The Resident Evil series has been around for over twenty years now, and while it’s certainly had its high and low points through the years, it remains a beloved series. While the first game didn’t invent survival horror, it sure made the genre popular, and Resident Evil 4 would later redefine third person action games for years after release. Just the name alone conjures unforgettable images of zombie dogs jumping through windows, terrible dialogue, being chased by the Nemesis, and Chris Redfield punching boulders with his bare fists.
It’s not the worst in the Resident Evil series, not by a long shot, but it’s so forgettable against the better games that it just gets tossed by the wayside, sort of where it belongs. (Andrew Vandersteen) 10 – Resident Evil Revelations. For those who wanted Resident Evil to go back to its scary roots after RE5, this game is for you. Sep 23, 2017 The Resident Evil series has admittedly had its ups and downs throughout its renowned history. With a whopping number of over 25 games (and counting), fans have watched as.
Resident Evil is also the most successful movie series based on a video game, and Capcom has had no issue spinning the franchise off into novels, animated movies, toys, energy drinks, and even a stage play.
The company has also experimented a lot with the formula over the last two decades, producing games of wildly varying quality. Fans can argue all day and night over which game is best, but there’s no shortage of contenders for which is the worst, either. That said, even some of the lesser loved entries (usually) have some kind of redeeming feature.
With that in mind let’s look at Every Resident Evil Game, Ranked Worst To Best, and see which entry comes out on top.
Continue scrolling to keep readingClick the button below to start this article in quick view
Top 10 Hardest Resident Evil Games
Start NowCommentEmail
advertising
22 Umbrella Corps
Resident Evil purists have lamented the series' gradual slide towards pure action over the years, and while some of the more action-focused titles have been fun, they lose some of the distinctive Resident Evil feel.
That said, it’s really hard to figure out who exactly Umbrella Corps is aimed at. It’s a clunky, joyless multiplayer shooter set around classic Resident Evil maps. The game itself just feels awkward to play, with an unnatural third person viewpoint, cover that rarely works and enemies that soak up bullets with barely a limp to show for it.
Umbrella Corps also gives you an awesome melee weapon that kills in one hit, and players will quickly abandon the quest for better weapons and just use that. In short, it’s an intensely mediocre shooter that feels nothing like a Resident Evil game and is often considered the worst the series has to offer.
21 Resident Evil Survivor 2 Code: Veronica
Code: Veronica is a fan favorite title, due to its gothic atmosphere and enjoyable b-movie storyline. Resident EvilSurvivor 2 remains a real oddity in the series though, by choosing to retell Code: Veronica as an arcade style first person shooter.
The overriding problem with Survivor 2 is just how damned lazy the whole venture is. It reuses all its assets from the original Code: Veronica, including enemies and weapons, and turns it into a shooting game with horrible controls. The remixed “story” is also told through subtitles instead of recorded dialogue, as Capcom were presumably too cheap to get the actors back to record new lines.
The game is framed as a dream Claire is having after the events of the actual Code: Veronica game, which is confusing as she dreams about the Nemesis showing up, even though she’s never met or heard of the creature. The game’s Dungeon Mode is ok for a couple of hours of mindless shooting, but overall Survivor 2 is a best-forgotten cash grab.
advertising
20 Resident Evil: Gaiden
It was always going to be hard to port Resident Evil over to the Game Boy, to the point that a direct port of the original game was developed but ultimately cancelled. Gaiden was a valiant attempt to bring the survival horror experience to the Game Boy Color, but it proved wanting in several areas.
The story finds Barry Burton on a rescue mission for Leon Kennedy, who’s gone missing while investigating an abandoned cruise ship. The gameplay finds Barry wandering around the ship reading files, collecting keys and fighting the occasional zombie. The game enters a first-person mini-game during battle, where players have to hit the white area of a sliding scale to score a hit.
The graphics are pretty good and the story has interesting turns – including a radical twist ending the rest of the series has subsequently ignored – but the game itself is often dull and unsatisfying. It was an interesting experiment that didn’t quite pan out, but the abandoned cruise ship idea would crop up again in future entries.
19 Resident Evil: Survivor
Survivor was another quick cash grab effort, but unlike Survivor 2 a little bit more effort was put into it. The game follows a new character called Ark Thompson who wakes up on an island with no memory of how he got there, and what’s worse is he’s surrounded by zombies. Thankfully he has a gun, so he shoots his way through monsters recycled from Resident Evil 2 and 3.
The game has a first person perspective and offers branching paths, leading to optional boss fights and areas. Again the control scheme is awkward and the shooting isn’t very enjoyable, plus the character models themselves are quite ugly.
The game has some of the worst voice acting in the entire series – which is saying something – but the story is an enjoyably daft ride. The main character eventually remembers he’s on a special mission for his buddy Leon, but the events of the game have been forgotten by the main series, and the game itself is regularly forgotten by fans.
advertising
18 Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
On paper Operation Raccoon City sounds awesome. It features an elite team of Umbrella soldiers venturing into the doomed city to cover the tracks of the evil corporation while revisiting classic moments and characters from a new angle.
In practice the game is another underwhelming shooter, where the player guides a team of A.I. buddies – or actual buddies if played online – around bland environments, shooting classic monsters that absorb ungodly amounts of damage
The game is utterly devoid of atmosphere or suspense, the shooting feels imprecise and the A.I, for both enemies and friends is appalling. The experience is a little more tolerable with a friend and it’s nice to revisit certain events, but like Umbrella Corps it barely feels like a Resident Evil game at all. There was a seed of a good idea in Operation Raccoon City, but the execution renders it a bust.
17 Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil 6 is the most depressing example of a game created by committee, where Capcom tried desperately to please everyone and made a mess of it. It’s an epic action adventure featuring four separate scenarios, with each having its own focus; Leon campaign is more survival horror based, while Chris Redfield’s is pure shooting action.
The game literally throws every style into the mix in the hope it will all gel, so it has horror, action, quick time events, vehicle sections, puzzle solving, melee combat, co-op gameplay and so on. The trouble is it does nothing particularly well. Chris’ campaign suffers the most, where the player is constantly running low on ammo despite the focus on shooting. Players are also forced to replay the same boss fights as a different character again and again, which gets unbelievably repetitive.
Top 10 Scariest Resident Evil Games
There are occasional highlights, like a fight with a terrifying snake creature and a section in a dark subway tunnel, but these moments are too rare. The section where Chris takes control of a fighter jet is a series nadir, and proved Capcom badly needed to go back to the drawing board for the franchise.
advertising
16 Resident Evil Outbreak File #1 & 2
Resident Evil Outbreak was Capcom’s attempt to make a team based online game, and it allowed players to choose between eight characters as they travel through Raccoon City. It’s a cool concept, with each character having their own strengths and weaknesses (special items, weapons etc.)
