| Resident Evil 6 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer | Capcom[a] |
| Publisher | Capcom |
| Director | Eiichiro Sasaki |
| Producer | Yoshiaki Hirabayashi |
| Designer | Jiro Taoka |
| Programmer | Soji Seta |
| Artist | Tomonori Takano |
| Writer | Shōtarō Suga |
| Composers | Akihiko Narita Akiyuki Morimoto Kōta Suzuki |
| Series | Resident Evil |
| Engine | MT Framework |
| Platforms | |
| Release | |
| Genre | Third-person shooter[2][3][4] |
| Modes | Single-player,multiplayer |
Resident Evil 6[b] is a 2012third-person shooter video game developed and published byCapcom. A major installment in theResident Evil series,Resident Evil 6 was released for thePlayStation 3 andXbox 360 in October 2012, and forWindows in March 2013. It was re-released with alldownloadable content for thePlayStation 4 andXbox One in March 2016, and for theNintendo Switch in October 2019. Players controlLeon S. Kennedy,Chris Redfield,Jake Muller andAda Wong as they confront the force behind a worldwide bio-terrorist attack. The story is centred around their four interwoven campaigns, and every campaign features a unique style in both tone and gameplay.
Resident Evil 6 was conceptualized in 2009 and entered full development the following year underResident Evil 4 producerHiroyuki Kobayashi. It had a development staff of more than 600, making it Capcom's largest production.Resident Evil 6 received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the graphics,artificial intelligence and controls, but criticized the execution of the interwoven campaigns and departure from thesurvival horror roots of the franchise in favor of a more action-oriented style. Despite these criticisms, the game sold 14.9 million units by June 2025.Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, released in 2017, switched to a first-person perspective and returned to the survival horror genre.
Resident Evil 6 allows players to select between four scenarios with interwoven storylines centered on Division of Security Operations (DSO) agentLeon S. Kennedy, Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) CaptainChris Redfield, mercenaryJake Muller and spyAda Wong.[5] In the Leon, Chris and Jake scenarios, players have the option of controlling either them or their respective partners,United States Secret Service agent Helena Harper, BSAA sniper Piers Nivans and DSO agent Sherry Birkin. The character not selected by the player is controlled by eitherartificial intelligence (AI) or another player via local or online multiplayer. Ada's scenario can be played with or without a partner and a second player who joins will control the non-canonical character Agent. In addition, each scenario features a different play-style; for example, some player-characters are more vulnerable to attacks whereas others are more resilient.[6] Each central character has unique abilities, which vary from faster reload times and carrying more ammunition.[5]Resident Evil 6 presents new gameplay mechanics such as rolling in any direction and running while shooting and sliding.[7] The game also features a four-player co-operative mode.[8] When playing in single player mode, the player can allow another player to join in online at any time.[9] While performing certain actions,quick time events may occur, in which the player must follow onscreen prompts by pressing buttons or manipulating joysticks within a limited amount of time.[6]
A new feature comes in the form of tablets; players may consume them in order to recover health, and more can be produced by mixing herbs.[5] If one player runs out of health, that player will have a short time to try to defend themselves while their partners attempt to revive them. If any non-AI players are killed, gameplay will resume at the last checkpoint. The game features several primary enemies, includingzombies and the newly introduced J'avo. Unlike zombies, J'avo are able to interact with each other to plan an attack, use weapons and heal themselves.[10] Also some J'avo are susceptible to various mutations that increase their prowess in battle, the type of mutation sometimes depends on location of the injury. There are a total of 15 different mutations within the game.[11] Certain enemies drop skill points when killed, which can be picked up and spent on upgrades such as increased weapon effectiveness or specific ammunition drops. The campaigns feature a "Lone Wolf" ability which allows the player to remove their artificial intelligence companion character.[12] Players can equip three of these upgrades which apply to all campaigns.[13] The game also features a stamina bar; which depletes once the player performs melee attacks, or uses a "quickshot"—which involves shooting a zombie with a headshot instantly.[14]Resident Evil 6 is twice as long asResident Evil 5.[15]
