Resident Evil 4 remake ending explained: Campaign & Separate Ways

The Resident Evil 4 remake makes some changes to the ending of the original. Here’s what it means for the series going forward – Major spoilers from here for both Resident Evil 4 and its Separate Ways DLC!

The original Resident Evil 4 ended like most of the other games in the franchise. The bad guy mutates into a blobby monster, the hero battles them until they’re tossed a rocket launcher, which they fire at the beast while making some cheesy quip such as “Game Over.” The heroes then escape on a helicopter/train/jet-ski and vow to take down Umbrella, or some other antagonist.

All this happens as it should in the remake of Resident Evil 4 but this time, the game makes more of an effort to tease what’s next in the series, most notably, for the remakes, as well as connecting nicely to the earlier entries. Here’s everything that happens at the end of the Resident Evil 4 remake – and it’s DLC Separate Ways.

Sayonara, Saddler

Just like in the original Resident Evil 4, the remake ends with Leon Kennedy rescuing both Ashley Graham (the President’s daughter) and his on/off love interest/frenemy Ada Wong from Osmund Saddler, the leader of the Los Illuminados cult. Thanks to the now-deceased Luis, Leon also manages to rid himself and Ashley of their Las Plagas infection before confronting the villain.

After doing major damage to Saddler’s mutated form, Ada throws Leon a rocket launcher and he delivers the villain one final and fatal blow. This kills Saddler’s master Plaga parasite and effectively frees the Ganados from his control, but many die as a result. Although, this fate may be preferable to being his murderous thralls.

This time, rather than simply putting a gun to his head and demanding he hand over the virus sample, Ada offers Leon a spot on her helicopter and a place at her side. He declines and Ada gives him the keys to her jetski after wishing him well – but takes the Las Plasgas sample as this was her true objective all along. Leon and Ashley escape using the jetski and Ada notices them make it to safety from the window of her chopper.

Presumably, Leon and Ashley then return home and Leon completes ‘The Kennedy Report’ about the incident, which Chris Redfield mentions in RE5.

A change of heart

Ada then has a video call with series villain Albert Wesker, who had ordered her (and Jack Krauser) to infiltrate Saddler’s cult and steal a sample of the virus/parasites. By this point in the Resident Evil timeline, Wesker has already helped Ada survive the events of Racoon City, betrayed the Umbrella Corporation, and is working with their equally shady rival Tricell. Due to the events of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, the protagonists know Wesker is alive and is associated with Ada. Leon even criticizes her for this in the original RE4, but the dialogue is different in the remake.

Wesker then tells Ada of his plan to murder billions of people, using Las Plagas as part of his Uroboros project along with the T-Virus. Horrified by her employer’s intentions, Ada hangs up on the sunglasses-wearing psycho and forces the helicopter pilot to fly to a new destination at gunpoint. In the original game, Ada’s betrayal of Wesker happened off-screen, but in the remake, we see it play out before the credits.

At this point in the story, Wesker and Ada are both employed by an organization known simply as “The Agency.” The S.D. Perry novels suggest that this is the US Government, but these books are uncanon in the game universe. Other sources in the games have referred to The Agency as H.C.F. who are also a competior of Umbrella. In RE7 and Village, the H.C.F. is working with another group of villains known as “The Connections” and that this shadowy organization has been involved in bio-weapon research alongside Mother Miranda, the main antagonist of RE Village. Not to mention the mentor of Oswell E. Spencer, the founder of Umbrella and Wesker’s surrogate father.

However, by Resident Evil 5 Wesker has betrayed The Agency and sided with Tricell – who he also double-crosses in favor of his own agenda. It’s unknown if Ada remains loyal to The Organization, but she is seen receiving instructions from someone in Resident Evil 6, several years after Wesker’s death.

Separate Ways ending explained

The Separate Ways DLC extends the final cutscene between Ada and Wesker and shows it from Wesker’s point of view. It’s revealed that Wesker already has a sample of the Las Plagas parasites from securing Saddler’s body. Not only does Wesker have samples of the Progenitor, T, and G Viruses, but he’s now also got a Master Plaga, allowing him to control a population like Saddler did, and create his Uroboros super virus.

Wesker is then seen on a boat gloating about his triumph and that Ada’s betrayal is meaningless. His men ask if he wants to open fire on her, but he declines, then states that the “age of man will soon end.” This is referring to his plan to saturate the world with his new virus, something he tries to do in Resident Evil 5. This extended ending could be a clue that Capcom intends to remake RE5 next, or it could just be a nod to that game’s events.

What happens next?

Wesker is next seen in the Resident Evil 5 prequel chapter Lost in Nightmares (itself a DLC) confronting a fugitive Oswell E. Spencer about his origins before he murders him and comes face-to-face with his old enemies Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. In Resident Evil 5, we learn that Ada instead gave the sample to The Agency who originally hired her, and also enticed Wesker and William Birkin from RE2 to betray Umbrella.

The original RE5 saw Wesker obtain a Las Plagas sample from a former Umbrella researcher called Ricardo Irving. As the RE3 remake implied, the parasites may be an ingredient of the T-Virus, meaning Irving and Umbrella had access to it from the start.

Wesker then uses this to infect the residents of an African village, sparking the events of the game. RE4’s Luis Sera is also a former researcher for Umbrella in the RE4 remake, creating even more ties between the parasites and the T-Virus. This also explains why both have similar mutagenic properties such as making their hosts produce massive eyeballs from their limbs.

Wesker creates his Uroboros super virus in RE5 but he is eventually stopped and killed by Chris Redfield, Sheva Alomar, and Jill Valentine at the end of that game.

RE4 ending explained | Where to find the Shotgun | Where to find the Golden Egg | Can you save the dog? | Separate Ways | The Mercenaries | Changing costume | How Spinels work | Achievements & Trophies | Remake differences | Resident Evil 4 review | Resident Evil 5 remake | Code Veronica remake