# Resident Evil 5

**Resident Evil 5** is a 2009 third-person shooter developed and published by Capcom, the fifth main entry in the [Resident Evil](https://www.edgepedia.org/resident-evil) survival horror series. It stars [Chris Redfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/chris-redfield), now a member of the Bioterrorism Security Assessment Alliance (BSAA), who teams up with newcomer Sheva Alomar to investigate an illegal arms deal in the fictional West African region of Kijuju.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> The game was the first in the main series to feature two-player cooperative play throughout its campaign, and it became the subject of a widely reported racism controversy before and after its release because of its depiction of Africa and Africans.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[2](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5_racism_controversy)</sup>

| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release and developer | 2009, Capcom, for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with a later PC version<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[3](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/resident-evil-5-review/1900-6228853/)</sup> |
| Setting | Kijuju, in an imagined African country; the first series entry set in Africa<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[4](https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/565)</sup> |
| Protagonists | Chris Redfield (BSAA) and Sheva Alomar, working as a pair throughout the campaign<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> |
| Signature mechanic | Two-player co-op, with an AI-controlled partner in single-player and a shared nine-slot real-time inventory system<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> |
| Control limitation | Players cannot move and fire at the same time; drawing a weapon roots the character in place<sup>[5](https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-resident-evil-5/)</sup> |
| Controversy | Racism debate over the portrayal of Africa and Africans, running from the 2007 trailer through release<sup>[2](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5_racism_controversy)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[6](https://www.livescience.com/3385-worse-resident-evil-5-exposes-racism.html)</sup> |
| Commercial record | The highest-selling game in the series for roughly 15 years before a later entry overtook it<sup>[7](https://as.com/meristation/noticias/15-anos-despues-resident-evil-5-ha-sido-destronado-como-el-juego-mas-vendido-de-la-franquicia-por-una-entrega-mas-reciente-f202607-n/)</sup> |

## Gameplay

Resident Evil 5 builds directly on the design of [Resident Evil 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/resident-evil-4) (2005), replacing the slow zombies of the early series with fast, aggressive infected villagers and large boss battles.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> The defining addition is co-op. In single-player the AI controls the partner, who fights effectively, frees the player from enemy grabs, retrieves items, shares ammunition, heals, and helps solve puzzles; if the partner dies, the game is over.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> With a second player, locally or online, the game opens into shared tactics such as boosting each other to ledges and dividing supplies.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup>

**Inventory and controls.** Each character holds up to nine items in an inventory that runs in real time, so managing items or passing ammunition to a partner leaves both players exposed to attack. Four items can be bound to d-pad shortcuts for quick weapon switching, and buying, selling, and upgrading happen between chapters rather than mid-level.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> As in Resident Evil 4, the player cannot move while shooting, a deliberate constraint that reviewers noted as part of the challenge even as contemporaries such as [Dead Space](https://www.edgepedia.org/dead-space) allowed free movement.<sup>[5](https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-resident-evil-5/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> The PC version supports the [Xbox 360 controller](https://www.edgepedia.org/xbox-360-controller) but reviewers found keyboard and mouse aiming far more precise, and its online co-op ran through Games for Windows Live.<sup>[3](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/resident-evil-5-review/1900-6228853/)</sup>

The campaign is shorter than Resident Evil 4's, offset by extras including the returning Mercenaries mode, an arena-style score attack against endless waves of enemies, plus unlockable documents, costumes, and secret weapons.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup>

## Development

The game was developed from 2004 to 2008, with pre-production beginning in late 2004 as work on Resident Evil 4 wrapped up. It was an ambitious Capcom project that relied on international outsourcing for high-quality motion capture, cinematics, and music, and the script went through a number of rewrites over the belated development. Producer Jun Takeuchi discussed the project in a Famitsu interview, including the decision to set the game in Africa.<sup>[8](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5/development)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[9](https://news.capcomusa.com/lets/browse/resident-evil-5-famitsu-interview-with-takeuchi-sa)</sup>