On the flipside, it’s an irritating experience to play solo for a number of reasons. The player is only afforded four item slots which aren't nearly enough, considering a number of weapons, health items and objects you need to carry. The A.I. partners you’re forced to work with are brain dead, everything happens in real time meaning reloading and switching items in the middle of hectic battles and a virus meter is constantly ticking towards your death.
For those who can overlook these inbuilt frustrations, there’s a decent game in Outbreak, which offers a variety of inventive scenarios and enemies, including a zombie elephant. With minor tweaks, both Outbreak games could have been stronger, but its strengths have made it a cult game within the series.
15 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
The Mercenaries began life as a mini-game included with Resident Evil 3, where players had to guide a character from one end of the map to the other while earning points from various kills. The game has since become a series staple, becoming a relentless action game that’s nearly as much fun as the main campaign.
Fans were understandably dubious about the announcement of The Mercenaries 3D for the 3DS, which was basically the mini-game for standard retail price. Again, The Mercenaries is always a blast to play, and exploring the different levels with each playable character is fun. The action is slick and relentless, and it’s an easy way to waste a few hours.
Sadly there wasn’t much of an effort made to evolve the game beyond its origins. There’s no campaign mode or plot to speak of, the frame rate is jittery and it quickly becomes repetitive.
advertising
14 Resident Evil: Dead Aim
Dead Aim is another Resident Evil: Survivor type game, following a special agent investigating a zombie filled cruise ship. The gameplay is a mixture of third-person exploration and first person shooting, which works surprisingly well.
Needless to say, the story and voice acting are pretty poor, though it does have an atmospheric soundtrack and the graphics are quite good for the era. While the game is short, breezy fun, the problem is it’s totally forgettable. Fans will play through it once and be moderately entertained for the three hours it takes to complete, and then they’ll probably never play it again.
The story had no impact on the main series, the characters were never seen again and it rarely gets mentioned among fans. It’s a competent shooter, but it lacked the special ingredient that makes the series stand out.
13 Resident Evil Zero
Resident Evil Zero was originally announced for the N64 before it was scrapped midway and developed for the GameCube instead. The story follows Rebecca Chambers a day before the original game, where she and Bravo Team investigate the mysterious murders in the mountains surrounding Raccoon City.
She finds herself trapped on a zombie infested train with an escaped convict, and she gradually uncovers the origin of the outbreak. Zero was something of a swan song for the fixed camera, tank control style of gameplay, which was showing its age by this point. The game added the mechanic of being able to switch between playable characters and drop items, which sounds good in theory but becomes cumbersome in practice since you often had to backtrack for certain objects.
The enemy and boss designs were lazy too, featuring infected baboons and giant bats and scorpions. Negatives aside there’s fun to be had, and the game is slickly presented. The story didn’t need to be told – and seriously, why did Rebecca not mention any of it during the original game? – but Zero isn’t half bad.
advertising
12 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Originally released for the Nintendo Wii, The Umbrella Chronicles is a rail shooter detailing the downfall of the sinister corporation. Series villain Albert Wesker narrates events in his silky tones, which covers the events seen in Resident Evil Zero, the original game and Nemesis while adding new chapters to the story.
It’s a frantic shoot ‘em up basically, one that speeds through the history of the series on fast forward. There’s precious little horror or suspense to be had while players blast through waves of familiar monsters, and it’s hard not to get swept up in the pure adrenaline rush of it all.
The game really could have used some more checkpoints though, because it’s often punishing and it’s easy to wind back at the start of a chapter. Some gameplay balance would have been nice too, but overall it’s an enjoyable, swift ride through Resident Evil lore.
11 Resident Evil: Revelations 2
With fans of the series vocally feeling disappointment that the flagship survival horror series was lacking in actual horror, Capcom created the Revelations spin-off series. These games leaned closer towards classic Resident Evil, putting the emphasis on resource management and limiting ammo. That’s not to say they lack action, but they’re intentionally a little more low-key and claustrophobic.
Revelations 2 built on the foundation of the original, placing Claire Redfield and Barry Burton’s daughter Moira on – what else – an abandoned island. Lovable old Barry himself also appears after a long absence. The story and gameplay are routine, but being able to play as different characters helps mix up the play style. Barry’s all about firepower, while Moira is more useful for puzzle solving.
The Raid Mode is also back, allowing players to revisit classic stages and gathers points for upgrades and cool unlockables. Revelations 2 doesn’t do much with the formula, but it’s a solid entry nonetheless.
advertising
10 Resident Evil 5
Resident Evil 5 is one of the more polarizing titles in the series since it openly forsakes survival horror for the sake of action. Throughout the game, the players is constantly being handed more firepower, and the emphasis is on big setpieces and explosions. The player is also accompanied throughout by an A.I. partner, who the player has to babysit, lest they waste healing items or ammo.
With a co-op partner Resident Evil 5 can be great fun. The levels are varied, it looks gorgeous and constant action makes it intense. However, there’s no denying the move to straight ahead action was a worrying direction for the series. The storyline actually does a good job of wrapping up many of the loose ends from the franchise, and it became a final curtain call for everyone’s favorite bad guy Albert Wesker.
DLC for the game included Lost In Nightmares, a fantastic prequel to the main story that’s the closest the series has come to the gameplay style of the original titles in many years.
9 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles
Another on the rails Wii shooter, this time recounting the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code: Veronica, with an original framing chapter featuring Leon. The game plays very much like The Umbrella Chronicles, with the player being lead through the level while blasting away at assorted monsters.
The game has more polish and refinements than its predecessor, which helps makes for a tighter experience. It’s also fun to revisit classic events from a whole new perspective, with the Code: Veronica recap putting the shoddy Survivor 2 to shame.
The downside is the constantly swaying and dipping perspective, which can be dizzying at times. The perspective is constantly swinging around, making accurate shots or pausing for a quick breath tricky. The new chapter doesn't add much to the overall lore of the series, though it does help fill in some gaps from the timeline. Not really an essential title, but an easy one to pick up and play with a friend.
advertising
8 Resident Evil - Code: Veronica
Code: Veronica was one of the big exclusive titles for the Sega Dreamcast, and found Claire Redfield trapped on an island being threatened by new monsters and a resurrected Albert Wesker. It was the franchises big first leap to a next gen console after the PlayStation era, and the graphics were stunning at the time.
While the graphical overhaul was impressive the regular formula was firmly in place, with the story being a stilted but enjoyably cheesy affair, and most of the game being viewed through static camera angles. Veronica added some cool monsters to the line-up, and the creepy Ashford twins still have the power to induce nightmares in players of a certain age.
Some the gameplay could feel a little clunky at times, and there’s a huge amount of backtracking. The game was eventually ported to PS2, which added around ten minutes worth of cut scenes to beef up Wesker’s part in proceedings.
7 Resident Evil: Revelations
The third time proved to be the charm, with Revelations taking place yet again on a cruise ship. This time they really committed to the locale though, making it an eerie, creepy environment for events to unfold. Revelations attempted to mesh the survival horror approach with action, with some chapters putting the focus on tension, while others let players go crazy with machine guns.
