Off the Shelf Media

One of the most iconic franchises in the history of the medium has turned 30 years old! The original Resident Evil is one of the games that established the survival horror subgenre firmly within the mainstream of the videogame zeitgeist back in 1996. In this article, we’re going to be counting down the top 10 Resident Evil games in celebration of three decades worth of interactive media dominance. 

These rankings are entirely subjective and based upon the author’s experience with the games, but they will do their best at objectively evaluating each one of these games on their own merits. We’ll be ranking them based on the quality of their gameplay, story, atmosphere and overall impact on the series as a whole. 

#10 – Resident Evil Village (2017)

Rounding out the lower echelon of the list is the finale of the exclusively first-person Resident Evil experiences. A direct sequel to 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, players once again control faceless hero Ethan Winters. This time, he’s on a quest to rescue his kidnapped daughter from the clutches of a mysterious cult in a remote village in Eastern Europe.

The game has some amazing moments of horror and action blended into a delicious twist that will keep players tense throughout the experience. Many hardcore Resident Evil purists might not enjoy it nearly as much as other entries, seeing as its first-person perspective and emphasis on action make it a far cry from the series’ roots. Gameplay is centered around fast-paced gunfights against hordes of enemies with the occasional key item hunt or puzzle sprinkled in between. Ammo and item crafting also removes that key aspect of scarcity of resources found in the survival horror subgenre the series originally helped standardize.

Other departures from tradition featured in Resident Evil Village include the titular ‘Evil Residents’ players are up against. Instead of zombies, players will contend with lycans, which are essentially wolf-like beast men infected by a fungal parasite. Additional threats include vampire-adjacent foes, cybernetically enhanced robotic corpses, and many other manmade horrors beyond our comprehension. Some of the most memorable enemy designs in the series are featured in Village, with icons like the gargantuan vampiric noblewoman Lady Dimitrescu or the feral Varcolcac. 

The setpieces and environments are also some of the best in the series history as well. The RE Engine shines in this entry like it does in the other RE titles of recent years. In-game character models were based on drawings rather than photographs this go around, providing a decidedly more surreal layer to the experience. The realism and graphical fidelity provided by the RE Engine, coupled with these beautifully animated hand-drawn character models, make for an incredibly gorgeous experience. Players would do well to remember Resident Evil Village is, in fact, a horror game. Not far beyond the facade of these beautiful environs lie vicious and hostile threats. 

Village is a game with flaws, certainly. There are plenty of moments where the game falls flat. The original, grotesque enemy designs coupled with the tense horror-action gameplay make Village one of the more memorable entries in the Resident Evil catalog. While the aforementioned horror-action gameplay in this entry is quite different from most other games on this list, it is good enough to keep players satisfied for hours and good enough to make the top 10. 

#9 – Resident Evil Requiem (2026)

The ninth spot on this list coincidentally goes to the 9th mainline entry in the series. Resident Evil Requiem released earlier this year to a resounding amount of success, so much so that it has firmly supplanted itself in this top 10 list. To read a more in-depth review of Resident Evil Requiem, check out our review here! 

Requiem gives players two separate Resident Evil-style experiences in one game with two different playable characters within the game’s narrative: series vet Leon Kennedy and newcomer Grace Ashcroft. Both characters play completely differently from one another and thus provide players with the full spectrum of survival horror experiences packed into one tight, fun, scary package. Leon is able to perform his high-flying acrobatics and kicks like fans know and love. Grace, on the other hand, is weaker and more susceptible to the various horrors a Resident Evil protagonist has to tangle with, making her incredibly human and relatable. While Leon is able to mixed-martial art his zombified foes into oblivion, Grace will have trouble staying on her feet when trying to flee from an attacker. 

The story is over the top. The remnants of Umbrella still linger even decades after the Raccoon City incident. Leon and Grace both find themselves caught in the throes of a new conspiracy when both are separately investigating the mysterious deaths of folks who survived the Raccoon City viral outbreak. Eventually, Leon and Grace are led on a hectic, desperate struggle to uncover the truth about both the 1998 T-Virus outbreak as well as the current day string of deaths. 

The combat in one word: entertaining. The enemies give players a perfect blend of what they know, mixed with some new elements that keep things fresh and interesting. It’s easy to see Capcom loved and cared for this project. Clearly, they wanted to give as many fans as possible what they wanted in a Resident Evil experience. As is expected for games featuring Leon, a vast array of weaponry is available for the player to use. Shotguns, pistols, sniper rifles, automatic SMGs, and an absolute howitzer in a magnum revolver-sized package are all available for Leon to use. At some points, even Grace gets her hands on some of these powerful arms, and compared to Leon, she has a much tougher time using these weapons as effectively. 

