History of Resident Evil (1996 - 2019)

welcome back everyone my name is Nick 930 and to celebrate the upcoming release of the Resident Evil 2 remake I want to share with you the complete history of Resident Evil's [Music] [Music] [Music] Resident Evil also known as biohazard in Japan is a survival horror game franchise that puts a heavy emphasis on enclosed spaces limited supplies and plenty of monstrous enemies the series is often credited with being the start of the horror genre in gaming and while this isn't necessarily true it's understandable why the mistake is often made Resident Evil helped define the genre and has been the benchmark for what makes a good survival horror game for over two decades and while the franchise may have had a bit of identity crisis throughout the 2000s with more of an action-oriented approach it still managed to redefine gaming norms and has continued to be one of the most influential gaming franchises of all time but in order to better appreciate how this series has managed to persevere after 23 years we're gonna start by looking back at how the series started with the first entry in 1996 in 1993 - Carl Fujiwara creator of Capcom's first game sweet home proposed that the small team of developers create a remake of the game using the advanced 3d graphics of the then-new playstation platform he elected Shinji Mikami to lead the project it was initially against the idea due to his lack of interest in horror Mikami then spent several months creating a prototype which was initially designed to be a first-person shooter game but after seeing the excellent work done in one of the world's first horror games alone in the dark decided to borrow the idea of a fixed camera in order to take advantage of the pre-rendered backdrops and create a more realistic looking atmosphere the development team would then continue to expand throughout development with multiple ideas cropping up in prototype builds that would never see the light of day including a full cooperative mode and the ability to change weapons without needing to use the inventory menu many of these ideas would eventually find their ways into future Resident Evil games but it's interesting to see the remnants of these decisions like the dual character storylines still present in the final product Resident Evil finally released for the PlayStation 1 in 1996 and despite expectations being low due to the unusual survival horror concept the game sold well past Mikami's expectations and was the first game to ever be referred to as survival horror the original Resident Evil takes place in the outskirts of a fictional Raccoon City where is either controlled Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield who are both members of a special police rescue team called stars after losing contact with Bravo Team Alpha Team is sent in to investigate but after being ambushed by several mutated dogs Alpha Team is separated and most of the members are forced to take shelter inside an old abandoned mansion it's here where most of the game takes place as Jill or Kris depending on which character you decide to play s search the mansion for clues to the mysterious murders and uncover the truth about what caused the outbreak the story is heavily inspired by the original sweet home game in addition to classic Western zombie films like Night of the Living Dead and aside from some poor localization issues that resulted in some really bad dialogue between characters it's one of the less convoluted storylines in the series the events of this game would go on to define the series but the mansion essentially being the catalyst for the overarching plot and is often referenced throughout many of the games Resident Evil's gameplay is what really sets it apart from other games in the late 90s though unlike most shooter games Resident Evil utilizes a fixed camera angle requiring players to move their character around the environments without knowing what to expect around the corner the game's mansion was designed to be a maze of hallways and rooms separated by locked doors that required special keys to open as the player progresses throughout the story more doors can be opened creating new pathways and cutting down on travel time while also introducing brand new challenges and enemies most of the enemies are standard zombies that shamble down the hallways and require multiple shots to kill but other less conventional enemies will require much more and often can kill the player very quickly first can heal themselves using items like health sprays or herbs which can be combined with other herbs to enhance their effects but items and the inventory need to be managed very carefully due to the severely limited inventory space players will need to balance weapons keys ammunition and healing items in their inventory and only bring what they absolutely need which keeps the player on the defensive and helps to retain the desperate horror aesthetic first can always store extra items in item crates that are inset locations around the mansion and save their progress with typewriters assuming that they have been inked ribbon available this strict inventory mechanic claustrophobic combat and unsettling camera design helped to shape Resident Evil into a truly unique horror experience that would go on to define the entire survival horror genre paving the way for games like dead space Bioshock The Last of Us and even influenced the film 28 days later in order to create a more convincing horror environment the designers behind the original Resident Evil decided that instead of creating low-polygon 3d environments they would rely on pre-rendered background images interactable items in the game were still rendered in 3d including the game several characters which were animated manually rather than being built using motion capture technology the original Resident Evil released on PlayStation 1 and must be released a year later with reworked item placement and was advertised as an uncensored version of the game the game was then released on several other platforms including the Sega Saturn and Windows PC with various freemasonry releases several years later the original Resident Evil was met with phenomenal critical acclaim and is currently sitting at a 91% on Metacritic and was nominated several times as game of the year in 1996 its influence can be found all over the gaming industry from its tight inventory management it's smart use of the Metroidvania style level design in a 3d space and its emphasis on creating truly terrifying enemies that couldn't just be mowed down like a shooting gallery the franchise exceeded both Mikami's and Capcom's expectations and became one of the best selling games of 1996 cementing the IP as one of Capcom's many flagship franchises and development for the sequel began only a month later development for Resident Evil 2 began almost immediately after the release of the original game and borrowed many of the same design philosophies however creative differences between