For me Resident evil 2. This is my order:

2>4>7>1>5>8

Didnt play the original RE3.

I am playing RE requiem next week which might alter my order.

I recommend giving 7 a chance. Once you escape the opening section, things open up considerably. And while there are zones where a member of the Baker family will stalk you if you enter their sphere of influence, there are plenty of areas where you can explore more freely.

Personally, I like that the horror in 7 is so suffocating and intimate, but I totally appreciate your perspective. I think if you can power through those cat-and-mouse sequences, the game is absolutely worth playing. It’s one of the most disturbing, atmospheric, surprising games in the entire canon. Also, the narrative payoffs in 8 are more powerful if you’ve played 7.

I've watched 7, I really can't remember that much because it was a while ago tho lol.

It does feel too much like Outlast, even more as it was once a VR horror demo called Kitchen and had absolutely nothing to do with Resident Evil to begin with.

Seems like you might like Outlast as well, btw, I also watched someone else play it and it felt really suffocating even just watching it. I tried helping a friend play it but even with me helping she was far too scared to keep going. Not my kind of game but it was really good at what it was trying to do.

With the caveat that I have only played 5, 7 and Requiem when the remakes don't count, I give it to Requiem. Easily. It has everything that I liked about 7 plus good action in the Leon segments. It is many years ago that I played 5, but I remember that merely as being a good, fun coop game, nothing out of the ordinary. Requiem is awesome.

Yeah I am near the end of 8/Village now and I'm loving it, really awesome mood and setting, satisfying action, and some very effective scares.

4 is still my favourite thanks to it being virtually a perfect game in my view that excels at pretty much everything and has no real flaws, but 7, Village, and Requiem are amazing as well.

Haven't played any Resident Evil, but because of the extra sense of dread, Nemesis.

4 is truly remarkable.  I love the original and loved the remake even more.  Outside 6, RE is a great franchise.  Glad to see silent hill back to form, F was stupid great.  

Yeah I hated 6, and found 5 to be a mixed bag.

I never properly played the first 3 on PS1 as I just couldn't get into the tank controls. Tried REmake on Gamecube and while that was much more playable, and visually gorgeous, the game's fixed camera angles kinda put me off, as I find them awkward and disorientating.

Still, I can appreciate what they accomplished in their time even if they're not my cup of tea.

RE1 GameCube Remake is the best Capcom and horror game of all time imo. But since it doesn't count, it's between og RE1 and RE2 for me.

Resident Evil 8 was my favorite. No2 was Resident Evil 7.
Hasn't played yet 9.