chief Irons. He isn’t very friendly.
In fact, he forces Sherry to tie Claire up and then makes off with Sherry to a nearby orphanage while Claire is trapped in the carpark.
She does, however, have some sort of pendant that Irons desperately wants. He instructs her to bring the pendant to him, otherwise, Sherry will die.
Soon after, back up in the police station as they each try to find the car park’s card key, Leon and/or Claire (depending on who you’re playing as) encounter the Tyrant, a behemoth creature of incredible strength that seems hellbent on eliminating them.
The Tyrant is unlike other monsters they’ve encountered so far, as it seems to be specifically pursuing them.
As Leon, the Tyrant is temporarily halted by Ada, who crushes it against a wall with a police van before the two make their exit to Raccoon’s city streets.
As for Claire’s story, players briefly take control of Sherry as she tries to escape Irons in the orphanage.
She’s almost successful after burning him with some sort of acid, but then Birkin arrives, infecting Irons with some sort of creature. The action then returns to Claire.
Arriving at the orphanage, Claire bumps into Irons, who promptly dies as something bursts from his chest. She’s then reunited with Sherry and the two make their way out of the orphanage. Unfortunately, the Tyrant then drops in and pursues the two of them.
Luckily for them, just as they’re both cornered in a broken elevator and about to get killed by the Tyrant, Birkin stabs it in the back. He then jumps on the elevator and all three of them tumble down the shaft.
The Sewers
Awaking to a babbling female scientist, Claire meets Sherry’s mother, Annette Birkin, whose fretting about the state of the creature’s evolution. Annette pretty much blows Claire off and then leaves her through a locked door.
Claire then descends into the sewers, where she later sees Sherry speaking to her mother (via a security camera). Sherry collapses and Claire then sets about trying to access the room she’s trapped in.
Meanwhile, Leon and Ada have made their way out of the parking lot, through the streets, and then into a local gunshop.
Here, they meet a father protecting his infected child in a brief cutscene, which ends with the two parties leaving each other to their fates.
Entering the sewers, Leon and Ada move through the sludge, manage to avoid a zombie alligator, and then encounter Annette Birkin, who shoots at them.
With Leon injured, Players then take control of Ada as she pursues Annette in search of the G-Virus, and is in turn, pursued by the pesky Tyrant.
Unfortunately, Annette is one step ahead of Ada, knocking her off a platform where she falls into a disposal room. Ada is then injured, herself, and players retake control of Leon.
Leon makes his through the sewers, where he watches a video recording of a special forces team being chewed up by Birkin.
Making his way toward Ada, he encounters Birkin himself just before reaching her. After being pursued, he knocks Birkin off a platform and is able to reunite with Ada. The two then make their way to a cable car that descends to the Umbrella lab.
Back over with Claire, she discovers that Sherry’s collapse is because she’s infected with one of Birkin’s embryos.
She’s told by Annette that there’s nothing she can do to save her, which Claire isn’t very impressed with. Claire then carries Sherry to the cable car and descends to Umbrella’s lab.
If you’re ready to see how the game ends, go ahead and make your way over to next page, you were warned however!
