Resident Evil is a video game series with some complex lore. It’s one of my personal favorites. Diving deep into it is so much fun and intriguing. S.T.A.R.S., or the Special Tactics and Rescue Service, was an organization deeply intertwined with the lore of the games. In the first three Resident Evil games, S.T.A.R.S. was deeply referenced many times. This organization was integral to the baseline of the franchise, and its effects can still be felt.
The cast of those games was either a part of the organization or related to it. S.T.A.R.S. is pretty important to the entire series for a ton of reasons we’ll cover below. It can get quite confusing with this series’ lore. As much as I love Resident Evil, the games have had tons of main games, spin-offs, and retcons that really convolute the story. Either way, let’s dive into the history of this organization.
S.T.A.R.S. and the Mansion Incident
So in 1996, the first Resident Evil game was released. The first game’s timeline has it taking place in-universe in 1996. Raccoon City is a town that hosts many of the settings for the RE games. The Raccoon City Police Department was in charge of selecting the S.T.A.R.S. members. It was originally created to battle domestic terrorism and urban crime, situations that may be considered too much for a police unit.
So we arrive at the first Resident Evil game. In this game, you can play as Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield. Both are members of S.T.A.R.S., along with Barry Burton, Rebecca Chambers, and the leader, Albert Wesker. Those aren’t all the members, just the ones we grow acquainted with. In this game, the Arklay Mountains’ Spencer Mansion has a viral outbreak, and the S.T.A.R.S. members must survive and find a way out.
Umbrella’s Invisible Hand
The Umbrella Corporation is also at the heart of this series. They are a pharmaceutical company by day, and a shady experimental warehouse by night. The Umbrella Corporation started pretty much all of the outbreaks in the series. They were directly involved with the Mansion Incident in Resident Evil 1 as well, working closely with Albert Wesker, the S.T.A.R.S. captain.
Resident Evil 2’s zombie outbreak was also because of their experimentation. It’s the same thing with Resident Evil 3. In all three games, there are various strands of the virus, all coming from Umbrella and their researchers. It’s unfortunate that the effects of the corporation’s evil doings eventually made S.T.A.R.S. disband. Every team member either brutally died, or went on their own path. Some members are still missed by modern fans to this day.
New Teams and Resident Evil 9
It’s a shame that S.T.A.R.S. disbanded because the team itself was really cool. Having two separate Alpha and Bravo teams, along with some really memorable and well-designed characters, this team was just stylish. Later in the series, new organizations were formed and operated by former S.T.A.R.S. members. Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Rebecca Chambers are all former S.T.A.R.S. members who helped the form the B.S.A.A., as well as Blue Umbrella.
These organizations are on the side of good, rest assured. With the recent official announcement of Resident Evil 9, the future of the series can go anywhere. Will there be a new organization introduced? Will there be old characters returning? I sure hope so. There are so many classic Resident Evil characters that we don’t get to see enough of. Barry, Carlos, Rebecca, Sherry, there’s too many to count. Here’s hoping RE9 spoils fans with the team members they miss!
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