The original Resident Evil is quite unlike anything else out there. It’s hammy, has a B-movie charm, and is undeniably one of the best designed video games ever made. Excellent level design, interesting boss fights, and engaging item management keep Resident Evil an enticing playthrough decades after the fact.
Part of having fun with Resident Evil, though, comes down to understanding what it wants from the player, and that means recognizing the inherent differences between playable characters Jill Valentine and Chris Redfield. While they both go through the same game, the two characters differ when it comes to their stats and which weapons they ultimately get.
10 Jill: More Inventory Space
At first glance, Jill is the better character if only because she has two more inventory slots than Chris. That alone minimizes backtracking considerably. On a fresh Chris playthrough, players will likely need to backtrack to Item Boxes fairly often in order to solve puzzles. It’s not frustrating as that’s a part of the gameplay core loop, but Jill naturally has an easier time.
Not just that, these two slots mean Jill can pack weapons, ammo, puzzle items, and health comfortably with room to pick up more goodies on the way. Anyone playing as Chris will have to make more compromises across their playthroughs.
9 Chris: More Health
While Jill may have more room for items, she’s not nearly as durable as Chris. Four hits and she’s basically dead. Chris, on the other hand, can take a bit more punishment. Not too much, granted, but enough to make a difference. Playing as Chris is technically “Hard” mode, but it’s much easier to survive as Redfield.
To be fair, though, some considerations needed to be made. Jill’s playthrough is easier on an inherent level thanks to Barry and a reduced amount of backtracking, but players really cannot afford to take too much damage when playing as Jill over Chris.
8 Jill: The Lockpick
That said, it can’t be stressed enough how easy getting around the mansion is as Jill. Both characters have their own unique items and Jill’s happens to be the Lockpick. With her Lockpick alone, Jill is able to open so many doors Chris would need an Old Key for. It makes for faster fresh playthroughs, minimizing the need for backtracking.
This is also why Jill is the suggested choice for a first playthrough. With the Lockpick, players can familiarize themselves with the mansion much faster and earlier than they would had they started playing as Chris first. That said, Chris does have his own unique item as well.
7 Chris: The Lighter
And it’s arguably way more useful in the grand scheme of things! While Jill’s Lockpick is admittedly very nice and undeniably one of the best items in Resident Evil period, the Lighter is just so useful for the remake. Should players leave dead zombies alone for too long, they’ll mutate into the aggressively fast Crimson Heads.
The only way to prevent this is to either burn their bodies or decapitate them. Unfortunately for Jill, tha means carrying a Lighter and Kerosene at all times. Chris only needs to carry Kerosene on him as the Lighter is an inherent part of his inventory. Funny enough, this actually ends up being way more useful for a first playthrough of remake.
6 Jill: The Bazooka
Both Jill and Chris get their own unique weapons during their playthroughs and while they’re both useful, Jill arguably has the more practically useful weapon. The Bazooka can fire Acid and Fire Rounds and either way, it’s probably the strongest weapon in the game behind the Magnum (which both Chris and Jill can get by the end of the game.)
With Fire Rounds, Jill’s Bazooka can actually get rid of Crimson Heads before they’re ever a problem, removing the need for Kerosene and the Lighter altogether. Acid Rounds also make easy work of bosses. All in all, Jill’s Bazooka goes a long way in making her playthrough better.
5 Chris: The Flamethrower
It’s silly to even try to imply the Flamethrower is a better weapon than the Bazooka, but it’s not a bad weapon by any means whatsoever. It’s even better in the remake where Chris can use the Flamethrower to help him in the fight against Black Tiger. The remake makes the fight much harder, and the Flamethrower is the now the best weapon for the fight.
Even without its situational use against Black Tiger, the Flamethrower is a nice throwaway weapon for the later part of the game. Low on handgun or shotgun ammo and need to get some zombies out of the way? Use some Flamethrower fuel! It’s not going to see any meaningful use otherwise.
4 Jill: Easier Plant Encounter
Both Jill and Chris fight the same bosses, but they go about a few of them different. The biggest differences come in the fight against Plant 42 where Chris has a considerably harder time. Grabbed by the plant, Rebecca has to make V-Jolt for Chris during the fight. Jill, on the other hand, can make V-Jolt as soon as possible and just waltz in to battle.
Jill’s Bazooka also just makes the fight much easier than as Chris, but it’s not too difficult as Redfield. In general, the first Resident Evil mostly only has easy bosses. The remake beefs up a few, but not enough to the point where the game’s bosses can’t be called easy.
3 Chris: More Prone To Getting Headshots
One of the strangest character differences in Resident Evil 1, Chris actually gets more headshots than Jill just inherently. For whatever reason, zombies are decapitated much more reliably in Chris playthroughs. It’s not unusual to find accounts of players referencing headshot chains they’ve gotten– but only as Chris.
Unfortunately, Jill doesn’t get the same perk. Perhaps having eight inventory slots was deemed too useful, but this actually ends up biting Jill real bad in the remake where not being able to comfortably get headshots leads to a whole lot of Crimson Heads. Of course, Jill does have the Bazooka so it’s not like it matters at the end of the day.
2 Jill: Earlier Shotgun
In the vanilla game, players will want to get their Shotgun as soon as possible. It can decapitate zombies rather easily and it’s pretty much a necessity once Hunters start invading the Mansion. Anyone who plays as Chris will have to wait a while to get it as he has to find a broken Shotgun to replace it with, but Jill can get it faster.
Just take the Shotgun off the wall and instead of being crushed to death, Barry will rescue Jill at the last possible moment. Jill will then have the Shotgun for the rest of the game. Taking the Assault Shotgun from the remake into consideration, and this just makes item management as Jill so much easier.
1 Chris: Faster
It’s kind of shocking how much better Chris is than Jill on a stats level. He has more health, he potentially does more damage, and he’s outright faster. This is especially useful in the remake where Crimson Heads and Forest are horrifically fast. It’s very, very hard to avoid these two enemies as is, but not having Chris’ extra speed makes playing as Jill a bit more tense.
Resident Evil is also a game that comes ultimately scores based off time. Players who want to get through their playthroughs as fast as possible for a solid rank will more than likely want to play as Chris. Jill has it easier in the grand scheme of things, but a well executed Chris playthrough will always be faster.
NEXT: 10 PS2 Games To Play If You Like Resident Evil