![Top ten best resident evil games Top ten best resident evil games](https://www.playstationenthusiast.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/5/2017/08/best-resident-evil-games.png)
For the most part, it hits a good balance between these play styles, and while the new enemies weren’t quite as iconic as the classic beasts, they’re still pretty unnerving. The story is presented in a bizarre episodic approach, with chapters beginning with a recap of the level that was just played. This annoying style aside, Resident Evil: Revelations proved to be a mostly satisfying return to survival horror.
It also introduced the inhumanly addictive Raid Mode, which for some fans racked up way more playtime than the actual story mode.
advertising
6 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Nemesis was the last Resident Evil game for the PlayStation, and it went out with a bang. The story finds series regular Jill trapped in Raccoon City during the zombie outbreak, and she has to team up with an Umbrella mercenary to escape. Capcom originally planned for the third game to be a spin-off and not a full sequel, but it was eventually upgraded during development.
While the game has more action than previous titles, it was still recognizably survival horror. The stroke of genius was the addition of the Nemesis, a hulking Terminator-like creature that stalks the player throughout the campaign. You never knew when or where he’d pop up, and when he did it was usually wise to just run away. This constant lurking dread adds an extra dimension, as did new features like branching paths and interactive scenery.
Nemesis feels a little more flashy the first two games, but it’s loaded with iconic moments and imagery to make up for that, and its reputation has only grown over the years.
5 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
The disappointing sales of Resident Evil 6 and fan feedback told Capcom they needed to reinvent the wheel yet again for the next numbered entry, and a radical reinvention was in order. The game decided to mostly ignore the tangled lore and iconic elements, focusing on a new group of characters in a unique location. It also took place entirely from a first person perspective and featured enemies with human intelligence.
It was a bold choice, but it paid off. Resident Evil 7 does an amazing job of leaving the player feeling constantly underpowered and stressed, and while it may seem like a total reinvention, the DNA of the franchise still remains. The horror style this time leans towards The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, and the Baker clan that pursues the player are an instantly iconic bunch.
It definitely evokes similar first person horror games like Alien: Isolation or P.T., but Biohazard’s incredible atmosphere alone makes it one of the stronger games in the series.
advertising
4 Resident Evil
The original Resident Evil rewrote the rules for horror video games, introducing players to a whole new style of gameplay. The game was a loose remake of Sweet Home, a Japan-only RPG from 1989 that found players exploring a haunted mansion. Resident Evil would take the setting and turbocharge it. Despite the dodgy voice acting, everything about the game clicked; the design of the mansion, the resource managing gameplay, the puzzles, the characters and the monsters.
Over twenty years later the game still has the power to induce fear, be it the famous jump scares or the oppressive vibe of the Spencer Mansion itself. The game was so popular it’s been re-released and remade countless times because the core gameplay is so strong, and it’s success not only launched the series, it lead to other best-selling horror games like Silent Hill and Parasite Eve.
It defined the style for the genre, and while it may not have aged as well as some other titles in the series, its legacy endures.
3 Resident Evil (Remake)
Remakes are commonly inferior because it’s near impossible to recapture the same lightning, but series creator Shinji Mikami somehow managed it. The 2002 remake feels like Mikami correcting and refining his original version, making use of improved tech to make a tighter, more polished experience.
It looks fantastic, and it added additional gameplay elements like self-defence weapons and terrifying new enemies in the Crimson Head zombies and Lisa Trevor. The cheesy plot remains the exact same, but everything else is refined and expanded upon. The setpieces became bigger, the mansion held new secrets to uncover and it actually used players knowledge of the original game against them.
The remake wasn’t a huge seller at the time but thanks to a later HD remaster, gamers who missed out the first time fell in love with it. Fans argue over whether the remake is superior to the original or not, which ultimately comes down to personal taste. The only thing that can be agreed upon is that they’re both fantastic.
advertising
2 Resident Evil 4
Resident Evil Zero proved the old style of fixed camera angles and tank controls had been played out, and the fourth game needed to invent something fresh. This led to a famously torturous development cycle where potential versions were developed and quickly scrapped, including one build that evolved into Devil May Cry.
The final version was nothing short of a triumph, an addictive merging of action and horror that became one of the most influential titles of its era. The game finds Leon Kennedy on a mission to rescue the president’s daughter, in a plot that’s told in a tongue in cheek b-movie style. The over the shoulder perspective and switch to action was slightly controversial among purists, but it was the shot in the arm the series badly needed at the time.
![Top Top](https://heavyeditorial.files.wordpress.com/2013/05/repaper.jpg?quality=65&strip=all)
The monsters were amazing, the action was equally stressful and exhilarating and it was endlessly replayable. The action route it sent the series on certainly led to mixed results, but Resident Evil 4 is commonly cited as one of, if not the best game in the series for a reason.
1 Resident Evil 2
Resident Evil 2 was another title that had a painful birth, with Capcom spending over a year working on one version of the game, only to scrap it when it was over halfway complete. This false start ended up helping the team, who built on what worked in the original while sanding off the rough edges.
The game contains just as many iconic scenes and characters as the original, and it introduced Claire, Leon, Ada Wong, the Licker, William Birkin, Mr X and many others. The multiple campaigns also built on each other, opening up new areas and unlockables. The gothic police station proved a memorable setting, and everything from the soundtrack to the sound effects helped put players in the right skin crawling mode.
It’s just about a perfect example of the survival horror genre, and it’s no surprise that a fan-led campaign for a remake finally resulted in a greenlight. Resident Evil 2 is a stone cold classic, and despite the series producing a lot of great titles afterwards, this original sequel still reminds the one to beat.
advertising
Leave A Comment
Which Resident Evil game is best? We’re eating away at our own brains to give our verdicts on some of PC gaming’s most beloved series, including Dark Souls and Mass Effect.
As the series that popularized the survival horror genre, Resident Evil has attempted to sustain its hold on the elusive zombie shooting crown since its inception in 1996. Suffice it to say, Resident Evil hasn’t maintained a keen, constant rule over the genre, blasting further off into bizarre, convoluted lore dumps and Matrix-worthy action sequences as the series grew in scope and ambition. Through reinvention after reinvention, Resident Evil games may not always be great, but they’ve always been fascinating, curious objects. And it’s because of that wild experimentation that Resident Evil still has a firm grip on us, redefining the genre and forcing the entirety of game design to respond—hell, Dead Space was going to be System Shock 3 before Resident Evil 4 came out.
While they may have arrived shuffling and moaning and hungry for anti-aliasing, most of the main series Resident Evil games has been available on the PC at one time or another—sorry, Code Veronica. So, for players new and old, we’ve reflected on the series highs and lows, and ended up with a true, inarguable ranking for the series that cannot die.
