Resident Evil Games in Order of Release (2026 Guide)

The Resident Evil games in order of release start with the original Resident Evil on PlayStation in March 1996 and run through Resident Evil Requiem in February 2026 — thirty years, nine mainline entries, four full remakes, and a long tail of spin-offs. Release order is the most useful way to understand the franchise, because it shows exactly when Capcom pivoted from fixed-camera horror to action and back again. Below is the complete timeline.

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Resident Evil Games in Order of Release: The Complete Timeline

The PlayStation Era (1996–2000)

• Resident Evil — March 1996, PlayStation. Later reissued as Director’s Cut with new camera angles and a rearranged item layout.
• Resident Evil 2 — January 1998. Leon and Claire in Raccoon City, with the A and B scenario structure.
• Resident Evil 3: Nemesis — September 1999. Jill’s escape, plus the choice-based Live Selection system.
• Resident Evil – Code: Veronica — February 2000, Dreamcast. Later expanded as Code: Veronica X.
• Resident Evil Survivor — 2000. A light-gun spin-off, widely considered the low point of the era.

The GameCube Era (2002–2003)

• Resident Evil (remake, often called REmake) — March 2002, GameCube exclusive. A full ground-up rebuild with crimson heads and a new Lisa Trevor subplot. Remastered in HD in 2015.
• Resident Evil 0 — November 2002. A prequel with the partner-zapping system.
• Resident Evil: Dead Aim and the Outbreak games — 2003–2004. Spin-offs, with Outbreak notable as an early attempt at online co-op.

The Action Era (2005–2015)

• Resident Evil 4 — January 2005, GameCube, then PS2, Wii, and everything since. The single most influential entry.
• Resident Evil 5 — March 2009. Full two-player co-op, the franchise’s best-selling entry for over a decade.
• Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles (2007) and Darkside Chronicles (2009) — Wii rail shooters retelling earlier plots.
• Resident Evil: Revelations — February 2012, originally 3DS. Ported widely afterward.
• Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City — March 2012. A non-canonical squad shooter.
• Resident Evil 6 — October 2012. Four campaigns, maximum action, mixed reception.
• Resident Evil: Revelations 2 — 2015, released episodically.

The RE Engine Era (2017–2026)

• Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — January 2017. First person, first RE Engine game, full VR support on PSVR.
• Resident Evil 2 (remake) — January 2019. Widely regarded as the best remake Capcom has produced.
• Resident Evil 3 (remake) — April 2020, bundled with the multiplayer mode Resistance.
• Resident Evil Village — May 2021, with the Shadows of Rose expansion following in 2022.
• Resident Evil 4 (remake) — March 2023, plus the Separate Ways DLC.
• Resident Evil Requiem — February 2026. The ninth mainline entry, returning to Raccoon City.

What the Resident Evil Games in Order of Release Tell You

The Three Reinventions

Release order makes the franchise’s structure obvious. Capcom reinvented Resident Evil three times: RE4 in 2005 moved it from fixed camera to over-the-shoulder action, RE7 in 2017 moved it to first-person horror, and the 2019 RE2 remake established a modern third-person template that has governed every remake since. Each pivot followed a commercially disappointing or creatively exhausted entry.

The numbering itself is misleading. Resident Evil 0 came out after Resident Evil 3. Code: Veronica is arguably the real Resident Evil 3 narratively. Revelations and Revelations 2 are numbered separately from the mainline but sit inside its timeline. If you follow the Resident Evil games in order of release, none of this matters — you simply experience it the way audiences did.

Remakes Versus Remasters

This distinction trips people constantly. The 2002 RE1, 2019 RE2, 2020 RE3, and 2023 RE4 are full remakes with new engines, new content, and changed level design. The HD Remaster of RE1 (2015), Code: Veronica X HD, and the RE4 Ultimate HD Edition are remasters, meaning the same game at higher resolution. Modern remakes push hardware hard, so our gaming graphics card buying guide is worth reading before buying the RE4 remake at high settings.

How to Play the Resident Evil Games in Order of Release Today

What Is Easy to Buy

Everything from RE0 onward is available digitally on PC and modern consoles, and much of it appears regularly in Steam and PlayStation sales as bundles. RE7, Village, and the RE2, RE3, and RE4 remakes all have current-generation versions with ray tracing and high-frame-rate modes. Switch owners have cloud versions of several entries plus native ports of the older titles.

The PlayStation-era originals — RE1, RE2, and RE3 in their 1996–1999 forms — have never been given a modern rerelease, and Code: Veronica X is only playable through older console generations. This is the biggest gap in the catalogue and the main reason release-order purists end up on original hardware.

Practical Setup Notes

The classic entries were built for CRT displays and fixed 4:3 output, so they can look soft and dark on modern panels — our gaming monitor buying guide covers what handles retro output well. Tank controls are far more tolerable on a good d-pad, which our gaming controller buying guide addresses. The RE Engine games are storage-heavy with rapid area streaming, making our gaming SSD buying guide relevant, while the first-person entries depend heavily on directional audio for threat cues — see our gaming headset buying guide. If you plan to run the full catalogue on one machine, our gaming PC build guide covers sensible component pairings.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many Resident Evil games are there in total?

There are nine mainline numbered entries including Requiem, plus four full remakes, the Code: Veronica and Revelations sub-series, and well over a dozen spin-offs across light-gun shooters, mobile titles, and multiplayer experiments. Counting only games most players consider essential, the list is closer to fifteen.

Should I play the Resident Evil games in order of release or story order?

Release order is better for understanding how the series evolved and avoids the confusion of the interleaved 1998 timeline. Story order is better if you care primarily about narrative continuity. Newcomers should ignore both initially and simply start with the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake.

Which Resident Evil game sold the most copies?

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and Resident Evil 2’s 2019 remake have both passed the figures set by Resident Evil 5, which held the top spot for years. The 2023 Resident Evil 4 remake also sold extremely quickly at launch. Capcom has repeatedly reported the franchise as a whole exceeding 150 million units.

Are the Resident Evil remakes replacing the originals?

Effectively, yes, on modern platforms. Capcom has not rereleased the PlayStation-era originals digitally, so the remakes are the only versions most players can readily buy. The 1996 to 1999 games remain available only on original hardware or through the 2002 GameCube remake in the case of the first entry.