List of Resident Evil Games You Can’t Play on Modern Hardware

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In 2026, the popular Resident Evil series will celebrate its 30th anniversary. However, playing through all of the games can be tricky. Over the years, around 30 Resident Evil games have been released in North America, and while many are available on today’s consoles and PCs, quite a few are still locked to older, outdated systems.

For a while, it was difficult to play the first three Resident Evil games on today’s consoles and computers. Only recently, within the last couple of years, have services like GOG and PlayStation Plus Premium made them available. Even now, not all Resident Evil titles are accessible everywhere. Some, like The Umbrella Chronicles and The Darkside Chronicles, require streaming through PS3 on PS5. Others are playable only because Xbox One and Series X/S can play older Xbox 360 games.

I’m currently playing through every single Resident Evil game as a marathon, hoping to rank them all by the franchise’s 30th anniversary on March 22nd. I’m making good progress, but it’s been challenging. Some of the spin-off titles are really expensive to buy used, and it’s frustrating that you can’t play the entire series on today’s consoles and PCs. Specifically, Resident Evil Survivor, Resident Evil Gaiden, Resident Evil: Dead Aim, Resident Evil Outbreak, Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2, and Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D are difficult to access on modern hardware.

List of Resident Evil Games You Can’t Play on Any Modern Hardware

  • Resident Evil Survivor
  • Resident Evil Gaiden
  • Resident Evil: Dead Aim
  • Resident Evil Outbreak
  • Resident Evil Outbreak: File #2
  • Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D

Look, I’ll be honest, not every Resident Evil game is a masterpiece, but as a fan, I really want to see all of them available on modern consoles or PC. Even Resident Evil Survivor, which is… not good, honestly, would be cool to revisit. It’s a weird first-person take on the series, but it’s part of the history! It’d be great if it showed up on something like PS Plus Premium or GOG, like the other original PlayStation Resident Evil games. And then there’s Resident Evil Gaiden – it’s not officially part of the main story, but it’s a surprisingly fun spin-off with Leon and Barry on the Game Boy Color. It actually translates the Resident Evil feel to the handheld really well, and I think it would be perfect on the Nintendo Switch Online’s classic Game Boy Color games service.

As a big Resident Evil fan, I always thought Dead Aim really improved on what Survivor was trying to do. It’s cool how it switches between first-person shooting and third-person exploration, and honestly, it just feels more fleshed out than the original Survivor. It’s not the greatest spin-off ever, but it actually adds some important pieces to the Resident Evil story. Considering games like Code: Veronica X have gotten re-released on PS4 and PS5, I really hope they give Dead Aim the same treatment!

While Resident Evil Re:Verse isn’t playable on current systems, that’s because the game’s servers are no longer running, so it’s essentially gone. I also left out Resident Evil Survivor 2 – Code: Veronica as it was never made available in North America.

The Outbreak games are a bit of a unique case. Resident Evil Outbreak and its sequel were online multiplayer games released when online gaming wasn’t common. While it would be great to see them re-released, they really deserve a remaster or remake collection to fully realize their potential, which was limited by the PS2’s technology. A remake or remaster could also fix some of the games’ problems, such as the lengthy loading times.

Lastly, we have Resident Evil: The Mercenaries 3D, a Nintendo 3DS game released in 2011. It takes the popular Mercenaries mode from Resident Evil 4 and 5 and expands it into a standalone game. While most of its content can be found in other Resident Evil titles, it would still be great to see this game updated for modern platforms, especially for players who like to collect everything.

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2026-01-31 20:34