Resident Evil Requiem features two endings determined by a single binary choice near the end of the game: Destroy Elpis or Release Elpis. No prior decisions, collectibles, or playstyle choices affect which ending you receive; it all comes down to what you select at that one terminal in the ARK facility.
Major spoiler warning: This guide contains full story spoilers for Resident Evil Requiem‘s ending. If you have not yet reached the ARK facility, come back once you get there.
1. Point of No Return
The ending sequence begins in the ARK facility, a secret Umbrella research complex buried deep beneath the ruins of Raccoon City. The game alternates between Leon’s and Grace’s perspectives multiple times throughout ARK.
The last safe checkpoint before the choice is when Leon waits for an elevator in the Bioweapon Repository / B4 Staff Room while clearing out Lickers and grey infected. This is the final point of no return in the campaign—keep a manual save here before riding the elevator.
After this, Grace proceeds to the central chamber of ARK, where the terminal asks one question:
What does the creator desire?
- Destroy Elpis
- Release Elpis
You are asked to confirm your choice before it is committed, and a prolonged button press is required to lock it in fully. This gives you a chance to reconsider.
Oswell Spencer and Alyssa Ashcroft.
2. Destroy Elpis Choice (The Bad Ending)
Choosing to destroy Elpis triggers the game’s non-canon bad ending and results in Leon’s death.
2.1 The Plot Sequence
Before making the choice, Grace has a mental flashback in which she hears Oswell Spencer’s regrets and Leon’s direct request to end it all. Moved by his words, she types “Destruction” into the terminal and sets the ARK facility’s self-destruct sequence in motion.
The sequence of events unfolds as follows:
- Zeno discovers Grace’s betrayal and moves to kill her.
- Leon intervenes to defend Grace despite being at the last stage of Raccoon City Syndrome and barely able to stand.
- Leon stabs Zeno with his hatchet and helps Grace reach a secure elevated platform before the facility collapses around them.
- Zeno shoots Leon in the head, killing him instantly.
- The ARK facility is destroyed completely, with Zeno buried in the rubble.
- Grace escapes alone via a rescue helicopter, devastated, and regrets not being able to save Leon.
- Credits roll to black, and no final boss fight takes place.
Zeno shoots Leon.
2.2 Why This Ending Is Non-Canon
The Destroy Elpis ending is not meant to be treated as an equal narrative outcome. There is no final boss, no resolution, and no post-credits scene.
Capcom makes the non-canonical nature explicit: once you return to the main menu after credits, the game prompts you to reload an autosave to the moment before the choice, mimicking the similar mechanic used in the Resident Evil 3 Remake when Jill doesn’t shoot Nikolai in time.
There is also no trophy or achievement tied to this ending, while the good ending rewards “Hope and Requiem.” The lack of both a boss fight and any reward confirms this is a dead-end state rather than a true alternate conclusion.
3. Release Elpis Choice (The Good Ending)
Choosing to release Elpis is the correct, canon choice, and the only path that leads to the game’s full resolution, final boss fight, and post-credits scene.
3.1 What Elpis Actually Is
The central twist of the ending is that Elpis is not a bioweapon at all. Rather, it is an antiviral cure secretly developed by Oswell Spencer as an act of redemption.
Before making the choice, Grace has a flashback in which she hears her mother, Alyssa Ashcroft, say she was “her hope,” followed by Spencer’s voice: “She is my hope.” This is a callback to the floppy-disk footage from earlier in the game, where Spencer holds baby Grace and calls her his hope for salvation.
Elpis is also the Greek word for “hope,” and the correct password to release it is “HOPE.” Grace enters Spencer’s password automatically. No puzzle or guesswork is required on the player’s part.
Elpis is Oswell’s last hope.
3.2 Immediate Aftermath
Once released, the vials disperse from the console:
- Zeno, acting in hubris and believing Elpis is a new bioweapon that will enhance his abilities, immediately injects himself with a vial.
- Elpis begins stripping him of his powers rather than augmenting them.
- Grace injects Leon with Elpis, instantly purging the Raccoon City Syndrome virus that had been killing him throughout the entire game.
- Leon is restored to full strength.
Gideon notes that Zeno is nothing but a mere imitation.
