WHEN Resident Evil was released for the original PlayStation in 1996, it was an instant success that was well received by gamers and garnered glowing reviews. But at the time –unaware of Capcom’s masterplan for it, presuming the company even had one – we had no inkling of its true significance. A quarter of a century later, Resident Evil has become one of the games industry’s key franchises: not only did it define and establish the survival-horror genre, but it propelled that genre to a position of central importance.