Resident Evil 6

Story and setting

The game follows four campaigns built around Leon S. Kennedy and Helena Harper, Chris Redfield and Piers Nivans, Jake Muller and Sherry Birkin, and Ada Wong. Their stories unfold against a global C-virus outbreak, moving between government conspiracies, bioterror attacks and increasingly extreme mutations. The campaigns are designed to intersect, with characters occasionally meeting or influencing the same events from different perspectives.

Leon’s campaign is the closest to traditional Resident Evil, with darker environments and more overt horror, while Chris’s story leans heavily into military action. Jake’s route adds evasive movement and close-quarters combat, and Ada’s campaign is more puzzle- and infiltration-focused. The result is deliberately uneven, but it gives Resident Evil 6 a breadth few entries in the series can match.

How it plays

Resident Evil 6 is a third-person action game built around firearms, melee attacks, evasive movement and constant repositioning. Unlike earlier entries, characters can move while aiming and firing, dive in several directions, slide, roll, perform quick shots and use context-sensitive melee attacks. Skill points earned in the campaigns can be spent on upgrades, including weapon and defensive abilities, then arranged into loadouts for different play styles.

Each campaign can be played alone or with a second player in co-op. At certain crossover points, two pairs can join the same encounter, bringing the total to four players. Mercenaries returns as a score-attack mode, while Agent Hunt lets online players enter another person’s campaign as hostile creatures. It is considerably more action-led than Resident Evil 4 or 5, and the heavy use of driving, chase and scripted set-piece sequences remains a matter of taste.

Online play, patches and DLC

Yes, Resident Evil 6 has substantial online content. The campaign supports two-player online co-op, crossover encounters can expand to four players, and the competitive modes support up to six. On Xbox One and Series X|S, the UK store lists online co-op for two to four players and online multiplayer for two to six. Console online play requires the relevant Xbox Game Pass multiplayer tier or PlayStation Plus membership.

A free title update added a wider field-of-view option, mixed English audio with alternative subtitle languages, No Hope difficulty and an optional co-op partner for Ada’s campaign. Paid add-ons followed with Predator, Survivors, Onslaught and Siege, alongside additional maps. The PS4, Xbox One and Switch editions include the console DLC, Mercenaries content, No Mercy mode and extra costumes. Current editions also include Cycle Mode, which helps organise matches across the competitive modes.

Platforms, editions and UK price

The original release is available on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with a later PC version followed by PS4, Xbox One and Nintendo Switch editions. The Xbox One release is playable on Xbox Series X|S, while the PS4 version is playable on PS5. The Switch version launched in the UK on 29 October 2019 and includes all downloadable content.

As checked on 1 October 2026, the UK Xbox and PlayStation stores list the complete current edition at £15.99, while the Resident Evil Triple Pack containing Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6 is £39.99. There is no current new-release RRP or pre-order offer for the 2012 Xbox 360 version; boxed copies are part of the second-hand market. Resident Evil 6 is not advertised as part of the UK Game Pass or PS Plus catalogues on the store pages checked.

The original Xbox 360 version is still recognisably ambitious, but it is the weakest technical option. Digital Foundry’s comparison found the remastered PS4 and Xbox One versions running at 1080p and close to 60 frames per second, while the Xbox 360 version regularly dipped below 30 frames per second.

Reception and verdict

Critical opinion was mixed at launch. The Xbox 360 version sits at 67 on Metacritic, with Games Master UK awarding 87, Game Informer 8.75 out of 10 and Official Xbox Magazine UK 8 out of 10. GameSpot was far harsher at 4.5 out of 10, reflecting the broad split between critics who valued its co-op and scale and those who found its design unfocused.

Resident Evil 6 is best understood as a loud, lengthy action-horror campaign rather than a pure survival-horror game. Its combat is flexible, its co-op remains entertaining and the complete editions offer a remarkable amount of content. The writing, pacing and reliance on cinematic interruptions are less successful. For a solo player seeking dread and resource management, it is a poor starting point; for two friends wanting a sprawling co-operative shooter with Resident Evil characters, it still has a clear appeal.