Summary
- Many Resident Evil games start strong with iconic opening lines.
- “Alpha Team Is Flying Around The Forest Zone Situated In Northwest Raccoon City” sets the tone with a mix of information and horror.
- Memorable lines like “1998…I’ll Never Forget It” in Resident Evil 4 highlight the series’ dark history.
The Resident Evil games always know how to kick things off with a bang. While many of the games will have incredibly memorable opening acts, such as the Village horde in Resident Evil 4 or the prison sequence in Code Veronica, even before that, there’s always an opening line that sets the stage for the adventure to come.

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These staples of the Resident Evil franchise are what give this series its identity, while also separating it from other horror games.
Not every first line in these games has ended up being very memorable, but in stark contrast, others have become iconic for how impactful they are. Whether it’s a character’s inner thoughts, narration in the context of the story, or even a quick one-liner, there have been plenty of great first lines in the Resident Evil games, so it’s time to rank them to see which stands as the most memorable of them all.
8
“Go On, Get Out Of Here. This Place Is Finished” – Resident Evil Code Veronica
Rodrigo Gives Claire And The Player An Eerie Warning At The Beginning Of Code Veronica
- Released
-
February 29, 2000
Players are thrown into quite the action fest upon booting up Code Veronica with the hectic intro cutscene that sees Claire invading an Umbrella base. After that though, the game simmers down a little as Claire finds herself trapped in a prison, only for a mysterious man to wander in, seemingly wounded, as he says to Claire in a defeated voice to get out, admitting “This place is finished”.
This line immediately creates an aura of mystery that pulls players right into the story. Where exactly has Claire ended up? And what’s happened to cause such a commotion? All of this is revealed throughout the course of the adventure, but this line from Rodrigo did a great job of setting the stage.
7
“Alpha Team Is Flying Around The Forest Zone Situated In Northwest Raccoon City” – Resident Evil Remake
An Opening Line Which Gets Straight To The Point, While Also Name Dropping The Infamous Raccoon City
- Released
-
January 20, 2015
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
The Resident Evil Remake wastes no time getting into the meat of the story, letting players know exactly what’s going on, and where they are geographically. At the same time though, it does also feed into the horror aspect of the series by making specific mention of a forest, and of course, the name drop of Raccoon City will invoke fear in any players who have come back to this game after playing Resident Evil 2.
6:54

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The visual that accompanies the line, showing a POV view of the helicopter flying across the dark and dreary forest adds even more to the scare factor. Overall, this is an opening line that does exactly what it needs to by giving players just enough to have them hooked, without revealing too much about the story in the process.
6
“I Shoud’ve Seen It Coming…” – Resident Evil 5
A Grizzled Veteran Like Chris Isn’t All Too Surprised By Another Bioterror Attack
Resident Evil 5
- Released
-
March 5, 2009
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Fair
By the time Chris appears in Resident Evil 5, he has become somewhat of a grizzled veteran when it comes to stopping bioterror plots and attacks. His extensive experience in this particular field is made very clear in this short but sweet opening line to the game, where Chris openly admits he’s not all that surprised that yet another outbreak has popped up, this time, in Kijuju.
After playing the full game though, and learning how complex the situation in Kijuju really is, even involving Albert Wesker himself, it gives this line an entirely different meaning, since, in reality, Chris would have no idea what he would be going up against.
5
“Long Ago, A Young Girl Went With Her Mother To Pick Berries For Her Father Who Was Hard At Work” – Resident Evil Village
A Storybook-Like Opening To The Unique Story Of Village
Resident Evil Village
- Released
-
May 7, 2021
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
The intro to Village is unlike anything ever seen in the series before. It essentially plays like a storybook which vaguely lays out the entire plot of the game, but at the very beginning of the story is the setup: a young girl venturing into the forest to find some berries for her hard-working father. This is a metaphor for Rose, Ethan’s daughter, who ends up being snatched away and separated between the Four Lords who each serve under Mother Miranda.
This opening line stands out for many reasons, one of which is how it is literally the beginning of a fable, which makes it seem as though players have booted up the wrong game entirely. This simply makes it great for subverting expectations though, and in turn, a memorable quote that kicks off Ethan’s final journey in the series.
4
“Bioterror. The World Lives With It. You Live With It” – Resident Evil Revelations 2
A Stark Reminder Of Just How Rampant Bioterror Had Become In The Resident Evil Universe
- Released
-
February 24, 2015
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Fair
After the events of Resident Evil 2, bioterrorist attacks became a common occurrence across the entire world. It can be easy to forget just how easy it was for bad actors to get their hands on viruses and mutations, but this line said at the very beginning of Revelations 2, serves as a crucial reminder of just how widespread this issue really is.

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It’s also quite a clever introduction to the game as it acts as an advertisement that would be presumably seen on the everyday news in the Resident Evil universe. Seeing the word ‘bioterror’ being thrown around so liberally really emphasizes just how normalized it had become, which is utterly terrifying.
3
“What Have We Got Here?” – Resident Evil 2
A Young And Naive Leon’s First Words Upon Entering The Raccoon City Nightmare
Resident Evil 2 (1998)
- Released
-
January 21, 1998
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Mighty
Though there is a small bit of narration going over the events of the first game at the beginning of Resident Evil 2, this is the first line said by a character, specifically Leon, as he rolls up to the zombie-infested Raccoon City. After turning up late to his first day on the job, Leon encounters a few dead bodies and a city that seems more or less deserted, causing him to question what in the world happened.
This quote hits pretty hard considering Leon had absolutely no idea the nightmarish situation he was about to plunge himself into, and one that would scar him for the rest of his days. It also just highlighted how naive Leon still was at this point, and his innocence as a character.
2
“It All Began As An Ordinary Day In September, An Ordinary Day In Raccoon City” – Resident Evil 3
Jill Gives A Haunting Account Of The Events That Transpired In Raccoon City That Fateful Day
Resident Evil 3 (2020)
- Released
-
April 3, 2020
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
The original Resident Evil 3’s opening line excels at getting players intrigued from the moment they load in. Narrated by none other than Jill herself, she opens the game by reflecting on the beginning of the Raccoon City outbreak, and how everything was seemingly as normal as could be before almost the entire population turned into flesh-hungry zombies.
It really puts into perspective just how suddenly the T-virus took hold of people, considering nothing seemed out of the ordinary for at least the first few hours of the day. It therefore makes the incident seem all the more terrifying, resulting in a now iconic memorable line from Jill.
1
“1998…I’ll Never Forget It” – Resident Evil 4
Leon’s Trauma As A Survivor Of The Raccoon City Incident Continues To Haunt Him
Resident Evil 4 (2005)
- Platform(s)
-
PS4
, PS3
, PS2
, Xbox One
, Xbox 360
, Switch
, Wii
, Nintendo GameCube
, PC
, Android
, iOS - Released
-
January 11, 2005
- OpenCritic Rating
-
Strong
In terms of mainline games, Resident Evil 4 would be the first appearance of Leon S. Kennedy since his desperate escape from Raccoon City. Even after 6 years, Leon is still visibly haunted by the horrific events that took place back then, as summed up in this well-known opening line which Leon says when reminiscing on those tragic events.
Raccoon City is very much the cornerstone of the entire series and an event that shook the world of Resident Evil to its core, so it feels appropriate that it would be mentioned right off the bat for this new adventure. A slightly different rendition of the quote was said at the start of the remake, which dives even deeper into Leon’s trauma as a survivor of the Raccoon City Incident.

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