The zombies retain a lot of the characteristics their human selves had in their lives. For instance, a chef stays in the kitchen, hacking away at meat with a giant cleaver. Meanwhile, a zombified maid erratically ‘cleans’ the floor while lamenting the derelict condition the bloody floor is in. The new behavior and micropersonalities of the zombies are a great touch employed to wonderful effect in this game and are worth experiencing on your own.   

Perhaps the fact that Requiem covers so many survival horror bases is also one of its biggest drawbacks. In trying to cram all these different aspects of survival horror in one game, there are moments that don’t get their chance to shine for very long because players are quickly in a new locale with a different perspective. Just when you’re getting in the groove of roundhouse kicking “blisterheads” as Leon, you’ll find yourself back in the less-than-roundhouse-kicky shoes of Grace. 

All in all, Requiem looks, feels, and plays great. Additionally, it has looked, felt, and played great since launch! That’s a lot more than can be said for many triple-A releases in this day and age. If you’re a Resident Evil fan and you haven’t gotten your hands on this one yet, do it! There’s enough in there for fans of basically any era of the Resident Evil series to keep them entertained for hours on end. 

#8 – Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

Arguably, the game that saved the franchise from the depths, Resident Evil: Biohazard aka Resident Evil 7 marked another new era for the series. For basically the first time in the series (no, I am not counting Survivor or whatever that GunCon game was that you can’t play in modernity without a CRT TV), players underwent their journey in the first-person perspective. This new perspective, coupled with the further increased graphical fidelity of the eighth generation of consoles, provided the perfect environment for Capcom to resurrect their once great cash cow of a series. 

Protagonist Ethan Winters is on a mission to save his missing wife from a seemingly deserted plantation deep in the Louisiana bayou. What he encounters over the course of his search will have the hair standing on the backs of players’ necks. Some might even need to reach for a barf bag. 

Biohazard took the series back to its roots in many aspects. For starters, players are no longer a military-equipped badass capable of physically dominating every threat that comes their way. Instead, much like the first ever title in the series, players find themselves in an isolated mansion-style property with limited resources, limited direction, and limited places to seek refuge. Behind every door of the Baker Estate lie new threats and terrors, explicit or subliminal, for the player to overcome. The sheer sense of dread this game gives you on your first run, and even subsequent runs, is some of the best in the series, but that dread is just the tip of the Biohazard iceberg. 

The change in graphical fidelity from 2012’s Resident Evil 6 to Biohazard is another massive leap in the series’ history. Lighting effects, textures, character models, etc. are all on stunning display within Capcom’s debut of the now-famous RE Engine. Facial animations look and feel real. The grit of the dirt and rust on the metal is to a photorealistic polish. The blood, guts, and viscera invoke some of the best (or worst?) feelings of terror seen in the series to that point. 

There’s minimal music in this one, but when it does occur, it is perfectly hair-raising and creepy. The game’s intro song, a modern rendition of the 19th-century folk song ‘Go Tell Aunt Rhody’, is an emotional, overwhelming number that acts as a great garnish to the game’s intense, oppressive horror. Without relying too heavily on a score to set the tone and mood, Capcom really lets the environment and ‘natural soundtrack’ of the various creaks, bumps, and thuds of the house and surrounding exteriors act as the game’s soundtrack. 

The Resident Evil series has always used a specific calming musical cue to tell players they’re in one of the few safe locations in the game. Biohazard employs the use of the series trope to an expert degree in this entry. This low-fi piano/synth dirge does a great job of instilling a slight sense of calm with a parallel sense of lingering fear. Here’s a 10 hour version from YouTube in case you’re not picking up what I’m putting down.

Adding to the atmospheric accolades, the game is playable within PlayStation VR. I myself haven’t gotten the chance to experience Biohazard VR, but from what I have heard and read, it seems to be a must-try experience. The game is scary enough without it being beamed right onto your eyeballs, so I think I’m okay with sticking to playing it on a TV screen that I am able to look away from. 

