Survival horror series Resident Evil has had its hands full with weaving stories about humans suffering at the hands of corporate greed and harmful ideas like Eugenics. Hence, when they wrote out their “big bad” from the story, they still decided to edit in references and content that echoed back to the corporation responsible for everything you’re experiencing.
Despite Umbrella Corporation getting dissolved a while before the introduction of Resident Evil 4, in this new timeline, that may end up not being the case. With so many callbacks, it’s hard to ignore the ripple effects caused by Umbrella’s initial establishment in-universe.
10 Stolen Umbrella Data From Lab
With the recent remake, the laboratory you get access to in order to remove the parasite from Ashley gets further expanded upon. Now it’s chock-full of all sorts of tech and features machines with stolen tapes of data detailing the Los Iluminados project.
Upon examining one such archaic computer present at the facility, Leon remarks how the stolen data might be the work of someone who has something to gain from all the research Umbrella had on the Plagas.
9 Luis Mentions Umbrella's Demise
During one of his witty exchanges with Leon in the underground mine shaft, Luis explains how he’s not a part of the Umbrella corporation. In fact, he even goes so far as to say that the company is done for.
Although what Luis said does indicate the end of the menacing organization, it doesn’t clear up whether that is the case in the Resident Evil 4: Remake universe. It’s possible Umbrella never stopped functioning years ago as it did in the original game’s timeline.
8 Krauser Mentions Operation Javier
As tragic as Krauser’s ascent to mad-villainy was, it was the events of Operation Javier that truly inspired him to pursue being stronger and thus, evil. During your knife battle with him in the remake, Krauser mentions just how impressive B.O.Ws were to him. After the events of Operation Javier left him with an arm that never truly healed, Krauser was booted from the army and proceeded to find Wesker in order to regain his strength, and then some. Hidalgo was also one of the people who hired Wesker to procure bioweapon samples.
Javier Hidalgo was a powerful druglord who sought out Umbrella after its apparent dissolution to have them help treat his dying wife, Hilda. Unfortunately, she ended up mutating into a monster instead. Javier asked Umbrella to help his daughter, and yet again the same thing happened. That’s why he stopped trusting the organization and started looking for other options on the Black Market.
7 Luis’s Connection With Nemesis
The terrifying foe that trails you and ruthlessly tries to murder you throughout the course of Resident Evil 3 now has a backstory to go with it. Once you cure Ashley and yourself by removing the Plagas parasite in the remake, you get a chance to explore the laboratory and realize it belonged to Luis and his team.
He was also responsible for contributing to the creation of the Regeneradors and El Gigante, among other foes you end up facing.
6 Europe Lab 6 Dream Team
Being one of the most influential teams under Umbrella’s jurisdiction, the “Dream Team” from lab six consisted of industry-defining professionals like Luis Serra Navarro who worked on researching the NE-T Type virus and were the masterminds behind the Racoon City outbreak.
They’re the team behind the creation of Nemesis and contributed to the creation of the T-Veronica virus as well. The team disbanded as soon as Luis left, and many of its members were prosecuted for their role in causing the events that led to the destruction of Racoon City.
5 Luis Resignation Preceding Racoon City
Luis was clearly disillusioned by the work he was doing for Umbrella and saw the writing on the wall before he ultimately decided to abandon his work and go back to his village of origin to tend to his dying grandfather.
He left the Europe Lab Six Dream Team and soon after started working for Saddler to conduct research on the Plagas parasite instead. Only to resign and seek out an old colleague's help through email once Saddler's plan was clear to him.
4 Luis’ Connection With Amber
Upon going through some of the notes left behind by Luis, you’ll find that they mention a sample he snuck away from Umbrella’s clutches. Noting that these samples were one of several interesting things the corporation had to experiment on, this caught his eye due to its peculiar shape. It’s the dominant Plaga egg sample Ada, Krauser, and Wesker were after.
The object in question was later confiscated by Saddler because it contained the same organ found in the dominant strain of Plagas. He stowed it away in a storeroom you can visit during your playthrough of the remake. It was supposedly as strong or stronger than the dominant strain of the virus Saddler had.
3 Ashley And The Clock Puzzle
As scarce and rare as finding an outright reference to the Umbrella Corporation is in this game, we see something resembling their logo present on a large movable clock within the library.
You find it during your time playing as Ashley. As you try to make your escape and get back to Leon, you’ll come across a grandfather clock with the organization’s mark on it.
2 Stairway To The Sun References
Found growing underground within a temple in South Africa, there's a flower by the name of “Sonnentreppe.” These flowers are considered sacred to the Ndipya tribe who consume them to gain “god-like” power.
It was Umbrella Pharmaceuticals who found out the plant carries the Progenitor virus. You’ll find references to the flowers and their insignia within the caves under the castle and in Wesker’s scene during the last cutscenes of the game on the computer screen.
1 “You Got A Smoke?”
A question Luis asks twice turns out to be a secret phrase for him to decipher whether someone’s a part of Umbrella or not. We find this out after we go through his emails on his computer and spot an exchange between Luis and AW.
It explains why he asked Leon and Ada the same question upon their initial meeting. We see Ada Wong answer him accordingly.