Resident Evil: 10 Reasons It's The Best Horror Franchise Of All Time
3. Replayability
At their core, Resident Evil games tell a single story that should take about five hours to get through if you aren't rushing but know what you're doing. Even those that have multiple characters should only offer about ten to fifteen hours of game for players, but Capcom keep us coming back time and again.
Most of this is down to the rankings. The quicker you get through the game and the safer you are doing it, the higher the rank you'll receive at the end. And high ranks unlock powerful weapons that you can take into the game and punish those enemies who've been punishing you.
So players start to develop tactics. You determine which enemies to kill and which to avoid, how much ammo you need and which optional pickups you don't need to grab, what order to collect things in so that you maximise the effectiveness of a route.
And then, when you've mastered the game and unlocked the best weapons, you go back through one last time and punish all those beasties who gave you so much trouble the first time around.