Mikami and game director Hideki Kamiya caused significant delays an early build of the game featured many of the same concepts as the final version with players exploring a police station in the heart of Raccoon City as one of the two completely brand-new characters Leon Kennedy and Elsa Walker but Mikami wanted the sequel to be the conclusion to the Resident Evil SOI line obviously concerned with how this would affect the franchise's longevity supervisor Yoshiki Okamoto hired a professional Hollywood screenwriter depende the script resulting in massive rewrites the Elsa Walker character was transformed into Claire Redfield to link the original game to the sequel and the game took on a more action-oriented approach to appeal to the Western audiences these changes pushed the release of Resident Evil 2 to 1998 and to keep fans happy Capcom released a Director's Cut version of the original featured some reworked item placement and gameplay tweaks finally in January 1998 Resident Evil 2 hit store shelves and would become one of the most successful entries in the franchise in Resident Evil 2 players would take on the role of either Leon Kennedy a rookie cop or Claire Redfield Chris Redfield little sister while attempting to visit the city police station to check up on Chris after the events of the first game the two heroes assemble into a massive zombie outbreak in the heart of the city and are forced to separate after crashing their vehicle the game starts immediately with players surrounded by zombies on the street and are forced to seek shelter in the nearby Raccoon City police station from here the game takes on a very similar tone to the original title the players need to uncover the mystery of what happened while also solving puzzles and defeating various enemies Resident Evil 2 featured two plot lines each following one of the new protagonists that would occasionally interconnect however the story does take an unexpected turn towards the end which greatly expands on the lore behind the series and opensso franchise wide - a slew of new stories surrounding government conspiracies secret organizations and cover-ups the plot in general is like the first game but feels greatly expanded and heavily inspired by Hollywood cinema this focus on action also had a slight impact on the way the game played as well Resident Evil 2's gameplay features far more action than before with players facing off against much larger groups of enemies ammunition while still limited felt more common and encounters with enemies were often difficult to dodge the police station is crawling with zombies often blocking hallways and even reaching through windows in certain areas new enemies like the infamous liquor up the difficulty curve substantially in fact according to series creator Mikami Resident Evil 2's difficulty was designed to be much harder to discourage game rentals aside these new enemies and the increased frequency of running into them resin evil - plays mostly the same as before the game still featured the same fixed cameras with tank controls and players were required to carefully manage their inventory splitting the limited space between required keys weapons and healing items players could also leave helpful items behind which could be picked up later when the player is given control of the new character this new timeline swapping feature allowed for four different playable stories which greatly increase the game's replay value visually Resident Evil 2 was made using the same technology as before the team at Capcom taking pre-rendered backdrops and superimposing low-polygon models and characters overtop of them in the early build of the game nicknamed Resident Evil 1.5 the characters featured significantly less polygons aligned their to be far more zombies on-screen at once but after the game's redirection the team decided to up the number of polygons used on the protagonist resulting in a limited 7 zombies per scene requirement in order to keep the game stable still this was enough to create vastly more stressful sequences than what were available in the original game and thanks to some smart level design and camerawork the seven zombie limitation made it seem like you were being chased by hordes of zombies in the streets Resident Evil 2 was met with high critical acclaim with many praising the multiple storylines and more hollywood focus aesthetic however a few reviewers noted the outdated control scheme and poor voice acting work still despite all this Resident Evil 2 was a massive success becoming one of the most popular titles on the PlayStation platform and inspiring an unusually large volume of spin-offs and sequels to finishing work on resident evil 2 the Capcom team split their efforts between several different Resident Evil projects initially the third entry to the franchise would have followed a new character named hunk on board of a cruise ship however the impending release of the Sony PlayStation 2 forced Capcom's completely abandoned the project and they elected to make a youma side project the next main installment a OMA and his team were working on a Resident Evil 2 spin-off that featured a new storyline that would follow Jill Valentine as she explored the streets of Raccoon City unlike the previous games Resident Evil threes level design focused mostly on the city streets and was much larger in scope with players capable of utilizing alleyways and storefronts to bypass roadblocks and large groups of enemies new to Resident Evil 3 was the terrifying nemesis a towering creature that would frequently jump out at the player and chase him around nemesis was directly inspired by Terminator 2 his main antagonist and was an unstoppable force that took away any bit of comfort the player might have had revisiting the Raccoon City police station outside of trying to escape from the city and the immortal nemesis the game's narrative doesn't really do much to push the Resident Evil story forward it's one of the shorter entries in the main series and doesn't really come off like a true followup to Resident Evil 2 which makes sense concerning it wasn't initially intended to be from a gameplay perspective Resident Evil three made some minor improvements benefitting the more action-oriented approach to the gameplay the number of enemies on screen was once again slightly increased and various traps like explosive barrels could be used to deal with enemies against puzzles were simplified to make room for more action and a new dodge move was incorporated allowing players to avoid taking damage when being grappled by the enemy to keep the increased amount of combat balanced with the limited inventory Resident Evil 3 introduced the ability to craft ammunition using a portable bullet making device in gunpowder items found in the world combining the gunpowder types would create different types of ammunition just like how the herbs function and ammunition overall felt more plentiful re3 also introduced a new choice mechanic where players were forced to make