The enemy variety in Biohazard is probably one of the game’s biggest drawbacks. Ethan will tangle with a new kind of enemy to the RE series in the form of “Molded.” These monsters are humanoid beings that have been infected with complex colonies of hyper-evolved fungus. These tall, lumbering, burly enemies attack Ethan with sharp claws and jaws and assail him with constant squelching and chittering. The Molded are amazingly designed creatures, don’t get me wrong. It was cool to see Capcom give players a different kind of threat to approach, apart from the standard zombie fans had been seeing for over 20 years to that point. The only issue is that you are only really going to be fighting one type of Molded for about 85% of the game. There are some unique boss fights sprinkled throughout with some ever-so-slight variants of Molded added in to shake things up moderately. These variants of molded, however, come far too late in the game and aren’t utilized frequently enough to really keep the gameplay fresh in the waning hours.

Despite the lack of enemy variety, Biohazard is a masterclass in how to build the perfect survival horror atmosphere. From the opening sequence, players are explicitly told through the environment that this place is hostile, but they must proceed anyway. As stated earlier, the graphical fidelity does a lot of the heavy lifting for setting the tone, but perhaps where the game really shines atmospherically is in its sound design. Walking around the Baker Estate is straight up terrifying. Old houses creak and bump, and this bayou plantation is no different. Just going from point A to point B, even without having to avoid enemies is a perilous endeavor. Just when you think you’ve found a moment of respite, a loud thud in the adjacent room will shatter any sense of calm you just gained. Moments after a tense pursuit from one of the Baker family ends, you’ll hear the person you thought you escaped from singing to themselves in a room nearby or milling about just below the staircase you just climbed. 

All in all, if it weren’t for Biohazard and its success, Capcom probably wouldn’t have proceeded with making all the Resident Evil games that followed. As one of the bestselling games in the series, Biohazard has sold over a million units for eight consecutive years. Capcom certainly resurrected the cash cow and then some with this one. The titles in the series only improved after this one, many of which are featured higher on this list. 

#7 – Resident Evil (1996)

This one is truly the grandaddy of them all. The first-ever title in the series has found itself comfortably in the top ten by virtue of the fact that if this game didn’t exist, none of the other games on this list would either. Several other series, related and unrelated, also might not exist were it not for the original Resident Evil. 

The concept is simple: players are stranded in a creepy mansion nestled in a remote forest. Using only their wits, their resolve, and maybe a few dozen handfuls of bullets, players need to navigate their way through the mansion with their lives and those very same wits intact.

Players choose between two different heroes: Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. Both stories play out similarly, but offer enough differences over the course of the journey to patent the series’ signature replayability.

Over the course of Chris and Jill’s journey, Capcom’s winning formula of game design is established. Players explore the mansion looking for key items, fighting or avoiding zombies and other abominations, and uncovering the truth about what is happening at this mysterious facility. 

Ammo and healing items are limited, and the player only has a few slots worth of inventory space to hold items on their person. Due to the restrictions on inventory space, players must utilize various stash boxes found throughout the mansion to store items to keep their packs light. This system provides a crucial layer of the series’s challenging gameplay loop that would continue throughout its history. 

Our heroes find themselves in this precarious situation as a result of a police investigation gone awry. Chris and Jill are members of an elite tactical police force known as STARS (Special Tactics and Rescue Service). An investigation into a string of bizarre murders leads them to the Arklay Forest on the outskirts of the midwestern town of Raccoon City. After discovering the destroyed remains of STARS Bravo team’s helicopter, Chris, Jill, and the rest of STARS Alpha team are attacked and chased by zombified dogs into a seemingly deserted mansion. Alpha team quickly realizes the refuge from the horrors they encountered in the forest is just as dangerous, as this mansion is overrun with zombies. 

Eventually, Chris and/or Jill uncover the truth behind the function of this mansion and its connection to a powerful pharmaceutical corporation headquartered in nearby Raccoon City. Resident Evil is a tale of terror, trial, betrayal, teamwork, and triumph. If you want to play an interactive campy 80s-90s B action movie, look no further than the original Resident Evil. 

Since we’re talking about 90s campy B action movie vibes, the original Resident Evil features a stylized live action intro that is perhaps one of the most amazing things you will ever see in a videogame. Seriously, check this out. 

Though many eventually came to criticize the original entry’s campy dialogue and corny stylized intro sequence, in 2026, people can appreciate it for what it is. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously, so why should you? Does everything have to be a brooding, overly serious neo-noir? Absolutely not. 

While this entry established the series firmly as one of the pillars of horror gaming and video gaming in general, many of Resident Evil’s sequels take the formula concocted for the first game and improve upon it to an exponential degree. However, credit where credit is due to the original entry. Resident Evil gave us the memorable characters, dialogue, story, and gameplay that all became staples of the series. Simply put, Capcom was just getting started with this one.  

