Warning, this franchise contains a lot of graphic and intense violence. Not one i'd recommend to the younger crowd or people who easily get squeemish!
I thought i'd make a topic for this franchise what with all the recent remasters and resident evil 7 coming out early next year. Apparently there is also a full blown remake of resident evil 2 coming out.
Anyway, franchise history lesson! First game in the franchise was released in 1996 on the ps1 but would also be ported on multiple systems including the sega saturn and the first ds. It was a combination of george romero zombie flicks and the pc game 'alone in the dark'. The Capcom PR team coined it as a 'survival horror' title, a phrase still used today. The story was deliciously cheesy, and at the time had a lot of voice acting. Back in 1996 most games did not have voice acting, and the games that did before the ps1 were sega cd/atari jaguar titles.
The game was critically and commercially acclaimed, and like street fighter 2 it got several re-releases on the playstation 1 with minor new additions because Capcom loves to re release games multiple times on the same system.
Then in 1998 resident evil 2 came out, introducing fan favorite characters like leon kennedy and ada wong. Game was a direct continuation of the first title story wise.
Then in 1999 resident evil 3 came out. It starred jill valentine from the original and was well regarded but not as much as the first two.
While resident evil 4 was in development, capcom gave resident evil 1 a complete remake on the gamecube. It contained completely new visuals that still hold up today, new level layouts, new gameplay mechanics and redone story scenes.
Resident Evil 0 came out, was a prequel to 1. I never beat this one and probably never will. Just didn't find the partner switching mechanic to be fun.
Several versions of resident evil 4 were made, one of which became 'devil may cry'
Resident Evil 4 was a turning point for the franchise. The first really divisive game in the franchise. It had completely new gameplay mechanics, a bigger focus on shooting and no george romero style zombies. I'm in the camp that loved the game. Easily my favorite single player shooter. Everything about it felt, and still feels lavishly crafted.
Resident Evil 5 was like re4 but not as good? I liked the new protagonist, Sheva Alomar, who fights alongside franchise veteran Chris Redfield. I hope she returns for re7.
I'm not going to talk much about resident Evil 6 as it's the only mainline game in the franchise that I hate.
Also, there are a bajillion spinoff titles. Most of them i'm not overly fond of.
As far as resident evil 7 goes, i'm not sure what to think of it. Going back to being a pure horror game, but still taking the franchise in a new direction. I hope I enjoy that direction.