Resident Evil is a classic, and I can fully see why. The ominous atmosphere, the horrifying enemies, the excellent sound design.

Beforehand I had only played the Resi 2 remake, a game I intend to revisit on my playthrough of the series, and expected a downgrade. However, aside from the tank controls occasionally causing Jill to go the wrong way (which only caused a Game Over once), this game is fantastic.

That being said it's not perfect, while the majority of the puzzles are great, and provide that sensation of "Aha! I know exactly what to do" when you get the last piece, towards the end there's a couple of "click-everything-on-everything-until-something-works" (Ah yes, the broken flamethrower is the key to this door). Plus, the inventory system seems largely arbitrary, and does little to effect the game outside of "Oh good, I have to trail all the way back to get this from the item box".

Still, it sets an incredible benchmark for the rest of the series, where it only moved strength to strength (despite a few hiccups down the line)

Reviewed on Feb 23, 2024


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