The Resident Evil series has become synonymous with survival horror. With slowly opening, creaking doors, horrific tales of Umbrella’s experiments and their aftermath, and ghastly, mutated enemies. Just as integral to the series’ DNA, though, is a streak of absolutely hilarious overacting and B-movie melodrama. The two traits may not seem like they’d go together that well, but this is all part of the games’ charm. It also means that some entries have been truly bizarre.
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The Resident Evil franchise has been around for decades and is responsible for some of the greatest horror games ever. Here are all the main releases.
In its time, it’s explored some oddly hilarious setpieces and over-the-top situations, from the horrifying to the hilarious via the horrifyingly hilarious. Here’s just a selection of the preposterous moments that make up this beloved series.
5
Chris Redfield Pummeling The Boulder
Resident Evil 5
This is always a top pick among the silly things that happen in Resident Evil games, so it’s best to address it right from the off. We meet Chris Redfield in the first installment of the series, a S.T.A.R.S. member and master marksman. Over the years between that game and the fifth mainline entry, a lot happened to our hero, including his becoming a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance. It’s in this capacity that he embarks on his mission in Africa, and seemingly that he also worked out a lot.
Of course, those outrageous biceps come in handy when performing those QTE melee strikes on enemies, but Chris can also land hefty blows on inanimate objects. In pursuit of Wesker to finally stop his devious plan to release the Uroboros virus, he and Sheva charge through an active volcano. Their path is blocked by enormous boulders, but it’s no matter, because Chris is able to bash them with his bare fists to roll them out of the way. It’s pure action movie absurdity, and it’s wonderful.
4
Ramon Salazar’s Walking Statue
Resident Evil 4
Ramon Salazar, the primary antagonist of the castle portion of Resident Evil 4, has a well-known taste for theatrics. He seems to steal the show in every scene in which he features, and because his self-importance is off the charts, he wouldn’t have it any other way. There is one particular instance of this, though, that’s just so laughably absurd that it has to be mentioned here.
Passing through a vast hallway later into the castle segment of the game, Leon Kennedy finds himself looking up at a gigantic statue of Salazar. It’s not surprising that a man like this would want such a gaudy monument to his own ego in his grand home, but there’s more to it than that. The statue is mechanical, and so enormous that Leon must leap between its hands to reach various levers that are placed around it (this being the only way to raise the platforms ahead and continue onwards. In doing so and starting along the pathway to the next exit, the gigantic likeness of Salazar begins walking towards him, prompting a frantic QTE-powered dash to the exit door. The unwieldy statue continues walking until it falls into a chasm ahead, so it’s only a threat for moment or so, but what a incredible setpiece. And what a ludicrously impractical function for the statue to have. The original game didn’t need a remake, really, but we’re glad it got one nonetheless.
3
Jill Almost Becomes A Sandwich
Resident Evil
The original game is famous for its less-than-elegant dialogue, as noted, and there are few moments quite as memorable in that regard as this one. Quite early in the game, a shotgun is a desirable upgrade over the pistol, and players may have wondered why only the Broken Shotgun could be found in that room on the first floor. They might well have worried that they’d have to do some elaborate puzzling and/or item-finding to fix it. As it is, though, when playing as Chris, the solution is to pick up the real shotgun, found in a different room, and then replace it with the broken one. Doing so resets a trap: A descending-ceiling trap, which is as horrifying as it is hilariously impractical as an architectural feature.
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Following the theme of Jill Valentine’s campaign being easier in many ways than Chris’s (with her inventory management advantage and so on), she also has the aid of Barry Burton in certain key moments. This is one of them. He’ll hear Jill calling for help and haul her out of the room just in time. At which point, he’ll seemingly think it’s appropriate to unleash one of the series’ most beloved and cheesy lines, “you were almost a Jill sandwich!” His utterly emotionless tone is the icing on the cake. The brilliant remake improved the dialogue just slightly, but still.
2
Tofu. Just Tofu
Resident Evil 2
In some cases, the series is unintentionally hilarious. All that master of unlocking business, for instance, surely wasn’t meant as the classic joke it would become. It’s nice to see, though, that Capcom is more than capable of embracing the silly side of these iconic games intentionally too. A great case in point is the playable character Tofu, who appears in Resident Evil 2 and its great remake and is, it’s important to stress, a huge chuck of tofu.
The 4th Survivor is an intense mini-scenario starring fan-favorite operative HUNK, who is tasked with making it to the rescue helicopter with the virus sample in his possession. The player is beset by enemies and has a limited loadout, in a sort of precursor to the Mercenaries minigame that would become a staple of later titles. Tofu appears in a twist on this mode, The Tofu Survivor, which really just amounts to a silly skin for HUNK for the joke’s sake and a worse set of equipment. It’s an additional challenge for seasoned players, as indicated by the fact that high-ranking performances in the main game are required to unlock it. The remake changes these unlock conditions, and also emphasizes a range of different playable tofus, like Konjac, Annin Tofu, and Flan, who actually have varied loadouts with which to face the challenge ahead.
1
The Final Fight Against Ustanak
Resident Evil 6
It’s no secret that Resident Evil 6‘s reputation among series fans isn’t the best. Considerable fan service took Leon and Chris’s cross-campaign moments in some rather cheesy directions, and it was perhaps the title that took the controversial new action focus the furthest. This resulted in a lot of dramatic setpiece battles with QTEs. Jake Muller’s campaign culminated in what may be the worst offender: The final battle against the Ustanak that had menaced Jake and Sherry Birkin throughout.
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It takes place in a huge smelting complex, atop precarious metal walkways. Unable to access his gun, Jake engages the formidable creature in melee combat, and the button-mashing felt rather shallow: the stakes were high and the blows fierce, but a lot of the fight took place through those infamous QTEs and Jake’s abilities essentially matching his foes took away some of that lingering dread that Mr. X or Nemesis induces in the earlier titles. Ustanak was knocking into the burning mess below, writhing in a theatrical tribute to Terminator 2‘s T-1000, in a moment almost as over the top as Wesker’s own death in the previous game. This time, though, the villain still wasn’t defeated for good quite yet.
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