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| Artwork for Resident Evil 1996 |
It's a classic case of "one step forward, one step back" for horror fans this week. Capcom has finally brought the holy grail of survival horror—the original Resident Evil, Resident Evil 2, and Resident Evil 3: Nemesis—to Steam, giving a whole new generation a chance to experience the fixed cameras and tank controls that defined a genre.
For new and veteran players alike, you can now grab these foundational classics for just $4.99 each (or £3.99) as part of a 50% off launch discount that runs until April 15. To sweeten the pot even further, Capcom has also dropped the cult-classic JRPG Breath of Fire IV on the platform for the same price.
The GOG Connection: A Familiar Feeling with a Catch
There is, however, a rather significant catch. If these PC ports feel oddly familiar to you, it’s because they are. These are not new remasters or native Steam builds; they are direct ports of the enhanced versions we saw released on GOG a few years ago.
That’s not necessarily bad news, as the GOG releases were solid. They brought modern quality-of-life features to the 90s classics, including smoother animations, improved mouse and keyboard support, overhauled audio mixing, and robust support for modern display resolutions.
You can check out the Steam page for the original game right here to see the enhancements for yourself: Resident Evil 1996 on Steam.
So, what’s the rub? The other feature Capcom added: Enigma DRM.
The Enigma Problem: Performance and Modding at Risk
Unlike the pristine, DRM-free versions available on GOG (which align perfectly with that platform’s philosophy of letting players truly own their games), the Steam releases come pre-packaged with Capcom’s "The Enigma Protector". This DRM software has slowly been creeping into Capcom’s recent back catalog.
The history here is what makes the decision so baffling. When Capcom first added Enigma to Resident Evil Revelations and later swapped Denuvo for Enigma in Resident Evil 4 Remake back in February, the results were catastrophic. Users reported severe stuttering, frame rate drops of between 10-20 FPS, and outright crashes. The performance hit was so severe that Capcom was forced to completely remove the DRM from Resident Evil 4 Remake within a month of its implementation to quell the outrage.
Despite that recent fiasco, the company decided to force the protection onto 20-year-old games, leading to an immediate backlash. Players have reported that Enigma creates conflicts with third-party mods (often killing them entirely) and introduces stuttering that wasn’t present in the GOG versions.
Steam Deck Horror (For All the Wrong Reasons)
Perhaps the most broken aspect of this release is the state of the Steam Deck compatibility. While Valve’s handheld has become the gold standard for playing classic PC games on the go, these specific Resident Evil ports are failing to boot properly right out of the box.
Numerous users on Reddit and across the web have reported that the Enigma DRM is actively preventing the trilogy from running on SteamOS and Linux-based systems. For those with the patience to tinker, manual tweaks and fixes can sometimes get the games running, but the experience is far from seamless. Users report input lag, issues with video playback, and a complete lack of cloud save support across the titles.
A Bittersweet Reunion
Currently, the classic trilogy sits at a "Very Positive" rating on Steam, largely driven by nostalgia for the games themselves. However, a deep dive into the community hubs reveals a player base that is frustrated and scratching their heads.
Given that the same games exist in a superior, DRM-free state on GOG, the question remains: Why would Capcom tarnish the legacy of these titles on its own platform for the sake of security software that has already proven to be a performance-averse disaster?
For purists, the GOG versions remain the definitive way to play. But if you want to add them to your main Steam library, you’ll be dealing with Capcom’s puzzling determination to treat 1996’s Resident Evil like a high-security bank vault.