Ranking Evil — 25 Years of Resident Evil

Resident Evil is one of the most iconic video game series and has been a household name in the horror industry for decades. This year we’re celebrating 25 years of Resident Evil, and on May 7th, Resident Evil 8 brought us the latest installment in the storied series, now with werewolves and vampires.

In celebration of this special anniversary, I wanted to share my ranking of the series main entries, including the recently released Resident Evil Village. I love talking about Resident Evil, and I’ve loved playing it since the first game (even though I was admittedly way under the appropriate age back then).

Quick note: I will count remakes together with the original game as one entry to keep the list simple, and I think it also makes sense to keep the judgement fair across generations.

So, without further ado, here is my personal ranking of all RE titles.

Resident Evil 6

It’s no secret that I believe that RE6 is the weakest link in the main series by a long shot. And the drastic changes in RE7 make it clear that Capcom had to do something with the franchise after this. I wouldn’t go as far as saying that Resident Evil 6 is a bad game per se, but in comparison to other RE entries, it’s got an enormous gap between vision and execution. I like the idea of having a multi-perspective story with some favorite RE characters, but from its looks to its mechanics to its story, I find it sloppy at best. The Leon story is still my favorite, and it has its moments, but when you look at Chris or Jake, it slowly starts to fall off in quality. Chris’ campaign made me feel like I was playing Gears of War, and Jake… I don’t know. The closest I can think of is that Tekken 3 side game, that brawler mini-game? Anyway, it just didn’t click with me, and it was definitely the low point for me, even when I take all the spin-offs and side games into account. I liked that you could also play it in co-op with a friend, but again, it just didn’t feel right.

What do you think? What is your low point of the main RE series? Let us know on Twitter or Instagram!

Resident Evil Zero

Okay, now RE Zero. It was very easy for me to start this list with RE6 as the worst entry. But after that, I really see a lot of the following entries very close to the top because almost all get a lot right. The higher we go, they will simply become more important in terms of legacy, gameplay, and sheer horror atmosphere.

So why is RE Zero so low? Well, it was one of the riskier moves by Capcom to make this adventure a two-character campaign without actual co-op functionality. The overall look and feel of the game and its mechanics are fun, and the story was interesting. Yet, overall, the game has many issues in the technical department, and it never revealed its true potential for me.

I love that they tried to dive deeper into Rebecca’s character, but it was ultimately not that impactful to me. I can mostly remember that fight against the big scorpio in the beginning and later on the battle against that giant centipede, but almost everything else is a blur for me.

The item management was also arduous and annoying, and the character change most of the time felt more gimmicky than anything else. Despite all this, RE Zero is still ahead of RE6 just because it is closer to a survival horror experience and less about blazing guns.

Resident Evil 5

RE5 has a special place in my heart because I’ve played through the campaign multiple times with a friend, and it was always fun. It’s more on the action side of things, and a lot of its setting is not very RE-like. Despite this, I like it a lot. I mean, it’s got the iconic “Chris is so buff he punches a boulder” moment. Who doesn’t love that?!

I think the co-op mode worked very well in this game, the AI was passable, and even though it felt less like a horror game, the story, monsters and boss fights make this a worthy RE title. In the grand scope of things, it’s relatively low ranked, but again, this ranking is high-level and we are talking about tiny numbers after the decimal point in my head setting some of these games apart.

RE5 was a lot of fun, and it’s way better than RE6 and RE Zero when you talk about polish and the co-op experience. Wouldn’t you agree?

Resident Evil 7

The plot thickens. As I mentioned earlier, RE7 resulted from RE6: Capcom had to do something with the franchise, and what can I say? They did an excellent job. They introduced the first-person view, and took inspiration from other popular video games in the horror genre of its time. It worked well. They even made it available for VR (although not exclusively), which was still a scary (pun intended) step at the time.

It was also bold to introduce a totally new hero to the RE universe with Ethan Winters, who will seemingly get his legacy from RE 7–9 if we can believe the rumors.

The Baker family was horrifying, and the overall atmosphere of the game, in stark contrast to RE6, was once again more on horror and survival. I think RE7 deserves special praise in this list because it gave hope to fans of the franchise.

Resident Evil 3 (REmake 3)

As explained initially, I will count the original and the remake together here to keep this list manageable and entertaining.

Jill Valentine has been my favorite RE character since day one. She really held her own in RE3, and the addition of Nemesis just amped up the tension. Sure, Capcom reused a lot of assets from RE2, and the development time was very short, but isn’t this game amazing when you step back to think about it? It’s badass, it’s got horror, it’s got Nemesis, quick-time events (sort of), and just a solid and exciting story with fantastic gameplay mechanics like the dodge.