split-second decisions that could greatly affect the game storyline visually present evil 3 made some notable improvements the resolution of the game's pre-rendered backdrops was slightly improved and the variation of zombies increased with some zombies looking like ordinary civilians police officers or even having different body types Resident Evil three was received with high praise from its audiences fans loved the expanded scope of game environment and the slightly improved combat mechanics and the introduction of nemesis was a much-needed addition that introduced a new level fear to the franchise however some critics felt the story failed to deliver and the reused assets like the police station were indicative of the development team cutting corners still considering this game was never meant to be anything more than a short spin-off title Resident Evil 3 is a worthy sequel and a great bookend to the original trilogy on the PlayStation 1 however there was one more buzz an evil title released on the original PlayStation in early 2000 Resident Evil survivor released in Japan and Europe and would be a slight departure from the core design of the typical resin Evil game survivor was designed a run using a light gun peripheral controller to shoot targets on the screen but due to concern that violent video games were responsible for the Columbine school shooting the North American release of the game featured no light gun compatibility requiring players to move the crosshair using the standard PlayStation controllers the game took several elements from the traditional Resident Evil game and incorporated them into a new first-person perspective and introduced players to a brand new character and setting in Resident Evil survivor players assume the role of an unknown pilot who suffers from monisha after a helicopter crash the player explores a fictional sheena island off the coast of Europe and what is apparently the second major virus outbreak only months after the incident in Raccoon City as with most Resident Evil storylines the plot focuses around the protagonist investigating the area for clues while simultaneously identifying an exit strategy but the main protagonist doesn't feature the same personality of the classic cast of characters and the storyline doesn't match the quality of the narratives in the main entries to the series Resident Evil survivors gameplay while somewhat similar to the core game is simplified significantly to account for the new first-person gameplay the first person camera allowed for full 360-degree movement along the x-axis and allowed players to manually aim their weapon at specific enemy body parts for the first time in the series first would still need to stop moving in order to aim their weapon but ammunition was no longer limited and players only need to keep track of their current magazine capacity when engaging hostels survivor still offered some basic puzzles to solve and various keys to a locked doors but the UI was simplified and the world itself felt less interesting because of the new first-person perspective bruising Evil survivor was the first entry in the series to feature all 3d rendered environments as opposed to the pre-rendered backdrops this resulted in much less impressive looking environments with low jaw distances and a significant lack of variety resonable survivor received mediocre reviews and was the first entry in the series to be received poorly many criticized Capcom's decision to remove the light gun support from the US release while others noted that the game was boring even with the peripheral the slow pacing of the Resident Evil franchise coupled with the poor visuals suggested that the series wasn't ready for a first-person perspective at least not yet soon after the release of Resident Evil 2 the court kept calm development team tried to port it to the Sega Saturn but because of various technical roadblocks the game eventually was transformed into an entirely brand-new project Resident Evil Code Veronica was intended to be the real Resident Evil 3 but due to the development for the new console platform and a publishing deal with Sony the game was instead renamed to appear as a spin-off game while the Nemesis game was given the official resident evil 3 title Code Veronica focuses on Claire Redfield one of the protagonists from Resident Evil 2 as she searches for her brother Chris after being captured by the umbrella corporation she's imprisoned on an island near Antarctica that suffers another zombie outbreak much like past stories in the series code Veronica sees the main character exploring a small environment searching for clues they explain what caused the zombie outbreak while also looking a way to escape code Veronica's story helps to expand on the original game's plot with several returning characters and it also helps to set up future titles like Resident Evil 5 from a gameplay perspective code Veronica is one of the last entries in the series to utilize the traditional Resident Evil style Veronica features the same tank based movement fixed camera positions slow-paced exploration and puzzle solving that fans have come to expect but with a few minor tweaks one of the biggest changes to code Veronica is the fully rendered 3d environments unlike Resident Evil survivor veronica has more detailed and buried environmental designs with a camera that could pan and track especially in long corridors this allowed the developers to create more intense sequences with significantly more enemies on screen at a time only further up in the Annie for action in the series code veronica was received exceptionally well and was one of the highest-rated entries in the series up to that point the game was initially intended to be a system seller for the Sega Dreamcast but due to the poor sales of that platform overall the would later find new life on Sony's new Playstation 2 however one common complaint among reviewers was the game's lack of innovation in the control department the tank controls simply weren't working anymore and Capcom would need to find a way to redesign the controls in their next main entry if they wanted to please their critics a year later an arcade version of Code Veronica released featuring the same storyline in premise only with the first-person design of 2000s Resident Evil survivor the game was designed initially as an arcade game but was later brought to the PlayStation 2 while survivor 2 followed the story line of code Veronica very closely it's still not considered to be canon as it's revealed that the events of the game are all a series of nightmares claire has after the events of the actual code Veronica survivor 2 offers two unique modes arcade and dungeon in arcade mode the player runs to a simplified series of events from Code Veronica need to find Keys fight zombies and defeat a series of bosses the game features a unique timer that when expired would trigger the nemesis to spawn and chase the player forced them to move to the next level in dungeon