#6 – Resident Evil 3 Nemesis (1999)

Rounding out the ‘Raccoon City trilogy’ and the lower five of this list, Nemesis follows Jill Valentine as she attempts to escape Raccoon City. A few months following the ‘Mansion Incident’, Jill is caught in the middle of a massive zombie outbreak that devastates the midwestern town of Raccoon City. Adding to the perils of her journey, she is being hunted by an advanced bio-organic weapon (BOW) in the form of the titular Nemesis. 

Nemesis marked another slight change in the gameplay for the Resident Evil series. For starters, much more emphasis was put on the action in this title. The zombies are quicker, stronger, and more numerous. Jill, in turn, moves faster and is capable of dodging, rolling, and shoving enemies out of the way. Ammo is more plentiful in the world, and players now have a tool that allows them to craft all the different ammo types found in the game. Additionally, players who make use of the ammo crafting system improve an unseen ‘skill level’ with crafting specific ammo types. This means players who craft the same type of ammo several times throughout their run will receive even more ammo when they craft, and perhaps a chance at making improved versions of the basic ammo. 

The titular ‘Nemesis’ monster’s pursuit of Jill means she will have to tangle with it a fair amount of times over the course of the journey. This is no ordinary zombie, as Nemesis is able to sprint with long strides that close the distance between it and Jill in an instant. Furthermore, it is capable of using various complex and heavy weaponry such as rocket launchers, flamethrowers, and machine guns. Nemesis is also capable of using his bare hands to pummel Jill to a pulp. As if all those threats weren’t enough, he can also poison Jill. Rounding out the dangers Nemesis provides for the players, he can additionally command-grab the player and violently throw them to the ground. Players will need to quickly shake the analog stick to ensure Jill gets back up quickly enough, as she’ll be completely vulnerable to Nemesis’s devastating follow-up attacks.

The most interesting feature showcased in Nemesis is its “Live Selection” feature. Over the course of the game, players will find Jill in various perilous situations where they are given two choices on how to proceed. The choice players make will impact their playthrough significantly with certain cutscenes changing, item placements moving around and more. Most games in the series to that point had a pretty strong replay value already, but Nemesis and its live selection mechanic raised the bar for replayability far higher than it already was. An early example of live selection in action comes about 20ish minutes into the game. Jill is outside the Raccoon City Police station, and Nemesis has her cornered. She can either decide to stand and fight the monster or duck and dodge him, and escape into the police station. Depending on their choice, players will either have a grueling fight early on that can use up a lot of their resources for the chance at a powerful upgrade, or they can save their resources for the time being and avoid the fight altogether. Players should know, however, that they will have to deal with Nemesis multiple, multiple times over the course of Resident Evil 3’s runtime.

We get to see the viral outbreak in Raccoon City go from bad to worse in real time in this entry. While the Spencer Mansion and Resident Evil 2’s Raccoon City have already fallen to the zombie plague by the time players are interacting with the world, Jill is fighting her way through Raccoon City as it is falling. After surviving the house of horrors that was the Spencer Mansion a few months prior, Jill is essentially on the run from the multinational pharmaceutical corporation Umbrella. Umbrella is attempting to cover up the fact that several of their multi-trillion-dollar facilities have more leaks than a porcupine’s raincoat, and their abominable creations are starting to wreak havoc in their backyard. 

Jill encounters an unlikely ally in Carlos Olivera, a mercenary sent by Umbrella to help rescue the citizens of Raccoon City. Though their dynamic is tense at first, the two become fast friends as both Nemesis’s pursuit and the viral outbreak reaching critical mass mean the two must work together to safely find a way out of the city. Resident Evil 3 gives us those patented vibes of trial, terror, teamwork, and triumph that had already worked so well in the series to that point. 

The combat in this entry is kicked up several notches. For starters, the aforementioned defensive moves and ammo crafting capabilities mean players are encouraged to engage these threats more frequently than in previous entries. Adding to the crafting system, the supplies to use for crafting, the various gunpowders, are all found in high numbers throughout the experience. Players also have the option to start the game with a fully loaded automatic rifle, further encouraging them to absolutely shred through the opening moments of the game. 

In 2020, Capcom dropped a remake of this title as well. That game definitely ranks in the bottom ten of RE titles, so we will not spend any time discussing that travesty. 

All in all, the original Nemesis takes some of the best aspects of all the Resident Evil games to that point and kicks them all up a notch. More action, more story, more camp, more fun. This was the first game in the series I ever got my hands on, and it absolutely hooked me into the world of Resident Evil from a young age. I definitely have a soft spot for this game, which is why it might be higher on this particular list than it would be on others. 

