Resident Evil
Resident Evil, or Biohazard in Japan and parts of Southeast Asia, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments inhabited by zombies and other frightening creatures. The franchise has expanded into other media, including a live-action film series, animated films, television series, comic books, novels, audio dramas and merchandise. Resident Evil is the highest-grossing horror franchise.
| Resident Evil | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Shinji Mikami Tokuro Fujiwara |
| Original work | Resident Evil (1996) |
| Owner | Capcom |
| Years | 1996–present |
| Print publications | |
| Novel(s) | Novel list |
| Comics | Comic list |
| Films and television | |
| Film(s) | |
| Television series | Television list |
| Games | |
| Video game(s) | Game list |
| Official website | |
| game | |
The first Resident Evil was created by Shinji Mikami and Tokuro Fujiwara and released for the PlayStation in 1996. It is credited for defining the survival horror genre and returning zombies to popular culture. With Resident Evil 4 (2005), the franchise shifted to more dynamic shooting action, achieved acclaim and influenced the evolution of the survival horror and third-person genres, popularizing the "over-the-shoulder" third-person view.
The franchise returned to survival horror with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (2017) and Resident Evil Village (2021), which used a first-person perspective. Capcom has released four Resident Evil remakes: Resident Evil (2002), Resident Evil 2 (2019), Resident Evil 3 (2020) and Resident Evil 4 (2023). Resident Evil is Capcom's best-selling franchise and the best-selling horror game series, with 146 million copies sold worldwide as of July 2023.
The first Resident Evil film was released in 2002, followed by five sequels and a 2021 reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City. The films have received mostly negative reviews for Rotten Tomatoes and some for Metacritic, whereas some other films received mixed reviews on Metacritic, but have grossed more than $1.2 billion, making Resident Evil the third highest-grossing video game film series.