mode the player sports to survive against waves of enemies with chain kills increasing a combo meter to boost the player's score visually survivor - felt like a step back likely because it was designed more for the arcade cabinets rather than the PlayStation 2 the game featured a distracting UI that didn't fit the theme of the series and the overall experience felt like a cheap knockoff survivor - received abysmal reviews even worse than the original survivor game and was another example of Capcom trying to milk the franchise dry in 2001 another spin-off Resident Evil title released this time for the portable Game Boy Color Resident Evil Gaiden was an isometric take on the classic series with combat being triggered when in close proximity to the enemy and requiring the player to initiate an awkward QuickTime event to attack the game's narrative features the return of Leon Kennedy and Barry Burton as they explore a cruise ship that suffered a zombie outbreak Gaiden features a dumbed down version of the classic exploration in item management while also named to contend with several zombies but due to the limitations of the hardware several compromises had to be made especially to the combat walking into an enemy would trigger a first-person mode with a small target moving back and forth along a line requiring the player to fire the weapon and whenever the target was within range of the enemy it's a painfully bad design choice that made the game a chore to play Resident Evil Gaiden was received poorly by most critics with many saying the game's storyline was buried under poor officials and weak gameplay designs because of the deal Capcom had with Nintendo to port all their main Resident Evil games to the Gamecube Capcom decided that the original game needed a facelift in order to be better appreciated by fans looking to get into the franchise for the first time this resulted in an entire remake of the original game with updated graphics improved voice acting and reworked gameplay mechanics Resident Evil remake featured the exact same story as the original game but with a few minor tweaks like the addition of a previously cut antagonist Lisa Trevor other tweaks include changes to the game's map design pacing and atmosphere some of the most significant changes in the remake altered the way the game played the inventory space was expanded slightly with some objects not taking up unnecessary space anymore and items around the game were placed in entirely different places even the layout of the mansion changed slightly with new locked doors a previously cut graveyard sequence and changes to the enemy placement the dogs for example which are infamous for scaring the crap out of people in the original game now jump out at the player later on keeping even veteran players on their toes other changes include zombies that came back to life if the not burned and improvements to the control scheme in order to more easily develop the game for the Gamecube Capcom decided to use pre-rendered backdrops again just like the original PlayStation classics this allowed the small team to more easily recreate the environments and add in special enhancements to help the environments look more realistic like various particles and moving props the camera would pan slightly just like it would encode Veronica but was still set in fixed positions in line with the original style this remake of Resident Evil was met with positive reviews all around with fans praising the improved visuals and faithfully recreated game world that pays tribute to the original without being a direct copy and paste job the game's control scheme was still criticized but it was mostly overlooked as it was intended to be a remake of the original game and personally this is one of my absolute favorites in the series due to its expert use of tension pacing and visuals that have aged remarkably well especially thanks to the re-release on the PC and modern consoles years later soon after the original game released in 96 development began on a prequel title that would take advantage of a new Nintendo 64 peripheral that would reduce loading times to account for the limited storage the environments and overall game design were condensed which inspired the claustrophobic subway environments of Resident Evil 0 but after development continued into the year 2000 Capcom was forced to abandon the plan Nintendo 64 release instead updated their visuals and released the game on the new Nintendo GameCube the game storyline follows Rebecca chambers a member of the stars Bravo team and Billy Cohen a former Marine officer convicted of murder as they investigate a zombie outbreak related to a biological experiment involving reaches the story links directly into the original mansion story but doesn't do much else to expand on the Laura aside from introducing some new characters zero plays mostly the same as the past entries but the games inventory system was reworked with the storage chest being removed entirely forcing players to drop unneeded equipment on the ground instead cutting down on the constant back and forth that fans have come to expect zero also introduced two characters that could be freely swapped between and even controlled simultaneously depending on the situation visually zero utilized the same design as the Resident Evil remake with pre-rendered backgrounds and a fixed camera position looming in the field of view the game was later remastered for more recent console platforms along with the PC but was criticized for making no noticeable improvements while critics appreciated the visual and sound design there was a mixed reaction to the new gameplay changes the reception to the new dual protagonist swapping feature was mixed and the game's rework inventory had fans torn with some saying the feature was unnecessary re0 would be the final inch in the series to utilize the traditional fixed cameras and slow paced gameplay and the next main installment would change the franchise forever but as development for the next major installment continued Capcom outsource development for another white gun was an evil game to a Japanese developer called Kavya the result was 2003's Resident Evil Dead aim which would be the first game in the franchise to utilize an independent third-person camera in Resident Evil Dead aim players controlled Bruce McGivern a member of an elite team tasked with disrupting umbrella operations as he investigates an ocean liner believed to be transporting a para strain of the t-virus boosts eventually teams up with a Chinese operative named Fon Ling was given the same objective but instructed not to work alongside Bruce in his agency the game generally has players running back and forth throughout the dimly lit ship shooting zombies collecting useful supplies and opening various doors but is also the first game in the series to feature a third-person camera that follows the character from behind the game's controls were still awkward and limited the control of the camera to the x-axis