#5- Resident Evil 2 (1998)

Following a smash-hit debut title is never an easy task. Capcom faced this challenge head-on and delivered an absolutely masterful encore to 1996’s Resident Evil with Resident Evil 2. 

Players once again have a choice between two characters to play as: rookie Raccoon City police officer Leon Kennedy or Claire Redfield, the little sister of Resident Evil protagonist Chris Redfield. Leon is on his way to Raccoon City to start his career in law enforcement, while Claire finds herself in the city trying to find her brother, who has gone quiet in the months following the incident at the Spencer Mansion. Eventually, Leon and Claire find themselves caught in the middle of both the T-Virus outbreak as well as an internal power struggle between some of the biggest players of the pharmaceutical giant Umbrella.

The gameplay loop is familiar. Players are once again trapped in a large, foreboding locale. The goal to explore, fight zombies, find keys, and escape before it’s too late is still the same. This title introduced a unique interconnectivity to the two protagonists’ campaigns, further adding to the series’ hallmark replayability. Upon beating the game for the first time, players will have the option to start a “2nd Run” version of either character’s campaign. This moves some items around, starts the player off in a different location, and adds a few other twists and variables that shake gameplay up quite a bit. Adding to the gameplay shakeup, players can basically ‘link’ their Claire and Leon playthroughs. For example, items picked up during one character’s campaign will not show up in the others. This gameplay element adds a fun and unique layer, which keeps players from picking up every resource they come across like a kleptomaniac pigeon, otherwise, the other character won’t have anything for them. 

Resident Evil 2 features some of the most amazing background music tracks in the entire series. From the creepy theme that plays upon entering Raccoon City’s police precinct to the loud and overwhelming number players hear when they are ambushed, the music here does a ton of atmospheric heavy lifting for the game. 

Though the game uses 3D character models, the backgrounds are pre-rendered 2D setpieces. Modern players reading this might not think that sounds too appealing, but the limitations of earlier consoles fostered an incredibly creative environment for dev teams across the industry. These pre-rendered backgrounds are beautifully detailed and, as a result, incredibly immersive. Players will see broken glass on the floor, and the ground will crunch under their feet. Walking in the high-ceiling entrance hall of RPD produces percussive, echoing footsteps. Serious props deserve to go out to these original developers who took a game for a massively underpowered console by today’s standards and created such a beautifully terrifying world.

This title acts as the debut for two of the series’ most iconic characters. Both Leon and Claire are beloved by the fandom, and new players will find it hard not to fall in love with them either. The pair are both youngsters in this entry, so it’s nice going back and playing this one to see Leon as a competent yet inexperienced rookie cop and Claire as a youthful yet determined younger sister. Both characters went on to be the stars of their own self-contained games and movies later on down the line, and their respective experiences in Raccoon City are constantly referenced. When players go back and play this one, they can see just how much of an impact the events in 1998 had on Claire and Leon. 

In short, Resident Evil 2 might be the perfect sequel. It continues the story of the first game, introduces new characters connected to the previously established characters, and puts them in a world that further evokes the emotions and fears of the player. There are more zombies, more areas to explore, more weapons; there’s a lot of ‘more’ here in all the right places. 

Capcom really honed their talents with perfecting a horror atmosphere with Resident Evil 2. This title is a must-play for anyone who enjoys an exhilarating interactive experience. While it certainly shows its age with elements like tank controls and fixed camera angles, it is still an amazing game throughout, over and over again. 

#4 – Resident Evil 4 Remake (2023)

I remember how excited I was when I found out Capcom was remaking Resident Evil 4. The original version of this game is one of my favorite games of all time, and Capcom had already done an incredible job of remaking Resident Evil 2 with the modern third-person, over-the-shoulder style the original Resident Evil 4 helped popularize. In all honesty, the original Resident Evil 4 is probably one of the only games in the series that didn’t need a modern remake. 

However, we got a remake, and it’s one of the best games in the series. Essentially, all of the less enjoyable story moments and gameplay aspects from the original were reworked or removed entirely. Players can aim their weapons and move at the same time in this one, a feature that makes going back and playing this one a tad bit more attractive from time to time. Oh, but the Water Hall in the Salazar Castle is still a thing, and it’s still Hell.

