Okay Resident Evil thread! What it is, why you should play it, and where to start. This is my favourite series and I could talk forever about them, so please let me know if you end up playing any! First, what is Resident Evil?
1/23

RE is a series of survival horror games which bounce pretty wildly in tone and genre, let's talk about why. If you've any experience with horror movie sequels you probably know where this is going. So the core concept is to have players feel like a final girl-
2/23

You're thrown into an unwinnable situation and forced to learn to survive with limited resources (saves and ammo, usually), but slowly gather skills so that by the end you're pretty much an action movie hero. This is the core narrative of every RE game, both in the story and-
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in the narrative told through the gameplay systems. Ludonarrative harmony has been important in every entry. Problem though, how do you bring back the same characters after they've been action heroed? Well you make things anime as fuck
4/23

Just like shounen anime power creep the mainline series had increasing levels of insane bullshit to keep the stakes up, and honestly? it's great! This is why RE7 was so praised though, they introduced a new character+story so the stakes could be lowered. Okay onto the games
5/23

I'll go through each mainline entry with a short pitch. RE1 has aged.. interestingly. It laid the groundwork for one of the best games ever but in 2020 it's very very jank and one of the worst starting points. A whole lot of fun with friends though
6/23

HOWEVER RE1 Remake is, to me, the best game ever made. Everything from 1 has been polished and repackaged to play perfectly. It was and still is the best example of the RE formula. The Spencer mansion usually tops best game level lists, I could draw a map from memory
7/23

You can play RE1R on anything. The hardest difficulty is actually normal mode, you'll die a lot but that's part of the process. Drop down if you're really not vibing though. Importantly play Jill first as she's far easier. Use traditional controls, alt doesn't work.
8/23

RE2 took everything 1 did and said "what if we made it Hollywood?" This is my personal favourite. Everything is just a bit more snappy than 1, and the game weaves the two characters narratives together in a really fun way. I recently replayed and it's surprisingly easy?
9/23

I recommend emulating the dualshock edition of the PS1 game. Claire or Leon first is pretty viable, but you're meant to play both. This is probably a rough introduction if you've not played with fixed cameras before, but otherwise is a good start point.
10/23

RE2 Remake. The game that "saved RE". I'll be honest this is near perfect as a remake and on it's own. It's where most modern fans start and for good reason. It fails to interconnect the stories where the original didn't, but I've few complaints past that
11/23

RE3 Nemesis is polarising. The core of the game is:
1) More action than 2.
2) You are constantly being chased.
I really really love this game, it needs to be played immediately after 2 for proper effect. Nemesis is terrifying. Still probably the hardest RE main RE game?
12/23

RE3 introduces so many amazing mechanics: ammo crafting, optional Nemesis fights for items, branching narratives. However there isn't a worse place to start in the series, absolutely don't play this until you've played at least 2 but preferably 1 too.
13/23

RE3 remake is a really good game and is great to play immediately after RE2R, but don't expect an actual remake of RE3. They honestly didn't even try to remake it, it should honestly be called something else. Not a good place to start for the same reason as RE3
14/23

So in between RE3 and RE4 some side games took the series to some extremely anime places (e.g leeches controlled by opera), and by 4 they knew they needed to shake up the formula. Leon from RE2 had to be the protagonist, but he was already a special agent, how does he fit in?
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Well, apparently the answer was to make the game one massive B movie. RE4 is a wild trip through every B movie trope there is. Wonderfully paced, delightful to play, tragically responsible for the popularisation of escort missions.
16/23

You can and should play RE4 on any system. Really there's no excuse, I promise you you will have fun. Perfect place to start but don't be surprised to find a very different game if you go play any earlier ones.
17/23

RE5 is a mess. I'm sure there's RE5 stans out there somewhere but I haven't been able to play it since launch and just didn't vibe. It's very funny when played with a friend, but is the weakest in the series for me. Washed out visuals and racist story, bleh
18/23

RE6 is a mess, but a beautiful one. Michael Bay got real popular, Vanquish got overlooked. The RE devs decided they wanted a cut. One massive and ridiculous story connecting all previous characters, shockingly deep combat, lots of explosions. Didn't deserve the hate one bit
19/23

Finally, Resident Evil 7. The other game that "saved" RE. What if you combined the RE formula with Evil Dead/Texas Chainsaw? You get a really good game, apparently. Probably the most successful game in the series in doing the zero to hero narrative since 1.
20/23

Another great place to start. It's the only first person game on this list but playing it feels so similar to playing all the others that it's okay. Make sure you play the story DLC, one of them makes the game a fighting game.
21/23

So there's the mainline games. Is this useful? no. Did I have fun?Yes. On a serious note if you're interested in game dev you owe it to yourself to play some of these. Both the mechanics and level design are years ahead. Lots of entire games could be made of random concepts in em

Summary:
Start on RE1R if you can deal with fixed cameras and tank controls.
Start with RE7 or RE2R if you can't, depending on if you're more comfortable first or third person.
Start with RE4 if you want to see some wild shit and just have fun.
23/23

I have a tip jar if for some reason you want to encourage me to rant about Resident Evil and other things?
(please don't give money if you're struggling!!): https://ko-fi.com/elhayes