If you’re looking to catch up with the Resident Evil series, especially as more games come to Nintendo Switch 2, here’s which to play first and which to avoid.
While it is by no means the first horror game, Resident Evil is the series that coined the term survival horror. And while other horror franchises have faded into irrelevancy over the decades, Capcom’s franchise is performing stronger than ever.
It’s an impressive and welcome turnaround for a series that was losing its way by the 2010s, but Capcom has successfully reinvigorated Resident Evil for the modern day and it’s currently riding high in terms of the games and the latest movie adaption.
Resident Evil is also responsible for the current resurgence of survival horror in general, with the modern remakes inspiring Konami to revive Silent Hill and EA to bring back Dead Space.
Capcom supposedly wants a new Resident Evil game every year, at the moment the only one we know for sure is a remake of Code: Veronica due out next year. Since there’s no date yet, and the next mainline entry won’t be announced for a while, that means plenty of time to catch up on what’s already out.
This week will see the Resident Evil 2, 3, and 4 remakes launch for the Nintendo Switch 2 so, to mark the occasion, we’ve looked through the entire mainline series to see which of its games are the cream of the zombie mutant crop and which are so terrifyingly bad as to scare you into only playing them once.
Want GTA 6 news?
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for the latest GTA 6 news, reviews of new games you should play and exclusive analysis of the biggest stories of the week.
Every mainline Resident Evil game from worst to best
11. Resident Evil 6
Out of all the mainline Resident Evils, 2012’s Resident Evil 6 is the only one we’d describe as being genuinely bad. Not even playing co-op with a buddy makes it any more bearable to get through.
Aside from an overreliance on action and spectacle, making it feel more like a bad Call Of Duty game, the core combat isn’t even that good and very shallow, and there’s no interesting level design or environments.
The game having four story campaigns and the Mercenaries mode means you’re certainly getting your money’s worth, but if all you want is to stay up to date with Resident Evil lore, you can stick to a YouTube walkthrough.
Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
10. Resident Evil Zero
A prequel to the first game, Resident Evil Zero is at its best during its opening hours, when rookie S.T.A.R.S. officer Rebecca Chambers and convicted criminal Billy Coen are trapped on a train, which is one of the series’ more interesting environments.
By the time it reaches the mansion, though, it quickly begins to feel like a shallow retread of the first Resident Evil remake, since it came out only a short time afterwards.
To Zero’s credit, it laid the groundwork for Resident Evil 5’s co-op, but having two playable characters you could swap between didn’t add much and neither does the story to the overall mythos.
Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
10. Resident Evil 5
Anyone who has played Resident Evil 5 will tell you that it’s best experienced in co-op. Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar’s mission through Africa is far more enjoyable when you have a friend helping you fend off rabid mutants and solve puzzles.
A solo run is more of a slog thanks to some iffy controls and a far less helpful AI teammate. The action elements outweigh the horror ones (a problem its sequel only exemplified) and, even at the time, there was a lot of unintentional uncomfortableness about playing as a white man gunning down native Africans.
That last part is why there’s still uncertainty about whether Resident Evil 5 will see a full remake, even though it’s very integral to the wider storyline. That’s because this game serves as one of the most important entries for villain Albert Wesker, who is at his most enjoyably hammy here.
Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
8. Resident Evil – Code: Veronica
Resident Evil – Code: Veronica is a tricky one to grade nowadays since, at the time it launched, it was a must buy for Dreamcast owners and considered one of the best entries in the series.
As a true continuation of the plot from the first two games (it was originally supposed to be called Resident Evil 3 but Sony put their foot down because it was initially a Dreamcast exclusive), brother-sister duo Chris and Claire Redfield make for great protagonists and the atmosphere of the island prison setting is top notch, with the game striking a much cleaner balance between action and horror than some of its sequels.
Unfortunately, it’s not aged gracefully thanks to the stiff tank controls, which is why Code: Veronica is most deserving of receiving a modern remake. Fortunately, Capcom’s delivering just that in 2027 with what looks like an expanded story that’ll ideally better tie it into the later games.
Available on: PlayStation 4 and Xbox One (via backwards compatibility)
7. Resident Evil 3
The actual Resident Evil 3 always felt like a step backwards after Resident Evil 2, being woefully short and doing little to truly evolve the formula.
