Resident Evil turns 30!

Exactly 30 years ago, on March 22, 1996, the first Resident Evil was released — a game that not only launched a культ franchise, but also laid the foundation for the entire survival horror genre.

What’s funny is that back then, nobody expected the game to become a huge success. Development was led by a young 30-year-old game designer, Shinji Mikami, who was not especially fond of horror, particularly because characters in the genre often die for stupid reasons. Originally, the game was not even supposed to feature zombies, and its main point of reference was Sweet Home, a JRPG released for the Famicom in 1989.

In its early stages, Resident Evil was envisioned as a fully 3D first-person game, because Mikami believed that this camera perspective was the scariest. But the monsters looked unintentionally funny, and the original PlayStation could not handle full 3D graphics of that scale. In the end, the developers abandoned the idea in favor of pre-rendered backgrounds and fixed camera angles. Mikami later admitted that he saw this decision more as a forced compromise.

The irony is that a choice born out of technical limitations ultimately became the defining feature of classic Resident Evil. The characters’ slow movement, blind spots, the inability to immediately see an enemy, and the constant feeling of vulnerability turned the game into a horror benchmark. And then came something Capcom did not expect: overwhelming success and praise from critics and fans all over the world. According to Mikami, Resident Evil sold several times better than forecasts had predicted.

Over the next 30 years, the series kept surprising audiences. For example, the original Devil May Cry came into existence thanks to Resident Evil. Game designer Hideki Kamiya was working on an early version of Resident Evil 4, but pushed the project too far toward flashy action. Capcom decided not to cancel it and instead used those ideas to create an entirely new franchise. And of course, without Resident Evil there likely would have been no Silent Hill series either — Konami very much wanted its own Biohazard — along with dozens of other survival horror games, from Dino Crisis and Fatal Frame to Alan Wake.

Today, Resident Evil is one of the most popular and successful video game franchises in history. It includes 9 mainline numbered entries and more than 50 games if mobile titles are counted, while total series sales have already surpassed 190 million copies. Most importantly, it is still relevant, successful, and loved by millions of players: the hit Resident Evil Requiem was released not long ago and has already become the best-selling game of the year in the U.S.[/url], while a new Resident Evil film adaptation directed by Zach Cregger(Weapons) is set to premiere on September 18. So we are pretty sure Resident Evil will be with us for at least another 30 years.

Resident Evil Turns 30: The Secret Behind Its Enduring Success

Which Resident Evil game is your favorite?