Capcom conducted a research trip to Kenya for the game, but decided that the fictional Ndipaya people and their architecture would not directly copy any real African society.<sup>[2](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5_racism_controversy)</sup>

## The racism controversy

The debate began in 2007, when a trailer showed the white protagonist battling crowds of enraged Africans in a Third-World setting, turning anticipation among some journalists into uncertainty.<sup>[6](https://www.livescience.com/3385-worse-resident-evil-5-exposes-racism.html)</sup> A blogger's critique picked up by GamePolitics spread widely, with concerns that gunning down mobs of angry Africans could be subtly racist; most responses defended the game or attacked the original author.<sup>[10](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-5-raises-racism-concerns/1100-6175993/)</sup> Questions became mainstream in early 2008 with an MTV interview in which journalist N'Gai Croal was critical of Capcom's apparent tone-deafness, and follow-up reports grew more direct, some suggesting boycotts.<sup>[2](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5_racism_controversy)</sup> Croal said within the context of the game the imagery was not inherently racist, while calling the story implausible.<sup>[11](https://abcnews.com/Technology/story?id=7047589&page=1)</sup>

**Defenses and developer response.** Capcom and the developers expressed surprise at the controversy and expected the uproar to die down once the game reached shelves.<sup>[6](https://www.livescience.com/3385-worse-resident-evil-5-exposes-racism.html)</sup> Glenn Bowman, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Anthropology at the [University of Kent](https://www.edgepedia.org/university-of-kent), said people were looking too quickly to jam the racist label onto the game and that the African backdrop was merely a setting in which Capcom tells a story.<sup>[12](https://www.wired.com/2009/03/resident-evil-5-2/)</sup> Two Black actors who worked on the game also responded; one, who plays a Delta commander, said the African setting let developers draw on a completely different mythology.<sup>[13](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/technology-blog/story/2009-02-12/racism-in-resident-evil-5-capcom-two-black-actors-respond)</sup>

**Academic treatment.** Scholars took up the game as a case study in racial representation. A DiGRA paper by Hanli Geyser and Pippa Tshabalala examined representations of Africa and the imagery of the unknowable other, noting that Capcom was merely looking for a new, unexplored setting and was surprised by the controversy.<sup>[4](https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/565)</sup> A Games and Culture paper argued that reading the game as a Japanese production reveals aspects of a Japanese racial and colonial social imaginary that are missed when the context of production is ignored.<sup>[14](https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/775605/race-colonial-history-and-national-identity-resident-evil-5-as-a-japanese-game)</sup>

## Reception and sales

Critics received the game strongly. Reviews praised the graphics, sound, partner AI, and combat, with several calling it a worthy successor to Resident Evil 4 even though it did not revolutionize the series the way its predecessor had.<sup>[15](https://www.metacritic.com/game/resident-evil-5/critic-reviews/)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[16](https://www.metacritic.com/game/resident-evil-5/)</sup> Den of Geek scored it 4 out of 5, judging that Resident Evil 4 still had the edge overall but calling Resident Evil 5 an excellent game and an essential purchase for fans.<sup>[1](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)</sup> Capcom's own annual report described Resident Evil 5 as having recorded the highest sales in the series.<sup>[17](https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/annual/2013/annual_2013_10.pdf)</sup>

It held that sales crown for about fifteen years: a 2026 report noted that Resident Evil 5 had been dethroned as the franchise's best-selling game by a more recent entry.<sup>[7](https://as.com/meristation/noticias/15-anos-despues-resident-evil-5-ha-sido-destronado-como-el-juego-mas-vendido-de-la-franquicia-por-una-entrega-mas-reciente-f202607-n/)</sup> The game remains in print across platforms, with Capcom's online manual portal offering manuals for the [PlayStation 3](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-3), [PlayStation 4](https://www.edgepedia.org/playstation-4), [Xbox 360](https://www.edgepedia.org/xbox-360), and Xbox One versions.<sup>[18](https://www.capcom.com/manuals/re5/)</sup>

