This weekend marks the release of Resident Evil 9: Requiem (2026), the new highly anticipated Resident Evil game. To prepare for its release, I played through the series’ mainline games for the first time. Now that Requiem is finally out, I thought I’d share my experience leading up to this point in the form of a series ranking. Whether you’re a series veteran or a newcomer like myself, I hope you have fun reading about my time with it, even if you end up disagreeing with my personal opinions of the games.

12. Resident Evil: Revelations 2 (2015)

There are a lot of interesting ideas here. I love the overall aesthetic of Revelations 2; the dark, disturbing, and bleak atmosphere; the Saw-vibes during Claire’s sections vs. the dryer, more somber tone of Barry’s. I love that the monsters are the result of people who were tortured and pushed to their absolute limit, with the unique concept of a virus that triggers based on fear. I like this game’s villain, and I think Barry has a couple of really good character moments. But it’s all bogged down by how painfully slow and boring this game is. Even though I played it with my roommate, both of us were miserable throughout most of its runtime. It was worse for my roommate, who played as the supporting characters and thus could barely do anything. It doesn’t help that a lot of the story is either really uninteresting or isn’t written very well. The game is such a slog that my roommate and I couldn’t be bothered to replay the second half of it for the good ending after we accidentally got the bad one. That’s impressive, coming from someone who will ALWAYS see something through to the end no matter what.

11. Resident Evil 0 (2002)

A lack of item boxes, very limited inventory space, beefier enemies, and stingier health item placement meant that I had a frustrating experience with Resident Evil 0. Half of my playtime was spent backtracking because I either didn’t have enough inventory space or I needed to move all of my items over from one area to the next. The game’s boss fights range from annoying to mediocre, with the only exceptions being the last one and the T-001. Its story is weak too, with underdeveloped dual protagonists that feel less important than the supporting villains featured from other games. But, at the very least, this game shares a lot of the same core gameplay that makes Resident Evil (2002) great, and its visuals are gorgeous.

10. Resident Evil 6 (2012)

Is the story good? Certainly not. Is the game paced well? Not at all, and it overstays its welcome. Does it succeed at being anything other than an action game? No, its attempts at horror or stealth are laughable. Does it have too many shooter enemies? Yeah. But man, I’d be lying if I said that my roommate and I didn’t have a blast playing this game. The combat—while janky—is a LOT of fun, and there are several cool action set pieces throughout. The highlight for me was the ending of Leon’s campaign, which made me feel like an absolute badass. Honestly, if they had cut all of the campaigns in half by not re-using sections and hadn’t tried to make 6 a multi-genre game, I think I would have loved it.

9. Resident Evil – Code: Veronica X (2001)

Code: Veronica gave me the opportunity to use my CRT and PS2 for the first time. It was a cozy experience, made better by the game’s campy story, diverse array of interesting aesthetics—militaristic, industrial, macabre, gothic, sci-fi—filtered through low-poly graphics, and gameplay that’s usually pretty enjoyable. However, there are a few aspects of the game that make it irritating to play at times: all of the boss fights are at least somewhat annoying, the side-quests with Rodrigo aren’t communicated well to the player, Claire and Chris share the same item box, and the game doesn’t tell you whenever you’re about to switch between them (tough luck if you loaded all of your heavy weaponry onto one of them before changing to the other), and finally, there’s the Claire section at the end of the game. I won’t go into detail on that last one, but if you’ve played Code: Veronica, you know EXACTLY what I’m talking about.

8. Resident Evil 5 (2009)

Resident Evil 5 has some really good strengths. However, all of those positives come with at least one negative. The gameplay is great; except for whenever it gets too repetitive or tries to drag you through its poor puzzles. It’s got another campy action story, with Wesker being given the spotlight as the main villain; but the story drags for the first two-thirds of the game, and a good chunk of it is told through optional files found both in-game as well as in the main menu screen. Some of the boss fights have really creative ideas; but others have contrived mechanics that aren’t explained to the player, leading to my roommate and I having to google what to do for the final boss. I love the monster designs and the body horror in Resident Evil 5, but it’s a shame that it re-uses SO MUCH from Resident Evil 4 (2005), to the point that I often refer to it as “Resident Evil 4 2: Electric Boogaloo.” It has some really unique settings; too bad that so many of them look bland and uninteresting. Despite all of this though, my roommate and I really enjoyed our time with this game.

