Resident Evil Survival Unit - "A standard 4X strategy"

• Intriguing old-school Resident Evil playable prologue
• Familiar, repetitive 4X gameplay
• Collect heroes from the RE franchise to fight for you

Resident Evil officially joins the 4X strategy genre with Resident Evil Survival Unit. You wake up in a deserted hospital and learn of the zombie apocalypse, Rick Grimes style. Build and upgrade your base while keeping an eye on threats, both human and zombie. Unlock new buildings, complete research, and upgrade your heroes, all while silently cursing the Umbrella Corporation.

Resident Evil Survival Unit Features A Fun Survival Horror Intro

Starting out, you'll be treated to an extended introduction in which you'll switch between playing as a nameless survivor in Raccoon City and the infamous Claire Redfield. You'll even visit and explore the Racoon City Police Department from Resident Evil 2. To progress through this section, you’ll need to solve simple puzzles like entering passcodes and lock combinations.

The prologue really made me excited, as it plays like an old-school RE title with fixed-camera views, limited ammo, and puzzles to solve to progress. However, once you reach the mansion, your days of exploring a 3D Racoon City all but come to an end, and the gameplay makes a hard shift into 4X strategy territory. With how engrossing the intro is, I'm honestly surprised the developers didn’t lean more into the traditional survivor horror gameplay.

Resident Evil Survival Unit Offers Standard 4X Gameplay

Like every other 4X strategy experience, Resident Evil Survival Unit revolves around upgrading and maintaining your base. You set up base at the iconic Umbrella Corp mansion. You’ll need a steady supply of resources like fuel and lumber to complete upgrades and train soldiers.  To do so, you'll want to keep your resource stations upgraded.

If you’re a fan of the 4X genre, you’ll likely have some fun. However, don’t expect anything groundbreaking in terms of gameplay. Survival Unit relies heavily on the genre's common mechanics. You’ll send troops out into the world to battle zombies, collect resources, and rescue survivors.  Every aspect, from upgrading buildings to researching new tech, feels excessively familiar.

Exploration Battles Add A Bit of Flair to the Familiar

While the intro offers more, there is still some fun combat to be had. Though you won’t have the ability to explore as freely as in the intro, Exploration battles do give you a bit of autonomy. You’ll lead a team of heroes in rounds of combat against the infected. 

Basic attacks are automatic; however, you can control when and where special attacks are unleashed. While your movement is limited to a few select points, you can deploy special abilities and use highlighted objects in the environment to aid your efforts. For example, tapping a fire alarm triggers it, momentarily distracting nearby enemies. 

Collect Infamous RE Characters in Resident Evil Survival Unit

Visit the Helipad to recruit heroes to send on explorations and lead your troops. Among the many heroes you’ll have a chance to recruit are some infamous characters from the Resident Evil franchise.  Leon Kennedy, Jill Valentine, and Ada Wong are all available for you to collect. The familiar characters add little to the overall experience, but it is fun to see some of the franchise’s most iconic faces.

Resident Evil Survival Unit offers a fairly typical 4X experience. It stands on the standard mechanics that litter the 4X genre. That's not to say it isn't enjoyable, but other than the RE universe setting and the enticing intro, which plays more like a survival horror, there's nothing here to write home about. Honestly, the engaging prologue makes the actual gameplay feel subpar by comparison.