As the series that popularized the survival horror genre, Resident Evil has attempted to sustain its hold on the elusive zombie shooting crown since its inception in 1996. Suffice it to say, Resident Evil hasn’t maintained a keen, constant rule over the genre, blasting further off into bizarre, convoluted lore dumps and Matrix-worthy action sequences as the series grew in scope and ambition. Through reinvention after reinvention, Resident Evil games may not always be great, but they’ve always been fascinating, curious objects. And it’s because of that wild experimentation that Resident Evil still has a firm grip on us, redefining the genre and forcing the entirety of game design to respond—hell, Dead Space was going to be System Shock 3 before Resident Evil 4 came out.
While they may have arrived shuffling and moaning and hungry for anti-aliasing, most of the main series Resident Evil games has been available on the PC at one time or another—sorry, Code Veronica. So, for players new and old, we’ve reflected on the series highs and lows, and ended up with a true, inarguable ranking for the series that cannot die.
As of this latest update after the release of the Resident Evil 2 remake, we've decided to keep both the original and this new version in the list. They're very different games, after all, despite sharing a setting, characters and story.
Now, in ascending order...
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Developed: Capcom, Slant Six Games Published: Capcom
2012
2012
James: We don’t talk about Operation Raccoon City. In our review, Jon Blyth puts it lightly, saying, “The good stuff is all swaddled in that weak gunplay, an annoying automatic snap-to cover system, and moments like the Birkin-G battle—a fight so poorly communicated and unfair that you'll wish computer mice still had balls, so that you could rip out your mouse ball and chew it while slobbering all over yourself.” The “good stuff” is just the setting and familiar characters, the implication of Raccoon City’s ideas and ambitions wrapped up in a cozy Resident Evil blanket. But clearly, due to godawful controls, a smattering of port hiccups, and poor design, we hope Operation Raccoon City never rises from the dead.
Samuel: This was one bad fanfiction idea turned into a disastrously boring shooter. Played alone, the friendly AI is terrible, the links to Resident Evil 2 are tenuous and your squad of faceless nobodies belongs in the bin. Junk. The remake of Resi 2 pretty much allows me to forget this forever.
Samuel: This was one bad fanfiction idea turned into a disastrously boring shooter. Played alone, the friendly AI is terrible, the links to Resident Evil 2 are tenuous and your squad of faceless nobodies belongs in the bin. Junk. The remake of Resi 2 pretty much allows me to forget this forever.
Umbrella Corps
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2016
2016
James: This game doesn’t have to be this low on the list. This could have been avoided. During several preview events PC Gamer’s Tom Marks as an interesting competitive shooter that didn’t lazily assume the competitive deathmatch template and throw it in a thin Resident Evil diegesis. Zombies roam each map, and they don’t attack you outright, but by disabling other players’ magic zombie repellant devices, you can send the horde after them—a novel idea, I think. But for god’s sake, the PC version launched with mouse controls that were straight up broken. On the PC, that’s a huge chunk of your userbase, and for most players, unforgivable.
Resident Evil 6
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2012
James: Fuck this game. The media [looks into mirror] cycle for Resi 6 had me believing it would be the most complete game in the series yet, ticking the horror, action, and lore boxes alike for everyone. And it did. The campaigns themselves are varied and pretty from afar, and playing as characters from all over the nonsense Resi timeline is some kind of cool, but the controls gut everything good about RE’s over-the-shoulder design ethos that worked so well in 4 and 5. The guns feel like pea shooters in comparison to previous entries and character movement is suspended somewhere between a full blown Gears of War third-person shooter and the original static stop-and-shoot design of Resi 4.
2012
James: Fuck this game. The media [looks into mirror] cycle for Resi 6 had me believing it would be the most complete game in the series yet, ticking the horror, action, and lore boxes alike for everyone. And it did. The campaigns themselves are varied and pretty from afar, and playing as characters from all over the nonsense Resi timeline is some kind of cool, but the controls gut everything good about RE’s over-the-shoulder design ethos that worked so well in 4 and 5. The guns feel like pea shooters in comparison to previous entries and character movement is suspended somewhere between a full blown Gears of War third-person shooter and the original static stop-and-shoot design of Resi 4.
It’s so terrible a half-measure that the slightest potential for feeling unease is rendered inert. The tension boils and burns into a blackened, sour paste once you learn how to roundhouse and suplex and dive into a supine militaristic shooter stance on command. Sure, you could kick and suplex in Resi 4, but never with such reckless abandon. Where’s the horror and disempowerment in being a damn spec ops ninja demigod?
Samuel: I accept it's a bloated game, and the Chris campaign is particularly bad, but its combat—once you learn the full spread of abilities available to you, which the game does a terrible job of teaching—offers a lot of scope for player expression and fun acrobatics. Problem is, no-one really wanted a Resident Evil game to be about those things, so I understand the criticism Resi 6 got. I have a certain fondness for its Mercenaries mode, though, and some time ago. A reboot needed to happen after this.
Resident Evil: Revelations
Developed: Capcom, Tose Published: Capcom
2012 (PC, 2013)
James: Revelations was most potent on the Nintendo 3DS, but blown up on the PC years after the fact, the absence of novelty leaves its shortcomings out in the open. The environments feel small, empty, and static. Enemies are simple-minded and appear in smaller groups than Resi 4 or 5, which turns combat into an intimate affair, sure, but without the crushing threat of numbers, encounters rely more on surprise than stress.
2012 (PC, 2013)
James: Revelations was most potent on the Nintendo 3DS, but blown up on the PC years after the fact, the absence of novelty leaves its shortcomings out in the open. The environments feel small, empty, and static. Enemies are simple-minded and appear in smaller groups than Resi 4 or 5, which turns combat into an intimate affair, sure, but without the crushing threat of numbers, encounters rely more on surprise than stress.
It doesn’t help that Revelations’ opening moments take place on a beach where your first threat arrives in the form of beached fish blobs. Survival horror. Revelations isn’t a terrible Resident Evil game by any means, but a very rote and restrained one, especially on the PC.
Samuel: It felt like an attempt to merge the design fundamentals of old Resident Evil with Resi 4 controls, and yeah, its handheld origins are apparent. For completionists, it's nice that this made its way to PC, but it's surely nobody's favourite entry in the series.
Samuel: It felt like an attempt to merge the design fundamentals of old Resident Evil with Resi 4 controls, and yeah, its handheld origins are apparent. For completionists, it's nice that this made its way to PC, but it's surely nobody's favourite entry in the series.
Resident Evil 5
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2009
2009
Samuel: I would place this one higher, but the default game doesn't come with splitscreen co-op—and that's the lifeblood of Resi 5 on consoles. You can mod it in, though.
James: I understand your pain, Sam, but thanks to the magic of the internet, I finished Resident Evil 5 in one prolonged, disgusting, burger-fueled sitting with a Florida-based friend. It’s definitely not designed to be played so quickly, but off the tail of Resident Evil 4, one of my favorite games of all time, how could I not? And I’m glad I did, because swallowing such a chunky, bitter videogame pill means I felt everything Resi 5 had to offer, all at once.
