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For most newcomers, start with Resident Evil 2 remake. It is the clearest modern entry point, and its Leon Kennedy and Claire Redfield campaigns let you experience the same crisis from two different perspectives. Choose Leon if you want the most direct path into Resident Evil 4 and the series’ action-horror era; choose Claire if you prefer survivor-focused storytelling and the Redfield family thread.
There are three strong alternatives. Start with Resident Evil (2002 remake) as Jill Valentine or Chris Redfield if you want the original S.T.A.R.S., mansion and Umbrella foundation. Start with Resident Evil 7: Biohazard as Ethan Winters if you want a concentrated first-person story that continues in Resident Evil Village.
The quick decision: match your taste to a protagonist
Resident Evil does not have one permanent hero. The mainline series rotates among Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, Leon S. Kennedy, Claire Redfield and Ethan Winters, with each character emphasizing a different kind of horror and a different period of the franchise.
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|---|---|---|---|
| Modern all-purpose introduction | Leon or Claire | Resident Evil 2 remake | Modern controls and presentation, plus two central perspectives on the Raccoon City outbreak. |
| Classic survival horror and Umbrella lore | Jill or Chris | Resident Evil (2002 remake) | The mansion investigation, S.T.A.R.S. and the foundation of the series’ conspiracy. |
| Action-horror progression | Leon | Resident Evil 2 remake, then Resident Evil 4 remake | A visible progression from rookie police officer to highly trained government agent. |
| Survivor and family-driven story | Claire | Resident Evil 2 remake, then Code: Veronica | A personal search for Chris and a route built around protecting other survivors. |
| Modern first-person horror | Ethan | Resident Evil 7: Biohazard | A focused two-game arc involving Ethan’s family and a more intimate style of horror. |
Why Resident Evil 2 remake is the safest first game
The remake is the best default because it teaches the series’ core ideas without requiring knowledge of earlier events. You explore a hostile police station and surrounding locations, manage limited ammunition and healing items, solve environmental puzzles, and decide when avoiding a fight is smarter than spending resources. Its modern presentation makes those systems easier to read than in the earliest games, while the setting and outbreak premise still feel recognizably classic.
#1 Best Overall
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It also gives you a meaningful choice rather than a cosmetic character swap. Leon and Claire enter the same disaster with different goals, weapons, encounters and supporting characters. Playing both routes shows how Resident Evil uses parallel perspectives: neither campaign is simply a shorter version of the other.
Pick Leon for the clearest long-term character progression
Leon arrives in Raccoon City for his first police job. That starting point makes his development unusually easy to follow. He begins as an inexperienced survivor, then becomes the capable agent seen in Resident Evil 4, where he searches for the U.S. president’s daughter in Europe. The change from enclosed survival horror to more mobile action-horror is part of the appeal, not a continuity problem.
If you want one protagonist whose games demonstrate how the series changes over time, play Leon’s route in Resident Evil 2 remake and continue to Resident Evil 4 remake. Add Resident Evil 6 only after those two if you want a later, larger-scale action chapter.
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Pick Claire for resilience, protection and the Redfield thread
Claire enters the Raccoon City crisis looking for her brother Chris. She is not a police officer or a government operative; her perspective centers on civilian resilience, protecting vulnerable people and making practical decisions under pressure. That gives her campaign a different emotional emphasis even when the surrounding events overlap with Leon’s.
Rank #2
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Claire is the better first choice if the reason you are interested in the series is its relationships rather than its weapons. Her route leads naturally toward Code: Veronica and later Claire-led stories, while keeping the search for Chris as a clear personal through-line.
Jill Valentine: start here for the original survival-horror foundation
Jill is one of the two S.T.A.R.S. protagonists in the first Resident Evil. The mansion investigation establishes the series’ essential vocabulary: an isolated location, locked doors and keys, item-box management, notes that reveal an institutional conspiracy, and enemies that remain dangerous because ammunition and space are limited. Jill’s route is the strongest introduction to that design philosophy.
Play the Resident Evil 2002 remake first, then the Resident Evil 3 remake. The second game places Jill in the wider Raccoon City crisis and shows how the mansion incident affects the city around it. After those two, Resident Evil Revelations works as a bridge into the later bioterror era. Jill is identified there as a BSAA member and a survivor of the Raccoon City Incident, so the route connects the original investigation to the series’ international response to biological weapons.
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What Jill’s route feels like
- Best for: deliberate exploration, puzzle-solving, institutional conspiracy and classic survival-horror tension.
- Less ideal for: players who want immediate, high-mobility combat or a self-contained modern story.
- Suggested order: Resident Evil (2002 remake) → Resident Evil 3 remake → Resident Evil Revelations.
Chris Redfield: choose the broadest bioterror storyline
Chris begins alongside Jill in the first Resident Evil and becomes a recurring BSAA lead. Capcom’s character feature summarizes his importance this way: “To explore the history of Chris Redfield is to explore the history of the Resident Evil series itself!” That is the right expectation for his route: Chris is less a single compact character study than a thread running through the franchise’s changing eras.
Rank #3
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Start with the Resident Evil 2002 remake to see Chris in the original mansion investigation. Continue to Code: Veronica for the family connection and then to Resident Evil 5, where his major action-era arc develops. This order gives the early S.T.A.R.S. context before moving into the BSAA and international bioterror conflicts.
What Chris’s route feels like
- Best for: readers who want the widest connection to Jill, Claire, recurring antagonists and later BSAA events.
- Less ideal for: someone seeking a short, isolated story with minimal series history.
- Suggested order: Resident Evil (2002 remake) → Code: Veronica → Resident Evil 5. Add Resident Evil Revelations when you want another link between the early games and the BSAA period.
