Survival horror is about pressure. You have a little ammo, a little healing, and a lot of dark corridors. Resident Evil helped invent the genre, and its modern games still use the same core ideas. Learn them and the games become much less overwhelming.
Key takeaways
- Resources are limited on purpose. Plan fights.
- Saving is a decision. Typewriters and ink ribbons are part of the tension, as Gfinity explains for Requiem.
- Melee and head shots stretch your ammo.
- Easier difficulties exist, and they are a fine way to learn.
The five rules of survival horror
- Not every enemy needs to die. Sometimes the best choice is to run past or avoid it.
- Ammo is a currency. Spend it on what threatens you, not on everything that moves.
- Healing is for emergencies. Use it when you are close to a fatal hit, not at the first scratch.
- Explore, but with a plan. Rooms hold items, and the map can show where you have not picked up everything.
- Take breaks. A tired player makes panicked choices.
Saving and difficulty
In Requiem, you save at typewriters, and on harder difficulty you need ink ribbons. On easier difficulty, saves are unlimited. If you are new, choose an easier mode. There is no prize for suffering.
Fighting smart
- Aim for the head. In Requiem, clean kills stop zombies from transforming, according to Gfinity.
- Use melee to save ammo when enemies are staggered.
- Back away while reloading.
- Walk or crouch when you want to stay quiet.
Which game to try first
Our order to play guide suggests the RE2 remake or the RE4 remake for newcomers. You can compare them in our remakes comparison.
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A few minutes of a live stream on our Resident Evil hub shows how experienced players handle resources.