Resi 5 feels like a string of Resi 4’s most intense set pieces—the village scene, or cabin attack—one after the other, and with a co-op friend no less, but devoid of the horror or intrigue that made its predecessor so memorable and strange. Coupled with a shallow, troublesome depiction of Africa and a story that eventually went full anime (which may work for some people), Resi 5 fell flat for me and I haven’t returned to it since. It has some of the best combat in the series, but so too a very leaky heart.
Tim: My strongest recollection of this one is not hating the fact a lot of it takes place in startling sunshine (which seemed like quite a bold idea for a largely risk-averse series), quite liking the Sheva Alomar character, and the sharp intake of breath people in the office took as we arrived at the section I can now only think of as ‘Problematic Village’ for the first time. Without wishing to reopen that debate, I do wonder what Wired’s tame anthropologist would have made of that part if they’d played through to it. Still, on action alone, I still think it’s one of the better entries.
Samuel: Yeah, a lot of those criticisms are spot-on. I was also a fan of Sheva, even if Resi's characters are more shouting props than characters in the traditional sense. Chris and Sheva's interactions are quite pleasant—an underrated bit of camaraderie in a game. There are fewer good design ideas in Resi 5 than Resi 4, but it's a far better representation of its predecessor's influence than Resi 6 is. Wesker is so much fun in this one, too. Didn't they make him British to make him more evil? I love that so much.
James: I understand your pain, Sam, but thanks to the magic of the internet, I finished Resident Evil 5 in one prolonged, disgusting, burger-fueled sitting with a Florida-based friend. It’s definitely not designed to be played so quickly, but off the tail of Resident Evil 4, one of my favorite games of all time, how could I not? And I’m glad I did, because swallowing such a chunky, bitter videogame pill means I felt everything Resi 5 had to offer, all at once.
Resi 5 feels like a string of Resi 4’s most intense set pieces—the village scene, or cabin attack—one after the other, and with a co-op friend no less, but devoid of the horror or intrigue that made its predecessor so memorable and strange. Coupled with a shallow, troublesome depiction of Africa and a story that eventually went full anime (which may work for some people), Resi 5 fell flat for me and I haven’t returned to it since. It has some of the best combat in the series, but so too a very leaky heart.
Tim: My strongest recollection of this one is not hating the fact a lot of it takes place in startling sunshine (which seemed like quite a bold idea for a largely risk-averse series), quite liking the Sheva Alomar character, and the sharp intake of breath people in the office took as we arrived at the section I can now only think of as ‘Problematic Village’ for the first time. Without wishing to reopen that debate, I do wonder what Wired’s tame anthropologist would have made of that part if they’d played through to it. Still, on action alone, I still think it’s one of the better entries.
Samuel: Yeah, a lot of those criticisms are spot-on. I was also a fan of Sheva, even if Resi's characters are more shouting props than characters in the traditional sense. Chris and Sheva's interactions are quite pleasant—an underrated bit of camaraderie in a game. There are fewer good design ideas in Resi 5 than Resi 4, but it's a far better representation of its predecessor's influence than Resi 6 is. Wesker is so much fun in this one, too. Didn't they make him British to make him more evil? I love that so much.
Wes: Seven minutes. Seven minutes is all I can spare to play with you.
Resident Evil Zero
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2002 (PC, 2016)
James: Resi Zero was actually my first Resident Evil game. It greatest strength is nailing the trademark tension and helplessness of the series, tank controls included. Switching between Rebecca and Billy divides the zombie survivalist tension further, and I dig the opening train scene for its suffocating, slow introduction to the new characters and intense, timed finale.
But when I try to remember nearly anything else about the game, I go blank. There’s another mansion, some levers, and more zombies as expected, but this time they’re riddled with massive leech monsters. In 2017, the zeitgeist has long since moved on from leeches as an immutably horrifying concept. They’re slimy and dark and small--get over it. It’s a good Resident Evil game, but far from the most distinct or memorable.
Tim: I instantly disliked Billy. Between his session musician haircut and awful tribal tattoo, he wasn’t the kind of hero you warmed to. The convicted war criminal background (he’s a marine framed for failing to carry out a massacre) wasn’t exactly relatable either, but then that’s hardly been Resi’s forte. I also recall Resi 0 as being the my final point of departure with anything like a grip on the Umbrella meta plot. Like, why is Dr Marcus keeping all those leeches up his skirt?
2002 (PC, 2016)
James: Resi Zero was actually my first Resident Evil game. It greatest strength is nailing the trademark tension and helplessness of the series, tank controls included. Switching between Rebecca and Billy divides the zombie survivalist tension further, and I dig the opening train scene for its suffocating, slow introduction to the new characters and intense, timed finale.
But when I try to remember nearly anything else about the game, I go blank. There’s another mansion, some levers, and more zombies as expected, but this time they’re riddled with massive leech monsters. In 2017, the zeitgeist has long since moved on from leeches as an immutably horrifying concept. They’re slimy and dark and small--get over it. It’s a good Resident Evil game, but far from the most distinct or memorable.
Tim: I instantly disliked Billy. Between his session musician haircut and awful tribal tattoo, he wasn’t the kind of hero you warmed to. The convicted war criminal background (he’s a marine framed for failing to carry out a massacre) wasn’t exactly relatable either, but then that’s hardly been Resi’s forte. I also recall Resi 0 as being the my final point of departure with anything like a grip on the Umbrella meta plot. Like, why is Dr Marcus keeping all those leeches up his skirt?
Still, the character-switching between Billy and Rebecca added something to the puzzling, and the initial setting was pleasantly claustrophobic, in a vaguely kind of way. Unfortunately, the fact the game later decamped to a more conventional haunted house, which I’ve now almost completely forgotten, only underlines Zero’s unremarkable status as sawdust in the Resident Evil sausage.
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
1999 (PC, 2000)
Tim: My incipient dementia means I’m struggling to remember some of these, but I do recall at the time thinking this might be my favourite Resi, simply because it gave Jill Valentine an assault rifle to begin with. (I should caveat that by saying only if you choose easy mode, which apparently younger me did.) In any case, being able to go weapons free on the coffin dodgers from the outset was sweet relief if, like me, you had taken to micromanaging ammunition reserves to a pathological level. Invariably, I’d ended the previous two Resi games with an inventory stocked full of every type of round in the game, only to discover that besting the final boss didn’t require half of it.
Resi 3 also gave us its eponymous antagonist, the unkillable Nemesis which would rock up at inopportune moments as you explored, terrifying players with its poor dental work and gauche taste in gentlemen’s outerwear. Upon arrival, the Nemesis would usually hiss “STAAAAAARS”, presumably identifying the prey which it had been programmed to relentlessly track, but perhaps also complaining about the quality of actor he’d be expected to share screen time with in the 2004 movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. For bonus cringe factor, revisit any of the dialogue spoken by Umbrella’s hired merc Carlos Olivera. The character’s Mexican accent is delivered by voice actor Vince Carazzo, who as far as I can tell is very Canadian. Usual shonkiness aside, being in Raccoon City before and after the events of Resi 2 was cool, and I maintain this should be higher on the list but for the fact no-one else on the team seems to recall it.
