Exploring Resident Evil: Caliban Cove’s Great Original Plot

Resident Evil: Caliban Cove is a very fun book from S.D. Perry. This is an original story that takes place between the first and second Resident Evil games. It is really cool that Perry was allowed to do this, and it gives a little insight into what Capcom thought of some of the characters in the series.

Instead of using Chris, Jill, and Barry as the main characters, Perry uses Rebecca. It makes sense as the main characters for the second game probably hadn’t been created yet, and the direction for the video games was in flux. This part of the backstory has been covered elsewhere.

I love the direction that this story took. She wasn’t tied to a pre-existing game and had some freedom over what she wanted to do. This felt like a Resident Evil story, and it could make for a good video game if some things were tweaked.

Plot Summary

The story being told in the books leans more into conspiracy and how Umbrella can influence things. They cover up what happened in the first book and discredit our heroes. Not only that, they are also able to sabotage the investigations into what they were doing. This felt like the movies in some ways.

The first few chapters explain that a few weeks have gone by, and Barry has called a meeting at his house. Jill, Chris, and Rebecca are on their way over. Once there, they meet David, who is one of the S.T.A.R.S. members who isn’t corrupt. We get a rundown of what is going on, and that there is another facility in Maine.

After they go over some materials given to them by Trent, our heroes are attacked by an Umbrella hit squad. This is when our heroes learn that S.T.A.R.S. is working with Umbrella in some way, and they decide to raid the facility at Caliban Cove to find evidence they can turn over to the federal government. Seems easy enough.

Rebecca is the only person to go, and we learn about some new characters as well as a new bad guy. The T Virus has been modified, newer bio weapons have been created, and our villain, Dr Griffith, has enough of his version of the virus to take over the world. It sounds like a better idea for a game than Resident Evil: Survivor on the PS1.

The story moves quickly, and there is a lot more character development in this book than in the previous one. There is only one puzzle they have to solve, and there are fewer enemies that they fight. Perry introduces a plot point early in the book, and there is a nice payoff for it at the end.

This is a shorter book, but it sets up a lot of things for future books in the series. I like the way Perry does this, and I’m excited to know where this is all going and how it is tied into the rest of the series. We also learn more about the mysterious Trent, which should build into a cool reveal in the later books.

No Game, No Problem

This book was published in 1998 and was meant to fill in the blanks from the first and second video games. I’m not sure which version of Resident Evil 2 this was building to, but it does give some explanation as to what Jill and Chris were doing during that game. It also does a good job of building up Rebecca.

There was a lot going on at Capcom during this time. Like many video games, quite a few versions of Resident Evil 2 were pitched before the final version was released. I would love to speak with Perry to find out if she remembers what version of the story she was working with.

This is a standalone story that only uses Jill, Chris, and Barry at the beginning of the book. It felt like Capcom didn’t have plans for Rebecca, so they let Perry use her for this story. She also gave her more to do in the first book.

Caliban Cove felt like it would fit right in with other Resident Evil stories. It hits all the right notes that several other survival horror games, and it is a fun story to read. This is a little shorter, and it doesn’t do anything crazy with the source material.

Perry really likes Rebecca

This is where I would like to speak with Perry. She put a spotlight on the character and did a lot to elevate her. I remember her from the first game, but she wasn’t used all that much. I think Barry was given more things to do than she was.

I have a theory about this. It comes across like Capcom wasn’t planning on using her character, so they let Perry do whatever she wanted with Rebecca. It would explain why she was used as a main character in Caliban Cove.

Out of all the questions I would like to ask Perry, trying to learn more about her using Rebecca is at the top of my list. She was given a lot of freedom on two of the books and was able to make some minor changes to the books based on the games. I doubt that she would remember much about the contract she signed with Capcom, but it would be interesting to know what she was allowed to do and not to do.

Wrap Up

The plot for this book feels like an abandoned idea for a Resident Evil game. It is a little shorter, or at least it felt that way, and things get wrapped up quickly. While Rebecca is the only holdover from the other book, she isn’t alone.

Each character is given some character development. We have six new characters to build up, and I think Perry does a great job of doing so. At some point in the future, I should look into whether these characters have made their way into the video games. I know that Rebecca did, but I wonder if Capcom used any of the others.

I enjoyed this book for what it is. Caliban Cove is an original story that is set in the Resident Evil world, or at least in a parallel timeline. It feels like there are three of them. One for the video games, another for the books, and a strange one for the movies.

Having watched all of the Resident Evil movies, I can safely say that I’ve enjoyed the books more. What I do find interesting is how small parts of the books have made their way into the movies. It isn’t much so far, but it will be interesting to see how much overlap there is between the three separate Resident Evil media sources.

If you liked this post, please check out my other posts on Resident Evil media, such as Sweet Home and Umbrella Conspiracy.