Resident Evil has had a pretty good renaissance in the last few years. It all started in 2017 with Resident Evil 7. Then there were the two remakes, Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3, which went above and beyond what fans expected.
The boom continues with Resident Evil Village. What’s next after this entry and its DLC? Will there be more remakes of the popular titles like Resident Evil 4? Or, perhaps, will Capcom go back and revive the entries most fans forgot exist or never even heard of before? In this day and age, anything is possible
8 Resident Evil Survivor
Resident Evil Survivor was released in 2000 on the PS1 right after Resident Evil 3. It was a late release for the console considering it was the same year as the PS2 so it looked dated as a light gun game. The game reviewed poorly, which might explain why Capcom didn’t bring over the sequel.
A 2001 arcade and PS2 release in Japan, Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica is perhaps the more forgotten game out of the two. Europe got it a year later but it never came out in North America.
7 Resident Evil Gaiden
Resident Evil Gaiden is unique in the series as it features quite a different battle system. Gaiden finds Leon and Barry on a ship filled with zombies, as the former is sent in search of a bio-organic weapon. Running into them would put the camera into a first-person perspective wherein players could use items, with timing, in order to inflict damage.
Europe got Gaiden first on the Game Boy Color in 2001, and the game was released elsewhere in 2002.
6 Resident Evil: Dead Aim
Resident Evil: Dead Aim is another light gun shooter but it is more involved than any of the Resident Evil Survivor games. It also takes place on a boat and the story shows one of the ways in how Umbrella meets its end after the events of Raccoon City.
That’s kind of one of the biggest puzzles in the series. Resident Evil 4 doesn’t address Umbrella’s downfall in a big way but Dead Aim did just a year prior. This game was a 2003 PS2 release.
5 Resident Evil Outbreak
Resident Evil Outbreak was released in two chapters, although a third was planned but ultimately scrapped. The first chapter came out in 2004 in North America, with the sequel following in 2005. Both were PS2 exclusives.
They were planned around the idea of multiplayer wherein players could choose a random character, from a cop to a waitress, and then co-op their escape through Raccoon City. This was set during the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. It was a novel idea at the time but the infrastructure of the PS2’s online capacity set it back, which is assumedly one reason why the third chapter never happened.
4 Resident Evil: Deadly Silence
Most gamers remember the Resident Evil remake on GameCube. It still looks good on that hardware to this day but even better through the various HD versions since then. Gamers may not remember that Capcom also remade the first game for the DS in 2006, with the game being called Resident Evil: Deadly Silence.
It is a fairly faithful remake with graphics looking pretty close to the PS1 version. The added map screen and touch controls were a neat idea, but Deadly Silence wasn’t as memorable as the GameCube version. Some may not know that a Game Boy Color version also almost happened.
3 Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is another game set around the events of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3. It also focused on multiplayer but this time it was more strictly a shooter than a survival horror game like Resident Evil Outbreak. Players could take on the role of various Umbrella soldiers as they fought their way through zombie-infested areas in order to retrieve company data.
It released in 2012 for the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC. It received mixed reviews but it wasn’t the worst. A spiritual successor to this, Umbrella Corps, was released in 2016 on the PS4 and PC. It is one of the worst-reviewed games on Metacritic and makes Operation Raccoon City look like a golden egg.
2 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D
Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D was released in 2011 on the 3DS. It was a few months after the initial North American release. It was a co-op shooter with missions based on various entries in the series although Resident Evil 5 was the big focus.
The Mercenaries 3D played well enough for what it was and the 3D was impressive. It didn’t have a lot of legs online post its launch month and it's not one of those games that is easy to go back to today.
1 Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles was another light gun shooter but instead of an original story, it was like the greatest hits of the series. It was released in 2007 on the Wii and later in 2012 for the PS3. It went through the events of Resident Evil 0, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 3.
The Umbrella Chronicles received a sequel on the Wii in 2009 via Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. This too got a 2012 PS3 update. It followed the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica. Both are pretty fun co-op shooters and do a nice job retelling the events in a more digestible way than playing through the main five games.