Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps

Resident Evil: Umbrella Corps is a spin-off from the main series that abandons the slow survival-horror pace and replaces it with fast team-based action for three to six players split into two teams. Instead of Leon or Chris, you control anonymous mercenaries hired by rival pharmaceutical corporations who fight over virus samples – and not only among themselves, but also against hordes of the infected, who join the fight as an unpredictable third element capable of disrupting even a well-executed battle. The player assembles both weapons and gear themselves from modular parts before each match, so the loadout can be adapted to any playstyle from silent elimination to open close-range firefights.

The battlefields are reworked, compact versions of the series' famous locations – the Spencer mansion, Umbrella laboratories, or the streets of Raccoon City – strewn with rubble, mud, and of course zombies. A key piece of equipment is the Brainer, a machete designed specifically to finish off the infected with a single blow, allowing a level to be cleared quietly while the opponent is still focused on the firefight. The game also lacks the classic health regeneration by waiting in cover – getting hit hurts, and picking the wrong corner can mean the end of a round, which makes every match a tense, nerve-wracking experience rather than smooth action. There is practically no single-player campaign, replaced instead by a short training mode called The Experiment, so the focus remains purely on online multiplayer, which few expected from the series and which many reviews criticized as too narrow a scope compared to the rest of the brand.

Why play it: Umbrella Corps makes sense for players who want the Resident Evil setting without the horror pacing – quick matches lasting a few dozen minutes, where the tension comes more from the opponent around the corner than from scripted scares. It is not a game for fans of the series' story, but for those who will appreciate nerve-wracking, brutal fights in familiar surroundings.