Resident Evil 5 is a 2009 third-person shooter game created and published by Capcom. It was first released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles in March 2009 and for Windows computers in September 2009. It was released again for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2016.
The story follows Chris Redfield and Sheva Alomar as they investigate a terrorist threat in Kijuju, an imaginary place in West Africa. Chris discovers he must face Albert Wesker, an old enemy, and Jill Valentine, his former partner.
The game plays similarly to Resident Evil 4 (2005), but it is the first in the series to allow two players to work together. It was the first main Resident Evil game to move away from the survival horror genre, with critics saying it felt more like an action game. Motion capture was used to create the game’s cutscenes. Many people who worked on the original Resident Evil game also helped make Resident Evil 5. The Windows version was made by Mercenary Technology.
Resident Evil 5 received mostly positive reviews, though some people criticized its control system. Opinions were split about whether parts of the game had racist elements. An investigation by the British Board of Film Classification found these claims were not supported by evidence. Resident Evil 5 was the best-selling Capcom game until 2018, when it was surpassed by Monster Hunter: World. It remained the best-selling Resident Evil game until September 2025, when it was overtaken by the 2019 remake of Resident Evil 2.
Gameplay
Resident Evil 5 is a video game where players control characters from a side view, looking over their shoulder. Players can use many types of weapons, such as handguns, shotguns, rifles, and grenade launchers, as well as punch or kick enemies. Players can quickly turn around to avoid enemies. Some boss fights include quick time events, which are short actions players must perform quickly.
Like Resident Evil 4, players can improve their weapons using money and treasures found during the game. Players can heal themselves with herbs, but they cannot run and shoot at the same time. New features include enemies who carry guns and grenades, the ability to upgrade weapons anytime from an inventory screen without needing to find a merchant, and the ability to equip weapons and items during gameplay. Each player can carry nine items. Unlike earlier games, the size of an item does not matter; a herb or a grenade launcher both take up one space, and four items can be assigned to the D-pad. The game includes puzzles, but there are fewer puzzles than in earlier games.
Resident Evil 5 is the first Resident Evil game designed for two players to work together. One player controls Chris, a member of a fictional group called the BSAA, and the second player controls Sheva, who is introduced in this game. If someone plays alone, Sheva is controlled by the game’s artificial intelligence. After completing the game once, players can choose to control Sheva as the main character. Two-player mode can be played online or with a second player using the same console. If a second player joins a split-screen game, they will restart from the last checkpoint. If they join an online game, they must wait until the first player reaches the next checkpoint or restarts the previous one. In split-screen mode, one player’s view is shown in the top half of the screen, and the other’s is shown in the bottom half. Each view is in widescreen format, leaving unused space on the sides. If one player has very low health, only their partner can help them, and they will die if their partner cannot reach them. At some points, players are separated intentionally. Players can trade items during the game, but weapons cannot be traded with online players. The story follows a single path, and most interactions with other characters happen during cutscenes.
A version of the Mercenaries minigame, which first appeared in Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, is included in Resident Evil 5. This minigame takes place in a small area with a time limit. Players cannot use customized weapons and must find weapons, ammunition, and time bonuses while fighting enemies to earn points. The multiplayer version of Mercenaries was only available offline at first, and players needed to download a patch to access online multiplayer. Mercenaries becomes playable after completing the main story.
Plot
In 2009, five years after the events of Resident Evil 4, Chris Redfield, now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), is sent to Kijuju in West Africa. He works with his new partner, Sheva Alomar, to capture Ricardo Irving before he can sell a biological weapon (BOW) on the black market. When they arrive, they find that local people have been infected by the Las Plagas parasite (infected people are called "Majini") and that the BSAA Alpha Team has been killed. Chris and Sheva are saved by the BSAA Delta Team, which includes Sheva’s mentor, Captain Josh Stone. In Stone’s data, Chris sees a photo of Jill Valentine, his former partner, who was believed dead after a fight with Albert Wesker. Chris, Sheva, and Delta Team search for Irving, but he escapes with help from a mysterious, masked figure. Irving leaves behind documents that lead Chris and Sheva to marshy oilfields, where Irving plans to sell the BOW. However, the documents are a trick. When Chris and Sheva try to regroup with Delta Team, they find the team killed by a mutated, troll-like BOW. Sheva cannot find Stone among the dead. Determined to learn if Jill is still alive, Chris ignores orders and continues his mission.