The game features two new modes. "Mercenaries" mode involves players fighting for survival against hordes of enemies. In the PC version, the Mercenaries mode features an exclusive sub-mode named "No Mercy", which involves the cast fromLeft 4 Dead 2 fighting a total number of 300 enemies against a timer.[16] "Agent Hunt" mode allows players to take control of random enemies in other people's online sessions; however, it is only unlocked after the player clears the three main campaigns. The longer the player stays in another online session, the more points they will earn.[17]
On 24 December 2012, Jake Muller (Troy Baker /Daisuke Namikawa), son of late bio-terroristAlbert Wesker, flees local authorities during a bio-terrorist attack in Edonia. He partners with Division of Security Operations (DSO) agent and Raccoon City survivorSherry Birkin (Eden Riegel /Maaya Sakamoto) and learns that she is to extract him from the country to create a vaccine for the newly emerged C-virus. However, they are relentlessly hunted by Ustanak, a hulking bio-weapon. Meanwhile, a Bio-terrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA) strike team, led byChris Redfield (Roger Craig Smith /Hiroki Tōchi) and Piers Nivans (Christopher Emerson /Shuhei Sakaguchi), is deployed to eliminate the infected local populace. They are attacked by the leader of Neo-Umbrella, who claims to beAda Wong (Courtenay Taylor /Junko Minagawa); she kills the entire team, except Chris and Piers, using a device that injects them with the C-virus, turning them into monsters. Chris goes into a self-imposed exile, afflicted withpost-traumatic amnesia. Meanwhile, Sherry and Jake's extraction by the BSAA is sabotaged, forcing them to crash land into the mountains where they are captured by "Ada" for six months.[18]
On 29 June 2013, US President Adam Benford (Michael Donovan /Katsuhiko Sasaki) plans to publicly disclose the truth behind the 1998 Raccoon City incident and the government's dealings withUmbrella to prevent further bio-terrorism. However, the venue, located in the American town of Tall Oaks, is hit by another attack, infecting the President. The only survivors, DSO agent and Raccoon City survivorLeon S. Kennedy (Matthew Mercer /Toshiyuki Morikawa) andSecret Service agent Helena Harper (Laura Bailey /Mayumi Sako), are forced to kill him. The pair encounters the real Ada Wong (also Taylor), and Leon learns that National Security Advisor Derek Simmons (David Lodge /Takayuki Sugō) is affiliated with Neo-Umbrella and orchestrated the attack. Leon and Helena fake their deaths and pursue Simmons to Lanshiang, China, where Jake and Sherry escape from their captivity.[18]
Chris returns to duty in the BSAA with Piers and a new team in a besieged Lanshiang. He recovers from his amnesia and recklessly pursues "Ada", resulting in casualties among his unit. Chris and Piers track her down until Leon intervenes. After being informed by Leon, Chris and Piers pursue "Ada" to an aircraft carrier, where they destroy cruise missiles laden with the C-virus. Meanwhile, Leon, Helena, Sherry, and Jake confront Simmons over his involvement with the outbreaks, during which Sherry covertly hands Jake's medical data to Leon in case of their capture. Simmons, infected by a J'avo, admits to assassinating the President to maintain national security. Leon and Helena defeat the mutated Simmons, while Sherry and Jake are captured again. After a C-virus detonates and causes an outbreak in the city, Leon informs Chris of Jake's true identity and has him rescue Jake and Sherry in a remote oil platform. With Ada's assistance, Leon and Helena kill a further mutated Simmons for good.[18]
Chris and Piers head into an underwater facility beneath the oil platform, where they free Jake and Sherry from captivity before encountering a massive bio-weapon called Haos. Severely injured, Piers injects himself with the C-virus to turn the tide of the battle, allowing them to defeat Haos. However, aware of his inevitable mutation, Piers sacrifices himself by forcing Chris into an escape pod and using his mutated abilities to destroy the facility. Jake and Sherry also escape the facility and kill Ustanak as they ride a rocket-powered lift to the surface.[18]
Ada's imposter is revealed to be Carla Radames, a scientist who was forced to transform into an Ada clone by Simmons. Although presumed dead after being shot by one of Simmons' soldiers, Carla attempts a final attack against Ada after injecting herself with a powerful dose of the C-virus, but is killed. Ada then helps Leon and Helena in their fight against Simmons, and later destroys the laboratory where Carla was developed before accepting a new assignment. Leon and Helena are cleared for duty; Chris remains with the BSAA in command of a new squad after overcoming his guilt; Sherry continues her work as a DSO agent; and Jake begins a new life combating bioterrorism in a developing country, with his identity concealed by the BSAA.[18]
We brought zombies back because they're popular. Based on feedback from Resident Evil 4 and Resident Evil 5, the fact that there weren't classic zombies in those games and people really wanted them. We tried to respond to the requests and put them in this game.
