Resident Evil Requiem: How to Get Both Elpis Endings – Canon Guide

Spoiler Warning & Why This Choice Matters

After spending a good chunk of an evening reloading around the Elpis console in Resident Evil Requiem, I finally figured out the cleanest way to see both endings and understand what actually counts as canon. The game only gives you one real story choice – destroy or release Elpis – but that single decision completely changes the finale: who lives, who dies, whether you get an extra boss fight, and which outcome the series is clearly built to continue from.

This guide is full spoilers for the final act of Resident Evil Requiem, including both endings, the fate of Leon, Grace, Zeno, Dr. Gideon, Emily, and Sherry, plus the post-credits stinger. If you haven’t reached the Elpis decision yet, I strongly recommend you bookmark this and come back later.

If you are standing at the terminal wondering what to pick, I’ll break down exactly what “Destroy Elpis” and “Release Elpis” do, which path is treated as the canon ending, and how to quickly view both without replaying the whole game.

Where the Elpis Choice Happens (and What You Can Still Do Before It)

The Elpis decision comes right at the climax, once Leon and Grace converge in the ARK facility’s central chamber. You’ll approach a console that effectively asks the philosophical question the game’s been building toward – what the “creator” desires – and then boils it down to two options tied to Elpis:

• Destroy Elpis
• Release Elpis

Before you lock this in, note a couple of useful things I wish I’d paid more attention to the first time:

• Collectibles are separate from this choice. Mr. Raccoons and Charms are tracked independently of the ending. Even right before this sequence, you can still backtrack a bit to clean up any you missed. Once you’ve shot a Mr. Raccoon, it’s gone for good on that save, regardless of which ending you pick.
• You don’t need a special save to see both endings. Requiem very kindly lets you jump back to this decision point after finishing one ending, so you can immediately choose the other without replaying the whole final chapter.

With that in mind, here’s what actually happens with each choice, and how I recommend approaching them.

Ending 1 – Destroy Elpis (Bad / Non-Canon Ending)

How to Get the Destroy Elpis Ending

This one is simple from a gameplay standpoint:

• At the Elpis console, select “Destroy Elpis”.
• Confirm the choice when the game asks – this locks you into the bad ending sequence.

There’s no extra boss fight or gameplay challenge attached to this path. Once you confirm, you’re basically on rails through a closing cutscene sequence.

What Happens If You Destroy Elpis

This is the ending Leon actually asks Grace to promise to follow, but it plays out like the classic Resident Evil “everyone loses” scenario:

• The ARK facility initiates self-destruct. Alarms blare and everything starts going to hell as the reactor countdown kicks in.
• Leon saves Grace but sacrifices himself. He manages to get Grace up onto a higher walkway, out of the immediate danger zone.
• Zeno intervenes. As Leon lingers below, Zeno catches him. After a brief exchange, Zeno fatally shoots Leon in the head.
• Both Leon and Zeno appear to die. The platform they’re on plummets down the shaft and explodes. It’s strongly implied Zeno goes with him, though the game leaves a sliver of ambiguity because, well, it’s Zeno.
• Grace escapes alone. She makes it to the waiting helicopter Leon arranged earlier and gets pulled out as the ARK tears itself apart behind her.
• Elpis is gone. The potential cure it represented is wiped out with the complex.

The tone here is bleak: Leon dies, the “miracle” of Elpis is destroyed, and the world essentially loses any chance of a clean cure for the various bio-weapons and infections we’ve seen across the series.

Why Destroying Elpis Is the Non-Canon Ending

Everything about how this path is framed screams “bad ending”:

• Leon’s death alone is a huge red flag. Killing off such a central character in a short, no-boss, low-effort finale doesn’t fit how the series typically handles major turning points.
• No extra gameplay. There’s no final showdown, no climactic boss, just a cutscene and credits.
• The game immediately nudges you to undo it. As soon as the credits roll, Requiem asks if you want to jump right back to the Elpis choice and try the opposite option. It’s the developers practically flashing a sign that says “This is the bad branch.”

From my playthroughs, this is best treated as the “what if everything went wrong?” timeline – interesting to see once, but clearly not the version future games are built on.

Ending 2 – Release Elpis (Good / Canon Ending)

How to Trigger the Release Elpis Ending

To see what’s essentially the true ending:

• At the Elpis console, choose “Release Elpis”.
• Confirm when prompted. This locks in the longer, more involved finale with an extra boss fight and a post-credits scene.

If you just played the Destroy path, the game’s “Return to choice” option will drop you right back here so you can pick Release without replaying the level.

What Happens When You Release Elpis

This route is where all the big narrative payoffs (and the actual gameplay climax) live.

• Zeno injects himself with Elpis. He assumes it’s some ultimate power-up bioweapon. Instead, the twist is that Elpis is actually a powerful antiviral.
• Zeno loses his powers. Rather than mutating, Elpis strips away his enhancements, leaving him vulnerable.
• Dr. Gideon returns. Somehow surviving his previous encounter (albeit missing an arm), Gideon shows up again.
• Grace uses Elpis to cure Leon. This is one of the key moments that confirms Elpis’ nature as a cure rather than a weapon.
• Gideon kills Zeno. After a tense argument, Gideon beheads Zeno, taking him off the board for good in this timeline.

