Spencer Mansion Incident

Lore & Background

On July 24, 1998, the Bravo Team of S.T.A.R.S. was sent into the Arklay forest to investigate cannibalistic murders. When contact was lost, Alpha Team—Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Barry Burton, Joseph Frost, Brad Vickers, and captain Albert Wesker—was dispatched. They found Bravo Team's crashed helicopter and pilot Edward Dewey dead. Alpha Team was attacked by ravenous Dobermanns; Joseph was mauled to death, and Brad fled in their helicopter. The survivors took shelter in a mysterious mansion. Inside, the player character discovers that Bravo Team has been massacred: Forest Speyer was pecked to death by infected crows, Richard Aiken died from venom poisoning after being bitten by Yawn (a giant mutated snake), and captain Enrico Marini was shot dead by an unseen person just after revealing there is a mole in S.T.A.R.S. The only Bravo Team survivor, field medic Rebecca Chambers, is rescued by Chris. The player eventually discovers that Wesker is the mole, an Umbrella employee placed in S.T.A.R.S. to monitor operations. Wesker releases the prototype Tyrant, a B.O.W. super soldier, but it appears to kill him—though Wesker survives thanks to a latent virus and returns in later canon. The Tyrant then focuses on the player, who defeats it. The survivors escape to a helipad, signal Brad, and battle the Tyrant until Brad drops a rocket launcher for the player to destroy it. Canonically, all four protagonists—Chris, Jill, Barry, and Rebecca—survive and the mansion is destroyed.

In Their Own Story

The rain hammered against the rotting wood of the porch, masking the wet, dragging sounds coming from the hallway. Chris tightened his grip on the handgun, his breath fogging in the damp air as he pushed open the heavy oak door. Inside, the grand foyer was a ruin of overturned furniture and dried bloodstains that seemed to pulse under the flickering emergency lights. A low growl echoed from the shadows near the staircase, followed by the shuffling step of something that used to be human but no longer walked like one.

Reader's Guide

The Spencer Mansion Incident is the primary setting of the 1996 game Resident Evil. Players choose to play as either Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine as they explore the Spencer Mansion to find missing compatriots and secure an escape route. The environment uses fixed camera angles and pre-rendered backgrounds, with tank controls for movement. Chris has more health and handles heavy weapons more effectively; Jill has increased inventory capacity and starts with a lockpick. Both begin with only a survival knife and a Beretta M92FS. Limited ammunition prevents killing everything. Health is shown on an electrocardiogram and restored with herbs and first aid sprays. Inventory is limited to 6 slots for Chris, 8 for Jill; items can be deposited in item boxes in safe rooms, and typewriters let players use ink ribbons to save. Items can be examined, equipped, discarded, or combined. Each character has a supporting partner: Rebecca Chambers for Chris, Barry Burton for Jill. Depending on the player's actions, the partner can die or survive, leading to different endings. The self-destruct sequence for the mansion can be activated if the partner survived. The player and survivors escape to a helipad, fire a flare to signal Brad, and battle the Tyrant until Brad drops a rocket launcher to destroy it. If the partner did not survive, the self-destruct sequence is not activated and the mansion does not explode, leaving the Tyrant loose in the wilderness.

Did You Know?

• The Spencer Mansion Incident was inspired by the limitations of the 1989 horror game Sweet Home, according to producer Tokuro Fujiwara.
• The idea of limited ammunition came from the MSX port of the game Alcazar: The Forgotten Fortress, according to scenario writer Kenichi Iwao.
• By December 1997, Resident Evil had sold about 4 million copies worldwide and grossed more than US$200 million.
• The game's remake and prequel were both released on GameCube in 2002.
• Resident Evil is credited with returning zombies to popular culture, leading to a renewed interest in zombie films by the 2000s.