One of Resident Evil Requiem‘s main focuses is looking back on the series’ long history. After all, players are, for the first time in decades, going back to Raccoon City to see what’s happened in the years since that bomb was dropped at the end of Resident Evil 3. Along with the return to the classic location, players will recognize several returning characters, most notably Leon S. Kennedy. However, the biggest surprise might be the reveal that Alyssa Ashcroft is coming back in person for the first time since 2005.
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What Is Alyssa Ashcroft’s Backstory?
Alyssa Ashcroft was first seen in 2003’s Resident Evil Outbreak. She is one of the eight playable characters in that online co-op game, but her involvement in the Resident Evil timeline goes back a little further than that. See, Alyssa was working as a journalist for The Raccoon Press from 1993 to 1998. The Raccoon City Incident didn’t happen until ’98, so she was living and working in the city for nearly a decade before we meet her.
During the events of Outbreak, we learn that Alyssa was investigating a private hospital in the Arklay Mountains for illegal drug testing. After her partner was caught, Alyssa’s memories were suppressed, potentially by the Umbrella Corporation, leaving her unable to remember exactly what happened until the Raccoon City Incident.
Still, she continued to live her life, reporting on everything happening around Raccoon City. Of course, this is the Resident Evil universe, so most of those investigations brought her back to Umbrella. Then, the Raccoon City Incident happened, and Alyssa joined up with her fellow survivors to try to make it through the horrors in the city.
Alyssa proved to be more than just a journalist during Outbreak and Outbreak File #2. She proved to be almost as good as Jill Valentine at picking locks, suggesting some of her investigations weren’t exactly above board. Alyssa isn’t too bad with a gun either. She might not be on the same level as marksman Kevin Ryman, but she can hold her own against the zombie hordes.
At that same time, her repressed memories started to come back. During the “Flashback” scenario in Outbreak File #2, Ashcroft’s past comes back to her. She’s leading the survivors to a cabin in the woods when they’re met by a man named Al Lester. Alyssa begins to remember her investigation as Lester tells them about an abandoned hospital, the same one she and her partner had looked into several prior.
It’s eventually revealed that Lester is the hospital’s director, and his infected wife killed Alyssa’s partner, Kurt. Now, Lester is luring unsuspecting survivors to the hospital to feed his infected wife. Thankfully, the survivors can deal with the monster before it takes them out.
Alyssa and the rest of the survivors escape the city before the Sterlization Occupation, while the journalist continues to document everything going on with Umbrella. Unfortunately, much of her work was smeared as conspiracy theories by Umbrella in an attempt to discredit her work. However, her appearances in the two Outbreak games aren’t the only time Alyssa appeared in the Resident Evil timeline.
What Other Games Has Alyssa Appeared In?
Technically, Alyssa has never appeared in another Resident Evil game. However, her work has. As mentioned, Alyssa kept pushing the investigation into Umbrella, using every resource she had to try to show the world what was going on. She wrote an article in the Daily Advisor that helped shift public sentiment against Umbrella during the Raccoon Trials.
Unfortunately, the company’s tendrils run deep, and the U.S. government refused to acknowledge that B.O.W.s were real publicly. Instead, Alyssa was dismissed as a rambling conspiracy theory. However, Alyssa would not be deterred by the smear campaign.
In 2016, Alyssa wrote an article for The Dulvey Daily, a local newspaper for Dulvey Parish, Louisiana. Eagle-eyed Resident Evil fans will recognize that as the location of Resident Evil 7. Dulvey is where Ethan Winters found The Baker House and rescued his wife, Mia, from the Mold.
Fans who kept an eye out for collectibles would’ve found a note featuring a newspaper clipping of Alyssa’s article. It doesn’t contain many juicy details, simply talking about the disappearance of Helen Midkiff and several other people in South Louisiana over the last two years. Alyssa says 20 people have gone missing and says police suspect foul play.
It’s an easy note to miss, especially if you didn’t play the two Outbreak games; however, it proves that Alyssa was still doing everything she could to fight back against Umbrella. We’ll likely see that continue during her time in Resident Evil Requiem, because she has another reason to fight: her daughter, Grace Ashcroft. Regardless, Requiem is the fourth time Alyssa has popped up in the Resident Evil series, making her much more prolific than most side characters.
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