The story is expanded upon greatly from the original. Leon S. Kennedy is on a mission to rescue the US president’s missing daughter. His search leads him to a remote village in rural Spain. There, he encounters a neopagan religious cult, Los Illumindaos, that has subjugated the era via a powerful parasite known as Las Plagas. They intend to make use of the parasite to bring about the usual B-action movie villain rigamarole. While the story is basically the same as the original, a great many moments between the game’s various characters are expanded upon. Furthermore, the lore goes a little bit deeper, especially concerning the nature of what makes the residents evil, Las Plagas. This expansion of the lore was a welcome addition that only added to the greatness of Resident Evil 4 as an experience. 

This game is perhaps one of the best-looking in the series. All of the iconic looks of the enemies have been masterfully updated for modern systems. This game is colorful; a criticism of the original was that it was fairly monochrome, mostly grays and browns found throughout. Here, the entire color wheel is present, and the colors pop. Exteriors, interiors, clothing, etc., all of these things exhibit a great deal more color than the original game, making this game much, much easier on the eyes than the original is. 

The graphics are pretty much perfect too. Capcom’s RE Engine does what it does best and brings nigh-photorealism to one of the best videogames in the history of the medium. I absolutely loved the body horror detail we were able to get expanded with the remake as well. The mutations of the various Plagas-based enemies are even more frightening and disgusting than their original iterations, and are still just as fun to conquer. The weaponry, the treasures, the key items, setpieces, furniture, structures, everything is incredibly detailed and fun to just stare and look at. Make sure all those Ganados you just put down stay down before you stop and admire the scenery… 

One of the drawbacks of the remake is the decidedly more ‘serious’ tone. Don’t fret, Leon still packs a witty one-liner in the chamber at all times, but he’s got a lot more of a ‘film noir’ protagonist vibe than a ‘campy 80s action flick’ vibe in the remake. Some might not be at all bothered by the more serious tone of the remake. However, I think one of the things that made the original Resident Evil 4 such a great game was those less-than-serious moments in between the gameplay. These campy, at times even goofy, moments in cutscenes felt like a reward for the players for braving the last series of rooms filled with overwhelming odds. In the remake, it’s serious, brooding, and intense right up until the very end. 

Despite some personal hangups I might have with the ‘soul’ of the game, Resident Evil 4 Remake is still one of the best games in the series history. Capcom absolutely choked with their Resident Evil 3 remake before, so a lot was riding on the success of this one. Capcom safely redeemed themselves and gave us a great update to an already absolutely wild ride.  

#3 – Resident Evil 2 Remake (2019)

A remake over the original? That’s right. The original Resident Evil 2 was already one of my favorite videogames of all time in general. When the remake dropped in early 2019, I bought it almost instantly. Over the past seven years, I have played the absolute crap out of this game. Seriously, I probably go back and play through it multiple times in a few sittings at least twice a year.

In short, this remake is the blueprint for how to update a 20-year-old game for modern hardware and players. While still incredibly faithful to the original game and its RPD precinct setting, those working on the remake made enough of their own bold choices that further aided in updating the title for modernity. One such example that is apparent upon starting a new game is the removal of loading screens between rooms. A common trope of the Resident Evil series throughout its earlier days was this first-person POV animation of a door slowly opening that acted as the loading screen for the next room. This element of the game did an excellent job of working with hardware limitations, but also building tension as the player was entering a new room. In this remake, however, the entire Raccoon City Police Department is loaded in upon arrival, no more loading screens. This doesn’t mean that tension is gone, oh no. Plenty of other steps were taken by Capcom and those working on this game to build tension in a plethora of other ways. 

Being able to aim while moving and aim freely at different spots on the zombies was also an amazing feature to have in this updated title. Players can target zombies’ heads to attempt for that critical hit, or aim for the legs in an attempt to immobilize them. Additionally, players can even remove zombies’ arms, making it more difficult for them to grab the player. 

The atmosphere of the Raccoon City Police Department is terror, anguish, disgust, and hopelessness. Every room Leon or Claire enters tells a different macabre tale of decay in the face of the current viral zombie outbreak. The 2D pre-rendered backgrounds of the original already did an amazing job showing how dire the situation was in September 1998. These 3D environments put the reality of the outbreak right in front of the players’ eyes from start to finish, however. 

Another aspect this game nails is the use of lighting, or lack thereof, throughout the experience. Some rooms will be pitch black with only your trusty flashlight as a light source. Others will have flickering lights or dim ones. Some rooms might even be perfectly well-lit. While the first RE Engine entry of Biohazard already showcased the RE Engine’s capabilities with respect to lighting effects, Resident Evil 2 Remake further raises the bar that Biohazard so triumphantly set.

