Japan has always been a bit ahead of the curve when it comes to gaming, in my opinion. Companies like Nintendo and SEGA made massive strides in the early home console market, for example, not to mention the impact that their individual games (Mario, Zelda, Sonic, etc.) had on the medium more broadly. But in the pantheon of legendary Japanese gaming companies, Capcom could very well be the best, at least right now.
Of course, it’s a bit unfair to compare Capcom to a company like Sony or Nintendo, which develops and publishes its own hardware in addition to software. But if you look purely at the spate of games that Capcom has put out over the course of the past decade, you’ll find a consistent level of quality rarely demonstrated by its competitors. This is an easy point to make in 2026, what with the releases of Resident Evil Requiem, Monster Hunter Stories 3, and Pragmata, with Onimusha: Way of the Sword still to come this fall. But this is far from a one-off year; it’s actually a mere extension of what Capcom has been doing since at least Resident Evil 7.
Capcom Has Been On Fire Since 2017
Image via Capcom
Image via Capcom
Capcom’s Biggest Releases Since 2017
- Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
- Monster Hunter: World
- Mega Man 11
- Resident Evil 2 (2019)
- Devil May Cry 5
- Monster Hunter Riders
- Resident Evil 3 (2020)
- Monster Hunter Rise
- Resident Evil Village
- Monster Hunter Stories 2
- Resident Evil 4 (2024)
- Street Fighter 6
- Dragon’s Dogma 2
- Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess
- Resident Evil Requiem
- Monster Hunter Stories 3
- Pragmata
This list only includes full games from Capcom since 2017, not expansions, re-releases, or more straightforward remasters.
Scratch & Peek
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
Identify the cover art while scratching off as little foil as possible.
It’s hard to believe that all of these games came from one company in the span of just nine years; many of these titles can be—and often are—considered the best games of their given year. I certainly wouldn’t begrudge someone for calling the Resident Evil 4 remake the best game of 2023, or Monster Hunter: World the best game of 2018. Even Nintendo, which has been on a roll with recent releases like Pokémon Pokopia and Donkey Kong Bananza, struggles to match such volume while maintaining a high quality bar.
Resident Evil’s Revival May Have Very Well Saved Capcom
Image via Capcom
Image via Capcom
Before 2017, the last proper game in Capcom’s flagship Resident Evil franchise was Resident Evil 6, a release that was a massive disappointment for a lot of fans. It’s widely considered a low point for the franchise due to its convoluted story, lack of horror elements, and overt action orientation. It seemed that Capcom had perhaps peaked with the original Resident Evil 4, and that the series was now in decline. Misguided spin-offs like Umbrella Corps certainly didn’t help, either.
But then, Resident Evil 7 came along and blew everyone away. With a new protagonist and perspective (literally—RE7 is the first mainline Resident Evil game in first-person), plus a decisive pivot back to survival-horror fundamentals, RE7 put the IP back on top almost immediately. It was followed by the excellent Resident Evil 2 remake, which set a new standard for remakes, then Resident Evil 3’s remake, Village, Resident Evil 4’s remake, and most recently, Resident Evil Requiem. All of these games were massive critical and commercial successes, and left indelible marks on gaming culture, repositioning Capcom as a leader in the horror space.
Capcom Has Struck a Good Balance Between Honoring Its Past and Plowing Ahead
via Capcom
Resident Evil isn’t the only Capcom franchise to have enjoyed a return to form in recent years. Devil May Cry was revived with Devil May Cry 5 in 2019, which arguably took the series to previously untouched heights. It’s certainly better than DMC: Devil May Cry, which left a bad taste in the mouths of many fans.
Then we have Street Fighter 6, which brought the franchise back to life in 2023, seven years after the mixed response to Street Fighter 5. Street Fighter 6, on the other hand, enjoyed near-unanimous praise at launch and is often praised for having the best single-player mode of the entire series. And after the connectivity issues that plagued Street Fighter 5, Street Fighter 6’s smooth netcode felt like a godsend.
Capcom isn’t done bringing back its old franchises, either, as Onimusha: Way of the Sword is set to reintroduce Onimusha to modern players, and it’s likely only a matter of time before the next Devil May Cry is announced. But personally, I appreciate Capcom’s willingness to experiment and ideate over anything else. Pragmata has its detractors, and it’s certainly not perfect, but it’s a frontrunner for my GOTY. I think it proves that big, AAA games don’t have to be part of decades-old IP to be successful. Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is another example of fresh IP working in Capcom’s favor, diversifying the company’s output and giving gamers greater variety in the process.
Of course, Capcom also benefits from retaining some of the best talent in the industry, as well as decades of industry experience and cultural cache. Not every developer has the luxury of trying again after underdelivering on a beloved IP. At any rate, from the outside looking in, it certainly appears that Capcom has a good head on its shoulders, as it were.