You can now play the original 1996 version of Resident Evil on PC thanks to GOG

The original Resident Evil was released in 1996, and over the decades has seen numerous sequels, remasters, remakes, and more. You may be wondering why the original PlayStation-era version of the game becoming available to purchase on PC is a big deal. Well, the version of the game on platforms like Steam is the HD version of the Nintendo GameCube remaster/remake.

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In-game visuals have come a long way since 1996.

The DRM-free Resident Evil, now available on GOG, is the original CD-ROM era version of the game. It features the same cheesy live-action cinematics, low-resolution computer-generated backgrounds, and blocky-as-hell PlayStation graphics from the early days of 3D gaming. For retro gaming fans, all of that is a plus, as is the native support for Windows 10 and Windows 11.

This release marks a new collaboration between Capcom and GOG that will see the original version of the first three Resident Evil games make their way to the platform - so fans can look forward to the original uncut versions of Resident Evil 2 and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis releasing soon.

This Resident Evil re-release sports a few welcome quality-of-life updates, including an improved DirectX renderer and support for windowed mode, VSYNC, proper integer scaling, and modern controllers like Sony DualSense and all of the various Xbox pads for PC gaming. The store page notes this is also "completely uncut, with even more blood, graphic violence and gory scenes than the worldwide monster hit version on PlayStation."

The intro cinematic was censored for the U.S. and European markets, with newspaper clippings depicting the more violent scenes. These versions also censored the image of protagonist Chris Redfield smoking during his introduction - both of which you can see in the following uncut Resident Evil intro, posted by GOG to celebrate the re-release. For those who grew up in the 1990s, it's like looking through a portal to a different era.