Joe: After playing the original Silent Hill in early 1999, I went into Resident Evil 3 with a degree of misplaced confidence. Against the Resi series' B-movie-like framing, Harry Mason's debut outing offered a different kind of horror in that this was the first proper psychological horror game I'd ever played. Dealing with twisted and unscrupulous characters that seemed so much worse than Wesker and Birkin, switching between alternate dimensions, and laying waste to some of its gut-wrenching bosses really affected me, and ultimately caught me off-guard. I therefore entered Nemesis thinking I knew what to expect.
And for the most part, this was the case. It had slow moving and predictable zombies, overpowered weaponry, and ridiculously incongruous mix-and-match puzzles in a similar vein to its forerunners. Nemesis was clearly the biggest threat and even then felt like a slightly beefed up version of Mr X/T-00 from Resident Evil 2. Like its predecessors, Resi 3 also had the familiar area-loading door opening animations which I'd come to understand kept me safe from whatever horrors I'd left behind in previous zones. In trouble? Run to the next door and leave your woes at your back.
This, of course, was not the case in Resident Evil 3. For the first time, enemies—namely Nemesis—could follow you into new areas in a bid to continue the hunt. In the case of Nemesis, it would burst through gates and doors with such force I swear the animations gave me nightmares hours after playing. Sure, Jill was equipped with an assault rifle from the off—but this only meant she was expected to use it. One simple change to the Resi formula suddenly made the third series entry one of the scariest horror games I'd ever played at the time, and left me with one of my fondest, scariest videogame memories to this day.
1999 (PC, 2000)
Tim: My incipient dementia means I’m struggling to remember some of these, but I do recall at the time thinking this might be my favourite Resi, simply because it gave Jill Valentine an assault rifle to begin with. (I should caveat that by saying only if you choose easy mode, which apparently younger me did.) In any case, being able to go weapons free on the coffin dodgers from the outset was sweet relief if, like me, you had taken to micromanaging ammunition reserves to a pathological level. Invariably, I’d ended the previous two Resi games with an inventory stocked full of every type of round in the game, only to discover that besting the final boss didn’t require half of it.
Resi 3 also gave us its eponymous antagonist, the unkillable Nemesis which would rock up at inopportune moments as you explored, terrifying players with its poor dental work and gauche taste in gentlemen’s outerwear. Upon arrival, the Nemesis would usually hiss “STAAAAAARS”, presumably identifying the prey which it had been programmed to relentlessly track, but perhaps also complaining about the quality of actor he’d be expected to share screen time with in the 2004 movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. For bonus cringe factor, revisit any of the dialogue spoken by Umbrella’s hired merc Carlos Olivera. The character’s Mexican accent is delivered by voice actor Vince Carazzo, who as far as I can tell is very Canadian. Usual shonkiness aside, being in Raccoon City before and after the events of Resi 2 was cool, and I maintain this should be higher on the list but for the fact no-one else on the team seems to recall it.
Joe: After playing the original Silent Hill in early 1999, I went into Resident Evil 3 with a degree of misplaced confidence. Against the Resi series' B-movie-like framing, Harry Mason's debut outing offered a different kind of horror in that this was the first proper psychological horror game I'd ever played. Dealing with twisted and unscrupulous characters that seemed so much worse than Wesker and Birkin, switching between alternate dimensions, and laying waste to some of its gut-wrenching bosses really affected me, and ultimately caught me off-guard. I therefore entered Nemesis thinking I knew what to expect.
And for the most part, this was the case. It had slow moving and predictable zombies, overpowered weaponry, and ridiculously incongruous mix-and-match puzzles in a similar vein to its forerunners. Nemesis was clearly the biggest threat and even then felt like a slightly beefed up version of Mr X/T-00 from Resident Evil 2. Like its predecessors, Resi 3 also had the familiar area-loading door opening animations which I'd come to understand kept me safe from whatever horrors I'd left behind in previous zones. In trouble? Run to the next door and leave your woes at your back.
This, of course, was not the case in Resident Evil 3. For the first time, enemies—namely Nemesis—could follow you into new areas in a bid to continue the hunt. In the case of Nemesis, it would burst through gates and doors with such force I swear the animations gave me nightmares hours after playing. Sure, Jill was equipped with an assault rifle from the off—but this only meant she was expected to use it. One simple change to the Resi formula suddenly made the third series entry one of the scariest horror games I'd ever played at the time, and left me with one of my fondest, scariest videogame memories to this day.
Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Developed: Capcom, Tose Published: Capcom
2015
James: Revelations 2 is the most underrated game in the series, easily. It embraces Resi 4’s overwhelming combat scenarios and expressive arsenal, then chucks it in a B-movie Resi best-of on a wacky, weird prison island. Even better, the co-op play requires genuine cooperation, pairing off a traditional, fully equipped classic RE character, Claire Redfield and Barry Burton, with a much more helpless partner—a teen and a child. By using a flashlight and brick-chucking they couldn’t headshot monsters, but could stun and distract them to thin out the pack. Hell, Moira could be an unrigged crash dummy as long as she got to keep her precious, precious dialogue. “I mean, what in the moist barrels of fuck,” is classic Resi if I’ve ever heard it.
Revelations 2 also did the episodic structure justice. Episodes released a week apart, a somewhat artificial way to break up the game since it’s safe to assume the whole thing was content complete, but having a new two-hour cooperative Resident Evil romp every week for a month was a delight. It didn’t just occupy my mind for a weekend—I was arrested for a month, by hokey mix-and-match supernatural monsters and dopey (but lovable) characters no less.
2015
James: Revelations 2 is the most underrated game in the series, easily. It embraces Resi 4’s overwhelming combat scenarios and expressive arsenal, then chucks it in a B-movie Resi best-of on a wacky, weird prison island. Even better, the co-op play requires genuine cooperation, pairing off a traditional, fully equipped classic RE character, Claire Redfield and Barry Burton, with a much more helpless partner—a teen and a child. By using a flashlight and brick-chucking they couldn’t headshot monsters, but could stun and distract them to thin out the pack. Hell, Moira could be an unrigged crash dummy as long as she got to keep her precious, precious dialogue. “I mean, what in the moist barrels of fuck,” is classic Resi if I’ve ever heard it.
Revelations 2 also did the episodic structure justice. Episodes released a week apart, a somewhat artificial way to break up the game since it’s safe to assume the whole thing was content complete, but having a new two-hour cooperative Resident Evil romp every week for a month was a delight. It didn’t just occupy my mind for a weekend—I was arrested for a month, by hokey mix-and-match supernatural monsters and dopey (but lovable) characters no less.
