How Resident Evil Survived Itself

Fixed camera angles

Doors. Rage-inducing typewriter mechanics. Doors. Dogs. More doors. Stop it. Don't open that door

Elon Musk. Teamwork. Boulder punching. Explosions. More teamwork. More explosions

Marriage. Family. Southern hospitality. Totally necessary backflips. Werewolves. X-Men. Vampires. Fatherhood

Mommy? Resident Evil has reinvented itself more than almost any franchise in gaming

And at one point, it nearly tore itself apart trying. But leading up to the release of 9

something felt different. It felt confident. And well, the reviews are in. And it's pretty

clear that confidence wasn't misplaced. So how did Resident Evil survive itself

Early Resident Evil wasn't just your average zombie shoot-em-up. It was a sort of structured vulnerability that made you think

And while it feels pretty dated today, the formula does still work

Tight spaces, fixed, awkward camera angles, and frustrating controls end up being the perfect recipe for panic, even if that last part isn't intentional

Yes, you have a gun and you aren't helpless, but your resources are limited

and in a lot of cases you're better off just trying to get around enemies rather than shooting them

And that panic is intensified further once you realize you haven't saved at a typewriter in

who knows how long and if you get caught you could be sent back frustratingly far and lose a bunch of

progress. The limited ammo means every shot is a decision. A locked door means hallways had to be

memorized so that when you eventually found the key you knew where to backtrack. You had to learn

the layout of this mansion over time. And puzzles. Solving puzzles was a part of this zombie horror

game. But underneath all of this was this strange mix of dread and campiness. You had this frankly

absurd bioweapons story delivered with complete sincerity, with voice acting that sounded straight

up phoned in. Okay, let me handle this. But it was somehow both terrifying and charming. It did

work. Resident Evil made you feel small, but capable. And that balance is what sort of formed

its identity. Now, for the sake of time, we're skipping ahead here. There were obviously a ton

of releases in between these games, but the game that really changed everything was Resident Evil

4. And it didn't just change Resident Evil either. It changed gaming entirely. Without Resident Evil

4, we don't get Dead Space. Maybe we don't get Gears of War. Even from more modern franchises

like The Last of Us, the RE4 inspiration is there. The over-the-shoulder camera, precision aiming

highly aggressive enemies, more enemies, Titan counter choreography, sick one-liners. In RE4 you were more powerful than ever but you were also tasked with surviving in a much more aggressive and overwhelming environment And RE4 worked because it controlled that power

Resource scarcity still felt balanced. I never felt like I had too much ammo, but I also never felt like it was impossible and

that I didn't have enough. Groups of even weaker enemies could still become overwhelming very quickly

And some of the most memorable encounters for me were held in really tight spaces

And the pacing was deliberate. I felt like I could handle it, but I was also constantly under pressure

Although the whole damsel in distress trope with Ashley became absolutely mind-numbing

for me. This was also the first game to introduce me to this level of replayability that to this

This day makes me not want to put the game down, even after I've finished the main story

You beat the game once and unlock a new, harder mode to play on

You complete enough challenges during that first playthrough, you can buy upgrades or

weapons with infinite ammo to help you get through said harder mode

This invincible armor for Ashley so she stops making me rage quit

Silly skins and emotes were available. It was just...fun. Resident Evil evolved and it worked

But what came next was misunderstanding why the action worked. After RE4, the formula expanded

Resident Evil 5 doubled down on co-op, which, to be fair, was a lot of fun

I have a sort of soft spot for 5, and a confession

Resident Evil 5 was actually my first Resident Evil game. I played it back when it came out, and then I played 6, so my first impression of Resident

Evil was 5 and 6, which are two of the games in the series that fans criticize the most

So to say that my perception was skewed is an understatement. This is what I thought Resident

Evil was for so long. But I truly do miss the days in gaming when we would just sit down with

a friend, in person or online, and play through a linear story together. I don't know, something

about it was fun. The problem with co-op in Resident Evil is that it does relieve a large

amount of that pressure knowing you have someone else to rely on. Granted, yes, you could play it

solo with the AI companion, but that honestly just becomes more frustrating than scary because of how

bad the AI is and how clearly this game was designed to be played with two people. I recently

replayed RE5 with a friend and while yeah, it's goofy at times and the controls feel pretty clunky

and dated, it's still a ton of fun. But looking back, you can clearly see the direction in which

the series was heading. Bigger set pieces, louder, and far more action-driven. But somehow

Resident Evil 6 went more explosive. More protagonists. Too many protagonists. More

giant set pieces. More chaos. But this didn't feel like Resident Evil anymore. Isolation faded

It felt more like a Call of Duty entry or something, while occasionally hopping onto

like a dark ride at an amusement park. It was also clear that the story and lore were just becoming

an afterthought You can see that shift starting to happen in 5 but at least there were still some notes to read and little lore drops scattered around the world and i know it resident evil we not talking like nolan level cinema here but picking up files

and reading about new characters shady corporations or whatever fresh strain of virus was turning

people into wacky waving inflatable arm flailing tube men that was part of the charm i genuinely

love that stuff and on top of that the spatial tension flattened escalation became constant