Resident Evil 6 was conceptualized soon after the release ofResident Evil 5, and entered full development in 2009.[20]Resident Evil 5 producerJun Takeuchi said that he considered a "completely new system" forResident Evil 6, but ruled out his involvement.[21][22] In March 2009, co-producer Masachika Kawata stated that the new installment was not decided upon, but admitted that it could take Capcom four to eight years to develop.[23] Kawata later claimed that the new game will be drastically different from its predecessors.[24] The game was directed by Eiichiro Sasaki, who also directed theResident Evil Outbreak series.[25] When development of the game first begun, producer Yoshiaki Hirabayashi wanted to revolve the game around the "ultimate horror entertainment", bearing in mind that the team considered the upcomingResident Evil 6 to be the flagship title of the horror genre. In a February 2012 interview, Hirabayashi stated that he went to lengths to balance "all of the things people love" about the series, so the team focused to orientate gameplay around horror themes.[26] Each of the four campaigns was designed around a different expression of horror: Leon's story reflecting "gothic, classicResident Evil-style horror", Chris' story "a horror of the battlefield", Jake's story involving the fear of being stalked, and Ada's story being "avery classicResident Evil-style" experience.[27] In March 2012, Capcom admitted that it believed the survival-horror market was too small forResident Evil, and issued a statement that the development team would instead choose to orientate the gameplay around the action genre.[28]
The development of the game was led byHiroyuki Kobayashi, who was stated by Capcom to be aiming to "deliver the most impressiveResident Evil title ever both in terms of scope and production values". Capcom also asserted that the game was meant to take an approach to "evolve" the series.[29] The staff wanted to give the game a new setting with Sasaki wishing to place it in China. While the country of Edonia was not modelled from any particular country in Europe, it was given an Eastern European theme.[30] It was Kobayashi's idea to bring back Leon forResident Evil 6, as well as make him central to the story.[31] According toFamitsu, the character of Jake Muller was designed to be "someone today's young people can empathize with".[32][33] The game had a development staff of more than 600, making it Capcom's largest production to date.[34] The decision to bring back zombies intoResident Evil 6 was made by Kobayashi, who felt that they were a popular component for the franchise, as well as complying per fans' requests.[19] Hirabayashi admitted that the game had radically changed at the end of the development cycle, due to the new concepts it introduced to the series.[26] On 21 August 2012,Resident Evil 6went gold and initiated its online service.[35]
An officialtrailer was released on 19 January 2012.[36] At aMicrosoft press briefing atE3 2012, the first gameplay demonstration was shown, depicting Leon and Helena fighting hordes of zombies in China. A playabledemo ofResident Evil 6 was scheduled for release on thePlayStation Network andXbox Live Marketplace on 5 September 2012.[37] Capcom later announced that the demo would become available for bothXbox 360 andPlayStation 3 owners on 18 September 2012. Early access to the demo was included withDragon's Dogma.[37] As a result of criticism of the first demo, Capcom brought a different version of the demo to the 2012San Diego Comic-Con, modifying various parts of its gameplay.[38] Originally scheduled to be released on 20 November 2012, the game's release date was pushed forward to 2 October 2012.[39] Prior to the game's launch, several copies of the game were stolen and were sold inPoland.[40]
Resident Evil 6 was also contained inBiohazard Anniversary Package, a special edition forResident Evil's seventeenth anniversary released in Japan on 22 March 2013 alongside the PC version.[41][42]Resident Evil 6 was re-released onPlayStation 4 andXbox One with graphical enhancements and all DLC on 29 March 2016.[43] It was released on theNintendo Switch on 29 October 2019.[44]