RE3 has loads of memorable scenes that I still remember fondly. Like the clock tower (even though that one is missing in the remake), challenging puzzles, and the remake also adds some new exciting twists for fans. Resident Evil 3 just got a lot right.

Resident Evil Code: Veronica

This will get more exciting and even more difficult as we go on. I believe that Code: Veronica is probably the most underrated game of the series. Technically, it doesn’t have a number, but you will see that it is just as survival-horror as the other entries once you play it. Even though the writing and especially the voice acting can be crushingly bad at times, it’s still got a lot of heart and embraces all of the franchise’s tropes up to its point in time.

It’s also surprisingly long and has a lot of intense moments and boss fights. Because of its depth and having a bit more variation than RE3, I would defend its position here on my list to the death, even though I risk becoming a zombie afterwards…

Resident Evil 8

Resident Evil 8 is the newest entry in the franchise and easily gets a spot in the top 5 here. It includes some of the most beloved features of past games, borrowing heavily from RE4 and building upon the foundation of RE7. It looks stunning and packs all sorts of evil in its campaign. It’s got the Mercenaries mode and besides zombies, we get all kinds of mystical beings to fight.

RE8 also packs some of the best story exposition and diverse areas to play in, with almost a perfect balance between horror and action. We are talking top tier here. That said, the reason why it doesn’t score higher on my list is that even though it hits hard in terms of nostalgia, I would have loved to see some more explicit ties to the original series and some more iconic moments or characters. After RE7 and now 8, Ethan remains faceless and some of the monster designs are not as iconic as in RE2 or RE4. However, I’m pleasantly surprised at how much RE Village actually gripped me and I really recommend it to everyone.

Resident Evil 2 (REmake 2)

Naturally, it’s not hard to figure out the following two entries, and I guess you can shuffle them around and change places, but I figure that most RE fans will at least put one of these three games on the top of their respective lists.

RE2, both the original and the remake, are just phenomenal games in their own right. It’s incredible how many things Capcom nailed with these games. The characters became instant favorites and are still going strong after all these years.

The story and emotional tones hit just right. There are emotions, betrayal and everything else you could wish for — RE2 has it all. The replay value through the A and B scenarios of both characters is incredible, and you basically get two games for one.

Even though Mr. X was scripted in the original, the pursuer mechanic in the remake just pushed the expectations and hype of fans out of this world. To this day, I think it’s got the best story, twists and turns in the series and possibly even the most believable of them all. RE2 so iconic and introduced Lickers and other horrors that also made a lasting impact in the series.

PS: My ten-year-old self is still terrified by those zombie arms that reach through the barricaded windows…

Resident Evil 4

RE4 gets silver in this ranking. Just as with RE7, Capcom was expected to take new risks and deliver something fresh with their next entry after RE3, and deliver they did.

Resident Evil 4 is a monumental entry in survival horror history that spawned countless other games with similar approaches and is held among the very best games in horror and overall in gaming. The original Gamecube version still looks glorious and timeless, and all the mechanics we’ve grown to love in RE4 inspire a lot of RE8.

This game has also been a breaking point for me. I argue with many friends about the nuances of horror and terror when it comes to RE4. All titles before played with horror, slow and menacing. Resident Evil 4 also introduced, besides its many horror elements, a terror aspect to it. Faster enemies in greater numbers, more options to escape, a more agile Leon and some quick-time-events. RE4’s pacing is key to its success. It balances perfectly between horror and terror, thereby constantly raising the level of experienced dread.

It also has one of the most annoying sidekicks with Ashley, but that is a small price to pay for the brilliance it brings to the franchise. Just like RE2, the game gets everything right and also is very rewarding when replayed. I also bet that many consider RE4 as their favorite RE game of all time, and I would do so too if not for…

Resident Evil / REmake

RE1 on top? Lame or boring choice? I don’t think so! The Resident Evil 1 remake, originally released on GameCube back in 2002, is simply the purest and most honest version of Resident Evil there is.

Iconic through and through, REmake is still the most “Resident Evil” of them all even after all these years. You can say that the tank controls are outdated, the game doesn’t look as good as it used to, and you might even say it’s just not that good. But I’m afraid I have to disagree. All these mechanics and features nurture the survival horror of it all. You are slow, and enemies are sometimes slower and sometimes faster. Yes, it has some weird acting, but it looks incredible. The sound and atmosphere are brilliant, and some of the scares are deadly to this day. (Zombie dog through the window? Is there anything scarier?)

Anyway, there’s my ranking of 25 years of evil with the Resident Evil franchise. I’m super pumped to find out your personal top 5 (at least) in the series and what memories you have with the franchise. Be sure to let me know what you think on our social media!

Thanks for reading!

Originally published on: https://www.obilisk.co/ranking-evil-25-years-of-resident-evil