I was still a bit on the younger end when RE1 came out, so my first introduction to the franchise was actually RE3, and I worked my way backwards, which is why I never really understood the "not scary, not survival horror" comments on the later games; the games were always action horror to me, with the survival aspects only really being at the start, even RE1 goes balls to the walls crazy around midway, blasting enemies left and right with all kinds of over the top weapons. Grenade launchers in a mansion? LOL.
Every single one of the games, without fail, at the end I'm armed to the teeth with an inventory that would make these guys jealous:
And it's exactly what I love about them, the "serious camp", cool characters and great mechanics/action. So when REmake came out, after code veronica, I did have a bit of whiplash, because that game specifically has a tonal shift that does very heavily lean on the "survival" and "spooky" so it's much more of a slow-burn experience, with more resource management and more "impending dread", not just by the atmosphere, but also including new enemies like the crimson heads; it's the only game in the franchise that made me a lot more careful and methodical specifically because of the crimson heads.
Great game overall, but never one I thought as truly representative of Resident Evil.
Then RE4 released and oh boy
The game is just dripping with mikami's love for videogamey shit.
The addition of melee being viable was sorely needed in the action core loop the originals already had, and also made sense for the growth of the character; rookie no longer, time for a suplex.
Leaning hard into serious camp again, the merchant, new game plus, it's videogaming bliss.
This is why for the longest time, RE5 was my favourite in the franchise, it takes all of that stuff and makes it even more videogamey; more delicious melee, more cool characters, more campy villains, reloading ammo while in another animation, completely persistent upgrades with an infinite item box, coop, the godlike mercenaries reunion. A game meant to blast through over and over again.
So when RE7 came out, I wasn't a big fan at first, in fact I'm still not a fan of the start of the game, it's an even harder tonal shift than REmake, because it tries too hard with the supernatural, instead of biohazard, horror fake-outs and all the jump scares. Though of course midway through it reminds you it's a Resident Evil game and you're just fucking shit up left and right again.
I'm always on a media blackout for capcom games, so I was actually a bit worried the grace sections would again be a strong tonal shift and lean too much into "spooky" dread again. Thankfully this isn't the case.
At first it does seem that way, but as soon as the game introduces the crafting and the injector, it becomes pretty clear grace isn't going to stay entirely helpless for very long; leon giving grace requiem was a great sign of what's to come.
They give you enough resources that both "action horror" and "survival horror" are both viable approaches for grace, but make it more satisfying to sneak around so you actually want to play this way; great that they pulled it of this way, because I generally don't like sneak and hide horror games, but fully enjoyed grace's sections here.
The brief snippets you get to control leon felt like a great way to show the contrast between them and have a bit of a "release" before going back to sneaking.
And not just contrast in gameplay, but in character growth as well; grace goes from ptsd stricken, scared and shaky (and I mean who wouldn't be after seeing a BOW), to confident and selfless herself. Her aim tightens, she stops stumbling and stuttering, and when needing to protect emily she just becomes angry/annoyed at The Girl and is ready to fuck her shit up.
Leon is just supercop, always. I mean we talk about HUNK dodging bullets like a badass, but Leon sees an axe wielding maniac rush him and dodge bullets and doesn't even blink lol; just a normal day in the life for Leon oh Sheeeeet Kennedy.
When you finally get to control leon, the game of course turns up the intensity so the encounters can keep up with the devastation leon can dish out, instead of the complete fodder in the care center that are tuned for grace.
It has some pacing issues during this section, but I still enjoyed every bit of it and it also looked great. I can understand some people not liking it because it's "brown", but from a tech perspective, it's extremely well made. What I don't understand however is some suggestions to have it be night instead....bruv what? There's no power in the city, outside would be dark as fuck, and inside locations would be pitch black, slowing leon's gameplay down to a crawl because of requiring a flashlight everywhere, heck the encounters themselves would probably become very annoying for not being able to see enemies attacking from the side or above you. I'm sure capcom iterated on this and realised it just looked and played like shit, not at all like the videogamey goodness we have now.
Daylight also means that they can still create lighting indoors, by just having windows, or cracked walls/ceilings for some actual atmosphere instead of just pitch black nonsense.
But I digress.
The power fantasy of leon's section is almost perfect, the fact you can parry anything, including bosses is very satisfying, the only real gripe I have with it (aside from some pacing issues), is the supply box, I don't really understand why the games post RE5 don't have the persistent item box so you can store your upgraded weapons; RE4 didn't have it either, but it at least let you keep everything you had in the case for a NG+, REm4ke brought the item box back so you can keep replaying and upgrading, yet RE9 has neither of these things, there's so many things to upgrade and try in the supply box yet there's no where to put them or use them on other playthroughs. It made me wind up not buying anything from it except the silenced handgun (for the lickers later), and only upgrade guns I found later like the semi-auto sniper rifle and the shotgun from Kendo; a bit of a waste imo, I hope they update the game with a proper NG+. The lack of mercenaries is also downright criminal.
All in all loved every moment of it, performance is also outstanding on PC, and while I would dislike a game that's fully like the start of RE7, I would actually welcome a game that's fully just like Grace's sections
So I'll update my rankings now, being at the bottom doesn't mean I think the game is bad, just that I like the others better for different reasons:
R3make - yeah yeah I know people hate this game, but I've never been a fan of 1:1 remakes, if I want to play the original I'll just go do that, it's still there. It's at the top for me because it just has the most exquisite pacing, there's only been a few games I feel have achieved such level of focus, making it an insane rollercoaster I love blasting through.
RE5 - mentioned the reasons above already, the reason it ekes out RE4 remake for me is mercenaries reunion.
REm4ke - goated, the added mechanics and the return of the item box is what push it so far above the original for me.
RE9 - Only reason it's sitting below RE4 is because of the things I mentioned it lacks for me, no proper NG+, no item box, no mercenaries, no nothing...if capcom manages to add these things it would be goated status as well.
RE8 - RE7 if you just turn it into RE4 lol
RE2make - great overall, but I don't like how insanely spongy the enemies are and how imprecise aiming is, and the randomness of mr X just started to annoy me at some points; also no dodge like Jill, and no new game plus either
RE4 - the classic that started my obsession with this franchise and become completely invested in the lore and story.
RERev2 - fun little side game, finally barry playable, finally claire again; RE4 mechanics as a base.
RE6 - another game that gets a lot of hate, but I had a lot of fun with it, the action mechanics are honestly still the best and made mercenaries ridiculously fun to play; the random moments of 4 player coop during certain sections was cool too. Many pacing issues though, and the stumble/stagger mechanic isn't good either (it's fine on regular difficulties, but on pro..oh god stop falling over please
) , also no item box, but at least it had NG+...
REmake - mentioned above
RE7 - mentioned above
RECV - claire's back, and it looked amazing (at the time).
RERev - more jill yes please
RE0 - it's only really higher than the rest because it has rebecca
RE2 - the one where I went, this Resident Evil shit is quite good innit?
RE1 - specifically the DS version I would rate slightly higher than REmake, but the original is just pretty old at this point.
RE3 - the one that started it all for me, but I don't really enjoy games where I get chased around a lot, so I have to put it at the bottom even though I still think it's a good game.
