3. The Totally Different, Original Resident Evil 4
As it stands, Resident Evil 4 is the game which not only revitalised the survival horror franchise, but totally changed it beyond recognition and may have had a similar effect on the genre as a whole, for better or for worse. Subbing in dynamic action gameplay for the slow-burn scares and tank controls of before, this was high-octane horror. Which is a lot of fun, but very different from Resident Evils past. And indeed, the weirdest thing about this complete change of direction is that it appeared out of nowhere and did so after Capcom had already shown off levels from a completely different version of Resident Evil 4 which did, indeed, still star Leon Kennedy. Except instead of farting about in some undefined Eastern European country, he was in the classic Resi mansion setting, being stalked by a hook-wielding ghost. A set up which, besides the choice of player character, bears absolutely no resemblance to the game which eventually saw release. They didn't cut just a level, but almost an entire game.