Resident Evil Requiem<\/em> has a complicated story, though that shouldn\u2019t come as a surprise to anyone who has kept up with the series over 30 years. Capcom\u2019s survival horror games are filled with evil organizations and similarly-named viruses that can be tough to keep straight. At first, Requiem <\/em>seems to be getting away from all that with its new character, Grace Ashcroft, but it soon becomes clear that\u2019s not the case. In fact, Requiem <\/em>might be the most lore-intensive game in Resident Evil\u2019s history, thanks to how many loose threads it attempts to tie up in its ending.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Even if you\u2019ve played every game in the series, the finale might still leave you scratching your head with its mess of proper nouns. To help you unpack it all, here\u2019s a breakdown of exactly what happens at the end of Resident Evil Requiem<\/em> and how it ties into the series’ past.<\/p>\n This article contains spoilers for <\/strong>Resident Evil Requiem<\/strong><\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n A little setup is required, because there are a few mysteries swirling around Requiem <\/em>ahead of its ending. The first is that Leon S. Kennedy is investigating what\u2019s been dubbed Raccoon City Syndrome. Those who survived the bombing of Raccoon City back in 1998\u2019s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis<\/em> are suffering long-term side effects. They have developed black rashes on their skin and are slowly dying from the infection. Leon has a case of it himself, so he\u2019s particularly invested in figuring out what has happened.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Grace Ashcroft is kidnapped by Dr. Victor Gideon. It\u2019s unclear why for most of the game; all Grace knows is that it has to do with something called \u201cElpis.\u201d Through lore documents collected throughout the game, Grace begins to piece together what exactly Elpis is. At first glance, it seems like another T-virus variant that\u2019s going to turn the world into zombies. Classic. But the deeper the story goes, the more that\u2019s called into question.<\/p>\n There\u2019s also Zeno, a secondary villain who sure looks a lot like the very dead Albert Wesker. All we really know about him is that he wants to use Elpis for evil. We also learn that he\u2019s part of The Connections, a shadowy group mentioned in Resident Evil Village<\/em>.<\/p>\n All of this reaches a climax when Leon and Grace enter ARK, an Umbrella Corporation research facility underneath Raccoon City. There, Grace finds some long-hidden secrets involving the origins of the company, how its work was covered up by the United States government, and what actually happened to its enigmatic co-founder, Ozwell E. Spencer. It all culminates in a tense moment where Leon and Grace find the room containing Elpis samples. Leon is too weak to resist when Zeno arrives to stop the two from destroying Elpis. Grace is given a final choice as she stands in front of the machine containing Elpis: save or destroy it. Two endings sprout from that choice.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you choose to destroy Elpis, you\u2019re treated to an extremely bleak ending. ARK begins to crumble as Zeno freaks out. Grace is able to get away from him, but Leon is too weak to fight him off. As the platform Leon and Zeno are standing on collapses into the abyss, Leon looks up at Grace and says \u201cAt least I could save you.\u201d It\u2019s a culmination of his character arc throughout Requiem<\/em>. Leon\u2019s entire story revolves around his survivor\u2019s guilt from the destruction of Raccoon City. He was, after all, a rookie cop when it happened. He escaped town with Claire Redfield, but left tens of thousands to die when the United States government bombed the city to contain the zombie outbreak happening within it. He gets to redeem himself by saving Grace.<\/p>\n That victory is short-lived. Zeno shoots Leon in the head at point-blank and kills him. Grace watches in horror as both Leon\u2019s body and the still-living Zeno fall into darkness. She survives and Elpis is gone, but at what cost? The story ends there, with no final boss fight.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n That\u2019s the miserable version. The canon ending happens if Grace chooses not to destroy Elpis. It sounds counterintuitive, but Elpis is actually an antidote, not a virus. In the build-up to the encounter, we get a pretty major revelation about Ozwell E. Spencer. It turns out he felt immense guilt over all those mutagenic viruses he created. At the end of his life, he created Elpis as a final act of repentance. It won\u2019t bring back the dead, but it can at least destroy all zombie bioweapons and cure the Raccoon City survivors.