much like the survivor spin-off games but it's likely the concepts used in dead aim were used as the basis for Resident Evil Force design Resident Evil Dead aim was received poorly but is one of the higher rated entries in the white gun survivor series of games reviewers praised the mix of the free third-person camera with the first-person controls and said it was the closest the light gun games have come to creating an original Resident Evil experience in the same year Capcom released Resident Evil Outbreak for the PlayStation 2 and it was the first online capable multiplayer entry in the series that breaks story takes place during the initial Raccoon City incident and focuses on a group of new characters that learned about the incident while drinking at a bar together the game is split into multiple scenarios each covering a different character as they attempt to navigate the zombie infested streets and escape before the military blows up the city the game's plot was designed this way to encourage multiple playthroughs to go along with the new multiplayer gameplay the idea of a multiplayer mode for Resident Evil was intended to be a separate game mode for the original Resident Evil 2 but because of the hardware limitations and difficulty getting players to coordinate together the idea it was put on hold outbreak had some interesting changes though like new character animations and the ability for enemies to freely travel between rooms requiring players to hold or block doors while their friends search for key items Resident Evil Outbreak was met with okay reviews but many complained about the lack of innovation to the core mechanics and a failure to incorporate voice chat capabilities making the online experience frustrating a standalone expansion called outbreak file 2 released only a year later and received roughly the same criticism the franchise was becoming stale and the tried and true concept of running from shambling zombies solving puzzles and managing an inventory was losing its appeal among fans but all that changed with the next major entity of the series Resident Evil 4 started production soon after development for code Veronica had begun to wrap up and would undergo several rewrites and design changes the initial idea behind Resident Evil 4 was to create a more action-oriented experience with a more heroic character fighting monsters in a gothic European setting Mikami however thought the concept was straying too far from the core aesthetic of the Resident Evil franchise abandoning its survival horror roots and the game was eventually rebranded into Devil May Cry another successful Capcom game franchise the true Resident Evil 4 was built from scratch utilizing the same textures and concepts acquired during research for the initial Devil May Cry this early build of re 4 had Leon Kennedy exploring old derelict buildings and European castle ruins with traditional zombies and other more supernatural beings that would later be explained by diseased hallucinations however this idea was later scrapped as well and many of the concepts from this early bill would be McKinney's inspiration for his own evil within title years later the final concept for Resident Evil 4 was to ride from a commies demand for reworked camera designs he felt that the franchise had become losing its Fear Factor due to the repetitive design choices and restricted camera movement Mikami also pushed for more streamlined combat mechanics and more action-oriented gameplay the result was vested in Evil 4 one of the most influential third-person action games of all time in Resident Evil 4 players control Leon Kennedy six years after the Raccoon City incident as he searches for the daughter of the President of the United States his search brings him to a small village in Spain that falls victim to a new outbreak called las Plagas that turns the local residents into violent shells of their former selves unlike all of the previous entries to the series retsyn evil for dissing feature traditional zombies and a lot of the enemies have taken on a different style the game's plot and writing took on a different approach - with less inspiration from American cinema and more in line with gothic horror Resident Evil Force gameplay not only changed up the franchise's copy-and-paste design that it's relied on for nearly a decade but also helped to influence the design of almost every third person game since re 4 introduced a full third-person camera system that allowed players to freely look around Leon's character model and aim along both the Y and x-axis the over-the-shoulder aiming mechanic allowed players to see their target clearly and is still used in third-person shooters like Gears of War uncharted and hundreds of other games today Resident Evil 4 also introduced the QuickTime event requiring button presses coinciding with the contextual prompts appearing on-screen Resident Evil Force popularity cost several franchises to incorporate similar features into their games and the more action-oriented approach became the new industry norm Resident Evil 4 took full advantage of the Nintendo GameCube with full 3d rendered environments and a beautifully realized art direction the number of hostile NPCs on screen increased substantially with massive hordes of angry villagers ambushing the player and the scale the game was increased considerably it was received with exceptionally high critical acclaim and is considered by many as one of the most influential video games of all time despite the massive departure from the series traditional survival horror roots in favor of a more action-oriented style Resident Evil 4 transformed the gaming scene and influenced hundreds of gay with its incorporation of QuickTime events and the offset third person aim design despite the overwhelming success of Resident Evil 4 series creator Mikami decided to part ways with Capcom and began pursuing other projects with new studios like clover studio and tango GameWorks Mikami's departure and the success of Resident Evil 4 would inevitably cause the franchise to depart further from its roots as it embraced the more campy explosive action that Capcom felt was the key to the franchise's future success two years after the game-changing Resident Evil 4 caveat released an exclusive we title called the Umbrella Chronicles once again attempting a peripheral based shooter experience in the world of Resident Evil but unlike the survivor series Umbrella Chronicles was completely unrelated to explore at their own pace Umbrella Chronicles didn't try to tell a new story but instead was an arcade focused shooter experience that let players revisit classic scenarios throughout the history of the franchise including the original mansion incident and the Raccoon City outbreak because of the new on Rails design Umbrella Chronicles didn't allow for any free movement and the classic puzzle based inventory management was completely abandoned instead players would need to shoot multiple enemies on screen and occasionally