15 Video Game Franchises That Tried Something Wildly Different (And Failed)

Resident Evil 6 is often remembered as being the black sheep of the family. Resident Evil 4 had reinvented the franchise for the modern audience, doing away with the fixed cameras in favour of a new over-the-shoulder perspective that influenced countless 3rd person shooters that came after it. This was followed by Resident Evil 5, which was noticeably less horror-focused, and more concerned with action.

Rightly or wrongly, Capcom believed that action was what fans were craving more than the series' original themes of tension and horror, so the developer decided to double down on this approach with Resident Evil 6. The game went all-in on action, pretty much doing away with horror entirely in favour of more guns and more explosions. The campaign is filled to the brim with waves of monsters to mow down with a wide assortment of weapons. Ammo scarcity is no longer an issue, with the series' well-known survival mechanics also finding themselves pushed into the background.

Many consider Resident Evil 6 to be the weakest of the series, and a complete betrayal of the franchise's identity. Capcom clearly heard the backlash, as the series went on a short hiatus after the sixth entry. The release of Resident Evil 7 saw a complete overhaul to the series, shifting the focus to first-person, and putting survival horror back at the forefront. Since then, Capcom has still attempted to find a balance between horror and action, and the game's most recent entries, including this year's Resident Evil 9: Requiem, have proved the developer has perfected its formula.