Resident Evil Survival Unit: A mobile twist on a classic horror franchise.
With Resident Evil Survival Unit, the popular mobile gacha game has made its way to one of the most famous horror series in video games. Capcom, Joy City, and Aniplex worked together to make this mobile spin-off, which is a big change for the series. Capcom oversaw production but gave development to the South Korean company Joy City.
Aniplex helped with publishing. Capcom’s help made sure that the Resident Evil world was kept somewhat true, but Joy City was in charge of most of the gameplay mechanics, base-building, and gacha loops for making money.
It was announced earlier this year with a beta test version, and now Survival Unit is finally available on phones. The game is not the tense, claustrophobic survival horror of the main series. Instead, it uses a hybrid style that combines base management, adventure, RTS combat, and gacha summons. This choice fits with the general trend of well-known IPs joining the mobile gacha space, though the results have been uneven across franchises.
For people who have played other games in the series, this one brings back memories of old games. Some environments, tasks, and even sound effects are taken from Resident Evil 2 and 4 or are only slightly changed. There are cameos by returning characters like Claire Redfield and Jill Valentine, as well as small roles from spin-offs like Outbreak. This gives fans what they want and a sense of continuity, even if it’s seen through the lens of gacha.
But the choice to make it a mobile base-building and gacha game shows right away that loop-based progression, time-gating, and managing resources have mostly taken the place of traditional survival horror drama. It’s not so much that players are handling high-stakes battles as it is that they are optimizing upgrades, waiting for timers to run out, and hoping for luck when calling up character cards.
Mobile design choices make the game less of what it wants to be.
Resident Evil Survival Unit takes place in a world different from the main games, and there are many zombies there. Players take on the part of an unnamed main character who is being held captive by the Umbrella Corporation so that they can do experiments on them. When the player wakes up in the middle of the outbreak, they have to make their way through semi-linear environments based on Resident Evil 2 until they find friends and form a group of survivors.
The story starts off on a hopeful note, with the main character waking up in a hospital that looks a lot like old Resident Evil games. It feels like old survival horror games because of the puzzles, locked doors, and atmospheric exploration.
The set camera angles also add to the feeling of nostalgia. But the tone of the story changes quickly when people like Claire show up. The dialogue isn’t always clear, and Claire sometimes says things that sound like things Leon would say in older games, which makes her character seem unreliable. Voice acting isn’t very good; characters only say generic fight lines, and most cinematic scenes are done with text, which makes the experience even less immersive.
Even with these problems, the story introduces important people for the gacha system and sets up the loop for building bases. Before getting into the main gameplay loop, players get orders from characters that look like Ada and explore mini-levels with easy goals. These parts don’t add anything new to the show, but they do serve as a short tribute to it.
What we know about Claire doesn’t match up at all with how she acts here.
Resident Evil Survival Unit’s mixed style of play is what makes it so great. After a short lesson about exploring, players are shown how to build bases. The main hub is the central mansion, which is surrounded by buildings that can be fixed up and improved. At first, upgrades only take seconds, but over time, they can take minutes or even hours. Players can speed up building by paying premium currency, which is not required but strongly encouraged.
Managing resources is a key part of growth. Almost everything you do needs food, fuel, lumber, and iron, from improving buildings to sending characters on tasks. Resources grow on their own, but players are often slowed down by fuel and action points, which means they need to plan strategically or make money to keep things running smoothly.
The helipad is where you call characters. It gives you random units or resources in a draw system similar to Gacha. Even though there isn’t a straight pity system, you can get certain units by using “character files.” There are well-known characters from Outbreak and Resistance, as well as key characters like Claire and Jill. This is a surprisingly fun part for fans of the series.
There are exploration parts, but they’re mostly only in the early stages. In later stages, you’ll be putting together groups of figures to fight automatically. Some of the characters’ skills come from how they look in the main story. For example, Brad can throw signs, and Claire can use a minigun. Even though they are simple, these sequences give you a quick sense of creativity and motion.
The most exciting thing about this game is seeing small characters grow.
The puzzles in Resident Evil Survival Unit are clear homages to the original games. To move forward, players have to find keys, read notes, and move things around. Even though these parts aren’t hard for experienced players, they still have a bit of a survival horror feel to them. Even if the game is straight and not very deep, exploration and puzzle-solving are still fun.
But in combat, it’s clear that the focus is on movement. Engagements like those in RTS games take the place of traditional conflict. Players put figures on lanes, give them skills, and then wait for waves of enemies to appear.
Controls for auto-battle and speed make interactions easier, which reduces the need for planning. There isn’t much of a sense of danger because the zombies move in a predictable way, and you don’t have to dodge attacks in real time. In most games, boss fights are just bigger versions of normal monsters, and the hardest part is usually getting your characters better rather than playing well.
Combat doesn’t have the tension and intensity of older Resident Evil games, but it works for mobile users. The strange movements and character skills make the game fun, but they can’t make the system as suspenseful as high-stakes horror.
Like a neighborhood watch, you’re putting up barriers instead of dodging a zombie that’s coming at you.
Progress for a character is linked to both XP and starting level. When survivors win a fight, they gain experience points. To get skill and star-tier upgrades, they need resources and time. When resources are scarce, a “gate” system is introduced that slows down how quickly players can improve their teams. A classic mobile gacha beat, this loop makes you want to log in, use characters, and gradually gain more power.
Field tasks and expeditions add another level. Players tell their characters to look into things, fight enemies, or gather supplies. Combat power checks often decide the outcome, which means that planning is less important than investing resources and making sure your squad is strong. You can get VIP levels by playing the game or buying them.
These levels let you get faster upgrades and more marching spots. Seasonal events, leaderboards, and PvP keep this loop going, giving players reasons to stay engaged over time and a steady push to make money. In general, advancement is easy to guess: grind or pay. It works, but it’s not very satisfying for survival-horror fans used to faster-paced games.
Once a group is sent out, power checks, not skill, decide right away who wins.
Resident Evil Survival Unit has better graphics than I thought it would for a mobile game, but it’s limited by the hardware. The environments are polished and easy to recognize; they are based on famous Resident Evil locations.
Animations are often jerky or missing parts, especially during battle and exploration scenes, which takes away from the immersion. The character models work, but they’re not as deep and detailed as those in mainstream video games. The game’s style is more like a “demake” of the RE2 Remake, with a familiar look and few new visual ideas.
The design of sound is simple. Aside from generic fight grunts, there isn’t any voice acting. The music and sound effects are mostly from previous Resident Evil games, which makes you feel nostalgic but doesn’t add much of their own style. There isn’t any voiced conversation during the exploration parts, which makes them less emotionally engaging. However, the ambient sounds do a good job of keeping the light horror atmosphere.
The sounds make me feel nostalgic, but the characters don’t say much.
Resident Evil Survival Unit is a strange mix of old-school memories and standard mobile game mechanics. The exploration and puzzle parts pay tribute to the series’ history, and the fact that minor figures are in the gacha pool is a pleasant surprise. But base-building, resource management, and RTS battles take up most of the time, which takes away from the tension that makes Resident Evil what it is.
A lot of people won’t play because of the timed upgrades, gacha features, and monetization loops. The fighting is too easy, boss fights happen over and over, the story isn’t very deep, and the characters aren’t always consistent. Fans of mobile games, on the other hand, might enjoy the automated fights, expeditions, and VIP system as fun loop-based games.
In the end, Resident Evil Survival Unit is an interesting experiment: a mobile homage that both nods to the show and attacks its core identity. Fans of real survival horror will be let down, but casual mobile gamers or people who like gacha games might find it a slightly entertaining distraction.