choose between two paths while also looking for optional weapon pickups along the way the Umbrella Chronicles was met with ok reviews but most critics applauding the fun intuitive action experience but many found the game to be another quick cash in title to hold fans off until the next big installment after Mikami's departure new development leads stepped in to helm the upcoming follow ups of Resident Evil 4 Resident Evil 5 would build off of the solid gameplay mechanics introduced prior but also would see a significant shift in artistic direction for one thing Resident Evil 5 would take place mostly during the day in various African villages and industrial areas the games action in combat took much higher priority than the game's traditional horror roots and even the original characters Chris and Jill were given a serious makeover Chris Redfield voiced by the very same voice actor at the police cow crane and dying light was now the co-founder of a special anti bioterrorism unit making him come off as more of a secret agent than the original police officer concept chris is joined by Sheva as they investigate rumors of bioweapon transactions in a small village in Africa but after being ambushed by the local villagers who have been infected with a similar disease to the one from resin evil for both Chris and Sheva are forced to fight their way through another insane deep-cover conspiracy the game's narrative has pushed past the breaking point with some of the most ridiculous scenes in the series Chris Redfield looks like a Gears of War soldier in this game and the focus on making the game more cinematic and epic just made it come off as silly and any hint of survival horror was completely abandoned from a gameplay perspective though Resident Evil 5 is a solid action game the controls are intuitive and the game's inventory system was redesigned so that it functioned on the fly removing the ability to pause the action while you search for ammunition or health the number of enemies on screen also increased substantially creating truly stressful hordes of enemies however the franchise's iconic puzzle solving had been all but removed and any threat of running out of ammunition was gone now the ammunition could be found after killing most enemies QuickTime events also made a return but were more obnoxious than ever requiring players to do dumb things like punch boulders that were in the way another big change to Resident Evil 5 was the more linear level design Resident Evil 4 started to go in this direction with sections of the game being locked off after certain points but Resident Evil 5 had specific chapters likely to help cooperative players load progress together more easily this turn Resident Evil 5 more into an arcade like experience with points being awarded for kills and coins collected being used to purchase extra items and equipment it was fun and the game's UI was intuitive and functioned well but it also wasn't really Resident Evil anymore visually Resident Evil 5 is still impressive to look at the amount of characters on screen with all the unique animations and designs look great and the quality of the player model is still up to par with the more modern games today Resident Evil 5 was the first entry in the series to be made for the Xbox 360 and ps3 and the upgrading quality from its predecessor still shows Resident Evil 5 was met with surprisingly solid reviews most critics appreciated the high quality visuals and the solid character performances something that the series has never quite managed to get right but some criticized the African setting saying it was racially insensitive to have a white character murdering a village of African residents even if they were technically zombies this controversy and the game's massive departure from survival horror didn't necessarily hurt the overall reception though as Resident Evil 5 became one of the best-selling titles in the entire franchise and only just been beaten for the best-selling Capcom game by Monster Hunter World in 2018 this overwhelming success convinced Capcom to continue to build more action-oriented sequels and admittedly based on the sales and reception alone this was probably the right decision but the town would soon change with the next group of titles in the series Resident Evil darkside Chronicles released around the same time for the Nintendo Wii and featured more classic scenarios from past Resident Evil titles darkside Chronicles would take players through the events of Raccoon City again in addition to the island from code Veronica and two completely brand-new scenarios that serve as a prequel to the story of Resident Evil 4 the darkside chronicles would once again be a non male shooter experience that utilized the Wiis motion controllers to aim weapons but a few changes like weapon customization and a new shaky camera were implemented to make the experience more immersive however the camera concept ended up hurting the game's presentation and made for an uncomfortable experience well it was cool seeing the police-station updated with more modern visuals and Darkseid chronicles was still met with mixed reviews and would be the last attempt at a peripheral based shooter experience in the franchise two years later risen evil the mercenaries released for the Nintendo 3ds handheld device and featured a sort of dumbed down version of the gameplay mechanics from Resident Evil 4 the game didn't have any story and was more of a quick pickup and play arcade experience that didn't do much to improve on the franchise as a whole but during production of mercenaries the same team was also working on another 3ds title called Resident Evil Revelations Revelations was a series first attempt to return to the survival horror aesthetic in years while also retaining the more modern control scheme introduced in re4 Revelations takes place after the events of RA 4 and helps to piece together the narrative leading into Resident Evil 5 it features Jill Valentine again only now she's a member of the newly formed anti bioterrorism unit on board of an abandoned cruise ship infested with soggy zombie like creatures revelations features similar controls and animations - ra.5 but retains the classic slow pacing and darker atmosphere of the original games but can also aim their weapon while moving for the first time in this series though the overall player movement is still slow enough that it retained the claustrophobic feel unfortunately due to budget problems revelations was forced to release prematurely with a substantial amount of content cut from the final build the game managed to earn positive review scores however the games tendency to dip back into its more action-oriented design kept it from being the full return to form and the main entries to the franchise were still not ready to go back to being horror games continuing to expand the IP Capcom contracted slant six games to work on yet another spin-off title called operation Raccoon City slant six games was best known for