Why is Resident Evil's mansion so great?

Indie By Design delve into the belly of the beast on this week's gaming the podcast as Stace Harman and John Robertson, discuss and explore Resident Evil 1's mansion.

What makes it so revered? How has it stood the test of time so well and how does its design impact everything that occurs in the game?

[Sonic-and-Crash]

stood in time because was grounded and realistc ....original RE1 was ScienceFiction based horror that s why was so good....they created smhting that could be a scientific center or institute and not a vampiric castle with werewolves....that s how they managed to immerse the fans to its world and be so merorable

Developpers back then made excellent job to not copy holywood but create horror with colors and atmosphere.....RE1Remake.lost a bit of this essence making it extremely dark and black-losing alot from the art of its environment....

[TricksterArrow]

No bathrooms is hardly realistic. It’s a great set piece, atmospheric and beautiful, fueled by great music and ambience.

[Sonic-and-Crash]

you probably never played RE1 ...you just repeat the classic 'No Bathrooms' omission that goes for RE2 not RE1 mansion ...play the games man, dont just repeat what you hear/see in memes

[TricksterArrow]

@Sonic Sorry. One bathroom for a “gigantic” mansion. The guard house has a few. But this just reiterares the mansion is not “realistically” designed. It’s just a glorified cover/deathtrap.

I wonder which mansions you’ve seen in real life designed like the Spencer Mansion. A big ass kitchen, a dining room and one bathroom... across the mansion or on a different building from where you eat. It’s a meme for a reason. It’s not grounded, because it does not need to be, it’s a game set, it knows it’s a game set and it’s ever more great for it.

[lucian229]

nostalgia that's all

[MasterChief3624]

Oooo, Lisa Trevor doesn't like that.

[Jericho1337]

The music was and is unforgettable.

[Aussiesummer]

Man the memories of pouring over magazine articles about resident evil when I was a kid, aching to play it then we managed to get an ntsc copy and figured out a way to play it on our pal PS1 with the ol disc swap trick but it would only play in black and white....and this was pre internet, we were crafty little buggers.
we were so excited to finally be playing resident evil even without colour.
We all screamed in unison when that dog first jumped through the windows, panicking trying not to mess up our escape with those tank controls, lol, good times.

[Orchard]

The music, the visuals, the many different themed areas of the mansion and the sheer size of the mansion for a PS1 game.

This is probably the most memorable game environment for me, and I could probably re-draw the map from memory...

[metalhead]

The setting is elegant, yet very creepy. Some of my fondest memories are of some of the crazy mansion rooms. My most vivid memories of every RE game are in the mansion settings as well.

[MasterChief3624]

I think the first game is the only one where I actually love all the locations. Usually I only truly love the first big area (Mansion in RE Zero, RPD in 2, etc.), and the other ones leave something to be desired. But the first game is perfect in that there is literally no area I dislike. Spencer Mansion is perfect, the old house down the way is perfect, the lab is perfect... I don't know. Something about RE1 (specifically REmake) helps it endure all these years later, and I think my love of all the areas is part of that.

[XXXL]

It was the mystery. What’s behind that locked door, where does this corridor lead, etc. The game let my imagination run wild and the reality didn’t disappoint.