Steve Burnside has always been a divisive character in the Resident Evil franchise. From his whiny, reckless, over-the-top histrionic personality to his creepy fixation with Claire Redfield, many fans of Resident Evil Code: Veronica view Steve as a stain on the beloved survival horror game.
But to be fair, he is a 17 year-old kid who found himself in the middle of some seriously fucked up situations. He comes face-to-face with mutated abominations, he’s injected with a virus that forcibly mutates him into a green giant, and ultimately dies after confessing his love to the girl he almost killed. The sad part is that none of this was his fault.
How Steve Ended Up in Umbrella’s Clutches
Steve’s dad was a low-level Umbrella employee who was selling the company’s secrets. When Umbrella found out, they sent a team of agents to raid the Burnside’s house.
When Steve tried to defend his family, the agents killed Steve’s mother. Steve and his father were sent to Rockfort Island, a remote prison facility in the South Seas. The reason Steve was apprehended was so Umbrella could use him as a bargaining chip to force his father to cooperate and because he “knew too much.”
A Run of Bad Luck
On Rockfort Island, Steve meets Claire Redfield, who was captured after she broke into an Umbrella facility in search of her missing brother Chris.
Initially, Steve doesn’t trust Claire due to some major trust issues he developed following his imprisonment. Eventually, the two of them work together to survive an outbreak of the T-Veronica Virus that tears through Rockfort after H.C.F. operatives set off an explosive inside a laboratory located on the island. Claire and Steve are one of the few survivors who don’t mutate into a zombie due to the viral outbreak. Unfortunately, Steve’s father isn’t so lucky and Steve has no choice but to kill his own dad.
The duo manage to escape Rockfort via a plane, with Steve acting as the pilot. Unfortunately, the commander of Rockfort Island, Alfred Ashford set the plane on auto-pilot so it could fly to Umbrella’s Antarctic base. That’s where things go from bad to worse.
What Happens in Antarctica?
After their plane crash lands into the Antarctic base, Alfred holds Claire at gunpoint. Steve is able to get the drop on Alfred by shooting him multiple times with his submachine guns. The two try to escape but are intercepted by Alfred’s twin sister Alexia Ashford. Alexia had herself cryogenically frozen for 15 years so that the T-Veronica Virus could fully integrate itself into her body. Alfred was able to wake her before he died of his injuries and Alexia is pissed.
Alexia injects Steve with the T-Veronica Virus, transforming him into a large, green creature that tries to kill Claire with an axe. When Claire locks herself inside a cell, one of Alexia’s tentacles breaks through the wall and grabs her. That’s when Steve breaks into the room, his axe aimed high and ready for the kill.
But over the course of Code: Veronica, Steve found himself falling in love with Claire. His feelings are so strong that he’s able to fight against the virus and slams his axe down on Alexia’s tentacle. In retaliation, Alexia throws Steve into a wall hard enough to mortally wound him.
Steve reverts to his human form and confesses his love to Claire before he succumbs to his injuries.
What Wesker Wanted With Steve’s Body
Former Umbrella researcher Albert Wesker recovers Steve’s corpse before leaving the Antarctic facility. Wesker spent much of the game looking for a sample of the T-Veronica Virus. He’s particularly interested in the strain Steve was injected with since it was derived from Alexia’s blood.
Before he leaves, Wesker taunts Chris and Claire by suggesting it’s possible to revive Steve and have him come after Claire. Again, it wasn’t a genuine threat or a plan he intended to follow through on. He was just being a dick to Claire.
Years later during Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles, Wesker is contacted by a South American crime lord named Javier Hidalgo. His daughter Manuela is seriously ill so Wesker gives him a sample of the T-Veronica Virus extracted from Steve’s corpse. In return, he receives money and influence in Hidalgo’s criminal network. This is the last time Steve is directly mentioned in the Resident Evil series.
Could the Code: Veronica Remake Change Steve’s Fate?
Resident Evil: Veronica (Capcom dropped “Code” from the title) was announced at Summer Game Fest 2026 and is coming in 2027 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, and Switch 2.
Capcom described it as a reimagined storyline, which opens the door for changes to Steve’s arc.
The previous remakes give us an idea of what Capcom might do. Resident Evil 2 (2019) kept the core story intact but added new content like the “Ghost Survivors” DLC adding stories for the minor characters who died in the original game. Resident Evil 3 (2020) removed content for a more linear experience. Resident Evil 4 (2023) fleshed out secondary characters in ways that expanded the plot. If the pattern holds, Steve’s death will probably still happen since it’s one of the biggest gut-punches in Code: Veronica. But Steve could be given a bigger role in Resident Evil Veronica that makes him more important to the story, or at least makes him less annoying.
There’s also a possibility Wesker’s taunt about Steve could morph into something real in the remake. A reimagined version of Veronica could open the door for a resurrected Steve to return in a future installment in the series. It’s just the matter of whether Capcom chooses to go there.