And when everything is intense, nothing is tense. There was just no pressure anymore

And after Resident Evil 6's release, fans started looking elsewhere for that survival horror experience

Where's everyone going? Bingo? Resident Evil 7. New protagonist, new tone, first person perspective, and I don't care what anyone says

f***ing terrifying. I watched my buddy play it for the first time, and he said the exact same thing

that I thought when I first played it, which was, I can't believe this is a Resident Evil game

Clearly, the level design was heavily inspired by P.T., Hideo Kojima's demo for the now-cancelled

Silent Hills. And the tone pulled straight from some of my favorite horror films

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Blair Witch Project, even Saw. So yeah, people were understandably

skeptical about the shift to first person, and I know some people still don't like it

but I loved it. It made everything feel more immersive and way, way scarier. Like

not being able to see what was behind me and just hearing Jack's footsteps getting closer and closer

was terrifying. And the deeper I got into the game, the more it started to settle in that

yeah, this is a Resident Evil game. I'll admit it, I'm biased here. I loved it. Because yeah

on the surface it looked like a radical reinvention but structurally it was restraint

claustrophobic spaces slower pacing a new mansion type layout to explore new hallways to memorize

new doors to unlock resource anxiety was restored fewer enemies and to be fair that last point did

become a pretty valid criticism the enemy variety especially after a few hours of doming the same

mold monsters was a little thing. But for me, the claustrophobic design and the bosses stalking you

through those tight spaces still kept that pressure alive. And the pressure is part of what made it

feel like Resident Evil again for me. In my opinion, RE7 didn't necessarily reinvent Resident Evil

but it was more of like a reset and refocus. It removed a lot of that spectacle and reintroduced

that feeling of vulnerability. And most importantly, it reignited my interest for what Capcom had

coming next. After that reset, something interesting happened. Instead of jumping straight into a

follow-up for Seven, we started seeing remakes. Resident Evil 2 remake brought back that structured

tension but with more modern mechanics. And boy did it work. I honestly think this remake may have

done more for the franchise than RE7 ever could have on its own. It brought in a wave of new

players who never touched the originals while also pulling longtime fans right back in They somehow managed to stay faithful to the originals tone and structure while blending in the tighter combat philosophy that RE4 introduced All wrapped in modern mechanics and controls and presented in this gorgeous RE engine

And this was the moment I started thinking, maybe Resident Evil actually found its identity again

And ironically, all it took was going back to the beginning. A few years later, the Resident Evil 4 remake took that momentum and ran with it

refining an already legendary game and tightening nearly every system without losing what made it

special. But that raised a new question. What happens to the story RE7 started? What happens

to that shift in perspective? Capcom had rebuilt the past, but now they had to move forward

Enter Resident Evil Village. Resident Evil Village blended the horror of 7 with spectacle

but in my opinion did a better job at keeping the pacing under control. And man, they just had fun

with it. I know a lot of people didn't like it, but I personally had a blast. And although it

wasn't as scary as 7, I will not let you tell me that this sh** wasn't scary because you know damn

well it was. Even its later third-person option offered in the DLC didn't completely break the

structure because the foundation was already pretty solid. This is something I think Resident

Evil 4 Remake proved. That action could be terrifying again, if it was discipline. So

once again Capcom is standing at a crossroads Ethan Winter's story is wrapped up so now what

do they scrap the first person shift entirely and fall back on the remake formula do they double

down on it or do they try some kind of combination and that brings us to now I'm not gonna get too

much into nine here because like you may have heard others mention I think it's really best

to go into this one blind. But I gotta say, they really stuck the landing with this one

For a long time, every new Resident Evil felt like a reaction

RE7 reacted to RE6, or more accurately, it reacted to the reaction to RE6

The remakes reacted to nostalgia. Village experimented with tone and scale. But RE9 doesn't necessarily feel reactive

It feels like they were listening, and it feels deliberate. By default, Leon's campaign plays in third person

races plays in first. But here's the important part. You can switch between either perspective

in the menu at any time. And to me, that's not really an identity crisis. They're saying the

foundation of their game is strong enough to support both. It feels pretty confident. And

that's kind of new. Resident Evil didn't survive because it stayed the same. It survived because

it learned what never to lose. Resident Evil finally feels like it understands its own rhythm

Not just how to scare you, not just how to empower you, but when to do each

And for the first time in a long time, the franchise doesn't feel like it's recovering

It feels more like it's building. But what about you? What do you think of Resident Evil 9

Are you mad you didn't call out sick to play it on launch day like I am? Let us know in the comments

And for more breakdowns like this one, be sure to give us a like and subscribe. It really helps us out

And as always, thanks for watching, and we'll see you next time on How It Hits