How to play the Resident Evil games in order
Thirty years of zombies, remade twice over. The essential path — and the honest list of what to skip.
Resident Evil is the most approachable it has ever been and somehow the most confusing to start: mainline entries, numbered remakes that replace the originals, spin-offs, and two different timeline "eras" that barely reference each other. Ask five fans where to begin and you'll get five different lectures.
Here's the honest version: you do not need to play them all, the story matters less than the internet insists, and the remakes have made the classic path shorter and better. This is the order we'd give a friend starting from zero.
The short answer
Play the remakes in numbered order — Resident Evil (2002 remake), then Resident Evil 2, then Resident Evil 4 — and follow with the modern first-person duo, Resident Evil 7 and Village. That five-game path covers every character, location, and plot beat the series ever references, at its highest quality.
Release order purists aren't wrong that the originals have historical charm, but tank controls and fixed cameras are a real barrier in 2026. The remakes preserve what made those games great and remove what made people bounce off them.
The essential path, step by step
Each entry here earns its slot: they're the series' peaks, and together they tell the whole story that matters — Umbrella's fall, Leon and Claire's origins, and the Winters family arc that carries the modern era.
1. Resident Evil (2002 remake)
The Spencer Mansion, still the best haunted house in games. Slow, deliberate survival horror — play it first and every later reference lands.
PC · PlayStation · Xbox · Switch
2. Resident Evil 2 (2019 remake)
The gold standard of the remake era. Raccoon City's police station is a masterclass in loops and shortcuts, and Mr. X will live rent-free in your head.
PC · PlayStation · Xbox
3. Resident Evil 4 (2023 remake)
Where the series pivots from horror to action and somehow gets scarier anyway. The most purely fun entry — a perfect village-to-castle rollercoaster.
PC · PlayStation · Xbox
4. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
The first-person reboot that saved the franchise. The Baker family dinner is the scariest hour Resident Evil has ever produced.
PC · PlayStation · Xbox
5. Resident Evil Village
RE7's direct sequel and its funhouse-mirror opposite: a gothic action tour that closes the Winters story and sets up everything after it.
PC · PlayStation · Xbox
What you can skip (and when to circle back)
Resident Evil 3's remake is a tight but slight side-story — grab it on sale as a Raccoon City companion piece. Resident Evil 5 and 6 are the series' co-op action detour: 5 is genuinely fun with a friend (see our co-op guide), 6 is for completionists only. Code Veronica and Zero are for people who already know they love the classics.
Once you've finished the essential path you're fully caught up for the series' newest mainline chapter, Requiem — which leans back toward Raccoon City lore and rewards having played 2 and 7 in particular.
The bottom line
Five games — three remakes, two modern entries — and you've experienced the best of one of gaming's defining series without a single low point. That's a rare thing for a thirty-year franchise.
Log each one as you clear it and rate them against each other; the "which RE is the best" argument is half the fun of being caught up.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need to play the Resident Evil games in story order?
No. The stories are loosely connected and every game recaps what matters. Playing the remakes in numbered order (1, 2, 4) followed by 7 and Village gives you the full picture with none of the confusion.
Should I play the original Resident Evil games or the remakes?
Start with the remakes. The 2002 remake of the original and the modern remakes of 2 and 4 are widely considered superior to the originals, and they replace them cleanly. Circle back to the originals later if you fall in love with the series.
Is Resident Evil 7 a good place to start the series?
It works — 7 is a soft reboot with a new protagonist and barely assumes any series knowledge. But the earlier remakes are so good, and so short by modern standards, that starting at the beginning costs little and pays off constantly.
Written by
Hyun Jae Moon
Software engineer and lifelong gamer — designs, builds, and edits all of Playshelf, from the infrastructure to every guide. More about Playshelf →
Keep track of what you play
Playshelf is a free social game tracker — log the games from this guide, rate and rank them, and get AI recommendations tuned to your taste and what your friends are playing.
Keep reading
The best horror games to play with the lights off
Whether you want creeping dread or pure adrenaline, these are the games that actually get under your skin.
Co-opThe best co-op games to play with friends right now
Couch, online, two players or six — the games that are genuinely better with someone next to you.
NarrativeThe best story-driven games for people who love a great narrative
Games that prove the medium can tell a story nothing else can. For when you want to feel something.