## Legacy

The co-op campaign is the element most often cited as the game's lasting contribution, and players still return to it; discussion of a possible remake regularly raises the question of how a new version would handle the racial controversy attached to the original.<sup>[19](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/resident-evil/should-resident-evil-5-remake-come-next-i-forced-my-coworker-to-play-co-op-with-me-to-investigate/)</sup> The controversy itself has become a standard reference point in game studies for debates about race and representation, appearing in dissertations and journal work on racialization in videogames.<sup>[20](https://escholarship.org/content/qt5811b3gv/qt5811b3gv.pdf)</sup><sup> • </sup><sup>[14](https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/775605/race-colonial-history-and-national-identity-resident-evil-5-as-a-japanese-game)</sup>

## References

1. [Resident Evil 5 Xbox 360 review, Den of Geek](https://www.denofgeek.com/games/resident-evil-5-xbox-360-review/)
2. [Resident Evil 5 racism controversy, Resident Evil Wiki](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5_racism_controversy)
3. [Resident Evil 5 Review, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/reviews/resident-evil-5-review/1900-6228853/)
4. [Geyser, Hanli and Tshabalala, Pippa (2011). Return to Darkness: Representations of Africa in Resident Evil 5. DiGRA 2011.](https://dl.digra.org/index.php/dl/article/view/565)
5. [Destructoid review: Resident Evil 5](https://www.destructoid.com/destructoid-review-resident-evil-5/)
6. [For Better or Worse, 'Resident Evil 5' Exposes Racism, Live Science](https://www.livescience.com/3385-worse-resident-evil-5-exposes-racism.html)
7. [15 años después, Resident Evil 5 ha sido destronado como el juego más vendido de la franquicia, AS MeriStation](https://as.com/meristation/noticias/15-anos-despues-resident-evil-5-ha-sido-destronado-como-el-juego-mas-vendido-de-la-franquicia-por-una-entrega-mas-reciente-f202607-n/)
8. [Resident Evil 5 development, Resident Evil Wiki](https://residentevil.fandom.com/wiki/Resident_Evil_5/development)
9. [Resident Evil 5 Famitsu interview with Takeuchi, Capcom News](https://news.capcomusa.com/lets/browse/resident-evil-5-famitsu-interview-with-takeuchi-sa)
10. [Resident Evil 5 raises racism concerns, GameSpot](https://www.gamespot.com/articles/resident-evil-5-raises-racism-concerns/1100-6175993/)
11. [Racism is evil, but in the end is 'Resident Evil 5' racist?, ABC News](https://abcnews.com/Technology/story?id=7047589&page=1)
12. [Resident Evil 5 is Not Racist, Says Anthropologist, WIRED](https://www.wired.com/2009/03/resident-evil-5-2/)
13. [Racism in Resident Evil 5? Capcom, two black actors respond, Los Angeles Times](https://www.latimes.com/archives/blogs/technology-blog/story/2009-02-12/racism-in-resident-evil-5-capcom-two-black-actors-respond)
14. [Race, colonial history and national identity: Resident Evil 5 as a Japanese game, Games and Culture](https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/775605/race-colonial-history-and-national-identity-resident-evil-5-as-a-japanese-game)
15. [Resident Evil 5 critic reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/resident-evil-5/critic-reviews/)
16. [Resident Evil 5 Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/game/resident-evil-5/)
17. [Changing Creators, Constant World, Capcom Annual Report 2013](https://www.capcom.co.jp/ir/english/data/pdf/annual/2013/annual_2013_10.pdf)
18. [CAPCOM Online Manuals: Resident Evil 5](https://www.capcom.com/manuals/re5/)
19. [Should Resident Evil 5 remake come next?, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/games/resident-evil/should-resident-evil-5-remake-come-next-i-forced-my-coworker-to-play-co-op-with-me-to-investigate/)
20. [Higgin, Tanner (2012). Gamic Race: Logics of Difference in Videogame Culture. UC Riverside dissertation.](https://escholarship.org/content/qt5811b3gv/qt5811b3gv.pdf)

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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Video games and digital play › Games and gameplay › Franchises and series › Action, horror, and shooter franchises › Resident Evil franchise*

*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 19, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*

*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*

License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license