The iconic Licker enemy from the original is back, and they are even more terrifying and challenging than the original. While it was easy to just sprint right past most of the lickers in the original game, the remake gives the players a few more challenges and obstacles. Some of the corridors players will encounter are long, and they can move faster than the character can run, so they’re going to catch up, and it is going to hurt. They’re also hyper sensitive to sound, so just sprinting by them or slamming a door into the room they’re occupying is also going to get you caught. The method is to slowly creep by them and hope they don’t accidentally bump into you while you’re doing so. I really liked this feature with the Licker. Capcom made what was already a terrifying foe even scarier, simply. 

In summary, Resident Evil 2 Remake is held in such high regard here because it sticks to what it’s good at throughout. Yes, it’s got a fancy new coat of paint and all but it doesn’t try to do too much to modernize it. There aren’t a bunch of blips and waypoints on the screen. There’s no HUD pointing you in the direction of your next objective. There are a few more aids to help the player move themselves along, but the game does not exactly hold your hand once you get going. We’re still trapped in a house of horrors, looking for keys and fighting monsters, trying to escape. That winning formula is still used here, just with some fresher ingredients. 

#2 – Resident Evil Remake (2002) 

The runner-up on our list goes to Capcom’s first-ever attempt at remaking one of the Resident Evil games all the way back in 2002 on the Nintendo GameCube. As the title suggests, this one is a remake of the first entry of the series. Players once again will choose between Chris and Jill and fight their way through a more polished and updated version of the Spencer Mansion. 

Much like why I enjoy RE2’s remake a bit more than the original, REmake expands on the lore, enhances the visuals, and deepens the gameplay greatly. The mansion is expanded in several ways. For one, its layout is much more elaborate than the original. New rooms provide new challenges, more resources, or another head-scratching puzzle or two. Additionally, the ability to use various “defense items” as an expendable resource to escape a zombie’s grasp was a superb addition. In previous titles, being grabbed by a zombie meant certain damage and a struggle to break free. Now, players can use a knife or a stun gun to break free from the clutches of a shambler before they get a chance to get a bite in. 

Furthermore, a new enemy type surfaces once the player has gotten their bearings in the Spencer mansion in the form of ‘Crimson Heads’. These enhanced enemies are mutated versions of zombies that Chris and Jill have already dispatched previously. They are capable of running faster than the average T-Virus sufferer and can take a significantly greater amount of damage. Early on, players can acquire both a lighter and a fuel canteen. These are used to burn the bodies of zombies they’ve killed to keep them from mutating into Crimson Heads. Fuel is a finite resource; however, not every zombie in the mansion can be burned, almost guaranteeing the player will have to deal with a Crimson Head at least once in their playthrough. 

While only six years younger than its progenitor, REmake’s visuals greatly enrich the Gothic-style architecture of the mansion and the Gothic horror feel of the environments. The lighting effects are great, with light and the lack of light being employed to a great degree to both trick and assist the player at various moments throughout the journey. The 3D character models on 2D backgrounds are still the constant here with the presentation, but the increased graphical fidelity of both means that both are, in turn, much more detailed. Facial expressions on the characters and scenes of carnage in the environments are both artfully done in this entry and will leave the player in a simultaneous state of awe and terror.

REmake does away with the unintentional camp of the original entry. While I think in many ways Resident Evil (1996) doesn’t take itself too seriously, I think there were times when it just fell flat. For instance, Barry Burton calling Jill “the master of unlocking things” after giving her the lockpick in the original was a laughably awkward and robotic line. In this one, Barry simply says, “I think you’d do better with this than me,” and hands her the lockpick. So we get the same moment as the original, it doesn’t totally flip the bird to it, it just ‘corrects’ that awkward moment from the original.

The corny voice acting from 1996 is gone as well. The performances given by all the English and Japanese voice acting talents are phenomenal, and began to mark a turning point in the quality of the voice acting in these games. Remember, Silent Hill 2  had just come out a year prior, and people were still noting the stilted and awkward dialogue in games to that point in time as well. Here, emotions are better articulated by the actors, and the weight of their words is felt in a much more impactful way than the original. 

Many regard REmake as one of the best remakes in the series and perhaps the best remake of any game ever. It adheres to the source material, allows space for those familiar moments, and adds enough new elements so that players feel like they’re getting something more than the original experience with a visual upgrade. 

#1 – Resident Evil 4 (2004)

What more needs to be said about this game that hasn’t already been said? It’s Resident Evil 4, baby! This is the third-person action-horror game that inspired a legion of other great games in the coming years.

Once again, series vet Leon S. Kennedy is the leading man. This time, on a quest to rescue the US president’s kidnapped daughter in rural Spain. 

