There are almost no survival horror games that last for more than few entries, let alone ones that have persisted for decades like Resident Evil. This series had humble beginnings as a small horror experience set in a single mansion to explore, solve puzzles, and fight against the clunky tank controls and fixed camera angles. Since then, the series has evolved and grown into one of the most recognizable Capcom IPs there is, with new entries and amazing remakes coming out almost every year.

Currently, the highest-numbered Resident Evil game is 8, aka Village, but you would be wildly off if you thought there were only eight entries to consider when looking to complete the series. Right from the start, Resident Evil has loved expanding its world with a massive cast of characters and new protagonists from game to game. Resident Evil 7 was a soft reboot for the series, but there is still a cannon order to the events surrounding Umbrella, the various zombie viruses, and all our favorite heroes like Chris and Leon.

In a series that borders on science-fantasy and spreads its story out among multiple consoles and sub-series, we forgive you for not being able to keep it all in order. This is a simple guide on how to play all the Resident Evil games in order of release and chronologically.

Resident Evil dates back to 1996, with games spread across home consoles and portable systems. After the first three games, the numbers stop being useful in figuring out which game came out before the rest.

This is the release order for the entire Resident Evil series.

The small cast of characters of the first game has exploded into a massive web of friends, foes, companies, and conspiracies. Games have been placed before, after, and even during the events of other games to make it even harder to keep up with the overall plot. Most even take place within months of one another. They all do follow a very consistent timeline once you untangle it, though.

Playing the series in chronological order could make the twisting tale more digestible, or help you piece together the events better in your mind after the fact. Either way, this is how the series plays out sequentially, leaving out any game that doesn’t add to the plot or is no longer cannon we included in the full list above.