«Resident Evil»: a game that shaped me and a whole generation
30.12.2021
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
«Resident Evil» has made horror games mainstream. This year, this cult classic is celebrating its 25th birthday. Even after this long time, I still remember the first time the game and I met.
Racoon Forest 1998. The forest is clad in thick fog. There’s a column of smoke in the distance. Eerie music underscores the scene. Special unit S.T.A.R.S is searching for their missing compatriots. Suddenly, things get hectic. Fast cuts show bloody fangs, mutilated bodies and faces filled with fear. A snarling monster is on the loose. Screaming and shooting ensues.
The live action intro to «Resident Evil» already has my head spinning. Today, it looks more like a B-movie spoof made by a primary school kid. But back in 1996, I was an impressionable 14-year-old fraidy cat. To me, «Resident Evil» exuded an irresistible feeling of the forbidden. The game is rated 18+ and, judging by what’s being said on the school playground, it’s the scariest game ever.
It all starts with a modded Playstation
Back then, I primarily gamed on the PC. My favourites were «Duke Nukem 3D», «Quake» or «Super Mario 64» for Nintendo 64. This changed after my older brother came home one day with a modified Playstation and countless games. One of the self-labelled CDs shows those two momentous words:
«Resident Evil».
What the title really means isn’t quite clear to me. Not even after consulting the yellow German–English Langenscheidt dictionary. But I do know that evil means bad and that the game is about zombies – that’s all I need to understand. Besides, being the younger brother, I’m only entitled to co-use the Playstation anyway and have to get in line. But after seeing the dramatic intro, that’s fine with me.
The actual game starts after the few survivors of the S.T.A.R.S. special unit manage run for their lives and find a hideout in a magnificent mansion. The remaining compatriots are Albert Wesker, Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine. The last two are the playable characters. For the two pubescent teenagers in the Rüegg household, it’s clear who’ll be chosen.
I’ll never forget that look
The graphics, which were superb for their time, fuelled my imagination. What’s up with that mansion? What secrets lie hidden behind its doors and what happened to my compatriots? My brother and I find the first clue two rooms down. It’s one of the most iconic scenes in gaming history. «Resident Evil» is played with a fixed camera perspective. This means we never know where we’re running to and what’s lurking. At the end of this corridor, for example.
As we turn the corner, a cutscene ensues. We see one person crouching over another one. And they’re not doing CPR. This is made quite clear by chewing noises and a pool of blood. At that moment, the crouching person slowly turns their head towards us. The camera zooms in: a rotting zombie stares at us with its blank eyes. I’ll never forget that look. But there’s not much time to recover from the shock. The zombie’s shuffling towards us. The sluggish controls combined with the fixed camera make every monster encounter an adrenaline-fuelled duel. We shoot through almost a whole magazine until the zombie finally falls to the ground. We’re just about to let out a sigh of relief when the pixel monster suddenly gets up again. Only after firing off three more precious magazines does the zombie finally stay down. The first pool of blood is joined by a second one. The game really got us.
«Resident Evil» is full of these shock moments. When I mention the hallway with the dogs, everyone who’s ever played the game knows exactly what I’m talking about: one moment I’m walking through a regular hallway without a threat in sight. A safe place to take a breather. The next thing I know, two mutated hounds jump through the window and give me the fright of my life.
Who’s hiding all these cranks and gems?
But there’s so much more to «Resident Evil» than action and horror. The many riddles that had to be solved were also unusual at the time. An unlocked door is a rarity. As neither the well-trained members of the S.T.A.R.S. special unit nor their grenade launchers can break through ordinary wooden doors, brain power is needed.
Once, this involves getting our hands on a gem hidden in a book and placing it in the eye of a statue. Another time we need to open a barred gate with a crank found in a secret drawer. Even then, I wonder how the Umbrella Corporation gets anything done at all. Said corporation is the evil force in the game and responsible for the zombie outbreak. It seems that they’re spending most of their time hiding gems and keys someplace.
Things are slow going for us in «Resident Evil». On the plus side, this constant back and forth means we know the property like the back of a Kellogg’s Smacks cereal box. This is also because you can only save the game in rooms with a typewriter in them.
And as if that weren’t enough, we also need a new ink ribbon every time. Being a quicksave-spoiled «Quake» gamer, this gives me panic attacks. But it also makes my heart rate go up the further away we move from the save room. This makes every outing in «Resident Evil» feel like a risk. Not least because it forces us to think carefully about what we’re going to take with us on our next exploration. After all, the inventory is limited to six measly squares. Weapons, ammunition, even keys all occupy one of these valuable spots.
Details matter
And then there’s the story. The more we explore the estate, the more horrifying the things we reveal are. There are catacombs infested with crocodiles and giant spiders and labs where more creepy experiments are taking place. Admittedly, I never fully got the story. But there’s a t-virus, Wesker’s a traitor and the Umbrella Corporation is the devil himself.
I can remember the smaller stories better. On one occasion, we find a diary in a bedroom. It contains a researcher’s notes about poker nights shared with colleagues and his work with the Umbrella Corporation’s living experiments. At some point, he writes about an itching and a swollen spot on his back. It dawns on me that he’s contracted the t-virus. As the symptoms increase, the diary entries become more and more confused. The last sentence reads:
«Itchy itchy Scott came. Ugly face so killed him. Tasty.
Itchy.
Tasty.»
While my brother and I are digesting what we’ve read, a zombie suddenly jumps out of the closet. One flesh wound and half a magazine later, the monster is lying on the ground. It’s wearing a white lab coat.
A memory for life
It wasn’t until years later that I played through «Resident Evil» myself with the remake for the Nintendo Gamecube. Yet, it was still the PS1 version that shaped me. I spent nights looking over my brother’s shoulder while he was playing. The unique blend of horror, action, mystery and a confusing story was just on another level. Today, 25 years later, «Resident Evil: Village» is already the eighth official part. Add to that numerous spin-offs and movie adaptations. There’s no end in sight. And that’s a good thing. After all, maybe there’s a 14-year-old out there wandering around in a narrow corridor in a fictitious and unrealistically large mansion right now. Clueless about the fact he’s about to be scared out of his wits.
And so the cycle continues.
Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
