One of my favorite opening scenes to a video game. Maybe I prefer this to the remake. I could say it’s the simplicity of it, but perhaps it’s the doors we shouldn’t open or the jill sandwiches. It could even be the blood that we hope isn’t Chris’ that we found in “the dinning room”

There’s just something about this franchise that I can’t really explain in words. It just does what it does, that is being “resident evil”. Even the basement music adds to the culture of this franchise.

Every time I go through that opening scene, I like to quote the lines as it’s happening, however this playthrough (as it has been many years) I have completely forgotten about “Stay Alert!” from Wesker, so when I heard that I genuinely bursted out laughing. I love you Resident Evil.



“Stop it, don’t open that door!”

Having this version of the first Resident Evil pop up on PS+ Premium just as I'm beginning a new series playthrough is terrific timing.

There's not much to say about the first RE that hasn't already been said. Though I had a negative experience on my first playthrough of the original release (possibly the fault of the emulator?), returning for this PS5 emulation is a sweet treat. The settings may not be the greatest but general control is fine and I played through the whole game without any issues.

Playing Resident Evil with such convenience is a treat but it comes at a cost. Sadly, this version on the PS4/5 is locked entirely behind a subscription, but there's obviously an easy way to acquire this game, yourself. That being said, it's rather integral you play the original Resident Evil.

Though not the first survival horror game, Resident Evil set it on the map and charted a long history full of great titles in this series (and several others) to this day. Though there's a lot of jank to get around if you're solely raised on 8th gen gaming, a diamond of level design, atmosphere, and inventory systems sprouts before you.

The Spencer mansion is one of my favourite video game locations. The music, the layout and the aesthetic on the ps1 are just so creepy and perfect. The tunnels and the lab are fine, but definitely don't hold a candle imo.

One pretty cool thing about RE1 is how it uses characters as a difficulty mode. Jill is of course easy mode, while Chris has less inventory, less weapons and a harder starting path. Director's cut in particular even introduces more literal easy/hard modes, the latter moving items around, making it more repayable for people who had played the original. Personally I just beat the default mode with both characters, so I can't speak for how good arranged mode is.

Back on the topic of Chris' starting path being different - it is kind of weird how his early game is different to Jill's, but by the time you get to the residential area they just become the exact same. It makes playing them one after the other refreshing at first, but horribly repetitive by the end.

Camera angles are used to such effective degrees in this game, never knowing what lies not only through the next door, but even the next step you take could reveal a horrifying danger.

I'll commend the games use of a QoL feature in telling you when a key has unlocked all doors and the ability to discard it, but criticise the lack of this feature for other key items, like the cranks or lighter.

Resident Evil is a pretty huge horror game icon, and for good reason. On a first playthrough the unknown is terrifying. The lack of ammo, and even times you can save, make the survival aspect one of the best (though it may also turn some people away). The lack of inventory space, especially for Chris, may also annoy some folks, especially those who don't know what they're doing and will end up carrying key items back and forth from limited storage boxes.

Also as much as I love how they integrated loading screens to be suspenseful for the actual gameplay, there's so many of them, and with the amount of backtracking even a seasoned player would do, they can break pace way too much.

I still enjoy playing this game even 25 years later. I also don't think the REmake makes this game obsolete either. The art direction is still good and the models are really charming still. Prerendered backgrounds and the classic game and controls still feel as good as they did back in the day. Which is really rare for this generation.

I remember jumping so much when I first played this game. The visuals were way more realistic than the 16 bit sprites that I was used too. The music and atmosphere were really creepy and being lost in this gigantic mansion was very unsettling. I remember legitimately jumping out of my seat every time the dog jumps out of the window. Watching it now it looks so telegraphed and slow but it was something else in the day. It's so easy to know what to do and where to go now but when this game first came it out it was really different for a lot of the players of the time. It's easy to laugh at in retrospect but that's not how I see it. I still remember how I saw it at it's release. I remember being really impressed at the voice acting. Yea we all know it's bad but I wasn't used to games having voices at all, let alone the entire game is spoken. At most it was just sound bites. The music is superb at setting the tension and dread. Even if the DC music is a step down there are still some good tracks in there too. They are not all mansion basement farts.

The visuals are certainly dated by 2021 standards yes and even later sequel's have better prerendered back drops but at the time the less is more was definitely impacting me. Some of the simplistic elements in the foregrounds could still leave impressions though.

