The Resident Evil series has almost as many spin-offs as mainline titles. To celebrate the amount of side games available within the franchise, the following list will rank them from worst to best based on their Metacritic score.

Related: Every Canon Resident Evil Game Ranked By How Long They Take To Beat

When judging solely by their number on the site, one will deduce that the best of the best barely stack up against the average from the mainline titles. Additionally, two games don't have a score on the site, but they will still get a mention here before going to the ones with a number. It wouldn't be fair to exclude them from the conversation simply because the site doesn't rank them.

11 Resident Evil Gaiden (No Score)

resident evil gaiden

The Gameboy Color doesn't seem like the ideal platform for a survival horror title. Many of the games were geared towards children and it doesn't seem possible to scare people utilizing the available tech. A port of the first game was in development before being cancelled, and a leaked video shows how impressive it looked. A project that did make it to shelves was Resident Evil Gaiden. The title mixed classic Resident Evil puzzle-solving with role-playing elements. Reviews praised the game's ability to successfully translate the classic game play to a hand held device.

10 Resident Evil Survivor 2: Code Veronica (No Score)

While dubbed a sequel to Resident Evil Survivor, it doesn't follow the game's plot. Instead, the light gun title follows the events of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, but slightly changes the events from the Dreamcast game, adding monsters from the Raccoon City incident like Nemesis. Originally released in Japanese arcades in 2001, Europe only saw it come out on consoles, while North America never got its hands on it.

9 Umbrella Corps (38)

umbrella corps - aiming at enemies in a village

Umbrella Corps barely counts as a Resident Evil game. It is a tactical shooter focused on multiplayer taking place inside the franchise's lore. Most critics decried it as a lazy Call of Duty clone and questioned the reason for its existence.

Related: 10 Most Intelligent Characters In The Resident Evil Franchise, Ranked

Cooperative play has always been great for the series, but competitive modes haven't had the same luck. The multiplayer component of the Resident Evil 3 remake may just bridge the gap, however, with its mixture of cooperation and competitive play.

8 Resident Evil: Survivor (39)

resident evil spin off games

Resident Evil: Survivor was an early light gun game. Unfortunately, North American gamers were unable to experience the title with the intended peripheral due to the Colombine shooting prompting Capcom to remove the feature prior to launch. Even with the peripheral, the game was not said to be a lot better. It is slow paced and the graphics were pixelated and plagued with constant load times. When it comes to similar games from the era, one could do a lot better with something like Time Crisis and Point Blank.

7 Operation Raccoon City (52)

resident evil spin off games

The series had been leaning towards action for several years prior to 2012, but Operation Raccoon City was the first to go full steam ahead into the genre. The third-person shooter includes a four-player cooperative mode in addition to its single-player story which plays around with the lore and events from the early titles.

Related: 10 Worst Video Game Spinoffs Of All Time, According To Metacritic

Aside from the intense moments when players are gunning down hordes of zombies barrelling towards them, the game does little to impressive Resident Evil fans or third-person shooter aficionados.

6 Resident Evil: Outbreak File #2 (58)

The Outbreak subseries was way ahead of its time with its innovative online cooperative multiplayer. While the games are still playable on the PS2, the servers have long since shut down. The first game was far more celebrated than the sequel, perhaps from the novelty of the online component having worn off by the time the second game rolled around. Low sales also doomed any prospects of making a trilogy.

5 Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D (65)

resident evil the mercenaries 3D Rebecca shooting enemy

The 3DS was quite a novelty upon its release, even if its initial price tag put some people off. The first Resident Evil title available for the popular Nintendo handheld was The Mercenaries 3D, an expanded version of the minigame from Resident Evil 4 and 5. The title successfully translated the modern Resident Evil game play to the 3DS, but some complained at the lack of additional content. While some may find little enjoyment in the shallow offerings, anyone who liked the Mercenaries modes from the mainline titles loved having them on the go.

4 Resident Evil: Dead Aim (65)

Resident Evil Dead Aim - aiming at large enemy

Dead Aim is the successor to Survivor, but Capcom was smart enough not to give it the same moniker due to the prior title's lackluster reception. Instead of being a straight light gun game, Dead Aim sees the player moving in third-person, with the perspective switching upon aiming. It doesn't hold up against even the best in its genre, but it is a solid Resident Evil spin-off. Dino Stalker is seen as the height of Capcom's light gun efforts from the time, and that gets a plus for being a backdoor sequel to Dino Crisis 2.

3 Resident Evil: Outbreak (71)

It is a shame Outbreak cannot be experienced the way the developers originally intended. Several modern Resident Evil titles have multiplayer, but they don't provide a classic survival horror experience and generally relegate the action to two players. Perhaps in the future Capcom will re-release the game and reactivate the servers. Upon release reviewers appreciated its innovation, though some slights against it included the lack of voice chat and short length.

2 Umbrella Chronicles (75)

Aiming at apporaching zombies

Light gun games and Resident Evil haven't always been great partners, but Capcom finally got it right with Umbrella Chronicles. The title goes through the events of Resident Evil Zero, the debut game, and Resident Evil 3 as a rail shooter. There is also one new chapter telling an entirely new story within the lore. Originally released on the Wii, it eventually found its way to the PS3 and Xbox 360. It is far from perfect, but it is also a solid way to experience the older stories for those who cannot handle the original game play.

1 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (75)

The Darkside Chronicles follows a similar structure of its predecessor, but retells the events of Resident Evil 2 and Code Veronica. It gets the edge over The Umbrella Chronicles for more original stories, but managed the same score on Metacritic. It also features several game play upgrades over its predecessor. Fan favorite Jack Krauser makes a return in this rail shooter, at a time in the lore before the muscle-bound villain became Leon's arch nemesis.

Next: 10 Most Terrifying Bosses In The Resident Evil Franchise, Ranked