(2/10) manifested into the story is actually pretty easy to follow & speculate on. Raccoon City is infamous with Resident Evil, but there's still many newcomers who might only loosely know it's whole deal. They want a fresh face to experience the horrors of Raccoon City/RE in

(3/10) general, fresh eyes to experience the horrors, both to amplify the horror but also as a welcome for newcomers to the series. This begins the invention of Grace Ashcroft, & as she starts taking form, the team get very attached to her. But to make her stand out among other

(4/10) beloved characters who already have large fanbases with the RE community, she both needs to bring something fresh, exciting, while at the same time being a new face but with a personal connection to Raccoon City. She develops as Alyssa's daughter, her mom being murdered, &

(5/10) she gets to provide a fresh story tone, something very David Fincher or X-Files inspired, but new-to-the-series "Investigative FBI" spin on RE that brings a new flavor to RE it's never fully delved into. And with her they get to reimagine how a "modern new" survival-horror

(6/10)RE game; Many have asked for a "new game" that's like the classic REs, & this allows them to do that while also having new spins on it tonally, story-wise, & with new mechanics & ideas. But if returning to Raccoon City, it also just makes a lot of sense to have someone who

(7/10) experienced the Raccoon City incident, someone who can see the before-and-after with long-time fans, a sorta' "Returning Home to Roost" moment that a lot of horror media does very well, but Resident Evil's never actually fully done before. And of the RC survivors, who both

(8/10) has the potential for a compelling story in the setting while also be someone fans would be excited to see? While there's several beloved characters that stem from RC, Leon is the character who's had a character arc directly about how he's never gotten over Raccoon City.

(9/10) While most of the others have moved on, he hasn't, plus he has direct connections to the hanging plot thread that the American government has never been fully brought to justice for their involvement with Umbrella & Raccoon City's cover-up. Someone who's familiar with this

(10/10) horror that's never been fully resolved, & now is boiling over, almost like it's been awaiting their return. And those two sides of the story intertangling into a bigger narrative where they both have to face the past & horrors they're directly connected to.

I think Leon and Alyssa definitely knew each other before she died, since both felt strongly about the cover-ups of bio-terror incidents and government involvements.