by What do you do when you finish the Resident Evil 4 remake? Play it again? Dive straight into resident evil 5? The latter might seem like the logical option, even if it suffers from a lack of floppy-haired ex-cops. But there’s always the risk that, just when you’re about to murder Wesker for the crime of wearing sunglasses indoors, Capcom will announce that it’s doing that one again, too.
Instead, why not throw the numerical order to the wind and explore some of the many side entries the Resident Evil series has spawned? We are not talking about Resident Evil – Code: Veronica Or Neither does Resident Evil Revelations. – there are more unnumbered Resident Evil games than you can shake a rocket launcher.
So we’ve rounded up some of the series’ spinoffs, ones you might not have come across. Some are relatively easy to obtain, while a few are extremely expensive. But if you’re a Resident Evil enthusiast, each absolutely deserves a coin.
Resident Evil Survivor (PlayStation 1 – 2000)
Forget Resident Evil 7: BiohazardResident Evil Survivor offered first-person zombie-venting shenanigans as far back as space year 2000. Part of the Gun Survivor series, it’s not a rail shooter despite backing Namco’s G-Con 45 light gun .
Instead, you wander around in first-person, then switch to targeting mode, taking out any Abomination that stalks or leaps towards you. Unfortunately, you can’t move and shoot at the same time, a “feature” that would later appear in the first Resident Evil 4.
But Resident Evil: Survivor’s first-person view makes combat more satisfying. It also means you can’t blame any wobbly camera angles or tank controls when a zombie starts chewing on your spine.
Throw in an offshore Umbrella facility and an amnesiac protagonist (this was before all the other horror games did) and you’ve got a title that, despite its age, is still pretty fun. It was followed by two more entries Resident Evil and Dino Stalker, a Dino Crisis game.
Resident Evil Gaiden (Gameboy Color – 2001)
The ambitious Game Boy Color version of Resident Evil may have been canned, but Nintendo’s handheld still has its own BOW-bashing adventure, Resident Evil Gaiden. Its canonicity is highly debatable, but it wasn’t Resident Evil 4 that marked Leon Kennedy’s return to the franchise. And he was doing zombies on an ocean liner long before Resident Evil: Revelations.
Even now, we still question the wisdom of its timing-based combat system. But we’re looking for a good team, with Leon’s Barry Burton and Resident Evil 1 taking on a shape-shifting monster that’s only distinguishable by its green blood.
Sadly, his cliffhanger ending was never resolved and he’s currently selling silly money on eBay. However there is a fan-remake, Starlight Projectcurrently in progress.
Resident Evil Outbreak (PlayStation 2 – 2003)
Resident Evil Outbreak was, at its height, about cooperating with other players to escape the zombie-infested metropolis of Raccoon City. Its online functionality has long since been shut down, but this third-person Resi game (which later received a semi-sequel) can still be played solo.
What makes it interesting, even without its multiplayer, is how mundane the game’s selection of protagonists is. The closest they’ve come to dealing with brainless, wandering zombies is working on Black Friday.
Resident Evil 2 Remake’s The Ghost Survivors DLC tackles this concept, but in Outbreak it adds an extra dose of unease. Yes, you’re technically the protagonist (or protagonists) of the game, but there’s always the nagging feeling that you’re a secondary character in someone else’s story.
Resident Evil: Dead Aim (PlayStation 2 – 2003)
Resident Evil: Revelations wasn’t even the second Resi game to take place on an ocean liner. Resident Evil: Dead Aim, released almost a decade earlier, also has you all at sea, for the first half of the game at least.
It is the fourth and final entry in the Gun Survivor series but, unlike the first, only switches to first-person view when aiming down sights. It also introduces two new characters, US Agent Bruce McGivern and Chinese Agent Fong Ling.
Aboard the liner, these two are the only representatives of their governments, each held hostage by the villainous Morpheus D. Duvall. Despite some shaky voices, they make a nice pair. Unfortunately, aside from a fleeting appearance in a few card battles, they’ve been relegated to obscurity.
Resident Evil Confidential Report (mobile – 2006)
In the early to mid-2000s, before the arrival of Android and iPhone mobiles, several large companies offered Java games. These weren’t knockoffs of the “Elsa from Frozen gets brain surgery” variety either, they were real licensed games. However, their actual quality varied greatly.
We wouldn’t recommend diving down that rabbit hole, but Resident Evil Confidential Report, one of many (mostly retired) Resident Evil mobile games sits above Capcom’s other mobile offerings. It’s a bit short on terror but it dares to do something different and is, to date, the only turn-based Resident Evil game.
Resident Evil: The Dark Side Chronicles (Wii, PlayStation 3 – 2009)
Capcom may not have announced a modern remake of Resident Evil: Code Veronica, but they recycled the game for Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles.
However, this sequel to Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles doesn’t just reimagine Resident Evil: Code Veronica and Resident Evil 2 as rail shooters. It also explores some of the events leading up to Resident Evil 4. Wondering why Krauser fell to the dark side? You will find it here.
Of all these titles, it is also the easiest to obtain. If you’re a PlayStation Plus Premium subscriber, it’s part of the PlayStation Plus Classics catalog, bundled with The Umbrella Chronicles. The latter, while offering fewer plot reveals, features an entertaining slice of Hot Wesker Action.
There are other Resident Evil entries to explore, but delve into them at your own risk. Yes, we are talking about you, Umbrella Corps. You are not Left 4 Dead no matter how you slice it. Who knows, by the time you’re done with this, Resident Evil 6 Remake may have rolled.