As they move through the marsh, they reunite with Stone and track Irving’s boat with his help. Irving injects himself with a version of the Las Plagas parasite and transforms into a large, octopus-like creature. Chris and Sheva defeat Irving, and his final words lead them to a nearby cave. The cave contains a flower used to create viruses previously made by the Umbrella Corporation, as well as a new virus called Uroboros. Chris and Sheva find proof that Tricell, the company funding the BSAA, took over a former Umbrella lab and continued Umbrella’s research. Inside the lab, they discover thousands of capsules holding human test subjects. Chris finds Jill’s capsule, but it is empty. When they leave, they learn that Tricell’s CEO, Excella Gionne, has been working with Wesker to launch missiles carrying the Uroboros virus worldwide. Wesker plans to use the virus to create a new type of humanity by controlling a select group of people. Chris and Sheva chase Gionne but are stopped by Wesker and the masked figure, who is revealed to be Jill Valentine, brainwashed by Wesker. Gionne and Wesker escape to a Tricell oil tanker. Chris and Sheva fight Jill, free her from the mind-control device, and she tells them to follow Wesker.
Chris and Sheva board the tanker and meet Gionne, who escapes after dropping a case of syringes; Sheva keeps some. On the main deck, Wesker announces over the ship’s intercom that he has betrayed Gionne and infected her with Uroboros. Gionne transforms into a giant monster, which Chris and Sheva defeat. Jill contacts them, explaining that Wesker needs precise doses of a special serum to stay strong. Sheva realizes the syringes Gionne dropped are doses of the drug. Chris and Sheva follow Wesker to a bomber plane loaded with missiles carrying the Uroboros virus. They inject Wesker with the syringes, weakening him. Wesker tries to escape on the bomber, but Chris and Sheva disable it, causing it to crash into a volcano. Angry, Wesker exposes himself to Uroboros and chases Chris and Sheva through the volcano. They fight him, and the weakened Wesker falls into the lava. Chris and Sheva are rescued by a helicopter piloted by Jill and Stone. As Wesker tries to pull the helicopter into the volcano, Chris and Sheva fire rocket-propelled grenades, killing Wesker and the Uroboros virus. Chris reflects on whether the world is worth saving but, looking at Sheva and Jill, decides to live in a world without fear.
Development
Resident Evil 5 was created by Capcom. Jun Takeuchi, who directed Onimusha: Warlords and produced Lost Planet: Extreme Condition, was the producer. Keiji Inafune, who worked on Resident Evil 2 and the PlayStation 2 version of Resident Evil 4, helped oversee the project. Development started in 2005, and at its busiest, more than 100 people worked on the game. In February 2007, some members of Capcom's Clover Studio began working on Resident Evil 5 while others worked on Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles, which was released for the Wii. Yasuhiro Anpo, who programmed the original Resident Evil, directed Resident Evil 5. He was one of several staff members from the original game who helped develop it. The story was written by Haruo Murata and Yoshiaki Hirabayashi, based on a story idea by Kenichi Ueda, the concept director. Takeuchi said Resident Evil 5 would keep the gameplay style from Resident Evil 4, with themes from both Resident Evil 4 and the original Resident Evil.
Earlier Resident Evil games mostly took place at night, but Resident Evil 5 happens almost entirely during the day. This choice was influenced by the African setting and better graphics technology. Production director Yasuhiro Anpo explained that designers tried to keep Jill and Chris's appearances recognizable while showing how they might look older. Their new designs kept their signature colors: green for Chris and blue for Jill. Sheva's design changed several times during development, but all versions aimed to show both feminine qualities and strength. The Majini enemies were made to look more violent than the "Ganado" enemies in Resident Evil 4.
The team decided to add cooperative gameplay halfway through development for a new experience. At first, some worried that two players might reduce the game's tension and horror, but it was later found that this could increase tension when one player needed help. The team kept wide-screen proportions in two-player mode to avoid overlapping screens, which could be distracting. They also kept the rule that players could not move and shoot at the same time to increase tension. Takeuchi said the movie Black Hawk Down influenced the game's setting, and his work on Lost Planet: Extreme Condition influenced its development. When asked why the game was not released on the Wii, which was the most popular console at the time, Takeuchi said the Wii was not the best choice for power and visual quality, even though it might have been a good business decision.
Resident Evil 5 uses version 1.4 of Capcom's MT Framework engine and motion capture for scenes. Custom virtual cameras allowed developers to see character movements in real time as actors recorded. Reuben Langdon, Karen Dyer, and Ken Lally portrayed Chris Redfield, Sheva Alomar, and Albert Wesker, respectively. Dyer also voiced Sheva, while Roger Craig Smith voiced Chris. Dyer's circus training helped her get the role because Capcom needed someone with the physical skills required for motion capture. She performed her own stunts and worked on the game for over a year, sometimes 14 hours a day. Human character movements were based on motion capture, while non-human characters were animated manually.
