Resident Evil (1996)

About Resident Evil (1996)

Resident Evil first came out on the PlayStation in 1996, made by Capcom and directed by Shinji Mikami. This is the original game on PC, re-released on Steam in April 2026 and co-developed by GOG with Capcom. It keeps the original content, including the uncut PC version that the store says has more blood and gore than the PlayStation release, and adds Windows 10 and 11 support, an improved DirectX renderer, windowed mode, vertical sync, gamma correction, integer scaling, anti-aliasing, modern controller support and all four original languages.

It is not the same game as the Resident Evil already on this site. That one is the HD remaster of Capcom's 2002 remake, rebuilt with new areas, story elements, detailed redrawn backgrounds, widescreen and an optional modern control scheme. The 1996 original is the one the remake was based on: with low-poly characters over its original pre-rendered rooms, and the stiff dialogue critics noted at the time. Play it to see where the series began; play the remaster for the fuller, more polished version of the same night.

Your special forces squad, S.T.A.R.S., is flown to a remote mansion outside the city to investigate a biotechnical experiment gone wrong. Chased indoors by dogs, the team is split up in a house full of man-eating creatures. You choose Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine. Jill carries eight items to Chris's six, and each has a different partner, Barry or Rebecca, who turns up along the way.

It plays as the first survival horror Capcom made. Each room is shown from a fixed camera angle over a pre-rendered background, and you move with tank controls, so a zombie can be heard before it is seen and a corner can hide anything. Ammunition is limited enough that you cannot kill everything, items you cannot carry go into boxes in the safe rooms, and saving uses an ink ribbon at a typewriter. Locked doors, crests, traps and puzzles push you back and forth through the mansion and the grounds around it.

It suits players who want the original as it was, with its rough edges, and anyone curious about the game that every later Resident Evil, and many of the survival horror games listed here, grew out of.

How to play Resident Evil (1996)

1. Buy Resident Evil (1996) on Steam or GOG and install it on a Windows PC.
2. Set the display options you want: windowed or fullscreen, aspect ratio, scaling and gamma.
3. Choose Chris Redfield or Jill Valentine; Jill can carry eight items and Chris six.
4. Move with tank controls: up walks forward wherever the character faces, left and right turn on the spot.
5. Explore the mansion room by room, picking up keys, items, ammunition and healing herbs.
6. Store what you do not need in the item boxes and save with ink ribbons at the typewriters.

Tips

• You cannot kill everything with the ammunition the game gives you; walk around slow zombies when the room allows it.
• Do not use an ink ribbon at every typewriter you pass; save after real progress.
• Keep a slot or two free so you can pick up the key items puzzles need.
• Listen before you step into a room; the fixed camera often shows an enemy later than you hear it.
• Read the files and notes you find; they give hints for the puzzles ahead.

Questions