from netflix demonic resident The show launched on the streaming service last week, and as with any video game adaptation, it garnered some pretty mixed reactions across the board.

The show is based on Capcom’s iconic survival horror franchise, but instead of rewriting gaming history, it focuses on Albert Wesker and his daughters. Sounds like a recipe for disaster, right? Good, something like.

Reviews of the show have been pouring in from outlets and fans alike, so let’s see what everyone thinks of the show, eh? Yes, that includes you folks, too!

Eurogamer reports that fan response to the show has been quite hostile, with many viewers expressing discontent with the series’ direction. For our part, at least, we were a bit surprised, but we definitely think the show lacks bite. This is what we had to say on Nintendo Life in our review:

However, perhaps the worst sin committed by Resident Evil is the simple fact that some of the franchise’s most iconic monsters simply don’t get a chance to shine. Zombies (known as ‘Zeroes’ here) understandably play a prominent role throughout, and we also get to see Zombie Dogs, Lickers, Giant Tarantulas, Dr. Salvador, and even a Tyrant. The problem, however, is that none of them have significant screen time.

At Push Square, the opinions are similar to ours, with the outlet calling the Netflix adaptation “dumb, fool TV show” and comparing it to the teen drama series Riverdale, suggesting that fans walk in with the right expectations:

However, there is fun to be had from the sheer stupidity of it all, and even if many of the plot devices have been made to death, a shady pharmaceutical company! Crazy CEO! The foolish decision making of teenagers! – passes the Netflix binge test. For that alone, we believe the show is a success.

Golden News, however, has been pretty positive about the show, praising showrunner Andrew Dabb in particular:

… Dabb focuses more on environmental mutations while Umbrella plays God with global implications. Dabb understands Resident Evil as more than just “point a shotgun, fire a headshot” in ways that feel connected to the sensibilities of the game franchise.

GamesRadar is, by contrast, more critical of the show, but joins in near-unanimous praise for Lance Reddick’s turn as Albert Wesker:

However, the Resident Evil Netflix series is not completely dead after the first few episodes. In particular, Lance Reddick is terribly creepy as Albert Wesker. A family man on the surface, he’s likely to flip a switch and intimidate others with a stern look and a handful of veiled, barbed threats…

And The Verge, while praising Reddick’s performance as Wesker, doesn’t feel like the show has much to say or offer:

But instead of placing Albert and the Wesker sisters at the center of a suitably compelling mystery divided into timelines, Resident Evil presents it with a predictable plot that ultimately suffers from being such a late entry in the craze of modern day zombies.

Video game fans have been a bit less charitable towards the show, which is receiving barrage of reviews on numerous aggregate sites. The show tries to please fans by giving viewers callbacks and references, but the timeline jump and teen-centric plot has many confused, with some calling the show “terrible.”

On Rotten Tomatoes, at the time of this writing, Resident Evil has a pretty lousy 25% viewership score. On the contrary, the average of the critics is 50%; still not very good, but much better than 25%. One reviewer stated that the show was “Boring, bloated and incoherent”, while another has written “Not sure what direction they were going to take here, maybe a YA fiction set against a Resident Evil backdrop”. It does not work.

Metacritic isn’t much better either. Once again, the average critic score is around 53/100, but the user score is an awful 1.8/10. And while many comments lament the show’s direction and focus on teen characters, one more generous viewer has at least left room for some praise from Lance Reddick: “I’ll give it a 3 out of respect for Lance Reddick. He is good, the rest not so much”. IMDB’s 3.6 user rating isn’t much to celebrate either.

So what about Twitter then? Well, you can see that people are at least amused by his disgust, right?

But hey, some people are enjoying it, and that’s totally fine!

Why not let us know what you think of the series by voting in our poll? But don’t forget to let us know in the comments too: we want the truth!