Resident Evil Village barely resembles a Resident Evil game on the surface. Ethan Winters faces off against werewolves and vampires instead of zombies one comes to expect. However, deeper into the game, more connections with the rest of the Resident Evil canon reveal themselves.
With this in mind, there are multiple tidbits about the lore you should remember before going into Resident Evil Village. This will do its best to remain spoiler-free and instead serve as a reminder of important things you'll be glad to have remembered during the campaign. Story aside, Resident Evil Village is a great and intensely scary survival horror game.
10 Ethan Winters Takes A Real Beating In Resident Evil 7
In Resident Evil 7, Ethan Winters goes through absolute hell in his journey to save Mia. He loses his hand pretty early in the adventure but is able to use it again without much trouble.
He can also lose his whole foot and yet, he is similarly able to fix it up with a little help from a healing item. Why is he able to do this? Is this just where technology is in the Resident Evil universe or is there something more at play?
9 The Bakers
The Baker family are the primary antagonists of Resident Evil 7 for the majority of the adventure. Ethan takes out all of them except for Lucas, who Chris takes care of in a DLC.
By the end of the seventh game, you learn the family is just innocent people infected by the Mold and controlled by Eveline. Ultimately, Eveline was so attracted to this family because of her desire to be a part of one.
8 Ozwell Spencer Is The Founder Of Umbrella
Ozwell Spencer gets an extremely limited amount of screen time in the series. He does eventually show up in Resident Evil 5 during a flashback only to be killed by Albert Wesker.
However, he is a name all Resident Evil fans should know. He founded Umbrella, the company which eventually creates the T-Virus. With this in mind, he is responsible for most of the trouble throughout the series. Even after death, he has an influence on things because of Umbrella's research.
7 Eveline
Eveline is the main antagonist of Resident Evil 7. The biological weapon is responsible for taking control of the Bakers and bringing Ethan to the Baker estate. She was made in a lab as a weapon, but it isn't the first time the series has made use of little girls as creepy elements.
She was also purposefully made to look like a little girl in order to better infiltrate battlefields. She had the ability to mind control opponents. While on a ship bound for South America, a hurricane crashes the boat, thus starting the events of Resident Evil 7.
6 The Mold Is The New T-Virus
Older Resident Evil games deal with viruses with the T-Virus in particular responsible for the zombie outbreak in Raccoon City. Starting with Resident Evil 7, a mysterious substance called the Mold is the new impetus for all these disasters.
It is what Eveline uses to control and infect people. However, its origins are still a complete mystery. Where did it come from and what are the limits of its abilities?
5 The BSAA
The BSAA stands for the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. They came to be after the Raccoon City incident and Umbrella's demise. As bioterrorism became more commonplace in the world, the organization gained relevance.
The BSAA does its best to stop and squash these attacks and the black market trade of bioweapons. As of Resident Evil 7, Chris Redfield works for them, having been a part of them since Resident Evil 5. Jill Valentine was also working for them when she was almost killed by Wesker.
4 The Connections
The Connections is a criminal organization responsible for Eveline. They deal with biological weapon research, but in a completely black market capacity. They want to manufacture and sell weapons. This makes them even more dangerous than Umbrella.
While Umbrella was evil, at least everything that happened in Raccoon City was an accident. The Connections thrive on chaos and biological weapon attacks, so they're not only evil, but chaotic, as well.
3 Umbrella Corporation
The Umbrella corporation was the premier antagonist of the series up until Resident Evil Code - Veronica. Afterward, their relevance in the franchise subsided, but it is still good to know they first created the T-Virus.
Any Resident Evil fan would immediately recognize the logo in any setting. While the company is not a central focus of Resident Evil: Village, you should still familiarize yourself with their branding. It may come in handy.
2 Mia Winters
Resident Evil 7 revolves around Ethan Winters heading to a mysterious farmhouse in order to find his missing wife. While Mia Winters first seems like an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of the Bakers and the Mold, she does have a hand in all this.
Mia worked for the aforementioned organization called the Connections who created Eveline. Despite her work making Eveline, Mia is often portrayed as purely an innocent character. Should someone who created a weapon like Eveline be considered so innocent?
1 Chris Redfield
Chris Redfield has perhaps shown up the most in the franchise. He is one of the two playable characters in the debut entry. He then shows up in Code Veronica as a playable character before starring in Resident Evil 5. He is also one of the protagonists of Resident Evil 6.
He saves Ethan Winters' life at the end of Resident Evil 7 on a mission from Blue Umbrella, a company born from the wreckage of Umbrella. He is reluctant to work with them, however, and, by the beginning of Resident Evil 7, he seems to be working independently of the BSAA.