Kota Suzuki was the main composer, and Hideki Okugawa, Akihiko Narita, and Seiko Kobuchi added music. The electronic score includes 15 minutes of orchestral music recorded at the Newman Scoring Stage in Los Angeles with the 103-piece Hollywood Studio Symphony. Wataru Hokoyama arranged and conducted the orchestra. Capcom chose to record in Los Angeles to create a Hollywood-style soundtrack that would improve the game's movie-like quality and global appeal. The game's soundtrack includes an original theme song, "Pray," composed by Suzuki and sung by Oulimata Niang.
Marketing and release
Capcom announced Resident Evil 5 on July 20, 2005, and showed a short video at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) in July 2007. A full version of the E3 trailer was later made available on the Xbox Live Marketplace and the PlayStation Store in the same month. A new trailer was shown on Spike TV’s GameTrailers TV in May 2008 and also posted on the GameTrailers website. A game demo was released in Japan on December 5, 2008, for the Xbox 360. It was later released in North America and Europe for the Xbox 360 on January 26, 2009, and for the PlayStation 3 on February 2, 2009. More than four million copies of the demo were downloaded worldwide for the two consoles, with over 1.8 million downloaded between January 26 and January 29, 2009.
In January 2009, D+PAD Magazine reported that Resident Evil 5 would be released with special Xbox 360 box art. Pictures of the box suggested it could allow two to sixteen players to play offline using System Link. Capcom confirmed the box art was not misleading but did not share more details. Later, Capcom corrected the information, stating that System Link could only support two players. Microsoft released a special red Xbox 360 Elite console bundled with the game. The package included an exclusive Resident Evil theme for the Xbox 360 Dashboard and a download code for Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix from Xbox Live.
Resident Evil 5 was released for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in March 2009. A special area called "Studio Lot" (known as "Film Studio" in Japan) was added to PlayStation Home. This space was themed after the game’s location, Kijuju. The area had a lounge where players could buy Resident Evil 5-related items, attend events, and launch the full game. Some parts of the space were only accessible to owners of Resident Evil 5. A Windows version of the game was released in September 2009. This version used Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology through DirectX 10 and included additional costumes and a new mode in the Mercenaries minigame. Resident Evil 5 was re-released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in June 2016, with a physical disc version released in America the following July. It was also released for Nintendo Switch on October 29, 2019.
Additional content
Before the release of Resident Evil 5, Capcom announced a competitive multiplayer mode called Versus would be available for download in several weeks. Versus was released for download in Europe and North America on April 7, 2009, through the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Store. The mode includes two online game types: "Slayers," a point-based game where players must kill Majini enemies, and "Survivors," where players fight each other while avoiding and attacking Majini. Both modes can be played by two-player teams. The Windows version of Resident Evil 5 originally did not support downloadable content (DLC).
At Sony’s press conference during the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, Capcom announced a special edition called Biohazard 5: Alternative Edition, which would be released in Japan for PlayStation 3 in the spring of 2010. This edition supports the PlayStation Move accessory and includes a new scenario called "Lost in Nightmares," where characters Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine enter a mansion owned by Oswell E. Spencer, a co-founder of Umbrella Corporation. Another special edition, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition, was released for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 in North America and Europe. Gold Edition includes "Lost in Nightmares," a campaign-expansion episode called "Desperate Escape," where players control Josh Stone and Jill Valentine to help Chris and Sheva. It also includes the previously released Versus mode, four new costumes, and an updated Mercenaries mode with eight new playable characters, items, and maps. Like Alternative Edition, Gold Edition supports the PlayStation Move accessory after a patch was released on September 14, 2010. The Xbox 360 version of Gold Edition came with a DVD and a token for free DLC downloads, while the PlayStation 3 version included all new content on a single Blu-ray disc. On November 5, 2012, Resident Evil 5: Gold Edition was made available for free download on the PlayStation Network for PlayStation Plus users that month.
As part of the switch to Steamworks, Gold Edition was released for Windows on March 26, 2015. Players who owned Resident Evil 5 through Steam or as a boxed retail version of Games for Windows – Live could get a free Steamworks copy of the base game and buy the Gold Edition content separately. The Steamworks version did not support Nvidia’s 3D Vision technology or fan-made modifications, though Capcom later provided a solution. In 2023, an update for the Windows version removed Games for Windows – Live, restoring the split-screen co-op feature to the game.
