Resident Evil: Code Veronica

When the Dreamcast received a major new Resident Evil chapter exclusively in 2000, it was a huge asset for Sega – the series that stood at the birth of the entire survival-horror genre abandoned fixed, pre-rendered backdrops for the first time and built its whole world from full-fledged 3D polygons. Code Veronica thus looked dramatically different from the previous PlayStation installments: the camera could move smoothly, the environments breathed with depth and, thanks to the Dreamcast's power, the game felt a generation ahead.

Storywise it follows on from the events of the first installments and tracks Claire Redfield, who's searching for her brother Chris. From a prison island controlled by the Umbrella corporation she makes her way to a snowbound Antarctic base, and later you take the controls of Chris himself. The storytelling here is more ambitious than before – the series fully develops the theme of the Ashford family and pits you face to face with one of the most theatrical villains of the entire franchise.

In gameplay it stays true to the proven recipe: limited ammunition and healing items, tank controls, puzzles involving the collection of keys and objects, and the permanent feeling that every bullet is precious. That very tension between exploration and fear of the next corner made Resident Evil such an addictive experience. The limited-capacity inventory forces you to think about what to carry and what to leave in the chest, and backtracking becomes a little logic game in itself.

The move to real 3D also brought new possibilities for horror direction. A freely tilting camera could reveal a threat at an unexpected moment, and the designers played with light and shadow in ways static backdrops didn't allow. The game was at the same time one of the flagship titles meant to demonstrate what the Dreamcast could do as hardware.

Today Code Veronica is remembered as one of the key installments of the series, which later came out in an expanded version and reached other platforms, so players outside the Dreamcast community got to enjoy it too. For fans of the franchise it represents an important link between the classic era and the later direction of Resident Evil.

Why play it: Classic survival horror at the moment the series fully transitioned to 3D for the first time – tense atmosphere, ammo conservation and a theatrical story that belongs in the Resident Evil canon.