7. Resident Evil (2002)

This was my first Resident Evil game. As a result, I had a hard time getting into it at first. But once I did, the game’s addictive puzzles and exploration had me hooked. Resident Evil’s map feels like one big brain-teaser made up of several smaller, interconnected brain-teasers. It’s so satisfying trying to explore the areas you have access to, running into multiple different puzzles, solving the ones you can, and then gaining a new item that allows you to unlock more of the map so you can explore further and solve more puzzles. You run into some neat monsters along the way; the Crimson Heads are an especially great addition, as they keep you on your toes throughout the game. There were even one or two moments that caught me off-guard, with one involving the inspection of a set of iron-bar doors that made my heart drop. My only complaints with the gameplay are that it can be a bit frustrating sometimes, and it somewhat drags in the middle, but these didn’t give me too much trouble when I played.

My main problem with this game is its story, or lack thereof. The characters aren’t much to write home about either, with the two protagonists—Jill and Chris—being arguably the flattest of the game’s cast. That said, there is one MAJOR exception to this, that being Lisa Trevor. I won’t spoil her story at all, but she’s a strong contender for the most tragic character in the entire Resident Evil series.

6. Resident Evil: Revelations (2012)

I played this one on my 3DS, and I really wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about it. Playing it with one joystick feels a bit janky. It doesn’t help that the Genesis often grinds the game to a halt whenever it’s used. I don’t think that the semi-futuristic aesthetic of Revelations fits the Resident Evil series, nor do a lot of the new characters introduced here. And yet, the more I played, the more invested I got in the game’s (admittedly convoluted) story. The gameplay grew on me as well; its exploration, unique weapon upgrades systems, and dodge mechanic are all satisfying. I also love Revelations’ nautical theming, along with its cool monsters and gnarly body horror. One of the boss fights early on is genuinely unsettling with the things he says, it’s good stuff. Speaking of bosses, this game’s boss fights are great, with a strong contender for Resident Evil’s best final boss.

5. Resident Evil 3 (2020)

There’s a lot that this game nails. Its story and characters are REALLY good; Jill and Carlos are very strong leads, and they have great chemistry together. The gameplay is good too, carrying over most of what Resident Evil 2 (2019) established, albeit weaker in comparison. Nemesis is AWESOME; a stalker enemy that not only runs but LEAPS after you, can drag you towards him from afar, and can even use weapons?? No wonder he’s such an iconic monster. The gameplay of Resident Evil 3 is at its peak whenever he’s after you, with every tense, action-packed encounter sure to pump your adrenaline.

But that brings me to the biggest problem of the Resident Evil 3 remake: Nemesis is hardly in the game. He only spends the first third of it being a stalker enemy, afterwards he’s relegated to a couple of boss fights. Normally I wouldn’t be so bothered by a game’s stalker enemy having few appearances, but on top of being the posterboy for Resident Evil 3, Nemesis is THE stalker enemy of the series. To see him be so underutilized in this remake is a huge disappointment. The game becomes less interesting to play in his absence, reducing it to a weaker version of Resident Evil 2 (2019). But at least Resident Evil 3 is short… too short, actually. You can tell that it was rushed out after the success of Resident Evil 2’s remake, especially with how much they re-use from that game and cut from the original Resident Evil 3. In spite of these issues though, this game’s positives are strong enough to outweigh its negatives for me.

4. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017)

Biohazard is right up my alley. It has the best story out of all these games, complete with a cast of characters whom I love. This includes Lucas, who’s easily my personal favorite villain in Resident Evil; I love me a sadistic lil’ guy having the time of his life. I ADORE this game’s backwoods horror movie aesthetic, drawn from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974) and Evil Dead (2013). Biohazard has unique monsters, and the body horror is top-notch. The game’s decision to shift to first-person gameplay, while a little clunky, creates an immersive experience that’s easily the scariest Resident Evil game (mostly). And to be clear, the gameplay is still good in spite of that minor clunkiness. It brings back the classic exploration, puzzle solving, and inventory management of the older games. It also has what might be the best, most creative boss fights in the series.

Unfortunately, there are two very big things holding Resident Evil 7 back: a lack of enemy variety, and a third act that drags the pacing into a slow crawl towards an anticlimactic finish line. Thankfully the game’s DLCs make up for it, mainly the two epilogue campaigns. They address the aforementioned main issues while wrapping up the story quite nicely, and they each possess unique gameplay mechanics that make them distinct from the base game. Oh, and the credits song is a banger.

3. Resident Evil 2 (2019)

A nearly perfect game with perfect survival horror gameplay to boot. The remake of Resident Evil 2 features nasty body horror and iconic monsters, including the series’ most effective stalker enemy, Mr. X. Combine all of this with its effective atmosphere, and this game actually scared me a few times. The series’ puzzle-solving and exploration is probably at its best here, improved by the fact that nearly the entire map is seamlessly connected without any loading screens. The story is good too, being updated to have a serious tone while still hanging on to a little bit of camp. The characters are great too of course, led by a naive young Leon and the compassionate badass Claire. If you haven’t played any of the Resident Evil games before, the remake of Resident Evil 2 is the perfect place to start.

2. Resident Evil 8: Village (2021)

Village perfectly combines classic survival horror with epic action. The game has effective tension and atmosphere, even if it’s not as scary as Biohazard… mostly. One of its levels is genuine nightmare fuel, scaring me to the point that I muttered pleas of desperation as I finished it. Meanwhile, Village also has some of the coolest, most fun action set-pieces that the series has seen yet. This is thanks to the variety offered by the game’s distinct levels, which allows for these two gameplay styles to coexist with each other.

Resident Evil 8’s world is both the most unique and one of the most stunning of the series. Its cast of villains are also amongst Resident Evil’s best and most memorable antagonists.

But what about how it continues the story from Resident Evil 7? Well, I actually hated it for most of the game’s runtime. But I ate my words when I finished the game, as it addresses all of my problems I had by the end. It’s still not perfect by any means—with my biggest issue being that Chris’ character doesn’t feel very consistent with how he acted in earlier games, even 7—but it’s still a great second half to the story of Ethan Winters that ties everything together wonderfully.

1. Resident Evil 4 (2023)

I’ll admit, I was skeptical of this game going into it. Then, one night, my roommate came home from work to find me sitting in front of the TV at an early point in the game. I turned to them and, my voice shaking with quiet excitement, said, “I’ve never felt so alive.” This might be the most fun I’ve ever had playing a game. The combat, upgrades, monsters, and body horror are all the best that the series has to offer. Even after finishing a second playthrough of the main campaign not long after my first, I wanted to jump right into a third. This game’s cast is in the running for my favorite of the series, and their story comes close to beating that of the Ethan Winters games for me. I love Leon’s arc over the course of Resident Evil 2 (2019) and Resident Evil 4 (2023); the way he’s written and performed across both games is the reason why he’s my favorite Resident Evil character. And of course, I can’t finish talking about this game without mentioning its Mercenaries mode, which is easily the most fun bonus minigame of the series.

Now, after talking about the previous mainline entries of the Resident Evil series, that brings us to Resident Evil 9: Requiem. Only time will tell where it’ll land on my ranking. After everything Capcom has shown though, it stands a good chance of topping it.

Resident Evil 9: Requiem is out now on PS5, XBox Series X|S, Steam, Nintendo Switch 2, Epic Games Store, and NVIDIA GeForce. Both the standard and deluxe editions can be bought for $69.99 and $89.99 respectively.

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