3.3 Victor Gideon’s Transformation and Final Boss
With Zeno powerless, Victor Gideon arrives. He kills Zeno by beheading him, calling him “nothing but an imitation” of the original (a clear reference to Albert Wesker). Victor then reveals his true form:
- Phase 1: Victor grows tentacle arms resembling Nemesis’s humanoid/Tyrant form from Resident Evil 3.
- Phase 2: Victor fully transforms into a monstrosity identical to Nemesis’ final form in RE3, including the “shoot the glowing pustules” mechanic.
- Leon defeats Victor by driving his hatchet into the creature’s core via a QTE button prompt.
Victor’s connection to the Nemesis strain is not coincidental; he is revealed to be infected with the same virus as Resident Evil 3’s Nemesis, which explains his persistent regeneration throughout the game.
Victor Gideon’s demise.
Tip: Defeating Victor on Insanity difficulty with the Infinite RPG is significantly easier, as the RPG kills both phases in one hit each. If you are on a trophy cleanup run with Infinite Ammo, do not forget to target the glowing pustules during Phase 2, or you will not be able to damage him.
3.4 Cutscenes and Resolution
After Leon defeats Victor, a series of cutscenes brings the story to its conclusion:
- Leon and Grace realize they are trapped as the ARK facility slowly shuts down around them—until BSAA agents from the Hound Wolf Squad arrive from above.
- One of the agents, Umber Eyes, delivers a message: Captain Redfield (Chris Redfield) wants to speak with Leon.
- Leon and Grace escape ARK, and Leon tells Sherry Birkin, who is also infected with Raccoon City Syndrome, that he is bringing an antiviral back for her as well.
- A news broadcast reports that a bioweapons lab (ARK) has been discovered beneath Raccoon City and that the US President denies all involvement.
- A cutscene reveals that Emily, whom Leon had previously been forced to shoot in her monstrous form, has been “rescued from a bio-terror front in Rhodes Hill”, alive and emerging from her cocoon, beginning to recover from the virus.
Requiem.
3.5 Post-Credits Scene
After the end credits, two additional scenes play:
- Grace in her FBI office: Back at her desk, Grace has two framed photographs—one of her and her mother and one of her with Emily. She appears to have taken on the role of Emily’s guardian.
- A mysterious retrieval team: In a separate scene, mercenaries arrive at the depths of the Crater/ARK ruins. One radio in confirms that all BSAA operatives have been eliminated and that they are moving in to retrieve their objective before “they send in the wolves.” It is unclear what was taken—potentially a fragment of Victor/Nemesis or Zeno’s effects.
This post-credits scene is speculated to be a setup for Resident Evil 10 or future DLC.
Completing the Release Elpis ending unlocks the “Hope and Requiem” Bronze trophy and grants access to Grace’s Report from the main menu: a lore document summarizing key events in the Resident Evil timeline with several important retcons.
A dead BSAA Agent.
4. What Unlocks After Completing Either Ending
Regardless of which ending you see first, the following content becomes available after the credits roll:
- Insanity difficulty
- Behind the Scenes video
- All previously hidden Challenges are now visible
- Models and Concept Art (purchasable with CP)
- Bonus weapons, cheats, costumes, and weapon skins (including the Jacket for both Leon and Grace, and the Tactical Light skin for Leon’s Alligator Snapper)
Grace’s Report, the extended lore document with series retcons and story implications, is exclusive to the Release Elpis ending and does not unlock after the Destroy Elpis route.
5. Which Ending Should You Pick First?
For a first playthrough, Release Elpis is the only ending worth seeing in full. Save the Destroy Elpis ending for a quick detour on your Speedrun playthrough if you want to see it, since skipping the final boss saves several minutes on the clock.
| Destroy Elpis | Release Elpis |
|---|---|
| Bad / Non-canon | Good / Canon |
| No Final Boss | Victor Gideon serves as the Final Boss |
| No Trophies upon completion | Automatically unlocks the Hope and Requiem (Bronze) trophy |
| No Post-Credit scene | A Post-Credit scene showing mysterious figures with a dead BSAA agent |
| Not compatible with the Speed Demon trophy | Compatible with the Speed Demon trophy |