In response to a public backlash over classifying on-disc content asdownloadable content (DLC), Capcom released apatch in December 2012 free of charge.[45] The patch included new camera controls, a new difficulty mode named "No Hope", an option to play Ada's campaign without having to complete the other three, and the addition of an online co-op partner for Ada's campaign simply called "Agent". Unlike any other character in the game, Agent cannot interact with doors and treasure chests; he also disappears when cutscenes are triggered.[46]
On 18 December 2012, a new multiplayer (DLC) was released with three new multiplayer modes: "Predator", "Survivors" and "Onslaught".[47] Predator mode is a series of quick fire rounds with up to six players who take turns as the fearsome Ustanak and have full access to its weapons. The other players in "Predator" mode must avoid capture and being killed by the Ustanak. Human players score points for successful attacks, but also lose points for being caught and/or taken down. This match type is over once all have played as the Ustanak, with the participant with the most points crowned as the winner. Survivors mode isResident Evil's take on the classic solo and team baseddeathmatch mode. Survivors is available for 2 to 6 players. Onslaught is a two player mode where each must clear waves of oncoming enemies. The twist comes when a player completes acombo chain as this will send enemies over to their opponent's screen.[48][49]
On 4 April 2013, aLeft 4 Dead 2 crossover DLC was released for the PC version, adding the main characters and two monsters fromLeft 4 Dead 2 to the PC-exclusive The Mercenaries: No Mercy mode inResident Evil 6. Various weapons, characters and monsters fromResident Evil 6 have also been added as optionally downloadable replacement skins on the PC version ofLeft 4 Dead 2.[50][51]
| Aggregator | Score |
|---|---|
| Metacritic | PS3: 74/100[52] X360: 67/100[53] PC: 69/100[54] PS4: 60/100[55] XONE: 63/100[56] NS: 69/100[57] |
| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| 1Up.com | C+[58] |
| Destructoid | 3/10[2] |
| Edge | 6/10[59] |
| Eurogamer | 6/10[60] |
| Famitsu | 10/10/10/9[c][61] |
| G4 | 2.5/5[62] |
| Game Informer | 8.75/10[4] |
| GameSpot | 4.5/10[63] |
| GamesRadar+ | 3.5/5[3] |
| GameTrailers | 8.8/10[64] |
| Giant Bomb | 2/5[65] |
| IGN | 7.9/10[66] |
| Official Xbox Magazine (UK) | 8/10[67] |
| The Escapist | 3/5[68] |
According to review aggregator websiteMetacritic,Resident Evil 6 received "mixed or average" reviews.[52][53][54] The website described the game as "the first game in the main series that failed to receive a positive reception from game critics" and reported that the critics "complained about bloat and inconsistency", and felt that "RE6 was more generic shooter than distinctive survival horror game."[69]
Critics praised the graphics,AI and controls. A reviewer fromGame Informer stated that the game did not "hold back" the decadent experience from being an "unhinged flaming rollercoaster ride".[4] A reviewer from theOfficial Xbox Magazine concluded that the game was an accomplished shooter, and a fittingly "thunderous" send-off forResident Evil, while also praising the length and variety of the game.[67]GameTrailers noted the shift away from the style and tone of past games in the series, yet still praised the overall direction, stating that despite the "old identity stripped away", the game presented itself as a "massive" action game.[64] Richard George ofIGN was favourable toward the technical and artistic design of the game, stating that the game was among Capcom's greatest successes with an "incredibly strong" world, lighting and creature designs. Ryan McCaffrey ofIGN also noted the new enemies as "some of the best" designs and concepts in the history of the franchise.[70] Hollander Cooper ofGamesRadar praised the improvements to the controls over its predecessor, stating that the game had an emphasis placed on fluidity and movement, although noted that the cover system "never seems to work right".[3]The Escapist also praised the improved AI companion that "does a decent job of backing you up and taking the fight to the enemy rather than just standing by", while, however, disliking the cover system, calling it "the most forgettable new feature of the game".[68] Jose Otero of1Up.com also praised the improvements to the game's controls but stated: "While building on that game's (Resident Evil 4's) masterful formula of stop-and-pop gunplay is a smart approach, RE6 serves as proof that too many compromises and too much empowerment can ultimately erode what makes Resident Evil, at its core, work."[58]