Leon S. Kennedy: the smoothest bridge from horror to action
Leon’s route is the most straightforward recommendation for players who want a character arc they can see changing from game to game. In Resident Evil 2, he is a rookie arriving for his first police assignment during an outbreak. In Resident Evil 4, he is a government agent sent to recover the president’s daughter. That shift in role explains why the games move from careful room-by-room survival toward larger combat spaces, more frequent set pieces and a stronger action emphasis.
Play Resident Evil 2 remake with Leon first, then Resident Evil 4 remake. You do not need to finish every older title between them. The two games provide a coherent progression while preserving the series’ central tension: enemies are dangerous, resources matter and the safest plan can change quickly.
When Leon is not the right first choice
Do not choose Leon solely because he is popular if your priority is the earliest lore or the most intimate family story. Jill and Chris provide the S.T.A.R.S. and mansion foundation, while Claire’s campaign makes the Redfield connection central from the beginning. Leon is the strongest fit specifically when you want a rookie-to-agent progression and a visible move toward action-horror.
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Ethan Winters: the shortest complete modern arc
Ethan’s story is concentrated in two games. Capcom’s history describes him traveling to Louisiana to find his wife Mia after believing she was dead. Resident Evil 7: Biohazard uses that domestic motive to create a more personal form of horror: the immediate goal is not joining an organization or solving a global conspiracy, but finding one person in an unfamiliar, threatening place.
Continue directly into Resident Evil Village. Together, the games form the shortest complete protagonist route in this comparison and are a good fit for players who prefer first-person immersion, a modern presentation and a story that stays close to one family before expanding its scope.
What Ethan’s route feels like
- Best for: first-person horror, domestic stakes and a two-game commitment.
- Less ideal for: players who want to begin with S.T.A.R.S. history or follow the entire Umbrella-to-BSAA chronology.
- Suggested order: Resident Evil 7: Biohazard → Resident Evil Village.
Recommended play orders
Best general order for a new player
- Resident Evil 2 remake — play Leon and Claire to see both perspectives.
- Resident Evil 3 remake — continue the Raccoon City crisis.
- Resident Evil 4 remake — follow Leon into his action-horror era.
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard — switch to Ethan and first-person horror.
- Resident Evil Village — complete Ethan’s story.
Add the Resident Evil 2002 remake before step one if you want the S.T.A.R.S. investigation and mansion-era context first. This order is not a claim that every release must be played; it is a practical route through the major modern entry points.
Chris and Jill lore order
- Resident Evil (2002 remake)
- Resident Evil 3 remake
- Code: Veronica
- Resident Evil 5
- Resident Evil Revelations
This sequence emphasizes the mansion, the Raccoon City aftermath and the move toward BSAA-led bioterror stories. It is best when the organization and conspiracy matter more to you than a single protagonist’s compact arc.
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Leon-first order
- Resident Evil 2 remake — Leon campaign.
- Resident Evil 4 remake.
- Resident Evil 6.
The first two games are the essential route. Add Resident Evil 6 when you want to see Leon in a later, larger-scale action setting rather than treating it as required preparation.
Ethan-first order
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard.
- Resident Evil Village.
No additional game is required to understand Ethan’s central story. You can explore the older cast afterward if the two-game arc makes you curious about the wider series.
How the protagonists differ in play style and story focus
| Protagonist | Starting situation | Primary story focus | Best route length |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jill Valentine | S.T.A.R.S. mansion investigation | Classic survival horror, Umbrella and institutional conspiracy | Three-game foundation with Revelations as a bridge |
| Chris Redfield | S.T.A.R.S. member who becomes a BSAA lead | Franchise-spanning bioterror narrative and recurring alliances | Long route across early, family and action-era chapters |
| Leon S. Kennedy | Rookie police officer arriving in Raccoon City | Growth from survivor to government agent | Two essential games, with later expansion |
| Claire Redfield | Civilian searching for Chris | Protection, resilience and family connection | Resident Evil 2 followed naturally by Code: Veronica |
| Ethan Winters | Husband searching for Mia in Louisiana | First-person immersion and domestic stakes | Two-game complete arc |
Common starting mistakes and how to avoid them
Assuming there is one mandatory protagonist order
The series is designed around rotating leads. You do not need to begin with the earliest release to understand every later game, and you do not need to play every title before trying a different protagonist. Choose a route based on the type of horror and character story you actually want.
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Jill’s mansion and Leon’s Raccoon City campaign depend heavily on constrained resources and exploration. Leon’s later mission is more action-oriented. Ethan’s games use first-person immersion and a closer domestic premise. A change in pace is part of the franchise’s identity, so a favorite protagonist does not guarantee identical gameplay in every appearance.
Playing only one Resident Evil 2 campaign and treating the other as redundant
Leon and Claire are deliberately different routes. If Resident Evil 2 is your starting point, try both campaigns before deciding which character you want to follow. Leon provides the cleaner link to Resident Evil 4; Claire supplies the stronger connection to Chris and Code: Veronica.
Quick Recap
Final recommendation by player type
- You want the safest first purchase: choose Resident Evil 2 remake, then play both Leon and Claire.
- You want the original formula and lore: choose Jill in the Resident Evil 2002 remake.
- You want the broadest franchise history: choose Chris, beginning with the same remake and continuing through Code: Veronica and Resident Evil 5.
- You want the clearest action progression: choose Leon, then move to Resident Evil 4 remake.
- You want family-centered survival: choose Claire, then continue to Code: Veronica.
- You want a compact first-person story: choose Ethan in Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, followed by Resident Evil Village.
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