resident Evil It has been a benchmark in the video game industry for nearly 30 years. With 13 installments, it’s a franchise with a long history that has a set order, which isn’t the same in which each of the games was released.
On March 24, 2023, the Redesign RE4which is one of the most representative games of the saga and is right in the middle of the timeline, so it’s worth reviewing the correct order to enjoy all the titles if you want to follow the story step by step.
This game marks the beginning of the whole story. Despite its limited gameplay, it features Rebecca Chambers, a key character throughout the story, especially in the movies and novels. The events of this opus take place in the middle of the year 1998 and open the doors to all the disputes which come after, in particular those of the following game.
The first game in the saga, released in 1997, presents Chris Redfield, a fundamental character in the entire saga and essential to understanding Claire Redfield’s motivations in the next opus. Several key arguments will also be presented here, such as the T virus, which is the one causing the whole crisis with the zombies, and its first variants.
This episode is also set in 1998 and shows for the first time Jill Valentien, another iconic character, who must cross Raccoon City, a town that has been overrun by hordes of zombies. It’s a short but fun adventure that serves to shape the apocalyptic setting in which the story takes place.
With RE 4, it was the deliveries that caused the most impact in the franchise. In this case, two characters will be presented: Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, who arrive in Raccoon City and realize the chaos that reigns in the city.
Their goal is to find Chris and find out what’s going on. The remake from a few years ago is a much more complete version than the original.
With this game the first part of the franchise could be closed, which still takes place in 1998. Here the key will be to describe what happens with Umbrella, the company guilty of the infection, to make room for the events that will come later. in which the story opens and there is much more than zombies.
Gameplay-wise it’s different because it’s a first-person shooter title on rails. Regarding its history, the events of this opus take place four years after RE 2 and in one part we will take control of Leon S. Kennedy to learn more about the new infected, the relationship of this character with the government and the birth of the Veronica virus.
It is a passing episode, which contributes little to the general story. It centers on Jill Valentine, who must descend from a ship full of zombies and other enemies with bioweapons. Here, the saga is already taking place in 2005.
For this episode, Leon S. Kennedy must travel to Spain to save the daughter of the President of the United States, who is in the hands of a cult, which greatly expands the type of enemies and creatures to face.
By picking up the story of Raccoon City, the franchise expands and begins to show how the events of the early games affected other parts of the world, other communities, and monsters were created. So it’s a pivotal game for what comes next.
The story takes a different turn as now the virus is affecting more people and so Chris Redfield travels to Africa to eliminate a new strain of bioweapons in 2009. At this point the franchise moves away from the environment of horror and focuses on action.
It’s a bridge between the previous episode and the next. Its story centers on the kidnapping of Claire Redfield and her departure from a desert island, but its contribution does not go beyond these aspects.
It moves away from any touch of terror of the past, to be a pure action game. Although several characters are manipulated, including Leon S. Kennedy, what happens in this opus contributes little to the general plot and closes a cycle of three titles little appreciated by fans.
Here there is a reboot of the franchise, but taking the essence of terror and that aura that RE 4 gave as a pivotal game in history. We are introduced to Ethan Winters, who travels to an abandoned mansion in search of his wife, only to find himself with the Baker family and a long series of horrors, linked to supernatural occurrences and cannibalism.
The last part of the saga presents again Ethan Winters, who in this case must go in search of his daughter in a village populated by vampires, werewolves and other creatures. Although the zombies are no longer central to the story, the relationship of these new monsters with the Umbrella organization is very close and this opens the doors to a new series of arguments.