At this point, things escalate into the true final boss of the game.

The Final Boss Fight Against Gideon

With Zeno gone, Gideon goes full super-mutant mode. This unlocks a multi-phase boss fight that feels like the proper Resident Evil finale the Destroy path is missing.

• Expect multiple phases. Gideon’s fight isn’t a quick one-and-done. Save your strongest ammo (magnum, upgraded shotgun, explosives) and at least a couple of healing items for later in the encounter.
• Watch for quick-time events (QTEs). The game throws in several QTE prompts during key moments. Stay focused during cutscene transitions so you’re ready to mash or time the inputs when they pop up.
• Play patient, survival-horror style. Treat it like the classic RE bosses: keep your distance when you can, circle the arena, and capitalize on clear openings rather than face-tanking.

Once you put Gideon down for good and hit the final QTE, the rest of the ending plays out.

Story Consequences of Releasing Elpis

This is where all the hopeful threads come together, and why this ending is so clearly canon.

• Leon survives. Thanks to Elpis and Grace’s intervention, Leon makes it out alive.
• BSAA extraction. Leon, Grace, and the surviving team are rescued as the ARK collapses behind them, giving that classic “escape at the last second” RE vibe.
• Emily is saved. In this timeline, Emily doesn’t end up a permanent monster. The implication is that Elpis is used to reverse her condition.
• Sherry is cured. The epilogue shows that Sherry’s long-standing infection is finally gone, something that has major implications for the wider series lore.
• Grace becomes Emily’s guardian. We see Grace looking after a pre-mutation Emily, hinting at a quieter, more personal aftermath for her character.
• Umbrella and the bio-weapons world are shaken. Elpis’ antiviral properties essentially change the power balance: it’s a potential cure for even the most extreme infections and mutations.
• Post-credits tease. Stick around after the main credits. There’s an extra scene that hints at lingering mysteries in the ARK’s ruins and sets up threads that could easily lead into DLC or the next mainline Resident Evil.

The tone overall is still very Resident Evil – we’ve won this battle, but bioterrorism isn’t going anywhere – but it’s undeniably the “good” outcome.

Why Releasing Elpis Is the Canon Ending

From my runs, plus how the game itself frames things, releasing Elpis is the path the series is clearly going to build on:

• More content. Extra boss, longer finale, and a post-credits scene – this is where the budget went.
• Central characters survive and evolve. Leon lives, Grace grows into a guardian role, and long-running threads like Sherry’s infection finally resolve.
• Elpis as a cure is too big to ignore. A pan-antiviral that can revert heavy mutations is the kind of lore development that future games have to acknowledge.
• The “bad” ending is positioned as optional. The Destroy path is short, tragic, and immediately followed by a prompt to “go back and choose differently,” which underlines that it’s more of an alternate timeline than the main road.

If you care about what’s canon going forward, this is the ending you should mentally treat as the “real” one.

How to See Both Endings Efficiently

I wasted time at first keeping multiple manual saves around this section, but you actually don’t need to be that paranoid. Here’s the fastest way to experience everything without replaying huge chunks:

• Step 1: At the console, choose “Destroy Elpis” first. This gives you the shorter bad ending.
• Step 2: Let the credits roll. Don’t skip out of habit; wait until the game gives you the prompt.
• Step 3: When asked, select the option to return to the decision point. The game will reload you right back at the Elpis console.
• Step 4: Now choose “Release Elpis”. Play through the boss fight, the full good ending, and the post-credits scene.

This path mirrors how the game itself “expects” you to play: see the worst-case scenario, then immediately bounce back and experience the canon ending without redoing the whole ARK section.

Which Elpis Choice Should You Make?

If you only want to do one ending on your first playthrough, here’s how I’d break it down based on your priorities:

• For story and series canon: Choose Release Elpis. This is the “real” continuation, gives you the most closure, and sets up future games.
• For curiosity and completion: Do Destroy Elpis once, then immediately use the return prompt to replay the choice and pick Release. That way you see everything with minimal backtracking.
• For a pure tragic “what if” run: Stick with Destroy Elpis and live with the consequences – Leon’s death, the loss of Elpis, and Grace’s lonely escape.

From actually sitting through both in one sitting, my honest recommendation is:

• If you’re playing blind and hate the idea of replaying finales, just pick Release Elpis first. You’ll get the best version of the story in one go.
• If you don’t mind an extra 20–30 minutes, do Destroy → return to choice → Release. Seeing how badly things can go makes the canon ending land even harder.

Either way, once you’ve watched Leon walk away from ARK alive, with Elpis out in the world as a cure instead of a weapon, you’ll know you’ve seen the outcome Resident Evil Requiem actually wants you to carry forward into the next game.