It wasn’t the series’ peak in level design, puzzle design, or storytelling, but it’s definitely the most self-aware and digestible, a comparably light-hearted survival horror tour through Resident Evil’s most endearing traits—up until that point, at least.
Resident Evil 2
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
1998 (PC, 1999)
Tim: A really important entry in the series. Expanding out from the original’s mansion setting to take in the actual zombie apocalypse happening in Raccoon City was smart, if obvious. Less obvious was the decision to craft two intertwining stories for players to hop between. The excellent pairing of rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (tough day on the job) and Claire Redfield, the sister of missing S.T.A.R.S agent Chris fromm the first game, feels very much like classic Resi. In the same way that Romero’s “of the Dead” sequels expanded from the low-key original, so Resi 2 was a more widescreen, big budget take on the survival horror concept. As soon as you saw police stations littered with the remains of dead officers, it was clear the ante had been upped substantially. The notion of trying to escape from a city collapsing around you gave players the perfect sense of dramatic impetus, while at the same time providing the designers plenty of room to fill in the story with that sweet Umbrella lore. Director Hideki Kamiya would go on to make Devil May Cry, Okami, Bayonetta and later form PlatinumGames. Plus block a bunch of people on Twitter.
Samuel: I was 12 when I convinced my dad to buy this for me on CD-ROM, and yeah, it felt like a more complete version of that original idea with better protagonists.
1998 (PC, 1999)
Tim: A really important entry in the series. Expanding out from the original’s mansion setting to take in the actual zombie apocalypse happening in Raccoon City was smart, if obvious. Less obvious was the decision to craft two intertwining stories for players to hop between. The excellent pairing of rookie cop Leon S. Kennedy (tough day on the job) and Claire Redfield, the sister of missing S.T.A.R.S agent Chris fromm the first game, feels very much like classic Resi. In the same way that Romero’s “of the Dead” sequels expanded from the low-key original, so Resi 2 was a more widescreen, big budget take on the survival horror concept. As soon as you saw police stations littered with the remains of dead officers, it was clear the ante had been upped substantially. The notion of trying to escape from a city collapsing around you gave players the perfect sense of dramatic impetus, while at the same time providing the designers plenty of room to fill in the story with that sweet Umbrella lore. Director Hideki Kamiya would go on to make Devil May Cry, Okami, Bayonetta and later form PlatinumGames. Plus block a bunch of people on Twitter.
Samuel: I was 12 when I convinced my dad to buy this for me on CD-ROM, and yeah, it felt like a more complete version of that original idea with better protagonists.
Resident Evil 2 (Remake)
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2019
2019
Samuel: 21 years later, this remake evokes nostalgia for Resi 2's locations and characters, but feels like a totally new game. You can run through the RPD without loading screens! What a treat. The zombies are properly nasty, too. This feels like a compilation of the best bits of the modern third-person Resident Evil entries, with scary moments to the standard of Resident Evil 7. It does make you wonder which of the older entries will get the remake treatment next.
Ultimately, since we scored it one point fewer than Resident Evil 7, it technically belongs just below it on this list.
Andy K: What makes this really special is how it combines the slow, challenging survival horror of the classic games with the intense over-the-shoulder combat of RE4. There could have been a disconnect there, but Capcom really nailed it. RE4 still has it beat in terms of bosses, variety, and weapons, but as a pure distillation of what makes the old style of Resident Evil great, you couldn't ask for much more.
I also like how it isn't a slave to the source material, giving old locations and encounters a fresh spin. As Samuel says, it feels like a brand new game: contemporary and thrilling, yet hitting the same beats as the 1998 original. I scored it a point lower than RE7 because the Tyrant chases feel under-developed, and it's not as subversive or surprising, but it's pretty much one of the best games in the series, and I'd love more remakes in the same style.
Resident Evil 7
James: Jack Baker is my new daddy. He’s the freakiest, goofiest horror game antagonist out there and I love him even though he’d like to put a shovel through my head. Can't blame him. It’s all in the name of family, which is Resident Evil 7’s beating heart. I absolutely love the Bakers, a bundle of southern cliches and horror archetypes filtered through Resi’s videogame campiness.
Resident Evil has always been a self-aware take on the zombie horror subgenre, but Resi 7 extends that reach to the horror as a whole, touching on The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Saw, and The Ring for inspiration. As a big horror soup, it works, mostly because the Bakers are most realized monsters from the entire series, and the vast majority of horror games in general. When Jack bursts out of a wall and calls you by name, or when Marguerite coughs up another swarm of zombie bees, it’s funny, but it’s also really damn scary, especially given the fidelity of each character model. You can see their expression from far off, and guess what? That smile isn’t a good sign.
For the first two-thirds of the game, the family terrorizes you in their own special way, leading you through a different section of the Baker property, gating progress with surprisingly classic tools like keys and bizarre shadow puzzles. It’s all so incredibly old school, yet set against the highly detailed backdrop of the Baker property, it feels new again—a perfect soft reset for the series.
The enemies could be more diverse, extra modes felt cordoned off and held back for DLC, and when the Baker family disappears two-thirds in, so does every ounce of the game’s charm. But despite its lopsidedness, Resi 7 is a bright signal light for the series. For the first time in a decade, I can’t wait to see where it goes next.
Tim: Here’s the thing that’s really stunning about Resident Evil 7. How many series of this size have survived such a total reinvention, whilst winning over the critics, and without sacrificing what made players fall in love with the idea in the first place? It’s got to be almost none. And yet Resident Evil has now pulled that trick off twice, first with 4 and now with 7. Interestingly, at a GDC given by director Koshi Nakanishi, he split the first six games into two trilogies. The clear suggestion being that 7 could be the start of another. I certainly hope so.
Nakanishi also said he wanted to reinvent horror gaming, and make Resi as synonymous with excellence as The Dark Knight is for superhero movies. Judge for yourself whether they hit that goal, but they certainly took the inherent promise of first-person horror games like Amnesia and Outlast and ran with it. Resi 7 is a game that’s so tense to play—especially the first time—that after tough sessions I found myself stressed and snappy. Creating a supporting cast that’s so instantly, disgustingly iconic as the Bakers is also no mean feat. I can’t wait to see where Capcom goes next with it.
Resident Evil / Resident Evil HD Remaster
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
Original: 1996 | Remaster: 2002 (PC, 2015)
James: It may be unfair for an arbitrary list article like, say, this one, to combine the original Resident Evil with its remake as one entry, but the legacy of the original was only strengthened by such a stellar update and subsequent PC release. I have fond memories of the original game, and its restrained combat, resource management, and puzzle design are still sensible and fun today—the tank controls are even endearing after some practice.