Game play is very tight and fun. It's fun figuring out what your supposed to do with what items and deciding when to fight or run. Knowing what to do and how to avoid obstacles and putting into practice is really rewarding. It sounds like trial and error and to a degree it is but it's so satisfying when it all clicks and you optimize your playthrough. That in combination with the fun cutscenes and the dramatic over the top 90's B horror plot makes this so much fun to play again and again. Plus RE games always have such high replay value. That and when you get good at the game you get to beat it faster and faster and get better ranks and rewards it becomes such a comfort food style of game. A game you get to know inside and out. Appreciate all of it's flaws and triumphs.

The game has two playable characters both with very different skill sets and stories. Giving another reason to play it again. Then the DC cut adds a arranged mode where you can play it again with all the key items in different places with slight variations, which makes your run completely different in how you approach it.

"You have once again entered the world of survival horror… good luck!”
Horror has never been my forte. As someone who grew up with heavy restrictions on what media I could access, horror content has always been a roadblock for me. The gore, the heavy themes it may cover, or the general anxiety trip it may give a viewer, it always turned me away. That being said, over the years I had always heard about the fabled “Resident Evil”... a revolutionary survival horror franchise that has shaped the medium many times. Despite my fears and anxieties, something about those first four games drew my attention. In 2021 I booted up my DS emulator to play Resident Evil: Deadly Silence, an amazing port of the 1996 classic. It won me over.
The gist of the game is this: You’re an elite police squad tasked with finding survivors of a rumored incident in the Arklay Mountains. However, you and your team are tracked down by terrible dog-like creatures and driven into an abandoned mansion. Your mission? Find the whereabouts of the B.R.A.V.O team, and most importantly, survive. The rest of the story is rather subtly told through optional documents you can find scattered throughout the mansion, adding hints and context to what exactly happened in this place. It adds an uneasy atmosphere as you put the pieces of the puzzle together. Occasionally, you’ll have a cutscene interacting with one of your teammates (either Rebecca or Barry depending on who you play as). I really like this story. It’s very simple across the board, but the way it’s all connected gives so much intrigue to the average player. What are these creatures? Where do they come from? What exactly is happening in this mansion? These questions fill your head as you reluctantly open another door in the mansion, pursuing a way out of this hellish place.
Resident Evil, while a game that visually doesn’t hold up, still manages to keep an amazing atmosphere by making the player uncomfortable. The dated and low budget graphics give an uncanny feel to the visuals, always making me feel uneasy even on repeat playthroughs. There’s something about the barrenness, the lack of detail, the fear of the unknown that makes me feel this way. It’s something only enhanced by it’s inherent datedness. The save rooms have an immaculate atmosphere to them. The relaxing yet melancholy tune rings in the background while you sort out your inventory and plan out where and how you want to approach your next destination. The sequel to this game, Resident Evil 2 is one of my favorite video games of all time from a visual standpoint, but Resident Evil’s lack of production value in terms of presentation is why I love its graphics so much.
This is mixed with the unbearably awful voice acting. I don’t think I even have to elaborate on this, but yes, Resident Evil’s voice acting is atrocious. The script was already bad enough but the deliveries of LITERALLY every line feels awkward or wooden in some capacity, it’s hilarious. But in a way, it really fits the b-movie horror kind of vibe the game has. There’s the anxiety of the horror and action mixed with the inherent campiness of the writing and performances. I could go on for hours on why I love this garbage so much honestly.
And of course, there’s the gameplay. At the time of this writing I am on my SIXTH playthrough of this game, the first four times on DS, a fifth on PS1 (True Director’s Cut), and my unfinished sixth playthrough also on PS1. Resident Evil isn’t a very long game, nor a hard one… after your first playthrough. The first time I played the game I performed so poorly and took FOREVER to finish it, but I did a revisit playthrough the following October and it was so, so fun. Once you start to learn item/enemy placement, optimal routing, puzzle solutions, etc you get to absolutely DASH through the game which I find so fun. I even did a no ink ribbon playthrough as Jill under three hours which gave me the infinite rocket launcher just for the heck of it LMAO. Finding that ammo you so desperately needed, a herb to refill your health, clearing out a room of enemies normally tricky to maneuver, it gives me a similar feeling to Symphony of The Night where it’s just so satisfying.
I get that the gameplay isn’t for everyone, and that’s ok. Survival Horror is a genre with very limited appeal, it just so happened to captivate me out of the gate. But I implore you, if you have interest in this game or series? Try it. Please. I put aside my initial skepticism and anxieties aside to experience this, and now it’s one of my favorite games of all time. I know this is probably a really incoherent or weird review, and that’s fine. I replayed this game twice because it’s October lol, and I plan to do so every succeeding year.
Reddish /06/ True Director's Cut