Resident Evil, known as Biohazard (バイオハザード, Baiohazādo) in Japan, is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom.

With Resident Evil 4 (2005), the franchise shifted to more dynamic shooting action, popularizing the "over-the-shoulder" third-person view in action-adventure games.

[4] The first Resident Evil film was released in 2002, starring Milla Jovovich, followed by five sequels and a reboot, Welcome to Raccoon City (2021).

[18][19] In 2009, Resident Evil 5 was released for PlayStation 3, Windows and Xbox 360, becoming the best selling game of the franchise despite mixed fan reception.

Capcom revealed the third-person shooter Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, which was developed by Slant Six Games for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and Windows and released in March 2012.

[20] In October of the same year, the next numbered entry in the main series, Resident Evil 6, was released to mixed reviews,[21] but enthusiastic pre-order sales.

A series of team-based multiplayer games were developed beginning with the poorly received Umbrella Corps, which was released in June 2016.

[25][26] Using the new RE Engine, which would develop the next generation of Resident Evil games, the series continued to shift back towards more horror elements.

[27][28] Set in a dilapidated mansion in Louisiana, the game uses a first-person perspective and emphasizes horror and exploration over action, unlike previous installments.

[38] The early Resident Evil games focused on the Umbrella Corporation, an international pharmaceutical company that secretly develops mutagenic viruses to further their "bio-organic weapons" (BOW) research.

In the original Resident Evil, members of an elite police task force, Special Tactics and Rescue Service (STARS), are lured to a derelict mansion on the outskirts of Raccoon City.

The STARS team is mostly decimated by zombies and other BOWs, leaving only a handful of survivors, including Chris Redfield, Jill Valentine, and Albert Wesker.

Resident Evil 2 introduces two new protagonists, Leon S. Kennedy, a rookie police officer and Claire Redfield, the younger sister of Chris.

Leon is aided by Ada Wong, a corporate spy posing as an FBI agent, while Claire rescues Sherry Birkin, the daughter of two prominent Umbrella researchers.

Resident Evil – Code: Veronica follows Claire as she escapes from a prison camp in the Southern Ocean and later reunites with Chris at an Umbrella research facility in Antarctica.

Resident Evil 4 is set six years after the Raccoon City incident and focuses on Leon as he tries to rescue the U.S. President's daughter from a cult in Spain.

Chris and Jill establish the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) to combat these ever-growing threats on a global scale.

[49] The Resident Evil franchise features video games and tie-in merchandise and products, including various live-action and animated films, comic books, and novels.

Starring the Resident Evil 2 protagonists Leon S. Kennedy and Claire Redfield, the series features both uncovering a worldwide plot.

An eight episode live-action series, two plotlines set in 2022 and 2036 follow Albert Wesker and his daughters navigating Umbrella's experiments in New Raccoon City.

The story serves as a prelude to the original Resident Evil, in which Chris investigates the disappearance of his missing friend, Billy Rabbitson.

[67] Perry's novels, particularly The Umbrella Conspiracy, also alluded to events in Biohazard: The Beginning, such as the disappearance of Billy Rabbitson and Brian Irons' bid to run for Mayor.

The Code: Veronica manhua was translated into English, formatted to look like an American comic and distributed by WildStorm as a series of four graphic novel collections.

The play focused on iconic characters, Chris Redfield and Rebecca Chambers, as Philosophy University in Australia is experiencing a bioterrorist attack.

[72] Biohazard the Experience was the second Resident Evil play produced by Avex Live Creative and Ace Crew Entertainment.

[88] The success of the video games and films have made Resident Evil the highest-grossing franchise in the horror[89] and zombie genres.

[95] George A. Romero, in 2013, said it was the video games Resident Evil and House of the Dead "more than anything else" that popularised his zombie concept in early 21st-century popular culture.

See also 2007 Documentary Undead Bootcamp starring producer Jeremy Bolt, director Alexander Witt, and choreographers Sharon B. Moore and Derek Aasland.

On the DVD Featurette 'Resident Evil; Game Over' Apocalypse director Alexander Witt said the zombies needed to be "more aggressive and more dangerous" than the original film, so they were created by the film's choreographers Sharon B. Moore and Derek Aasland as "liquid zombie[s]' in terms of their relentless forward motion: unstoppable, flowing around any kind of resistance, and then rushing in on the final attack.

This is also detailed in the University of Liverpool book Biopunk Dystopias Genetic Engineering, Society, and Science Fiction (Lars Schmeink, 2016, p. 214).