‘Resident Evil’: The Grandfather Of Scary Video Games
CapcomResident Evil (1996) contributed to the zombie craze that gripped media and pop culture in the 2000s.
In 1996, the Japanese video game developer Capcom released Resident Evil, and it would go on to inspire a whole generation of horror games.
The story follows Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, two members of a task force who are trying to find their missing teammates in a mansion full of zombies and other monsters.
Resident Evil spearheaded video game inventory and save systems, and it included a nuanced health and vitals tracker. The game was also one of the first to introduce jump scares.
Upon its release, Resident Evil garnered critical acclaim and became the most purchased game on the PlayStation at the time. It not only influenced other scary video games but also thrust zombies into the public eye, inspiring films like 28 Days Later and the novel World War Z.
In the following years, the game developers released sequels, with the most recent coming out in 2023. The story was also adapted into six films.
One reviewer on The Demented Ferrets notes, “The first Resident Evil game is a true classic among the survival horror genre… Survival horror as a genre would be completely different than it is today without the original Resident Evil.”
