I first approached Resident Evil as a total newcomer to the franchise. I had no nostalgic memory of the series, so I was approaching it with a complete lack of nostalgia as a “dated” survival horror experience. I found a master class in how using constraints creates a genre defining experience. As a contractor, I understand the concept of how limitations bring out elegance in many ways. In Resident Evil’s case, the tank controls, fixed camera views and limited resources were not limitations, they were all part of the design to create the horror experience.
You’re in a house overrun by biological experiments gone wrong, and you don’t have enough ammo to kill everything, therefore you have to think before you shoot, move at a slow pace, and use resources carefully. The camera pulls back and presents the scene in a cinematic view. Each aspect of design contributes to creating horror through fear of vulnerability and tension, and not through action–based excitement.
What Resident Evil Really Does
You wake up in a woods area after a car accident and make your way to a mansion. The mansion is filled with monsters, puzzles and other challenges. You have to manage your inventory. You have to ration ammo. You have to solve environmental puzzles to continue. You have to either fight or avoid monsters based on how much ammo you have available. Your goal is to get out of the mansion alive.
The tank controls cause you to move slowly and deliberately; you cannot quickly dodge around obstacles, you are committed to moving forward and are exposed and vulnerable to attack. This slower pace creates tension, because you cannot react fast enough to any possible threats. The fixed camera angles create a cinematic presentation of each scene; when you round a corner, the camera will pull back and reveal something frightening. That camera angle is pure atmosphere.
The monster designs are truly terrifying. The zombies are disgusting. The hunters are unlike anything else. The bosses are frightening. There is nothing in the game trying to be realistic; everything is designed to be frightening. This design philosophy is better suited to horror then realism.
Why Survival Horror Needs These Designs
Here’s what Resident Evil did that most action games fail to do – horror is created through vulnerability, not firepower. If you have infinite ammo, fighting is not scary; it is simply another combat encounter. When you are limited to a finite amount of ammo, every time you engage in battle, it becomes a resource management issue. Do I have enough ammo? Do I need to spend my limited health items? Should I fight, or should I try to run away?
This scarcity of resources creates real tension. You are constantly juggling limited ammo, limited health items, and limited inventory space. This constant juggling of resources is not filler, it is essential to the horror design.
The puzzle design is decent without being too obscure. You observe the environment. You pick up clues. You solve logical puzzles. You do not find yourself stuck due to poorly thought-out puzzles, nor do you find yourself bored by them. Everything feels earned, and the puzzles feel more like actual problem-solving, and less like barriers to access to the next level.
The Technical Achievement For 1996
Technically, I am impressed by how well Resident Evil utilizes the PSX hardware to create atmosphere. The pre-rendered backgrounds are detailed and beautiful. The fixed camera angles are not a result of the hardware limitations of the PSX, but rather, a deliberate choice to provide cinematic framing for the game. The monster designs are creative given the low number of polygons used to create them. The animation effectively conveys the threats posed by the monsters.
The sound design in Resident Evil is great. Each enemy has distinct and menacing sounds. The sounds made while collecting items are satisfying. The sounds made while opening doors convey a sense of danger. The orchestral score is dramatic, yet non-intrusive. Feedback for actions taken during gameplay are immediate and clearly convey the current state of the game world.
Is Resident Evil Still Relevant Today?
At first, the tank controls may feel strange, however they contribute greatly to the pacing of the game. Deliberate movement causes tension. You cannot “juke” past a threat; you are committed to movement, and thus vulnerable to attack. Although the graphics are certainly dated, the art direction is excellent. The monster designs are still frightening. The atmosphere is still effective.
The puzzle design is still enjoyable. The difficulty curve is balanced; you are challenged without feeling overly punished. The resource management continues to create tension. The exploration of the mansion is still rewarding. The mansion itself is a large and complex environment, and there is always some hidden section that is waiting to be discovered.
Why Resident Evil Defined Its Genre
Resident Evil demonstrated that survival horror could be a viable genre with its own unique design philosophies. You play this game for the atmospheric horror experience; not for the action. Every design element is contributing to that experience. The tank controls contribute to vulnerability. The fixed cameras contribute to cinematic framing. The limited resources contribute to tension. All three elements combined define survival horror.
Following Resident Evil, game development studios realized that horror games require different design philosophies than action games. Tension comes from vulnerability, not firepower. Atmosphere comes from environmental design, not enemy AI. Survival horror was able to learn from Resident Evil, and the rest of the survival horror genre is built upon that same foundation.
The Verdict
Resident Evil is a survival horror game that shows design philosophy is far more important than technology. The tank controls help to control the pacing. The fixed cameras help to establish the atmosphere. The limited resources create tension. The puzzle design helps to keep players engaged. Each design element is working towards one common goal – creating a sense of vulnerability through horror.
Each design element in this game is intended, and supports the overall experience. This is not attempting to be an action game; it is attempting to be a survival horror game. An appreciation for the design philosophy behind the game will increase the effectiveness of the experience.
If you’ve never played it before, go into the game knowing that movement at a slow pace will create intentional tension. If you played it years ago, consider replaying it and appreciating the design philosophy. This is what survival horror can be when design is focused, and committed.
Rating: 9/10 – The game that defined survival horror through constraint driven design
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Timothy discovered retro gaming at forty and never looked back. A construction foreman by day and collector by night, he writes from a fresh, nostalgia-free angle—exploring classic games with adult curiosity, honest takes, and zero childhood bias.
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