Resident Evil is a very old franchise, spanning over twenty years of games and movies. The games have shuffled appearance and genre several times over the series' long history, going from survival horror to action and back to survival horror.
The Resident Evil games also show that more hours does not equate directly to quality, especially with some of the longer entries in the series. How Long to Beat will be used as a reference to determine the average lengths of the campaigns.
13 Resident Evil 2 (1998) (5.5 Hours)
A beloved classic, Resident Evil 2 took the tank-control survival horror of the first game and amplified it, moving from a mansion to a police station, for the majority of the game.
The game also gives a bigger picture for the story of both Umbrella and Raccoon City, something left a bit more to a mystery in the original. While a single run-through of the game doesn't take very long, it had plenty of special modes to give replay value.
12 Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (6 Hours)
A game that feels much longer than it actually is, Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City is an off-shoot of the main series. It's an extremely clunky and poorly designed third-person shooter that ignores all of the game's survival horror aspects in favor of pure action.
With poor A.I., bad level design, and some bullet sponge bosses, this generic shooter is a game that people can skip. It even has a multiplayer component that's just as terrible, if you can even find a match.
11 Resident Evil 3: Nemesis (6.5 Hours)
Not quite as beloved as Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis still does some very interesting things for the series. The addition of the constant Nemesis chasing you throughout the game is a fun horror mechanic, so great they used it for the Resident Evil 2 remake with the Tyrant.
The game takes place before and after the events of the previous game, following Jill Valentine as she tries to uncover what happened and put a stop to Umbrella.
10 Resident Evil (7 Hours)
While playing with the tank controls and the fixed camera now would be beyond frustrating, Resident Evil is the undisputed father of the survival horror genre.
At the time, no game established such a creepy atmosphere as well as the first Resident Evil. Furthermore, the puzzles were great and the backtracking didn't feel overdone the way it might now.
9 Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (8 Hours)
The Wii was a popular enough console to get the big franchises on it but was too weird to get their mainline games, resulting in plenty of strange spin-offs.
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles is an on-rail shooter taking place before Resident Evil 4 in the timeline. It was received fairly well despite an odd premise for the series.
8 Resident Evil 2 (2019) (8 Hours)
This console generation has been filled to the brim with remasters and rereleases but nothing holds a candle to the remake of Resident Evil 2.
This ground-up reimagining of the second game is a fantastic modern survival horror game this is perfectly crafted. The game has no wasted space or moments and plays better than you remember the original playing.
7 Resident Evil: Revelations (9 Hours)
Nintendo is good at getting its own entries in series for its consoles. Originally released for Nintendo 3DS, Resident Evil: Revelations features a game broken into episodes, each featuring puzzles that must be solved.
The game also has a multiplayer mode where remixed versions of the puzzles can also be played through. Another in-between game, Revelations follows Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as they try and stop a biochemical weapon from being deployed into the world's oceans between Resident Evil 4 and 5.
6 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (9.5 Hours)
Simultaneously a return to form and a new direction for the series, Resident Evil 7 served as a soft reboot for the series, even using its Japanese title "Biohazard."
The game is the first and only to be first-person and it's a return to survival-horror after a string of entries that were all more action-focused, especially Resident Evil 6. Resident Evil 7 focuses on the Baker family who became infected with a bioweapon after taking in a little girl they found.
5 Resident Evil Zero (9.5 Hours)
A game that felt out of time when it released, on the backend of the tank-control era but too late to still be acceptable, the game added a second controllable character and the ability to drop items anywhere but ultimately doesn't leave much impact on the series overall.
Resident Evil Zero was designed for the Nintendo 64 but ultimately came out on the Gamecube, where it felt outdated.
4 Resident Evil - Code: Veronica (11.5 Hours)
It didn't take long for Capcom to start creating offshoot games for other platforms, with the fourth entry in the series releasing on the Sega Dreamcast in addition to others. Code: Veronica had the usual tank-controls and horror stylings but featured 3D rendered backgrounds with dynamic movement, instead of the series usually prerendered still backgrounds.
The game serves as a direct sequel to Resident Evil 2, following Claire and Chris Redfield post the destruction of Raccoon City.