My own kind of Resident Evil revelation

Three in the morning is an odd time to have a revelation about Resident Evil. That was the hour when I felt listening to the original soundtrack would be a great way to fall back asleep. The first several hours of the original Resident Evil were the most terrifyingly effective. Even today, seventeen years later, the experience is fresh in my ailing mind. Stalked by zombies, ambushed by skinless dogs, trapped in a room of spikes, ravaged by an enormous snake.

Spoilers were rarely a worry back then and so it was a complete surprise to find a sprawling lab full of diaries explaining that all the wicked evil I just fought through was manmade. The game was still fantastic and terrifying but that was always a bummer to me; I was sure this was all the work of the devil. I went on to love Resident Evil 2 but my excitement died off from there and I haven’t really been interested since.

That brings us to 3am when my sleepy neurons lazily misfire and for the first time I apply all my memories of Resident Evil to its Japanese namesake, Bio Hazard. Suddenly it all makes sense and, of course, the zombies and giant snakes are all manmade because it says as much right in the title. As great a name as Resident Evil is it’s such a lie and one that can only be played for a shocking twist once. That twist came seventeen years ago and since I’ve always wished the series was more true to the name.

With characters and corporations that grow more complex in each game it’s clear that Capcom isn’t planning to shock us with a supernatural twist. Umbrella is actually a front for Satan’s army of zombie biologists who created the T-virus to subvert humanity’s faith in religion by offering them perfection through science? Probably not gonna happen. No, it’ll be up to me to come back to Capcom’s side and after this midnight revelation I’m starting to think I finally could. All I need is a sticker that says Bio Hazard to put over the logo and maybe I could finally finish Resident Evil 4!