Recently I watched a video that was a beginner's guide to Final Fantasy that talked about what the franchise is and tips for people that wanted to play Final Fantasy games but weren't really sure where to start because of the long history Final Fantasy has. I got inspired and thought I'd do an article form of that for one of my great loves, Resident Evil. Resident Evil is one of the big names among popular game franchises. While it may not be quite as fast as titles such as Final Fantasy, it has quite a history to it. Resident Evil made its debut in 1996 and has since evolved into a staple of popular zombie-based games. I'm here to give new fans or interested parties information to help guide their resident evil experience and help them find the best starting location for them.

First off, Resident Evil is commonly classified as a survival horror game. What on Earth might that mean? Essentially, it implies that you have a limited amount of resources and must use your wits and conservation skills if you want to make it through the game. Speaking of using your wits, Resident Evil will also throw the occasional puzzle at you. This usually requires you to find specific key items in the world and then manipulate them accordingly in order to solve the puzzle and be able to progress. If the idea of puzzles scares you, don't worry. These puzzles are nothing compared to some of the outrageously difficult puzzles that exist within the Silent Hill franchise that will require you to have a college level education or higher in literature or something like that. These elements are pretty common of most Resident Evil games, but some more recent titles of the franchise have experimented with more high octane action and heated combat. The franchise even has a couple first person shooter games. The franchise allows for various gaming tastes to be fulfilled.

Now that the overall game mechanics have been explained, let's talk a little bit about what the heck Resident Evil is even about. Resident Evil has a common theme of (in my opinion) superfluous research into biotechnology and viral weaponry. Whether it be the slew of different viruses that have existed in the franchise or the parasitic organisms, research into these usually causes havoc beyond the scientists' control and leads to a significantly high death toll. The main protagonists of any Resident Evil game are usually people just going about their lives being all well to do and innocent and are thrown into the mayhem of various biohazards. The games usually progress with the character discovering all the specific details of each biohazard while trying to escape to safety. Most of the time these characters do indeed escape, albeit after fighting some huge, gross monstrosity and watching everything around them explode from a self-destruct sequence. There are some games in which you may end up not making it depending on how you play the game and the events that take place, though.

So for those of you that are interested in tackling the world of Resident Evil, you're probably thinking, "Where do I even start? I have no idea how to approach any of this." The good news is you do have some flexibility in your starting point in the franchise without compromising your ability to get an enriching experience out of it. A safe bet with any franchise is starting at the beginning. The very first Resident Evil game came out in 1996 on the Sony Playstation, but since then has seen remakes and ports on consoles such as the Nintendo Gamecube, Wii, DS, and had an HD remake for more recent consoles. This game is easily accessible and provides a great starting point in the Resident Evil franchise. The only arguments against starting here would be if you want to play in chronological order of the universe, in which case you would want to start with Resident Evil Zero, or if the older style of puzzles, survival horror, conservation, tank controls, and lots of backtracking to go to new rooms and get new items is just not your cup of tea. Even if this play style makes you want to cringe, though, I'd say give it a try at some point in your life if you are a Resident Evil fan. Another starting point in the earlier games could be Resident Evil 2. Resident Evil 2 is one of the best selling games of the franchise. It also provides an interesting starting point because it immediately throws you in the action of the most iconic portion of Resident Evil history, the Raccoon City viral outbreak. It also does provide some information regarding the events of the first Resident Evil game (but not Zero because the idea hadn't existed at that point) so in theory if you wanted to start with a somewhat more varied setting compared to the mansion of the first Resident Evil game you could start with Resident Evil 2 and not be out of the loop entirely. So, of the games that take place earlier in the history of Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero, Resident Evil, and Resident Evil 2 are your best choices.

Before I move onto a game that takes place later on in Resident Evil history, I want to talk about two very unique titles of the franchise. These games are Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles and Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. These games are unique in that they have a completely different play style than most Resident Evil games, and they cover the storylines of Resident Evil Zero through Resident Evil: Code Veronica. They also have completely new storylines that are important in filling in gaps of the overall lore of the franchise. These games have quite a unique play style. They play like old time arcade shooting games where you would have a plastic gun and shoot at targets as they appeared on screen because movement was already relatively predetermined by the game. While they're completely different from the majority of games in the franchise, I definitely enjoyed playing them and also got to experience the storyline of the older games since I hadn't previously played them when I first played these games. Both of these games are for the Nintendo Wii, and I would definitely recommend them to anyone who wants to get the full storyline of the franchise but may not have the resources to acquire the older Resident Evil titles.

The final Resident Evil game that I think makes a good starting point for newcomers to the franchise is Resident Evil 4. Essentially every Resident Evil game up until Resident Evil 4 had taken place in 1998 (I find it hard to fathom sometimes too.) Resident Evil 4 takes place in 2004 and is considered by butt hurt fans to be the last good Resident Evil game (I haven't played nor seen fan reviews of Resident Evil VII so I can't say anything in regards to it's quality). Resident Evil 4 is the first game of the franchise to experiment with more action filled gameplay. It still did a pretty good job of maintaining staples of the older style of gameplay and made a great overall hybrid of the Resident Evils past and future. That's what makes it a great starting point for newcomers. It also does a great job of telling you the main story leading up to its events and is one of the most accessible Resident Evil games. It is playable on consoles such as the Playstation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, Wii, and had HD remakes for more recent consoles. This game was my first experience in the Resident Evil franchise, and I haven't stopped loving Resident Evil since.

Some final points regarding all of this. This franchise has an extremely large amount of butt hurt fans. You can't let these people dictate how you experience this franchise. If you like the more action oriented gameplay style of the more recent Resident Evil games like 4, 5, and parts of 6, then by all means you enjoy yourself. Just because you haven't played the older games and loved everything about them doesn't invalidate your love of the franchise. This article is merely to inform and help newcomers get started. Have fun and welcome to the fandom!