No matter what you think of the series, one thing can never be denied about Resident Evil titles, and that’s that they are an absolute blast to speedrun or watch a skilled player make their way through the campaign at lightning pace, setting new records. Since everyone’s first playthrough will be several more hours due to you slowly creeping into each room, checking for threats or valuable resources, subsequent playthroughs will always be much, much faster since you know how to solve puzzles and what to expect.
Still, even with that being the case, the speed at which some players can beat these titles is astonishing, which showcases just how cleverly each game is designed, as you can often breeze right through it with a bit of knowledge, skill, and practice. The speedrunning community never disappoints, and that’s no different for this beloved series!
All entries below are based on the PC versions of each game on Normal difficulty and represent the Any Percent speedruns for each title’s full campaign. Furthermore, if a game didn’t have a Normal difficulty or category, we switched to the next one available above ‘Casual’ or ‘Assisted’ to balance things out!
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Resident Evil 6
Kicking things off, we have Resident Evil 6, which is by far the longest campaign of the series, making it no surprise that it also takes the longest to speedrun. While individual character stories will shave hours off, speedrunning the entire campaign in the shortest possible time currently takes nearly seven hours.
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Yup, a staggering 6h 59m record was set by SONITOPI last year, making it the fastest anyone has completed the entire story of Resident Evil 6 to date, which is quite impressive considering there are five stories total that lead into each other. Interestingly enough, games like Resident Evil 2 don’t appear to have a ‘full playthrough’ entry, meaning they only count Leon A/B and Claire A/B as the entire playthrough!
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Resident Evil Requiem
Next in line is the newly released Resident Evil Requiem, which is likely only temporary, as speedrunners are tirelessly trying to find the best routes and skips to shave off as much time as humanly possible. But, at the moment, the current record for clearing Resident Evil Requiem, from start to finish, is a whopping 2h 08m time set by WolfGovers.
Again, this will likely change in the near future, and that’s already a remarkably good time considering how new the game is. However, there are several portions of the game that take the control out of your hands and bring the pacing to a halt when attempting to blaze through it as quickly as possible, so it will be interesting to see how runners overcome those hurdles!
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Resident Evil 7
Whether you love Ethan Winters or aggressively dislike him, there’s no denying that his installments are some of the best in the series, and Resident Evil 7 is concrete proof of that, as it brought the series back to its roots in survival horror, which was only elevated by the new first-person perspective. And, with a 1h 31m record on the Madhouse difficulty (no Normal/Standard difficulty for this one), CaptainEzekiel makes it look like a casual stroll through the park.
This title is proof of how different subsequent playthroughs are, as the majority of your first time through Resident Evil 7 is spent fearfully creeping around each environment, searching for the objectives you need to get your behind out of there. Then, once that aspect is completely removed, it’s go time, allowing you to clear it blazingly fast. Remarkable!
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Resident Evil Village
From here, we jump to Resident Evil Village, the second game to feature Ethan Winters as the main protagonist. While it feels quite breezy your first time through, nothing prepared us for the swift 1h 30m record set by Nindo on Hardcore (there’s no Normal/Standard difficulty).
Sure, Village has its issues, but that is a very impressive run, especially considering how many areas there are to get through before ultimately squaring off against Lady Miranda at the end of the game. Still, all things considered, it is the third-longest title in the series to speedrun, which is amusing since this game is often cited as being too short for a modern Resident Evil installment!
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Resident Evil 4 Remake
Moving on, we have what most players hail as the best of the best with Resident Evil 4 Remake, which elevates every aspect of the beloved original to new heights. And, while it is easily one of the longest campaigns in the series on your first time through, runner hqqqaq managed to clear it in just under an hour and a half with a remarkable 1h 28m time.
The sheer number of things you need to do before advancing in Resident Evil 4 Remake is what makes this even more impressive, as finding a way to shave off that amount of time has to require an obscene amount of practice and expertise to pull off!
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Resident Evil 4
Of course, trailing just behind the Remake is the OG Resident Evil 4, sporting a swift 1h 23m speedrun by Youcri. Since this game is more or less the same from a content perspective as its eventual Remake, that is some seriously impressive things. Obviously, there were additions added to the Remake, which is why it’s longer overall, but this is still phenomenal to see.
Aside from Resident Evil 6, Resident Evil 4 is easily up there as the longest to beat, so cutting its time down this dramatically is cool to see. There’s nothing quite like Resident Evil 4 out there, and it deserves every bit of love it gets from all of its communities!
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Resident Evil 5
A bit of a tricky one is up next, as Resident Evil 5 is, first and foremost, a co-op-focused game, meaning we went with the fastest co-op speedrun, which places PhinoMikel & iMeteor62 at the top of the charts with a blazingly fast 1h and 18m record. However, the solo speedrun for this title is about 20 minutes faster, so do with that information as you will.
However, since RE5 is the quintessential co-op experience, we had to use that entry as our baseline. How could you not? Resident Evil 5 is a pretty beefy game with a longer-than-average runtime, so this is very impressive to see, even in co-op. We adore everything about this title, and are glad to see a dedicated and committed speedrunning community behind it!
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Resident Evil 2
Jumping over to another classic entry of the series, we have the OG Resident Evil 2, which likely needs no introductions. What can be said about it that hasn’t been said already? This, or its stellar Remake, is likely in everyone’s top three, and seeing LanceLM clear Leon A’s campaign in just 48m 31s is bonkers. A sub-hour is impressive no matter what, but for this game? Give us a break!
Now, it should be noted that there are no categories that include Leon A and Claire B in the same run, which is fascinating considering Resident Evil 6 has a category for beating all campaigns in one sitting. Nonetheless, this is the fastest of the bunch, which is unbelievable!
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Resident Evil HD Remaster
Coming in just seconds faster is UndeadAvenged’s 48m 28s speedrun of the HD Remaster for the first Resident Evil as Jill Valentine. While that’s impressive on its own, realizing they shaved off roughly 11 hours, give or take, to achieve that time is even more remarkable.
Resident Evil’s HD Remaster is arguably the best entry in the series even today, and is undoubtedly one of the best remasters of all time, so it’s very cool to see people hone their unique speedrunning skills around such an iconic and legendary title!
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Resident Evil 3 Remake
From a legendary Remaster to a questionable Remake, Resident Evil 3 Remake takes the stage next, which often gets shade thrown its way for cutting content from the original and being far too short for its asking price on release. Nonetheless, if you can get it these days at a reasonable price, it is still a blast to play, especially if you’re barreling through it as Minnotar did with a staggering 46m 51s time.
Yes, this Remake has its fair share of issues, but Jill has never been better, and Carlos received one of the best glow-ups in gaming. While we wish it didn’t cut anything and had additional modes to explore, we still love seeing the community stick with it and achieve some incredible times!