the contributions to the less than stellar SOCOM title for the PlayStation 3 and unsurprisingly their take on the Resident Evil series was just as poor operation Raccoon City returns to the infamous Raccoon City incident again only in a sort of non canonical timeline where a group of umbrella operatives are sent in to clean up the mess and hide any evidence of umbrellas involvement in the outbreak the game's narrative does absolutely nothing to advance the franchise's Lord it feels more like fanservice than anything else with occasional cameos from characters like Leon and Claire Raccoon city's gameplay marked the biggest departure from the franchise's horeb roots to date with a full cover based third-person shooter design inspired by the fast-paced alien shooting action of Lost Planet players would unload his salt rifles toss grenades and blow up explosive barrels as they fought through hordes of zombies in the experience that felt more akin to left for dead than Resident Evil first could team up with their friends in a cooperative mode or Duke it out online in a competitive multiplayer shooter mode what price would shoot at each other while also avoiding AI enemies one cool feature in Raccoon City was the new infection mechanic where's bitten by zombies would acquire mutations at the cost of some health and if they were killed by the bite would lose control and Watchers amplified corpse attack their teammates operation Raccoon City received poor - mixed reviews when he criticized Capcom for bending the fans of the series and trying to mislead them with false advertisement and despite this massive fan backlash Capcom had no choice but to finish production for their next major entry to the series the entry that would inevitably force her hand Resident Evil 6 is the perfect example of Capcom not really knowing where to take the franchise development for this game began soon after Resident Evil 5 wrapped up with several different directors pitching different ideas for what the series should do next in the early years of development the plan was to make resin evil 6 the most horrifying experience that Donna had ever a game that like the original title would redefine the survival horror experience however in the final year of development Capcom released a public statement that the game had shifted away from being a horror experience due to the survival horror game market being too niche to be profitable this decision drastically affected the artistic direction of Resident Evil 6 turning it into more of an action shooter game that anything resembling Resident Evil in Resident Evil 6 players take part in multiple scenarios revolving around the series mainstays Chris Redfield Leon Kennedy Atta Wong and newcomer Jake Muller as they seek to end the bioterrorist extensive cover-up once and for all the plotline is from the more cinematic and ambitious in the series and feels like an attempt to finally tie up loose ends and conclude the 16 year old series unfortunately despite the relatively well written narrative Resident Evil 6's gameplay was the biggest departure the series had seen yet everything had been simplified to be more accessible to a casual audience the game starts off immediately with needless QuickTime events that don't appear to match the action on screen and quickly devolves into a series of linear action set-pieces with excessive amounts of explosions the initial scenario involving Leon that starts off promising way with a dark college campus filled by zombies giving off a serious Resident Evil 2 vibe but that changes only a few minutes in when you're faced with non-stop zombie killing action with set-piece defense events and situations where you're forced to spread through zombie hordes this only gets worse in the other scenarios where the action is intensified tenfold and the pacing just feels all over the place visually Resident Evil 6 didn't make very many improvements over its predecessor which can likely be explained by the last-minute changes that were made though the animations and new zombie gore system were a noticeable improvement and I'm curious how many of these assets had been carry over for the rest of evil to remake Resident Evil 6 was met with poor perception all around many stated that the experience was too big of a departure from the survival horror others who weren't as interested in the original series of games stated that the experience was poor by itself due to the poor implementation of QuickTime events and over-the-top story and mindless action without any substance Resident Evil 6 sold well but it was clear to Capcom that something needed to change fans were not as into the action elements as they had previously thought and read rights for the next main installment began almost immediately in 2014 Capcom announced the sequel to revelations with their initial intention being that the revelation series would house their survival horror concepts for the franchise while the main numbered entries would retain their high energy action design philosophy obviously the port reception to Resident Evil 6 convince them otherwise but it's an interesting choice nonetheless and it resulted in a surprisingly well-made sequel that not only returns to the classic explorative horror experience that made the originals great but also builds upon older ideas like the cooperative asymmetrical puzzle solving in the first episode of Revelations two players would take control of Claire Redfield again along with Ceres newcomer mora burton daughter of Barry Burton from the first game after being kidnapped by an unknown militia Claire wakes up with Moira in an abandoned prison complex like the start of code veronica from here the two work together to escape the prison blocks and encounter the afflicted which remind me a lot of the enemies from the evil within the story is one of the more interesting ones and gives us a little more insight into Claire and Barry's activities prior to the supposed end of the plot in re 6 unlike the previous revelations revelations two features less of an emphasis on action and significally more on its horror and puzzle solving gameplay players need to make smart use of both characters and play them to their strengths in the first episode for example players take control of either Claire who can handle firearms or Maura who can shine a flashlight in the environment and search for otherwise invisible resources this back and forth character swapping feels more fleshed out than its implementation in re zero and the game solid movement controls and claustrophobic level design helped to create a true modern Resident Evil classic visually the game looks decent enough though the environmental design doesn't do the game justice most of the game takes place in dull industrial environments that are ultimately pretty forgettable when compared to the excellent level designs of the older titles revelations 2 received ok reviews with many praising the survival horror concepts and solid gameplay mechanics the game