Video Game Heroine of the Month: Rebecca Chambers, Resident Evil 0

Resident Evil 0 is making its way to the Nintendo Switch this month, giving players a chance to go through the beginning of the Resident Evil mythos — chronologically speaking. Unlike Jill or Claire, Rebecca never really got a chance to shine after Resident Evil 0, but she kicked enough ass in her one starring game to last the whole damn series. Her bravery in the face of Umbrella's nightmare is the reason why she's May's Video Game Heroine of the Month.

Rebecca got her start way back in the original Resident Evil, released in 1996. Players meet her in the medical room of the Spencer Mansion during Chris's scenario, but she didn't give us the greatest first impression. She's young, panicky, and obviously in over her head (not that she wouldn't have a reason to be). In addition to being dropped into the middle of decrepit old mansion infested with zombies, she's still a newbie to the whole experience, as her adventure from the Arklay Woods was her first real deployment after joining the Special Tactics and Rescue Service's Bravo Team.

However, when Resident Evil 0 came out six years later in 2002, we learned that Rebecca had already been through 24 hours of complete hell before Chris found her. Her journey through the Umbrella Training Facility and the labs below it is every bit as harrowing as Chris and Jill's fight through Spencer Mansion. The fact that she's the only person who made it through both scenarios alive means she might be the toughest member of S.T.A.R.S.

Rebecca's backstory only gets its place amongst the text of Resident Evil's game manuals, but it adds a lot to our understanding of her to know where she came from. She's a child prodigy, and by the time she was 18 she had already graduated from a university with a degree in chemistry. Many agencies tried to scout Rebecca, but she chose the S.T.A.R.S. unit and joined as Medic of Bravo Team. It's also noteworthy that, despite the fact we saw a good deal of its members fall to the horrors hidden in Arklay Forest, S.T.A.R.S. was an elite unit composed primarily of former soldiers. Chris and Barry were ex-U.S. Air Force, and Jill was previously a member of the elite U.S. Army Delta Force special forces unit. It speaks a lot of Rebecca's skills that a place was found for her amongst such prestigious company. 

Her skills served S.T.A.R.S. well, too. In both Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil, she uses her knowledge of chemistry to mix together chemicals and herbs that can be used for healing and such. Additionally, her medical expertise helps her save S.T.A.R.S. member Richard Aiken and Chris Redfield from the venom of a mutated snake in the Spencer Mansion.

Unfortunately, after her roles in Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil, Rebecca doesn't get another chance to be in the spotlight. Sometime after Raccoon City is destroyed in Resident Evil 3, she joins the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. In her role there, she helps to contain several biological attacks and eventually ends up as a professor at the Alexander Institute of Biotechnology in Chicago. Later, she develops a cure for the A-Virus before bioterrorists can use it. 

Even though she doesn't star in any games post-Resident Evil 0, without her actions there and in Spencer Mansion, the course of the series history would have taken a drastic turn. The outbreak at the Umbrella Training Facility would presumably have gone unchecked, and the demise of Raccoon City would have likely been sped up by several months. It's also very possible that Chris Redfield would have died from his wounds at Spencer Mansion, which means Claire wouldn't have come to Raccoon City looking for him, which means Leon may not have escaped alive, and there goes the whole series! 

You can step into Rebecca's boots when Resident Evil 0 comes to Nintendo Switch on May 20, 2019.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author's, and do not necessarily reflect those of SYFY WIRE, SYFY, or NBC Universal.