The Resident Evil series is arguably the most successful and popular video game horror franchise of all time. It’s spawned more movies, spin-offs, and comics than I can count, and has easily cemented itself in mainstream pop culture as “those zombie games with dogs.” But not all Resident Evil games are amazing. It’s the series’ 30th anniversary this week, so the time has come to grab our shotguns, green herbs, and typewriter ink ribbons and rank all of the games in the main series from worst to best.
So, ground rules. For this list, we’re only focusing on the main games in the series, so spin-offs like Revelations and Dead Aim get a stay of execution. We’re also only judging the original releases. So while I love the remake of Resident Evil 2, I won’t be raving about it here today. Finally, we’re staying away from multiplayer and handheld titles too. This is a list purely about the numbered games (with three exceptions that fans can probably predict).
With that all out of the way, let’s begin with the worst mainline Resident Evil game.
This article was originally posted June 31st 2021 and has been updated for the 30th anniversary to add Resident Evil Requiem.
