Resident Evil 2
I knew I needed to give Capcom’s massive horror franchise a mention, and it was a genuine struggle trying to choose between Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 4 for this spot. RE2 is a lot like Dead Space 2 in that it improved and refined the mechanics and world of the original while expanding the scale. Then there’s RE4, which turned the entire series on its head, introducing gargantuan changes to a formula no one was tired of at the time.
I went with Resident Evil 2 because it took the series in a direction I wanted to see it go. Resident Evil 4 was and still is a terrific action horror game, but it also marked the slow creative death of one of gaming’s most beloved names.
It’s also partially responsible for Resident Evil 6, and that’s not an easy thing to forgive.
