So, you’ve thought to yourself, “let’s set aside the jolly world of the Mushroom Kingdom in exchange for some horrific, bloody carnage.” That’s why you’re here, after all. You’d like to see what dark and grisly adventure you can embark upon in the Resident Evil saga with the Nintendo Switch as your medium.
There’s a bounteous selection available for both the Resident Evil fan base and the uninitiated. Not all Resident Evil titles are available on the Switch, but there’s most certainly plenty of bullet scrounging, herb hunting, and zombie killing to go around.
11 Resident Evil Zero
Head into the heart of terror with the earliest tale in the Resident Evil timeline. Resident Evil Zero is a prequel to the original game and can also be purchased as a package with that title in the Resident Evil Origins Collection.
The game follows Raccoon City Police Department’s own special forces outfit S.T.A.R.S. You control Rebecca Chambers, a member of Bravo Team who investigates murders in the Arklay Mountains. She discovers the T-Virus in full effect as zombies threaten to make a meal out of her. She is forced into teaming up with a convict named Billy Coen in order to survive.
10 Resident Evil
This remake of the classic 1996 PlayStation original places you in the shoes of Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, two members of S.T.A.R.S. Alpha Team who have been sent into the Arklay Mountains after losing contact with Bravo Team.
What they discover is a mansion of horrors, betrayal from one of their own, and a super bioweapon that threatens to eliminate them all. It’s a haunting story with brilliant level and sound design that will inevitably leave chills on the back of your neck.
9 Resident Evil 2 (Cloud Version)
Believe it or not, you can play the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2 on your Nintendo Switch, despite its beautiful graphical update. However, this can only be done by streaming the game from the cloud.
Still, Switch owners can experience Leon Kennedy’s first horrific day on the job at the RPD. Claire Redfield also heads to town looking for her brother. It just so happens that the apocalypse is in town and the dead walk the streets.
8 Resident Evil 3 (Cloud Version)
Jill Valentine survived the ordeal up in the Arklay Mountains but her nightmare is just getting started. Like the remake of Resident Evil 2 before it, you can soak in the Resident Evil 3 experience in a remake completely rebuilt from the ground up.
Now, Jill just has to avoid one of the most frightful villains in horror gaming, the unstoppable bioweapon known as Nemesis, who is programmed to hunt down surviving S.T.A.R.S. members. Umbrella has to silence those witnesses of the mountain fiasco after all, right? Never mind that the company just destroyed a whole city!
7 Resident Evil 4
If you want it all, you can simply pick up Resident Evil 4 in a bundle with 5 and 6 in the Resident Evil Triple Pack. Of course, this is not the remake of Resident Evil 4. We are only speaking of the original game. Still, you can follow Leon once again as he experiences something new in the rural country of Spain – a horrific parasite that is seizing control of villagers.
A bit more skilled than his time as a green police officer, Leon must fight for survival. It’s a solid title that has endeared fans across multiple generations for the pivotal design shift it created in the Resident Evil series.
6 Resident Evil 5
Did you miss Chris Redfield? Well now’s your chance to jump back into the field with the former S.T.A.R.S. specialist. Now he and his partner, Sheva Alomar, are agents for the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) are investigating a disturbance in West Africa.
This game goes bigger on action than it does horror. But, if you’re jonesin’ for more Resident Evil, you really can’t go wrong here.
5 Resident Evil 6
The sixth entry in the mainline series goes big. Horror mostly takes a bench seat in favor of action gameplay. And, there are four meaty stories you can play through.
Leon Kennedy partners with Secret Service agent Helena Harper. Chris Redfield saddles up for a grueling mission with his BSAA partner Piers Nivans. And Jake Muller, son of Albert Wesker, strikes an alliance with Division of Security Operations agent Sherry Birkin who’s come a long way from her traumatic childhood in Resident Evil 2. Lastly, there’s a fun scenario featuring the femme fatale icon, Ada Wong.
4 Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (Cloud Version)
The first of Ethan Winters’ two stories begins here with Resident Evil 7, playable via the cloud. This game thrusts you into the horror with a first-person perspective. Resident Evil 7 may give you strong Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibes as you attempt to survive the murderous Baker family in the backwoods of Louisiana.
They’re far more than just murderous, however. The family is seemingly unstoppable. You’ll be doing a lot of running for your life and hiding.
3 Resident Evil Village (Cloud Version)
Three years after Ethan’s terrifying encounter with the Baker family, Chris Redfield and a tactical team break into his home and kill his wife right in front of him. After being knocked out and involved in a crash during transport, he must survive an eerie village in an attempt to find his daughter who was taken from him.
There’s a horrific lake monster, a giant vampire lady in a creepy castle, werewolves, and plenty of monstrosities to go around in this village. But it will all ultimately lead to a wild discovery about Ethan himself.
2 Resident Evil: Revelations
While not part of the mainline saga, the two Revelations games do follow the exploits of primary Resident Evil characters. Both Revelations 1 & 2 can be purchased together in the Resident Evil Revelations Collection. This first title follows Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield as well as their partners as they ultimately investigate the Queen Zenobia, a strange abandoned cruise ship out at sea.
Of course, what ultimately happens is that the two pairs of operatives find themselves facing another onslaught of horrific monstrosities. Sinister happenings are occurring onboard the Queen Zenobia.
1 Resident Evil: Revelations 2
Like the previous game, Revelations 2 follows two different duos at different points in time. In the past, Claire Redfield and Moira Burton – daughter to Barry Burton from the original game – are taken and imprisoned because of their work with anti-biohazard organization TerraSave. They must escape their confines and investigate the remote island they’ve been brought to.
In the present, Barry heads to the island in search of his daughter after receiving her distress call. He befriends a lone, anxious girl by the name of Natalia who has the unique ability to warn Barry of impending danger. The two head into the heart of the island to see what they can uncover.