after playing literally every single mainline resident evil apart from 5 and 6 (will get to them soon enough) I just got an enormous itch to scratch for the game that started it all on the greatest console of all time after the PlayStation 2: the PlayStation 1

i can say that in the l first 20 minutes or so I was really not in the mood to continue the game it looked kind of janky the controls are even stiffer than the latest titles on the consoles the voice acting is embarrassing and the models are soooo weird

long story short just 30 minutes after this i was totally hooked i begin to love every single aspect i shamed just now and completely got into a trance-like state and pushed throught the entirety of the game in 2 sittings its absolutely fucking incredible I don't even know what to say

my experience with the original resident evil is kinda weird as in the first exposure to the game was the DS version when I was a kid when I shat my pants when I saw the very first zombie scene and closed the game and some years ago I played the remake for the gamecube and enjoyed it a lot so I didn't actually play the original

as for the criticism I just talked about you just need to get in the groove and you'll ignore every single flaw in this game: 1) yes it does look kinda janky but that's to be expected for a game this old AND YET it all has a purpose the walls of the mansion got a disgusting hue and look decrepit the laboratory is spooky enough and the garden is dark as shit and this was all achieved with the pre rendered backgrounds THATS monumental if you ask me this has such a specific mood that I can't even explain it in words you need to play it 2) yes it plays definitely worse than the other games on the ps1 but when you get accustomed to the stiffer tank controls and how the characters move you will breeze through the game like it just came out yesterday and since the gameplay is THE classic resident evil experience you will definitely enjoy it 3) the voice acting IS kinda cringey and kinda bad but I absolutely love that campy vibe of a B horror movie with that FMV as an opening and weird ass conversations its a total vibe

the sound design and music feels really prehistoric compared to how much I enjoyed resident evil 2s score and soundscape but yknow that's also to be expected but somehow every single one of the songs are competently crafted and convey the right vibe for the scene or area or whatever so that's pretty fine

its kinda amazing how open and non linear the mansion is you can literally tackle the games flow in whatever route you desire (mostly in the beginning of the game later it clearly gets more linear but that's also necessary for the course of action) and thats a great feat for a PlayStation 1 game just as much as how many different objects and weapons you can use and so many different monsters and puzzles and wow idk I just enjoyed this too much more so for its historic relevance than as a game itself but still I don't think it aged that poorly it kinda feels just as fresh as when it was released and mind you it was fucking 1996 the most powerful ram was like 18mb or something that was a time to be alive

I chose Jill because I actually cannot play with Chris and his restricted inventory options I would get so fucking frustrated im sorry Chris youre not even that hot in this game I wouldn't even feast on your biceps in this one

the story is always the same one you get a zombie outbreak but this one is like only in a mansion lololol and then it's just puzzle puzzle puzzle and some lore in the meantime but as always the main infodumb is in the 20 minutes before the ending so that is something that was carried over for the entirety of the series whatever

umh

I dont know I don't remember what I was gonna say anyway umh good game

A true PlayStation classic. One of the pioneers of the "survival horror" genre, and sometimes credited as the inspiration for the popularity of zombies from the late 90's-2000's (according to George Romero himself).
These days, if you wanna experience the '96 iteration of this game, PLEASE aim for the Japanese version, as the US one actually removed auto-aim which makes stuff like the final boss almost impossible.
But if I were to be honest, the best way to experience PS1 Resi 1 is with the updated 1997 Director's Cut (not the Dualshock one) or the neat little DS port called "Deadly Silence" (it's overpriced online so aim for a JP copy). You might have to jump a few hurdles to play these iterations, as the Playstation Network store in the US actually has the Dualshock Edition and not the original Director's Cut (but the EU and JP stores actually have the original DC). RE1 doesn't have much of a language barrier aside from an easy puzzle so I wouldn't worry about the text being Japanese, if you have to resort to import copies.
I'll write an actual review on this game someday, I love it to bits.
9/10

So on my Resident Evil tier list I had put this game too low, when honestly, this is such a tightly designed little masterwork of a game I'm kind of stunned how much they got right in one go at things. We need to have a serious discussion if Shinji Mikami is the best game director of all time, as his Resident Evil games are far and away the best composed, his games outside of it are hits, and he is dashingly handsome to boot. What the fuck MORE do we need from the premiere talent in game design.

The final half of this game is pretty vicious though, I never beat it when I was a kid when the hunters were introduced because they were such an intense jump in difficulty, but honestly that's something Mikami is so good at in his RE games is escalation of difficulty and making old areas feel fresh again with new threats. This is such a good fucking game, and while I think the REmake is better, I think both are still worth playing, ESPECIALLY if you have any regard at all for gaming history or the evolution of the medium. The 2 games are about 6 years apart!! That's fucking crazy.

The voice acting though is still shocking, and I hate saying it because there is nothing more grating than a youtube retrospective of Resident Evil 1 getting some easy dunks in on the voice acting, but it genuinely takes you aback when you are playing it. You'll be navigating some really punishing hazards and some of the doofiest dialogue of all time starts playing. I fucking love it.

Also shout-out to the amazing artwork by Bill Sienkiewicz, probably the greatest comic artists alive and ever in my opinion.

in an era defined by the demand for remasters, remakes, updates of successful works, it'd be easy to insist you leave this one to the gamefreaks and just play the impeccable REmake instead

but you'd miss out. this game has an utterly unique look and feel -- rooms lit strangely and painted in sickly yellows, browns and greens, as if the house itself has gone rotten. rooms in REmake look like, well, rooms -- incredibly lit, atmospheric rooms. rooms in resident evil don't look like any room you've ever been in outside of a dream. the zombies shuffle and pivot jerkily and make funny noises, but that doesn't stop a lucky pair from stun-locking you to an instant death if you underestimate them. the music shifts between mocking you and terrifying you, because the fact that something's a bit camp wouldn't stop it from eating you alive

the first zombie scene hits hard in this game due to inconsistent details. the zombie's face looks more like just some old guy than a monster. the half-chewed head is so strangely clean, as if willing flesh was merely sucked from it, not chewed. go watch the FMV again, look at how oddly out-of-scale the zombie is compared to the tea room. guy looks like he'd be about 9 feet tall

absolutely play resident evil. the non-dual-shock director's cut has some cool features for returning players, but the original is just fine too.