Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield may be the central characters of Resident Evil 2, but the landmark survival horror title is just as noteworthy for its excellent supporting cast. The Birkin family, Marvin Branagh, Mr. X and Ada Wong are responsible for some of the game’s most memorable moments and it’s the latter of these colorful creations that modder Aydan Watkins has decided to have star in their latest piece of work: a standalone campaign dedicated to retelling the events leading up to Ada’s arrival in Raccoon City and her fateful encounter with Leon.
Originally created solely for Patreon members, Watkins has subsequently decided to make their effort more accessible by releasing Ada’s Story to the public. You can still support the modder via that aforementioned method, but contributions are no longer required to download the ambitious expansion. To call it that is a little disingenuous, though, we must admit, as you don’t need to own a copy of the original Resident Evil 2 in order to play this side story, which is itself based on a diary found during Leon’s campaign.
As for what fans can expect to find in the retro adventure, see below for a content summary:
- New Start Location & Items
- Custom Cutscene
- Custom Events
- New Boss Battles and Gameplay Mechanics
- New Character & Monster Models/Textures
- New Music & Sound Effects
- New Item Icons/Models
- New Enemy & Weapon Damage Values
- Changed Monster Locations & Behaviours
- New Puzzle Solutions
- Changed Start & Ending Movies
It’s worth noting, of course, that Ada’s Story is an unofficial release, meaning it shouldn’t be considered canon to the series’ wider lore, even if it does borrow from official material. Chronologically speaking, Leon’s love interest was last seen in Resident Evil 6 attempting to put a stop to the plans of Carla Radames, a clone of herself created by Neo-Umbrella member Derek Simmons. Whether the character will show up in Village remains to be seen, though we imagine it much more likely that her next appearance will be in Capcom’s rumored Resident Evil 4 remake. See here for everything we currently know about the latter.