14 Years Ago, Resident Evil Let Players Kill Leon – And Fans Still Argue About It

by

Released on March 20, 2012, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City tried something new for the series. Instead of focusing on scary survival, it played more like team-based action games such as SOCOM. The game retells the story of the original Resident Evil games, letting players choose between two teams of commandos. One team generally follows the established storyline, but the other allows players to completely ignore the existing lore and even kill off a major, long-running character.

What really sets Operation Raccoon City apart – even more than its surprising (though not officially part of the main story) death – is that it puts the player in the position of causing it. This decision has divided fans for years, with some upset by the moment and others feeling it wasn’t impactful enough. It’s a harsh way to make the game different from other Resident Evil titles, and it remains a controversial entry in the series, even fourteen years later.

How A 14-Year-Old Resident Evil Spin-Off Let You Kill Leon And Claire

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City offered a different experience for fans of the series, emphasizing action and squad-based shooting more than the usual survival horror. The game features two campaigns set during the events of the first three Resident Evil games. One campaign puts players in control of Echo Six, a special operations team investigating the Raccoon City outbreak. This campaign largely follows the established storyline, with players working alongside familiar characters like Jill Valentine, Leon Kennedy, and Claire Redfield.

The USS Campaign lets you play as a team from Umbrella Security, led by HUNK – a character many fans think is the same commando Leon fights in Resident Evil Requiem. Their mission is to find Sherry Birkin and cover up Umbrella’s involvement in the outbreak. There are two possible outcomes. You can choose to let Leon and Claire escape, or you can fight and kill them, then bring Sherry back to Umbrella. This second ending is especially shocking, as it involves the deaths of popular characters, and really highlights why alternate storylines like this one are so interesting.

Resident Evil’s Darkest Timeline Would Be Brutal

While several games, like Star Wars: The Force Unleashed and Lord of the Rings: Conquest, have let players control the ‘villains’ and fight the heroes, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City approaches this idea a bit differently. Instead of immediately putting you in the role of the bad guys, it offers a new take on the events of the Raccoon City outbreak, showing how Umbrella Corporation tried to contain it. The game focuses more on fast-paced action while letting players experience familiar moments from the series from a unique angle.

The USS campaign is different, though. It gives players much more control over choices that change the established storyline. The decision of whether to kill or spare Leon and Claire is entirely up to them. If players choose to fight Leon, it’s a challenging battle, making a victory feel earned. However, the consequences are grim: Leon’s body is left on the ground, and Claire is then coldly killed in a cutscene. It’s a truly depressing moment, as the player characters essentially act as though killing two innocent people and abducting a frightened girl is just part of the job.

The situation is particularly intense because the player is the one who makes the difficult decision. Beating Leon feels strangely rewarding, especially for those who’ve wanted to challenge the series’ hero from the start. However, this development has divided fans. Some dislike the idea of harming established heroes so quickly, while others wished the game had gone even further, allowing players to eliminate Leon and Claire early on. This would have created a more compelling storyline where Umbrella Corporation could have thrived and become a greater threat, given the loss of key heroes.

Following Leon’s recent death in the non-storyline version of Resident Evil Requiem, many fans are revisiting the last time players experienced that ending. Capcom could capitalize on this by releasing content that revisits that darker timeline, perhaps as downloadable content. This DLC could feature classic gameplay and explore a world where Umbrella Corporation succeeded. It would be a fascinating direction, allowing players to truly grasp the gravity of the Resident Evil universe and giving them a stronger motivation to act as heroes and prevent such a bleak future.

Read More

2026-03-20 19:13