<\/p>\n So that\u2019s what Grace does. She injects Leon with Elpis and quickly reverses his condition. All is well until Gideon enters the scene. His assumptions about Elpis being a superweapon were wrong, yes, but he still has a vision. With Elpis having the potential to wipe out all virus-based weapons, he believes that will throw a world order built around warfare into chaos. That doesn\u2019t really make a lot of sense, as Zeno angrily points out. Gideon responds by killing him, calling him a \u201ccheap imitation\u201d (implying that he does indeed look like Wesker on purpose), and then turning into a giant monster. A big boss fight ensues, with Leon back at full health. Our heroes kill him, but are left trapped inside of ARK. They accept their impending death as the lights go out.<\/p>\n And then, a deus ex machina! The BSAA, an anti-bioweapon group that has appeared in recent games, swoops down to save them. A soldier passes Leon a message from \u201cCaptain Redfield,\u201d as in Chris Redfield. We don\u2019t hear what that message is, but we soon flash forward to find Leon and Grace safe and sound. A news report ties up some loose ends: Umbrella\u2019s secrets are exposed and the Justice Department opens an investigation into the US government cover-up surrounding it. (It\u2019s suggested that the government deliberately drove Umbrella into bankruptcy to cover its involvement.)<\/p>\n One final post-credits scene shows us two things. One is that Grace continues working with the FBI after the story wraps up. The other is a bit of sequel bait. Back at ARK, the BSAA soldiers are dead. They\u2019ve been killed by another group of soldiers from a mystery organization, who retrieve something off-screen. The game ends, setting up a sequel about whatever happened there.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n If you\u2019re still confused about it all, don\u2019t worry: Your reward for beating the game is a 60-page lore document that fills in every single gap. This contains some crucial information. For starters, it reveals that Spencer began his research amid the Cold War, fearing a return to the \u201chorrors of the Second World War.\u201d His fear that humanity would repeat its worst crimes led him to seek an evolution of the human race. That vision got mutated by his co-founder, James Marcus, who instead used that idea to turn people into living bioweapons. Internal politics ensued. Marcus was pushed out, and Spencer started developing Elpis inside of ARK.<\/p>\n What was the deal with Marcus? It turns out he had ties to The Connections, the group Zeno was part of. We get way more detail about what that organization is here, but it\u2019s still left very mysterious. They were involved in criminal activity in the 1980s and have since been pulling a lot of strings behind the scenes. In fact, they were responsible for the 1998 Raccoon City bombing in some way. They\u2019re the ones that lobbied the US government to launch a missile at the city \u2014 not to stop the infection, but to stop Spencer, destroy Umbrella, and seize their assets. That plan worked, and The Connections gained control of ARK and Elpis, assuming it was a new weapon.<\/p>\n The rabbit hole goes deeper. We learn that Tricell, the villainous military group that Wesker was working for in Resident Evil 5,<\/em> was also tied to The Connections. And we also learn that President Benford was killed in Resident Evil 6<\/em> because he was going to expose all this.<\/p>\n As for Grace? It turns out she was Spencer\u2019s adoptive daughter. He took her in as another way to make amends for his crimes. After his death, Spencer left Grace in the care of Alyssa Ashcroft, the journalist who conducted his final interviews.<\/p>\n There are some finer details, but that\u2019s the gist of it. Spencer was out for redemption, and The Connections were the real big bads. Umbrella Corporation was always just a cog in a much bigger machine. There are a lot of retcons packed in there, so don\u2019t get too hung up on plot holes. This is where the series stands as is, and we\u2019ll certainly see more of it, judging by Requiem<\/em>\u2019s post-credits scene.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n![\"Grace](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/resident-evil-requiem-endings.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Capcom via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n The very bad ending
\n <\/h2>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/resident-evil-requiem-endings-2.jpg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>Image: Capcom via Polygon<\/small><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n The true ending
\n <\/h2>\n![\"Resident_Evil_Requiem_-_RE_Showcase_Screenshot_3\"](\"https:\/\/static0.polygonimages.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/resident_evil_requiem_-_re_showcase_screenshot_3.jpeg?q=49&fit=crop&w=825&dpr=2\")
\n <\/picture>\n The bonus lore
\n <\/h2>\n