Here are the best Resident Evil games and movies to enjoy after watching Netflix’s new series

Netflix’s Resident Evil TV Series premieres on July 14. It is the latest installment in the survival-horror series. It is alternately set in 2022/Tamara Smart’s Jade, and Billie Wesker in Siena Agudong as they fight to survive the nascent zombie outbreak in New Raccoon City. Along with their father (recurring series antagonist Albert Wesker)

Resident Evil may feel like a mutated T-Virus monstrosity to someone who is new to the franchise. And with Netflix’s new series boldly attempting to acknowledge and exist explicitly within the multifaceted and often retconned canon of the games, the franchise can feel even more impenetrable.

“What are the Resident Evil games and movies I should care about?” you’re probably asking aloud. We’ve pooled together Polygon’s collective Resident Evil brain trust to give you a breakdown of our top recommendations to play and watch after finishing the Netflix series. These are our top Resident Evil movies and games to watch at home.

You can play the games

Resident Evil (1996)

You can find us at: HD remasters are available for PC, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5.

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Reminiscence is what I want to think about when thinking about my favourite Resident Evil game. Resident Evil (1996), because it — along with Metal Gear Solid — just absolutely changed the way I saw video games. Going back and playing it, it obviously has a lot of rough edges (lol the polygons) that even the 2002 remake doesn’t really fix. —Chris Grant

This is our 2015 HD Remaster review:

The original control scheme still exists in the 2015 HD re-release, but there’s also a slightly modernized replacement available. In this updated option, movement is more on par with other third-person action games — i.e., pressing left or right on the control stick makes your character more or less instantly turn and move in that direction. It’s a nice change, and for those who are concerned, it definitely doesn’t make the game too easy.

This is the 2015 edition of Resident EvilA minor visual enhancement has been made to the GameCube version. A high-definition version of the GameCube’s beautiful background art has been added. The game also allows for you to switch back and forth between 16:9 and 4:3. The character models are now up-to-date. Resident Evil 6’s graphics. The newer models can sometimes feel strange when compared to the more detailed backgrounds, but the improvements work well in the long-term.

Resident Evil 7

You can find us at: Playstation 4, PlayStation 5 & Xbox One.

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My heart wants me to pull for this one, because it was the game I didn’t have a lot of hope for, but it managed to exceed all expectations and then some. —CG

As Ryan Gilliam wrote in Polygon’s Game of the Year list:

Village could’ve played it safe. We could’ve seen Ethan continue his adventure through America, into secret laboratories and through another family infected by the mold. And with the Resident Evil team’s adept skill, that game still probably would’ve cracked our top 50 list. But Village gets weird instead, and whisks players away from the series’ usual world of zombies and secret labs into one with giant vampire women, werewolves, killer dolls, and ritual sacrifice.

Resident Evil VillageIt’s like going to a carnival with different types of horror. You can go in any direction that you want, and it will take you to the Ferris wheel-like Grand Show or Hall of Mirrors. This is how a carnival makes a field seem like many worlds. I’ve played scarier games than Resident Evil Village, but I’ve never played one with such varied dungeons. Village’s success isn’t in how scary it can be, but in all of the different ways it tries to scare you.

Resident Evil – Code: Veronica

You can find us at:HD Remaster Code: Veronica X?, available for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5 and Xbox One.

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It is worth celebrating the five-year transition of RE4 to an action-oriented, real-time 3D environment and a new formula for RE Games. —CG

The films

Resident Evil (2002 movie)

You should be watching: Watch on Hulu and get free access with advertisements on Tubi

Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

Paul W.S. Anderson’s first movie. Anderson’s six-movie franchise starring his wife and collaborator Milla Jovovich, this is the most “straight horror” of the bunch. Introducing us to Jovovich’s amnesiac action hero Alice, she and Michelle Rodriguez (among others) try to survive a zombie outbreak in the facility they are in (as well as contain it from spreading into the world). Amazing imagery and sequences, including the laser grid trap!), it’s a blast. —PV

Extinction: Resident Evil

You should be watching: Watch on Hulu and get free access with ads on Tubi

Image: Constantin Film/Sony Home Entertainment

Zombie Western! Zombie! Western! —PV

P.W.S. returns(Resident Evil, Resident Evil, Retribution, Resident Evil, The Final Chapter.)

You should be watching: You can watch Hulu, or get a free subscription with advertisements on Tubi.Final Chapter Tubi is the only place where this option is available.

Image: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment

The previous two movies from this series mentioned here are great fun, but it’s in the final trilogy that Anderson, Jovovich, and company pull it all together, perfecting the frenetic style that make these movies work, harnessing pure chaos into a rip-roaring good time of action horror. —PV