Resident Evil 6 news - Everything we know so far

It's been years since the last numbered entry in the RE series, so what could be big enough to justify a Resident Evil 6? How about the pending collapse of the world under a zombie apocalypse? RE6 has a global threat so big, it needs six main characters and brings together fan favorites Leon and Chris for the first time. Want to know more? Here's everything we know about the plot so far...

To many people Leon is the leading man of the RE series, especially after starring Resident Evil 4, a game many call not just the best Resident Evil ever, but the best game ever. After taking a few games off, Leon is back in RE6 but not doing so hot. After an outbreak happens in a small town in the US, Kennedy is wanted by the government for killing the President, which would technically be true if the Commander in Chief wasnt already a brain-eating zombie. So now Leon is on the run from the government and zombies all while searching for the truth behind this outbreak and the newly modified C-virus that will take him and his partner all the way to China. Its been 15 years since the attacks in RE2 and he doesn't have the BSAA watching over him, so can Leon still keep up?

Chris Redfield is known as the brawny, no nonsense (and some would say no-personality) soldier who stays on the job until its done. But when we first meet him in RE6, Chris has left the BSAA and is drinking himself into a stupor. What happened to the franchise hero? Following what seemed to be a normal battle against terrorists carrying weaponized versions of the virus, his whole team of operative is wiped out by Ada Wong. He blames himself for their deaths and even when he pulls himself together to help with the outbreak in China, Chris seems mainly driven by vengeance against Ada.

The third lead character and the only new one, Jake was a bit of a mystery at first, but we now know he is the previously-unknown bastard son of series super villain Wesker. Jake grew to be a mercenary never really understanding what being Wesker Jr means, though he did inherit his fathers zombie resistant drugs and superhuman speed and strength. Though hes skilled in weapons, Jakes powers make him especially adept at taking down BOWs with his bare hands. Jake doesnt mind helping save the world from this outbreak, so long as he gets paid by the governments hes saving. But by the end of his journey, will he learn to fight for something more than cash?

Helena Harper originally seemed to be a Secret Service agent with really bad luck. She was guarding the President during the attack that turned the Pres into a zombie, but after Leon put a bullet through his head, she then reveals she knows more than she seems, leading Leon to information on the new C-Virus. She has a history with the Presidents chief men, Derek Simmons, as apparently hes responsible for her sisters disappearance and/or death. With both guilt and vengeance on her mind, Helena is doing her best to keep it together while helping Leon in Tall Oaks.

Piers Nevans may have a strange name, but this young soldier has more than a little in common with his commanding officer Chris Redfield. One of the surviving members of the BSAA squad that was wiped out under Chris watch, Piers searches out Chris and tries to return him to the battlefield and pull him out of his drunken haze. A great sniper, this highly trained operative tries his best to keep Chris focused on the job instead of distracted by his hate for Ada. Were keeping a close eye on him, because Nivans may seem like a good guy, but in Resident Evil your betrayers are often the ones you least suspect.

Longtime RE fans will know Sherry as the adorable moppet that Leon and Claire Redfield worked to save in Resident Evil 2. Daughter of an Umbrella scientist, Sherry was infected with the G-embryo, making her a special case that the government watched over as she grew up, no longer the defenseless little girl she once was. Now an adult working as a government agent, Birkin is tasked with watching over Jake as they search for answers to this new outbreak. Given that their fathers worked together once upon a time developing the original virus for Umbrella, who knows what will happen once theyre both together?

After attending a conference at Ivy University in Tall Oaks, President Adam Benford comes down with a bad case of the C-Virus, and has to be put down by his aide, Helena Harper. This was just as he was about to blow the Raccoon City incident wide open, revealing to the public the true nature of the viral outbreak. So basically if you cant smell a conspiracy here, youd better get your nose checked, or something. Leon and Helena then have to fight their way out of the infected town, which makes up the beginning of Leons portion of RE 6. Now remember, this President Benford isnt the same commander-in-chief that had Leon chasing after his daughter Ashley. That was President Graham, and Leon had been assigned to protect his family, so protecting his teenage daughter from Uroboros cultists was kind of in his job description.

Edonia, a fictional Eastern European nation, is a C-Virus infected warzone. Not only does Edonias militia have no qualms about using the deadly pathogen for acts of bioterror, they even issued it to their own troops as a combat aid. Weve seen Chris go at it with these guys, when theyre about to die, Edonian troops will infect themselves, turning into mutated monsters that keep on coming. Blow off an arm, they grow a bigger one, blow their head well, you get the idea. Edonia is more than just a bioterror hotspot, its also where Chris meets up with Jake Muller. Mullers special blood makes him immune to the nastier side-effects of the C-Virus exposure (you know, the mutating, the flesh ripping, the yelling, the screaming), making him a hot commodity among for Edonian forces looking to perfect their viral weaponry.

Its been well established that Resident Evil 6 will have a branching narrative spanning multiple characters. Leon Kennedy, Chris Redfield and Jake Muller will all have their own paths (and play styles, based on what weve seen), but from what weve gathered, these stories will converge in the fictional Lanshiang district of China. The epicenter of an act of bioterrorism by Neo-Umbrella (the new face of REs go-to evil, multinational corporation), Lanshiang was swarming C-Virus infected civilians and soldiers. The BSAA was called in do what they could, Chris among them, but weve all seen how that ended: with a missile hitting the city, likely a desperate attempt to cauterize the infection and prevent further outbreak. Well have to see what RE 6s three heroes can do for an infected city that now lies in ruin.

The different biological agents used by the villains in the Resident Evil series have covered much of the alphabet, and in RE6 it's the C-Virus causing trouble. Does the C stand for change, demonstrating the transformational powers of the virus? Because those exposed to it become the dangerous J'avos, a new type BOW. Shoot their arm and it grows into a giant tendril, take off their head and its similarly adjusted. They demand a new strategy that the usual aim for the head plan, which shakes up combat quite a bit.

Ada Wong has never been all that good of a person, usually sharing her deadly skills with the highest bidder, but shes shown signs of a conscious. Shes helped Leon multiple times in the past, including saving his life and giving him a life-saving rocket launcher. However, what weve seen of her so far in RE6 makes her out to be pretty cruel. She ruthlessly kills Chris squad while taunting them, she seems to be in command of Edonias militia, and she appears pretty content to watch the world fall apart around her. Has Ada now turned completely to the dark side now that Wesker, her former employer, is dead? Or does she know something she isnt sharing, which is what Leon believes? Either way, that mystery causes Leon and Chris to have a violent confrontation.

Historically Ada has usually worked as a mercenary for some mysterious bad guy, and from what little weve seen of Simmons, he fits the bill. Seen briefly in a recent trailer, Simmons looks to be taking command of the entire US military after the death of the President, which he blames on Leon. On top of that, in a flashback hes shown cruelly interrogating Helena and doing something dastardly to her sister. Rumors persist that hes part to the mysterious Neo-Umbrella group and on top of all that, look at his incredibly evil facial hair! We dont trust this guy in the slightest.

October 6 release date

Need to know more about RE6? Read our two previews from E3 2012 Resident Evil 6 Hands-on preview Three times the tension and Resident Evil 6 preview First look at four-player co-op.