The game's four campaigns received criticism from reviewers. Simon Parkin fromEurogamer was divided over the campaigns, citing Leon's campaign as the strongest and "the closest we get to the series' survival horror roots", along with Ada's as having "diverse flavour". However, Parkin criticised the other two campaigns, stating that Jake's campaign "rarely delights" while citing that Chris's was a "second-rate third-person sprint" with "idiotic" cutscene dialogue.[60] A reviewer fromEdge also felt that the campaigns noticeably contrasted in quality more than others.[59] Similarly, Kevin VanOrd fromGameSpot concluded that the game's campaigns were the ultimate test of patience for "even the most dedicated",[63] whileDestructoid citedResident Evil 6 as not only a "step back" for the series due to the game's new and unconventional features, but a "step back for commonplace, unassuming action-shooters".[2]
In an interview with the Official PlayStation Blog,Resident Evil 6 executive producerHiroyuki Kobayashi responded to fan criticism shortly after release, noting the creative differences with fans. He stated "the fans and us as creators are the two parents [...] and just like real parents, you're not always going to agree on what is best for raising that child," going on to say, "we want to make sure that what we do pleases them but the initial reaction might not always be positive. We do listen to the fans but we can't be beholden to them at every turn or I don't think we'll ever make progress in terms of the series' development".[71][72]
While Capcom dubbed the game a "dramatic horror", several critics noted its departure from thesurvival horror genre compared to previous installments,[2][3][63] and listed the genre simply as an action shooter.[2][3][4][63][73]Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, released in 2017, switched to a first-person perspective and returned to the series' survival horror roots.[74]
In May 2012, Capcom announced they expected the game to sell 7 million copies by the end of the 2012 fiscal year;[75] however, the company lowered their expectations to 6 million due to the game's mixed reception.[76] Capcom announced that it had shipped 4.5 million copies worldwide, setting a new record for the company.[77] In October 2012, the game sold 806,000 copies in the United States.[78] According to Capcom, sales weakened following the strong start, with the company admitting that the game would not meet their goals, and consequently lowered their financial projections for the fiscal year.[79]
In February 2013, Capcom said in a statement that the game suffered from poor sales due to various development challenges and "inadequate organisational collaboration" across the company.[80][81]
Resident Evil 6 had sold 4.9 million units by March 2013.[82] By October 2013, the game had sold 5.2 million units worldwide, becoming one of Capcom's best-selling games.[83]Resident Evil 6 became Capcom's seventh-best-selling game by June 2025, selling 9.7 million units on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 with its original release. PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions had sold 4.1 million units by June 2025. Nintendo Switch version has sold 1.1 million units by June 2025. Total sales are 13.8 million units as of September 2025.[84]
Resident Evil 6 was one of the recipients of the Award for Excellence at theJapan Game Awards 2013.[85] It won the Best Sound Editing: Computer Interactive Entertainment at the 2013Golden Reel Awards.[86][87] The game was also nominated for Best Original Score – Video Game at theHollywood Music in Media Awards.[88]
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