10 Woefully Underrated Horror Games On PlayStation Systems
10 Woefully Underrated Horror Games On PlayStation Systems
Contents
Horror gaming has always been relatively niche, but there’s no shortage of the stuff on Sony Systems, with these 10 being some of the best.
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Sony’s line of PlayStation consoles has had a pretty solid track record when it comes to the horror genre. From the polygonal panic of the first Resident Evil title to the unending terror that was the Silent Hills playable teaser which was available exclusively on the PS4, the PlayStation lineage, more so than any other line of home consoles, has been a home for horror.
Of course, Sony couldn’t have earned that reputation with AAA titles alone. In lieu of recounting some of the more well-known releases in the genre over the past several decades, we’re here to celebrate some potentially-forgotten horror gems available on PlayStation systems.
10 ParanoiaScape
Helmed by horror movie special effects designer Joji Tani—who is credited as “Screaming Mad George” on the game’s cover, ParanoiaScape is a Japanese-exclusive release for the original PlayStation that challenges the very notion of what a horror game can be.
A first-person horror pinball adventure—yes, you read that correctly—ParanoiaScape tasks players with making it through nine stages of a fictitious demon world while fighting enemies and keeping the ball, referred to in-game as the “brain ball” in play. With gameplay suiting an 80s arcade and imagery befitting a Silent Hill game, ParanoiaScape really is one-of-a-kind.
9 Dino Crisis
Released in July of 1999 a mere few months ahead of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, Dino Crisis was Capcom and Shinji Mikami’s attempt to liven up the traditional Resident Evil formula while maintaining many of the aspects which made their first two survival horror outings so successful. The result was a maniacal rampage which played quite a bit like the later, faster-paced RE titles… but with all of the monsters replaced with dinosaurs.
Drawing obvious inspiration from the Jurassic Park series of films, Dino Crisis is well-known among horror fans, but, due to the fact that it has never received a remake, much of the gaming populace has forgotten about this gem of an original PlayStation title.
8 Echo Night
Developed by a pre-Dark Souls FromSoftware team floundering to find solid footing in the North American video gaming market, Echo Night is a bizarre puzzle adventure title that plays a bit like a first-person Luigi’s Mansion without any of the arcadey combat to keep things engaging.
Weaving a strange narrative surrounding troubled and occasionally violent specters, the player is tasked with collecting MacGuffins known as “astral pieces” by fulfilling various tasks supplied by the game’s ghosts. It’s definitely a weird game, and it hasn’t aged well in the slightest, but it’s an interesting piece of horror history for those interested in such things.
7 Cold Fear
Cold Fear is infamous for its status as a bargain-bin knock-off of Capcom’s Resident Evil 4. Releasing on the PS2 mere months after the aforementioned seminal survival horror masterpiece, Ubisoft’s take on the genre stood no chance at beating the competition.
However, the experience of playing Cold Fear offers an impression separate to that of watching YouTube footage or viewing screenshots; it places a huge emphasis on precision aiming—even more so than RE 4—with players needing to take the sway of the ship on which the game is set into account. Though in many ways it feels lacking in originality, Cold Fear is still one to check out today, particularly for fans of survival horror.
6 The Thing
The Thing is a 2002 third-person squad-based shooter that acts as a direct sequel to the John Carpenter film from 20 years prior. Set in the same antarctic outpost seen in the movie, the player takes control of a band of soldiers sent in to discover exactly what happened in the aftermath of the titular creature’s attack.
Amazingly, this PS2 title does an excellent job of recreating the fear and paranoia central to the film. Various events and encounters will set players on edge, and they’ll never really be sure who in their squad can be trusted. It’s a real shame that this masterpiece fell from public consciousness.
5 Corpse Party
First appearing as a Japanese-exclusive in 1996 for home computers, Corpse Party could loosely be described as a puzzle adventure game with a heavy emphasis on horror. Despite its cutesy anime aesthetic, the game can pack a punch, and the later game’s use of binaural audio made for some seriously intense play experiences.
First released in the west on the PSP in 2010 as Corpse Party Blood Covered: … Repeated Fear, the series took the distinctly Japanese gameplay and visual stylings of 2D JRPG titles with which westerners were familiar and completely subverted them. Though most will argue in favor of the first release in the Corpse Party series, it continues on to this day with the recent release of Corpse Party 2: Dead Patient.
4 Area 51
Primarily known for featuring the vocal talents of celebrities like David Duchovny and Marilyn Manson, Area 51 was a bizarre sci-fi FPS released for the PS2 and original Xbox in 2005. Players assume the role of a soldier sent into the titular US military installation after a containment breach, and, from there, the story quickly goes off the rails.
Despite its quirky nature, Area 51 is a fantastic shooter on a system that had no shortage of fantastic shooters. Though it feels a bit clunky today and the standard-def visuals look extremely dated, it’s absolutely worth checking out.
3 Siren Blood Curse
Released in mid-2008, Siren Blood Curse is a criminally underrated PS3 stealth survival horror title that made mostly-defenseless protagonists cool before the likes of Outlast and Amnesia: The Dark Descent. Though players can occasionally get their hands on weapons, they’re almost useless when it comes to fending off foes.
The most revered aspect of this title, however, is the fact that it allows the player-character to psychically link with nearby enemies and see through their eyes. It’s one of the only instances of the second-person perspective being used in games, and it’s used to tremendous effect.
2 Nightmare Creatures
Though eventually ported to the Nintendo 64, Nightmare Creatures began life as a PlayStation exclusive, and it was certainly one of the darkest titles of the earlier half of the fifth-generation era of gaming.
Difficult, demanding, and overtly creepy, it wouldn’t be unfair to compare Nightmare Creatures to modern classics that would come much later. In fact, it features more than a few stunning parallels to FromSoft’s Bloodborne; a heavy emphasis on melee combat, a bleak gothic setting, and a series of devilishly disturbing beasts to destroy. Though obviously not a one-to-one match, Nightmare Creatures almost serves as a demake of FromSoft’s later PS4-exclusive.
1 Evil Dead: Hail To The King
Groovy. One of several video games based on the Evil Dead franchise to release in the late 90s and early 2000s, Hail To The King is a goofy, strange game that wears its inspirations on its sleeve, the most prominent of which was the Resident Evil series.
Yet, while it borrows the fixed-camera aesthetic, tank control scheme, and save system from the infinitely superior Capcom releases, Evil Dead operates as more of a clunky hack-and-slash title than a true-to-form survival horror game. It’s extremely rough around the edges, but, for fans of the movie franchise, this could definitely be worth a playthrough.
Link Source : https://screenrant.com/underrated-playstation-horror-games/
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