performed well for Capcom like we helping sway their creative direction for the main franchise back towards its horror roots in 2016 Capcom released a downloadable title called umbrella corpse in hopes that they could branch out into the eSports scene with their own action shooter experience inspired by the Resident Evil franchise umbrella corpse however was a complete disaster of a game experience was uninspired and had Budiman Airy combat controls with boring environmental designs and was pretty much dead on arrival the game featured no single-player story but instead featured a series of challenge missions in multiplayer maps that often involved killing a set number of infinitely spawning zombies with different weapons the game was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews and is one of the lowest rated titles in the series after the lukewarm reception of Resident Evil 6 Capcom decided to cancel their early concepts for the more action-oriented follow-up and began work on a much more horror oriented experience Resident Evil 7 would be one of the darkest entries to the franchise with a return to the smaller open-ended level design and a focus on trying to terrify the player again to showcase this return to form Capcom invested in a brand new game engine that they called the re engine and demonstrated it with a special virtual reality demo giving players a chance to experience a portion of the new Baker Mansion environment from the main game ra7 would also be the first main entity in the series to utilize a Western writer for the story giving the game's narrative and much darker more Western approach to the Resident Evil franchise Resident Evil 7 story would no longer focus on the initial cast of characters like Wien or Jill Valentine but instead would introduce a cast of entirely new characters in Resident Evil 7 players control ethan winters who travels to an old abandoned mansion in louisiana pursuing a rumor that his wife may still be alive and had been imprisoned there but soon after his arrival ethan is trapped in the house and has stuck being pursued throughout the game by the owners of the Baker Mansion inspired heavily by the more modern survival horror experiences like amnesia where as an evil sevens gameplay would make the player more vulnerable than ever with weapons becoming more of a last resort and stealth becoming the most valuable tool to bypass danger whereas would need to find keys and switches to open new paths in the Baker mansion while also finding health and ammunition to hold off against the Baker family and the zombie like mold monsters around the property the primary antagonist the members of the Baker family are unlike anything before seen in the series instead of being zombies or horribly disfigured monsters the Baker family look like completely normal people making their actions and behavior even more unsettling though the more time you spend with these various individuals the more you learn how I like the arts of the reson evil monsters of old my movement must once again restricted to walking and short jogs slowing down the experience to create a more for oriented atmosphere and the added first-person viewpoint allowed for more visceral and disturbing imagery to be shown to the player more easily Resident Evil sevens visuals are easily the best in the series with near photorealistic environmental designs and excellent level of detail and ease of lighting the game also featured a virtual reality option for users on the PlayStation VR getting players even closer to the survival for action Resident Evil 7 was met with good reviews all round making a return to form for the classic survival horror franchise fans love the well-designed Baker mansion and the horrifyingly fresh narrative in addition to the well implemented first person camera perspective Resident Evil had finally returned to being the benchmark for quality survival horror and the positive fan reception to this decision inspired Capcom to take it a step further and remake one of the series defining entries the idea of remaking Resident Evil 2 have been talks for years but wasn't officially announced until fall 2015 after this initial announcement information regarding the remake was non-existent with many fearing that the project had been scrapped but finally during Sony's e3 Tizen 18 conference a full trailer showcasing at full remake of Resident Evil 2 was revealed showing off a near-perfect recreation of the environments from the original game however rather than attempting another fixed camera remake like the original Resident Evil remake Capcom decided that this new remake would need a more modern camera design in order to create a unique and more horrifying experience for both fans and newcomers alike the police station is laid out almost exactly the same but with some minor tweaks like new rooms different doors and keys opening in a different order the environments are much darker thanks to the actual real-time lighting effects and the game story will be much more immersive with more fleshed out narratives for all the games characters visited and Evil 2 aims to bring the horror back to the zombie shooter genre and if successful could be one of the very best entries to the Resident Evil franchise emphasizing the core experience that made the originals timeless classics Resident Evil has had a long and highly influential run after 22 years this series has undergone some substantial changes always leading the industry with its groundbreaking gameplay mechanics and creative survival horror it's great to see a franchise that's drifted so far away from its initial great design choices come full circle and begin redefining the genre once more but it's still unclear where Capcom plans on taking the franchise next will they remake another classic Resident Evil experience or will they try their hand at another brand new experience like Resident Evil 7 but regardless of where they go next it's undeniable that the Resident Evil franchise has had a massive impact on not just survive a horror but video games as a whole but what do you guys think are you guys excited for the Resident Evil 2 remake which games in the series for your favorite let me know in the comments section and be sure to stay tuned for a detailed comparison and a full review in the coming week also please consider becoming members of my patreon your support will be greatly appreciated and don't forget to Like and subscribe for more videos posted every week you

Channel: Nick930

Views: 1,531,691

Keywords: Resident Evil, Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Claire Redfield, Leon Kennedy, History, Retrospective, Capcom, Japan, Development, Story, Gameplay, Features, Review, Impression, Summary, Full, Analysis, Fan, Favorite, Best, professional, High Quality, Resident Evil 2, Remake, Revelations, Nemesis

Id: 7rhAuSxo1n8

Length: 47min 26sec (2846 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 19 2019

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