Let's start off with a little backstory of what's been going on with Jill. She's under house arrest with 24/7 surveillance for trying to investigate the mansion, where she witnessed several of her friends die unjust and horrifying deaths caused by the people in charge. She's been having recurring nightmares and needs to take pills for her insomnia and is likely suffering from PTSD. Now her hometown is at the risk of destruction and she's being hunted by a Nigh-Invulnerable juggernaut whose singular goal is to kill her. Poor girl can't catch a break.
Jill knows that Nemesis is after her and the train takes a while just to get ready. If she waits, all the civilians would be in jeopardy and she decides to lure it away. She manages to lose it and boards the train, ready for evacuation... then Nemesis shows up and kills all the civilians she was trying to save.
Jill runs into her old friend Kendo at the gun store and tells him her plan to get out of the city in the subway, but he seems a bit distracted as his eyes focus on the backroom's door. She asks him what's wrong but he tells her it's nothing and that he's got things to do but he'll try to catch up with her. Those familiar with the Resident Evil 2 remake know who's behind that door...
This later gets heartwrenching when you learn that a vaccine for the virus exists and likely just blocks away from Kendo's shop. But by the time Jill learns of this, both Kendos are likely long dead.
If that's not enough to drive home that nobody was spared from the disaster that was Raccoon, right outside the garage where Nicholai shoots Murphy, there's a large chalk drawing of a boy with his sister, half of which is completely slathered with blood.
Mikhail dies heroically. After Nikolai betrays him, he buys Jill enough time to escape, exchanging his life for hers.
We see how Marvin gets bitten. Zombie Brad walks towards him and Marvin threatens to shoot, but not before apologizing. Zombie Brad repeats the word and Marvin lets his guard down, leading to his bite and eventual death. It also really hammers home the And I Must Scream nature of the zombies.
Tyrell is Carlos' loyal friend, who stands by his decisions and helps him regardless of mission directives. He happily assists Jill in their mission, only to be impaled by Nemesis.
Jill and Carlos' entire adventure was All for Nothing. After risking life and limb to create the vaccine needed to stop the government from bombing the city, Nikolai destroys it. The last scene is the duo leaving as the bomb drops, killing everyone left.
Brad's Heroic Sacrifice. When he and Jill take refuge in a bar, Brad does his damndest to keep the zombies out, but one eventually gets through and bites him. He immediately knows that he is completely screwed and tells Jill to go on without him. His last words to her are "Don't fuck up like I did" and he keeps the zombies at bay while Jill flees. A far cry from his cowardly nature from the original game.
The entire game, really, as it sells just how tragic the fall of Raccoon city was.
Crosses over with Heartwarming. The backstory of the Hunter Gammas Jill finds in the sewer. Hunters were created to be intelligent. Past games establish them as intelligent as orangutans and capable of learning commands and bonding with their trainers. They are mutated animals, but animals all the same. The ones in the sewer are there because the researcher that cared for them became emotionally attached, like humans are bound to do with animals, and couldn't stand it when Umbrella ordered them destroyed. So he released them. Imagined being told a pet had to be put down.
On a similar note, the same note admits that the Gammas are familiar with the staff and friendly to them. This gives the insinuation that, despite being created to be weapons, the Gammas are capable of affection. In other words, you are gunning down social creatures who merely want affection.
In the same vein, you find a diary near the end of the game, belonging a college professor who was offered the opportunity of a lifetime; move to Raccoon City and work for Umbrella. He told his wife and daughter and they agreed, only for him to realize far too late just what kind of people he now worked for, and couldn't blow the whistle on them since it would mean putting his family in danger. He was probably the zombie whose head you just blew off to get to the diary... But it goes to show that not everyone who works for Umbrella is a morally bankrupt monster.
In Resident Evil 2 (Remake), the "B" scenario has a small room under the RPD that includes a recruitment poster featuring Brad Vickers. Carlos can interact with it, and realize this was the zombie he just killed. His only response. "Sorry, poster boy."
Murphy's backstory, as revealed in the journal beside his body. He was a skilled military sniper, and after his brother was killed by gang members, Murphy went on a rampage that left twenty of them dead. He was freed from incarceration by Umbrella and actually looked forward to 'riot control' in Racoon City, thinking it would be a way to honor his brother's Nice Guy beliefs of reaching out to people in need.
Just after the above, Jill can find another dead UBCS soldier. His journal reveals he was a veteran of several past wars but was Driven to Suicide by the sheer hopelessness of the situation unfolding in Racoon City. His last written thought is to hope that he stays dead and doesn't become a zombie.
The UBCS as a whole in the R Emake seems to be mainly composed of men with past crimes but are overall affable, decent people as seen by Mikhail, Tyrell, and Carlos. It serves to show that not everyone employed by Umbrella is a bad person, and most of the time, doesn't even know of the company's true intentions. It's a shame Nicholai is not a good person like his comrades and embodies everything that Umbrella stands for.
Beside an abandoned patrol car near the RPD, Jill can overhear a radio transmission from a police officer. The officer reports being holed up with three civilians, one of them injured and unable to move. While a reference to Resident Evil: Outbreak, his call for instructions from the dispatcher go unanswered.
The entire new story arc for the third act, which adds a new Hope Spot for Raccoon City as Jill and Carlos race to the underground labs to acquire a vaccine for the T-Virus in order to save the city and stop the impending missile strike. Doomed by Canon still kicks in, as the vaccine is lost and the missile still destroys the city, all thanks to Nicholai.
