At times atmospheric and haunting, at others bloody and fierce, these are the best survival horror games that brought our nightmares alive…

Resident Evil

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The game that defined the genre, the first Resident Evil, released by Capcom for the PlayStation in 1996 and known as Biohazard in Japan, pits a team of law-enforcers against a spooky mansion packed to the rafters with zombies, mutated spiders and biological experiments. The haunting soundtrack combined with eerily beautiful backdrops that begged to be splashed with undead blood.

After a successful sequel or two, the series began to evolve. Resident Evil 4 was a big change, and a hugely sucessful game that has been remade for modern hardware. It brought the action closer to a thirdperson shooter, with an over-the-shoulder perspective and controls that weren’t enough to instil panic just by themselves. The series has continued to change, taking its cues from classic horror movies with Resident Evil 7, and introducing everyone’s favourite giant vampire lady in the eighth instalment. There have been movies of varying quality, both animated and live action, but the games endure and both original titles and remakes have become major selling points for the latest consoles.