When you look at the 30 year history of this series – with all of its mutations and transformations – it's no surprise that so many of its instalments are considered among the best horror games ever made.
What's impressive is that so many of the best Resident Evil games have stood the test of time. Not to mention how much variation there is – there are true contenders for our best action games ranking in here, not to mention our list of the best single-player games. But above all else, the best Resident Evil games are good for one thing, and one thing only: scaring the living daylights out of you.
What's impressive is that so many of the best Resident Evil games have stood the test of time. Not to mention how much variation there is – there are true contenders for our best action games ranking in here, not to mention our list of the best single-player games. But above all else, the best Resident Evil games are good for one thing, and one thing only: scaring the living daylights out of you.
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GamingTranscript
00:00 [music]
00:06 With a 30-year history, it's no surprise Resident Evil has produced some of the best horror games ever made.
00:11 From exploring the creepy Spencer Mansion to surviving Raccoon City zombies,
00:15 or escaping vampire-filled castles and more, there's a lot to love.
00:19 Or hate, depending on how you feel about monsters and running away from things.
00:24 But with all the mutations and transformations the series has undergone over the years,
00:28 what are the best games overall?
00:30 It's that exact question we're going to answer now, as we take a look at the Resi games that have stood the test of time
00:36 and the essential must-plays it has produced over three decades.
00:40 [music]
00:42 "What the hell is this thing?"
00:44 [music]
00:47 Creating the foundation for a successful franchise is one thing.
00:51 Developing a successful sequel is something else entirely.
00:54 Resident Evil 2 took the suspenseful action of its predecessor and the suffocating atmosphere of the Spencer Estate
01:00 and draped it across a sprawling city under siege from the living dead.
01:04 It's an ingenious survival horror game combining meticulously crafted spaces
01:08 with perfectly paced scenarios to form an experience almost as gripping today as it was back in 1998.
01:15 It's simply one of the greatest sequels ever made, and the game that firmly established Resident Evil's place in history.
01:22 "Head to the station, I'll meet you there."
01:25 "Okay."
01:27 [music]
01:33 This was an astounding remake when it landed in 2002 and immediately became one of the best GameCube games ever made.
01:39 This redux takes the bones of the 1996 original and rebuilds it, adding in improved combat mechanics,
01:45 refined resource management and terrifying new threats like crimson head zombies.
01:50 It's overhauled visual design has also stood the test of time pretty well,
01:54 meaning one of survival horror's most formative experiences looks nearly as good to play today as when it was first unleashed upon the world.
02:01 [music]
02:09 This handsome remake makes some odd changes to the original story and flow, and fluffs a lot of the pace as a result,
02:15 but it's still a good little action horror hybrid.
02:18 Nemesis, for example, is a much more scripted set-piece threat compared to the PS1 original.
02:23 He's more a series of mini-boss battles now compared to, say, the ever-pressing threat of Mr. X's pursuit in 2019's Resident Evil 2 remake.
02:31 It also feels surprisingly short, with a breakneck 5-hour zombie-slaughtering quest to be had if you're quick on your feet.
02:38 But the mechanics are still solid, building on the template of the Resident Evil 2 remake.
02:43 It looks gorgeous, and when it does get things right, it absolutely nails the landing.
02:48 [music]
02:53 The most recent Resident Evil is a bit of a ramshackle rollercoaster ride that undoes all the work of Resident Evil 7's incredible reboot,
03:00 but it still has some great moments.
03:02 It's a fun, but a far more silly take on the series that leans into camp melodrama over actual horror.
03:08 Plus-side it introduces some iconic characters like Lady D, and a terrifying dollhouse section easily as good as anything the series has ever produced.
03:16 But it's also got bizarre pacing missteps, like a brief swamp section or some excessively trigger-happy shooting levels that, overall, rob this installment of some venom.
03:25 It has a strong opening half, though, that's well worth checking out, with only later wonky segments lessening the impact overall.
03:32 "Ethan Warchief."
03:35 Without Resident Evil 4, this video ranking the best Resident Evil games probably wouldn't exist.
03:40 Leon S. Kennedy's Spanish adventure reintroduced and rebuilt Resident Evil to incredible effect, reshaping all third-person games as a result for over a decade.
03:49 This wasn't just a sweeping reinvention of the Resident Evil framework, it's one of the greatest action games of all time.
03:55 Without this, everything from Gears of War to Dead Space would have turned out very differently.
03:59 Setting the undead slaying action over the shoulder of Leon, Resident Evil 4 is both perfectly placed and utterly relentless.
04:06 It's an experience designed to overwhelm from the first minute through to the last while remaining self-aware enough to revel in the ridiculousness of its own narrative arc.
04:14 It's a truly remarkable experience, and one that changed games forever.
04:18 The Resident Evil 2 remake is an incredible reimagining of one of the series' finest moments.
04:26 It's a game that manages to beautifully combine the methodical challenge of the original with the tight gunplay that Resident Evil 4 made as a video game standard.
04:34 It's a stunning love letter to the legacy of Resident Evil 2, but one that's fearless in how it updates what's needed refreshing.
04:40 It captures everything from the original perfectly, refrained for modern tastes without losing a shred of its terror or claustrophobia as you fight to escape a zombie-ridden raccoon city.
04:55 This is the reboot that made Resident Evil relevant again by doing what the first game had originally done, stealing all the good stuff from horror movies.
05:03 In this case, mid-2000s slasher flicks found footage and home invasion horror.
05:07 After years of increasingly bloated story excess, Capcom wiped the board clean and doubled down on claustrophobic dread,
05:13 with a focused story in a rotting Deep South mansion with crunching first-person combat and the diabolical Baker family as villains.
05:21 In 'Bakers', the series discovered some of its most effective antagonists, stalking the hapless hero Ethan Winters through their disconcerting Bayou estate.
05:29 The reduced cast created and enhanced some incredibly focused scares in a memorable story that utterly reinvented the series, while keeping all the familiar elements.
05:38 It's an outstanding retake on Resident Evil that put the series back on the horror map.
05:43 So what's your favourite Resident Evil game? Have we got the rankings right? Let us know in the comments below.
05:49 [Outro]