Perhaps fittingly, the 2020 remake is little more than a peculiarly brief re-run of the Resident Evil 2 remake, with several missing locations and elements from the original game and surprisingly little time spent with recurring enemy Nemesis, who is now more an inconvenience than a constant terror.
The game makes it this high since the core action gameplay is still very enjoyable and it boasts stellar graphics. But it’s really just Resident Evil 2 but not as good.
Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (cloud version), Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
6. Resident Evil Village
Resident Evil Village was a huge commerical hit but it’s the most disappointing of the modern mainline games, even if it’s still a decent game overall.
Its muddled attempts to riff on the legacy of Resident Evil 4 never quite work and the combat quickly gets quite mundane. Otherwise, it’s a solid Resident Evil game – it’s just not as scary as Resident Evil 7 and not as amusingly cheesy as Resident Evil 4.
But while lacking in innovation, the game does a good job mixing things up as you explore the titular village. Lady Dimitrescu’s castle is a particular highlight as well as Donna Beneviento’s mansion, which is the only time the game gets genuinely scary.
Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
5. Resident Evil 7 biohazard
Initially something of a soft reboot, with very few ties to previous games, Resident Evil 7 deserves its flowers for successfully revitalising the franchise. Even years later, it holds up incredibly well as one of Resident Evil’s scariest entries.
It manages to strike the right balance between old school Resident Evil design and modern sensibilities and the new first person perspective is a natural fit that ramps up the tension when hiding – since you spend most of the game with only a limited ability to defend yourself.
Influenced by everything from Texas Chain Saw Massacre to The Blair Witch, the game’s Baker family are so consistently menacing that it’s a shame the focus shifts to far less interesting enemies by the second half.
Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
4. Resident Evil
The original Resident Evil remains a classic 30 years later and even without any of the improvements of its sequels. It’s also very easy to access and should cost you less than a tenner no matter the platform.
If it’s too old school for you, though, then the 2002 remake is a worthy substitute. Graphically, it may feel like a step down if you’re used to the more recent remakes, but it remains a faithful reinvention that retains the ever-increasing tension of exploring a zombie-filled manor.
The deliberately awkward fixed camera angles are still present, but if the rumours of a second remake prove true that will no doubt be changed to a more modern camera system, similar to Resident Evil 2.
Available on: PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC
3. Resident Evil Requiem
We promise there’s no recency bias here. As the game Capcom launched to celebrate the 30th anniversary, Resident Evil Requiem is a shining example of the series’ best qualities.
Through dual protagonists Grace Ashcroft and Leon S. Kennedy, it offers you the heart-thumping tension and legit scares of Resident Evil 7 and the cheesy action of Resident Evil 4 in equal measure, truly feeling like the best of both worlds, despite some unavoidable tonal dissonance.
Its biggest flaws are a lack of new ideas and that it loses steam once it approaches the final third. Although that’s been a recurring problem throughout the series and can be applied to most of the games we’ve discussed so far.
Available on: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
2. Resident Evil 2
We genuinely struggled deciding whether Resident Evil 2 should take the number one spot or not. In the end, we’ve given it the silver medal simply because the second half is a serious downgrade compared to the first and, as happens far too often in the series, ends things in a boring laboratory area.
Even at its lowest, though, Resident Evil 2 is one of the gold standards for video game remakes. Putting aside how gorgeous its graphics are, its survival horror elements and gunplay action complement one another extremely well, making this one of the most atmospheric games in the series.
There’s a good degree of strategy not often seen in the other games, especially regarding how you circumvent the near unstoppable Mr X, and the Raccoon City Police Department offers some of the best level design Resident Evil has ever had.
Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch (cloud version), Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
1. Resident Evil 4
We apologise for being obvious, but Resident Evil 4 is so widely lauded because it really is just that good. A perfect encapsulation of what makes the series work, it was also hugely influential for third person shooters in general and though light on scares, it made up for it with its incredibly refined yet tense action that isn’t as brain dead as Resident Evil 6.
That’s why it’s so impressive that Capcom successfully remade it in 2023. It’s admittedly more accurate to describe it as a reimagining, but it was still a relief to see the core gameplay modernised without sacrificing what made it interesting. Even if the newer control scheme is a bit more generic.
Plus, the remake avoids taking itself as seriously as other recent entries and leans into the original’s cheesy tone, keeping Leon’s iconic one-liners intact and serving the utterly goofy plot and over-the-top set pieces well.
Available on: PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.