Resident Evil Full Timeline Is 2700 Pages Long | Screen Rant
A Resident Evil fan who goes by TheBatMan has compiled what he calls The Resident Evil Mythology, a comprehensive and in-depth work documenting nearly everything there is to know about the Resident Evil series. The franchise began in 1997 and now includes dozens of video games, movies, comics, and books. Although many fans are relatively knowledgeable on the overarching storyline of the series, there are few who have scrubbed through every single supplementary work to amass anything rivalling the 2,700-page Mythology.
The Resident Evil franchise is one of few that would warrant a document of this scope. Although there are only nine mainline entries, the dozens of additional pieces of Resident Evil media have elevated the series to almost Metal Gear Solid levels of complexity. For example, although the first game takes place in 1997, the Las Plagas parasite at the center of Resident Evil 4 was actually first seen in Africa roughly 7 million years ago, and it wasn’t until the 1800s that the house that Resident Evil 7 takes place in was constructed. With a timespan this vast, it comes as no surprise that a dedicated fan would compile it all in one place.
Eurogamer’s Wesley Yin-Poole recently conducted an interview with TheBatMan discussing what might possess someone to dedicate over a decade to this Herculean labor. According to TheBatMan, the driving force behind The Resident Evil Mythology was the “unjust criticism” he often read “dismissing the larger Resident Evil mythos as being one dimensional and lacking any real substance.” He also comments that the size of the series factored into his decision as it now spans over 20 games. He began compiling the information required for the document after the original Resident Evil 3, which takes place 24 hours before Resident Evil 2. After realizing how much depth this added to the third game, he decided to continue compiling information, started fresh in 2009 with supplementary story content he found that fleshed out the Resident Evil mythos even further.
Although the Resident Evil Mythology is lengthy, it is still (somehow) not exhaustive; in the Author’s Notes, TheBatMan lists media that was not included, such as the Resident Evil films and some of the games. According to him, these exclusions were based on “incomplete translations, to contradictions, to simply not being intended to be canon in the first place.” This strict adherence to the canon is found throughout the document, with TheBatMan referring to the games themselves as “gospel” and writing that if supplementary material contradicts in-game events, then it must be discarded.
Vigilant Resident Evil fans may notice the immediate dilemma this causes. Although the remakes of the second and third RE games were generally well-received, they do contain some differences from the original titles. One of the most noticeable is the removal of real-time decisions in Resident Evil 3: Remake, which theoretically changes the canonical events of that game. To address this, TheBatMan writes that he chose not to include the remakes in The Resident Evil Mythos but will likely include an “Alternate 1998” chapter in the future in order to ensure that all timelines and events are spoken for.
As for what’s next for TheBatMan, it would seem that his work is not yet done. The recent announcement of Resident Evil Village means that he will soon have an additional story to novelize along with all of the supplementary information that comes with it. Until then, The Resident Evil Mythology remains the most comprehensive and in-depth source of Resident Evil information around.
Source: Eurogamer