Though the gameplay can show its age in a few moments, it is still a phenomenal experience throughout. Enemies will react accordingly depending on where Leon hits them. For one of the first times in the series, players could effectively use a knife and even Leon’s own hands and feet as weapons to conserve ammo. 

The enemies aren’t virus-infected zombies in this one, a first in the series. Rather, they’re ordinary, rural people who have been infected with a hive-mind parasite. The parasite makes them absolutely obedient to their controller and exceptionally violent towards outsiders. They can run, use tools, communicate, and coordinate with each other. These enemies are exponentially more dangerous than the shambling corpses Leon battled in Raccoon City, and this becomes apparent to the player almost immediately upon starting a new game. 

Leon’s not just going to be encountering angry Spaniards over the course of his journey. Some of the most memorable and frightening enemies in the series can be found in this entry. From the iconic El Gigante seen all over the promotional material to the absolutely terrifying Regeneradors found late in the game, the enemy variety in this one keeps players on their toes throughout. Just when you think you’ve gotten into the rhythm of combat, Resident Evil 4 raises the stakes and introduces a variable in combat that you hadn’t accounted for. “Oh, just an angry mob of villagers with torches and pitchforks?” You might think. Boom. Now there are multiple guys off in the distance throwing dynamite or Molotovs at you. “Maybe I can run into that two-story house and get some cover? Great! I can barricade the door!” Boom. Here’s an absolute bullet sponge of an enemy packing a doggone chainsaw. 

Resident Evil 4 understands that with these faster-paced, overwhelming situations require a more elaborate set of tools to address them. There’s a variety of weapons, offering a wider selection of playstyles not seen in the series to that point. Each weapon feels unique, including weapons of a similar type. Ammo is not nearly as restricted as it had been in previous entries, as the game adjusts ammo drop rates from crates or enemies around the types of weapons the player has. Running low on shotgun ammo? This next box might have a few shells for you. This system incentivizes using these more powerful weapons outside of the pivotal boss encounters to deal with the large crowds Leon will inevitably go up against. 

Another new mechanic introduces the merchant, an enigmatic figure tracking Leon along his journey through the village of Valdelobos and offering new weapons, healing items, and upgrades for those weapons. Leon can find money throughout the game world that he can use to make purchases from the merchant. Additionally, Leon can find a plethora of various treasures that can be sold to the merchant for a bountiful infusion of pesetas in a pinch. Some of these treasures can be combined with others to increase their value even further. 

As if the Resident Evil series wasn’t already replayable enough, Resident Evil 4 ups the ante even further with these changes. A somewhat limited inventory space means you can’t own all the weapons at once and probably won’t have the money to fully upgrade them all in one go. This circumstance almost guarantees players will feel compelled to jump right back into the game once again, some players might want to do so immediately upon finishing it the first time. 

The atmosphere and environments are a perfect time capsule of the ‘grey and brown’ era of games. That is to say, the color grading of the picture on screen carried persistent hues of grays and browns throughout the experience. People complained about it for a while, but I don’t mind this now cliché method, especially in one of the games that had a hand in inspiring the trend. 

Resident Evil 4’s original iteration does not take itself too seriously. That’s for the 2023 remake to do. Just another indicator of how different the era of video game development and design was in the early/mid Aughts. When Capcom remade Resident Evil 4 in 2023, the tone shifted to an even darker one, and with it that signature ‘camp’ drowned in the shadows of this new, serious mood. Leon in the original entry is much more cocky, a sign of his growth and hardening in the years following the Raccoon City incident. While similarly a more experienced combatant in the 2023 remake, he has a much more brooding vibe. These completely different flavors of Leon simply mark the eras in which their respective games were made. One thing that remains constant, remakes and new entries, is Leon’s capacity to fire off a pithy one-liner. Here at Off the Shelf Media, we tend to be bigger fans of the classics, so we prefer the original over the more serious little brother.

All that to say, whichever version you pick, Resident Evil 4 is one of the best games in the history of interactive media. Due to its contributions to the series, game development, the genre, and the medium, Capcom’s 2004 magnum opus is at the top of our list. If we ever drop any other articles discussing ‘best of’ again, expect to see RE4 somewhere in the discussion. 

So what did you think of our list? Are you upset we didn’t include Code Veronica? Well, I don’t like Code Veronica. You can thank the Bandersnatch and Nosferatu for that. Were there any other games we missed? Did you play that GunCon game that only works on a CRT TV? Let us know in the comments! Thanks for reading and helping us celebrate 30 years of Resident Evil!