Every Mainline Resident Evil Ranked From Worst To Best
Enter the survival horror...
Resident Evil is one of gaming's most recognizable franchises. As one of the pioneers in survival horror, the 1996 original innovated with its tank controls and fixed camera perspective that created a sub-genre of its own.
Its success would lead to numerous sequels and the franchise has become an industry icon with numerous spin-offs and film projects.
A key factor to the RE's success, however, lies in its ability to adapt to the times. While most video game franchises have one template, Resident Evil has had different styles. Though the initial sequels followed the mold of the first game, the series soon evolved into more action-horror gameplay while eventually moving into a perfect blend with the modern games. Because of this, there have been multiple eras of Resident Evil, each having a strong following among the fanbase.
And with the recent release of the Resident Evil 4 Remake, it's time to take a look at the series as a whole and see which among them deserves to be put on the top. These entries will consist of the mainline titles as well as the remakes.
14. Resident Evil 6
Resident Evil 6 tried to appease all corners of the fanbase by having four different campaigns. But because they overextended their reach, the result is a bloated game that serves as the peak of the franchise's extravagance.
Leon S. Kennedy's campaign tries to return to the survival horror roots that the series has become known for while Chris Redfield's focuses on cover-heavy shooting mechanics like modern 3rd person shooters at the time. Meanwhile, newcomer Jake Muller employs melee-heavy gameplay while having a pursuit system similar to Nemesis in Resident Evil 3, and finally, Ada Wong's hidden campaign is stealth focused.
Had the developers decided to focus on one or two of these styles, the finished product would have been more coherent. Instead, the result is a smorgasbord of different ideas being mashed together in an attempt to please everyone. The setpieces are over-the-top even by RE standards and the game just felt too much of a departure from what made the franchise great.
The only positive thing that Resident Evil 6 did was convince Capcom to retool the series beginning with the seventh entry.