Reception
Resident Evil 5 received mostly good reviews, according to Metacritic, a website that collects game reviews. Reviewers praised the game’s visuals and content. Corey Cohen of Official Xbox Magazine said the game had a fast pace and called the graphics "gorgeous." Joe Juba and Matt Miller of Game Informer said the game had the best graphics of any game at the time and that the music and voice acting helped bring the characters to life. Brian Crecente of Kotaku said it was one of the most visually stunning games he had ever played. Adam Sessler of X-Play said the graphics were exceptional, and Edge praised the gameplay as exciting and fast-paced. Ryan Geddes of IGN said the game had a surprisingly high replay value, and Louis Bedigian of GameZone said it was "worth playing through twice in one weekend."
Some reviewers thought the game moved away from the survival horror genre, which they did not like. Chris Hudak of GameRevolution called Resident Evil 5 a "full-on action blockbuster," and Brian Crecente said the game stopped acting like a survival horror game and became more like an action shooter. Kristan Reed of Eurogamer said the game changed from a survival horror adventure to a survival horror shooter and believed this change might upset some fans of the series.
The control scheme was criticized. James Mielke of 1UP.com said there were problems, such as being able to take cover from enemies only in certain areas. He also said the aiming was too slow and that players could not move or jump away from enemies quickly. Despite these issues, he said the game was still fun. Kristan Reed also had concerns about the controls, such as how fast players could turn 180 degrees and how hard it was to access inventory. Joe Juba said the inability to move and shoot at the same time felt unfair and made the game harder than necessary. Ryan Geddes praised some aspects of the AI control of Sheva but said there were annoyances, like Sheva wasting ammunition and health supplies.
Reviewers had mostly positive opinions about the downloadable content. Steven Hopper of GameZone gave the "Lost in Nightmares" DLC an 8 out of 10, saying it had high replay value and that new multiplayer features made it a good choice for fans. Samuel Claiborn of IGN gave the "Desperate Escape" DLC a 7 out of 10, saying the action was well done but that it lacked the unique charm of "Lost in Nightmares."
The 2007 E3 trailer for Resident Evil 5 was criticized for showing a white character fighting black enemies in an African village. Newsweek editor N'Gai Croal said the trailer used images that reminded people of old racist stereotypes, though he noted only the trailer had been released. Takeuchi, a producer, said the team was surprised by the complaints. The second trailer, released in 2008, showed a more racially diverse group of enemies and introduced Sheva, an African BSAA agent who helps the main character. Some critics thought Sheva was added to address the racism concerns, but Karen Dyer said Sheva had been in development before the first trailer. Takeuchi said the complaints about racism did not change the game’s design. He acknowledged that different cultures might have different opinions about the trailer but said he did not expect more complaints after the game was released. Producer Masachika Kawata said, "We can't please everyone. We're in the entertainment business—we're not here to state our political opinion or anything like that. It's unfortunate that some people felt that way."
In a 2009 preview, Dan Whitehead of Eurogamer said the game might cause controversy because it used old stereotypes about Africa. He said the game’s portrayal of Africa and its people seemed outdated. Hilary Goldstein of IGN said the game was not intentionally racist but acknowledged others might find it offensive. Chris Hudak dismissed racism claims as "stupid," and Karen Dyer, who is of Jamaican descent, said she never saw anything racially insensitive during development.
Wesley Yin-Poole of VideoGamer.com asked a professor about whether the game was racist. The professor said the accusations were "silly" and said the game had an anti-colonial theme. A scene in the game was criticized for showing a black man dragging a white woman, but Yin-Poole said the man was not clearly black. The scene was reviewed by the British Board of Film Classification, which said there was no racism issue. The board noted that the game is set in Africa, so some characters being black was expected.
In 2015, Harrer and Pichlmair wrote that Resident Evil 5 was an example of "commodity racism," where games use racial stereotypes. They said the game showed Africa from a Western perspective and that the portrayal of black characters fit a fantasy that many white gamers might enjoy. In 2016, Paul Martin said the game used imagery related to European colonialism and old ideas about race.
The PlayStation 3 version of Resident Evil 5 was the top-selling game in Japan in the two weeks after its release, selling 319,590 copies. In March 2009, it became the fastest-selling game in the Resident Evil series in the United Kingdom and the biggest Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 game release in the country. By September 2025, the game had sold 9.9 million copies worldwide on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. The Gold Edition sold an additional 2.4 million copies. The PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions sold 3.8 million copies combined, totaling 16.1 million sales.
Resident Evil 5 was Capcom’s best-selling individual game until March 2018, when Monster Hunter: World sold 7.5 million copies. At that time, Resident Evil 5 had sold 7.3 million copies. It was the best-selling Resident Evil game in 2018, with 10.6 million sales across all versions.