The REmake, as it’s commonly referred to, updated the original’s cheeky horror with a complete facelift and the omnipotent threat of Crimson Heads, nearly unkillable zombies that ‘wake up’ after being incapacitated, and can chase the player throughout the entire world. In the original, zombies couldn’t even follow you from one room to the next. None of these additions compromised the vision or design of the original, instead building out what I imagine Resident Evil’s original team had in mind. It’s one of the truest remasters out there, and one of the best survival horror games ever made.
Samuel: I'm delighted Capcom brought the GameCube remake of the first game to PC. Its pre-rendered backgrounds have aged incredibly well, and the choice of colour palette is lurid but gorgeous. Since this specific type of survival horror game essentially died out after Silent Hill 4 and then the Forbidden Siren games, it's not like it's been surpassed in the meantime by better games.
Wes: I was amazed by REmake when I first played it on the GameCube so many years ago—how could a game look so good!?—and amazed again, years later, at how much atmosphere it still has. The mansion is so moody, the art and lighting sell it as a real place. A twisted, sometimes goofy, sometimes horrifying place. Those pre-rendered backgrounds aren't just for show: they're so artfully done, they help frame how you play Resident Evil, conveying the sense that you're an intruder in this place, always creeping and on edge, being watched from weird angles. It's maybe the only use of tank controls in gaming that I like, thanks to that marriage of theme and function.
There were always little things to unnerve me, whether it was footsteps echoing through an empty room or a giant fucking zombie shark leaping out of the water to bite me in half. I swear I almost jumped out of my skin.
Original: 1996 | Remaster: 2002 (PC, 2015)
James: It may be unfair for an arbitrary list article like, say, this one, to combine the original Resident Evil with its remake as one entry, but the legacy of the original was only strengthened by such a stellar update and subsequent PC release. I have fond memories of the original game, and its restrained combat, resource management, and puzzle design are still sensible and fun today—the tank controls are even endearing after some practice.
The REmake, as it’s commonly referred to, updated the original’s cheeky horror with a complete facelift and the omnipotent threat of Crimson Heads, nearly unkillable zombies that ‘wake up’ after being incapacitated, and can chase the player throughout the entire world. In the original, zombies couldn’t even follow you from one room to the next. None of these additions compromised the vision or design of the original, instead building out what I imagine Resident Evil’s original team had in mind. It’s one of the truest remasters out there, and one of the best survival horror games ever made.
Samuel: I'm delighted Capcom brought the GameCube remake of the first game to PC. Its pre-rendered backgrounds have aged incredibly well, and the choice of colour palette is lurid but gorgeous. Since this specific type of survival horror game essentially died out after Silent Hill 4 and then the Forbidden Siren games, it's not like it's been surpassed in the meantime by better games.
Wes: I was amazed by REmake when I first played it on the GameCube so many years ago—how could a game look so good!?—and amazed again, years later, at how much atmosphere it still has. The mansion is so moody, the art and lighting sell it as a real place. A twisted, sometimes goofy, sometimes horrifying place. Those pre-rendered backgrounds aren't just for show: they're so artfully done, they help frame how you play Resident Evil, conveying the sense that you're an intruder in this place, always creeping and on edge, being watched from weird angles. It's maybe the only use of tank controls in gaming that I like, thanks to that marriage of theme and function.
There were always little things to unnerve me, whether it was footsteps echoing through an empty room or a giant fucking zombie shark leaping out of the water to bite me in half. I swear I almost jumped out of my skin.
Resident Evil 4
Developed: Capcom Published: Capcom
2005 (PC, 2007)
Samuel: This might be the most masterfully paced action game ever created. There are so many clever ideas in Resi 4 that make fleeting appearances, before being cycled out for others. A giant statue coming to life and chasing you through a hall, for example, or a lake monster which kills you before the boss fight if you shoot the water, or frightening enemies that work according to sound, or the Regenerators which you can only kill by sniping their organs using a heat sensor. It's wild and remarkable—there is no other modern game like it. It reinvented third-person shooters, perhaps by accident, with its placing of the camera over Leon's shoulder. I even like the ludicrous story and dialogue. Resident Evil 4 is not really scary for extended periods of time, but it is constantly atmospheric.
2005 (PC, 2007)
Samuel: This might be the most masterfully paced action game ever created. There are so many clever ideas in Resi 4 that make fleeting appearances, before being cycled out for others. A giant statue coming to life and chasing you through a hall, for example, or a lake monster which kills you before the boss fight if you shoot the water, or frightening enemies that work according to sound, or the Regenerators which you can only kill by sniping their organs using a heat sensor. It's wild and remarkable—there is no other modern game like it. It reinvented third-person shooters, perhaps by accident, with its placing of the camera over Leon's shoulder. I even like the ludicrous story and dialogue. Resident Evil 4 is not really scary for extended periods of time, but it is constantly atmospheric.
James: It took me six months to finish Resident Evil 4. (To be fair, I was a skittish teen.) Like Sam explained, it’s full of surprises, both in terms of what it’s squirrelling away and in its surprising, intense combat design. But it’s the surprising intimacy of the combat that really shook me. The villagers aren’t particularly scary on their own—they’re just rural folks, but it’s their humanity, their implied cunning and relatability, that makes them so terrifying. And when they roll in by the dozens from every angle while you frantically try to climb a ladder or board up a house, it’s impossible not to feel the implication of that cunning. They overwhelm in numbers, but being able to see the whites of their eyes and hear their chatter turn them from brainless bullet sponges into something real—sometimes too real. It’s a miracle that despite Resi 4’s trademark campiness and the fact that scythed parasites explode from the enemies’ heads that it still retains such a taut, tangible sense of unease.
Tim: I got to play the game for a few minutes when it was first unveiled at a Capcom event in Vegas, and even in that brief time it was clear that this was a complete reinvention. More importantly, it immediately felt right. A bold evolution that retained the spirit of the original but was bursting with fresh design ideas. The biggest testament to Resi 4’s brilliance is how much time I spent replaying it, which I never bothered with the others, just because that combat—knee-capping gibbering villages as they shambled towards you with farm implements!—felt so perfect, even after the credits had rolled multiple times. Perhaps Resi 7 will be a similarly dramatic reinvention, but Resi 4 will remain one of the all-time classics, and a high watermark it’s hard to see the series ever hitting again.
Wes: I'll leave you with this.
Tim: I got to play the game for a few minutes when it was first unveiled at a Capcom event in Vegas, and even in that brief time it was clear that this was a complete reinvention. More importantly, it immediately felt right. A bold evolution that retained the spirit of the original but was bursting with fresh design ideas. The biggest testament to Resi 4’s brilliance is how much time I spent replaying it, which I never bothered with the others, just because that combat—knee-capping gibbering villages as they shambled towards you with farm implements!—felt so perfect, even after the credits had rolled multiple times. Perhaps Resi 7 will be a similarly dramatic reinvention, but Resi 4 will remain one of the all-time classics, and a high watermark it’s hard to see the series ever hitting again.
Wes: I'll leave you with this.