About Resident Evil
Resident Evil is a survival horror game that Capcom developed and published for the PlayStation. It came out in Japan on March 22, 1996, in North America on April 1 and in PAL regions on August 16, and it is the first main game in Capcom’s Resident Evil series. Shinji Mikami directed it, Tokuro Fujiwara and Masayuki Akahori produced it, and Makoto Tomozawa, Akari Kaida, Masami Ueda and Hideaki Utsumi composed the music.
The story is set in the Arklay mountain region, a fictional corner of the American Midwest. Players control Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, members of the elite task force S.T.A.R.S., who must escape a mansion infested with zombies and other monsters. DOS.Zone’s description names it the Spencer Mansion and sums up the play as solving puzzles, managing scarce resources and fighting grotesque creatures. It is a single-player game.
The Windows version is the one on this page. It came out in Japan on December 6, 1996, and in North America and Europe on September 17, 1997, where Virgin Interactive Entertainment published it. Other releases followed, including a Director’s Cut for the PlayStation in 1997, a Sega Saturn port by Nextech the same year and a Nintendo DS version.
How it runs in your browser
This listing is a Windows game rather than an MS-DOS one, and DOS.Zone files it under Windows 95. Pressing Play opens dos.zone in a new tab, where js-dos, the site’s open-source DOSBox build for browsers, emulates a PC and runs the original Windows release on it. You install nothing, the game files come from DOS.Zone instead of your own disc, and you don’t sign up for anything. There are no ads on DOS.Zone.
The site groups the game with 3D action and third-person shooters, and its page shows a rating of 5 from 73 player reviews. It doesn’t say which of the PC releases it uses or whether saving works in the browser.
One caution: DOS.Zone has pulled games when a publisher asked, as happened to GTA 1 and 2 after a request from Take-Two, so a listing like this one may not stay up.
Controls and devices
This version was built for the keyboard. Click into the game once it loads so the emulator picks up your key presses. DOS.Zone doesn’t list the key layout, so open the game’s options before you head into the mansion.
DOS.Zone provides virtual on-screen controls for phones. Resident Evil wasn’t made for a touchscreen and we haven’t tried it on one, so a computer is the better fit.
Who it’s for
It suits players who remember the first Resident Evil and want to see where the series began without tracking down a disc, and survival horror fans who have only played later entries. To jump ahead in the series, Resident Evil 4 runs in its PS2 version, and Resident Evil Outbreak brings Capcom’s online Resident Evil to the browser with co-op for up to four players.
Is Resident Evil Free, Safe and Official?
Can I play the original Resident Evil online for free?
You can play it free in a browser tab on DOS.Zone, with nothing to install and no account. It is a single-player game, so there’s no online play.
Is this the PlayStation version of Resident Evil?
No. The 1996 original came out on the PlayStation, but DOS.Zone runs the Windows version, which was released in Japan in December 1996 and in North America and Europe in September 1997.
Does Resident Evil work on a phone?
DOS.Zone shows virtual on-screen controls on phones, but this version was built for a keyboard and we haven’t tested it on a phone, so a computer is the better fit.
