Best Horror Game From Every Year Of The PS1’s Life

Highlights

• PlayStation horror titles weren’t always exclusives, reaching platforms like PC and Dreamcast.
• Unique horror games like
  Banshee’s Last Cry
  paved the way for future mystery visual novels.
• Dino Crisis 2
  puts a twist on typical horror by adding intense dinosaur action to the mix.

Some of the original PlayStation’s most beloved games, from Resident Evil to Silent Hill, were horror titles. While not always entirely dedicated to the cause of scaring gamers, the console owes much of its fame to its incredible variety of games, genres, and developers. This includes unique little games like Nightmare Creatures, as well as multiplatform titles like the Clock Tower remake.

A great many horror titles on the PlayStation were not actually exclusives. It’s weird to imagine it now, but the first three Resident Evil games were also released on PC, with some reaching the Dreamcast and even the Nintendo 64. The fact that those games are now tied to Sony’s console speaks volumes of how influential the PlayStation was in its time.

9 Alone In The Dark 2 – 1993

The Classic Survival Horror Sequel

Alone in the Dark 2 might have come out in 1993, but it didn’t reach the PlayStation until 1996. This somewhat justifies the dated look of the game, which, for the most part, is on par with the 1992 original, except for the inferior atmosphere. While the first Alone in the Dark is set in an abandoned house during a stormy night, the sequel is often set in a lovely daylit garden.

While it might not be as strong as the original or as the PS1 Resident Evil games it inspired, Alone in the Dark 2 is a fun romp through vaguely spooky scenarios. Interested players should approach this game with the right expectations. It occasionally gets very silly, with pirate zombies and improvised traps straight out of Home Alone.

8 Banshee’s Last Cry – 1994

The Seminal Horror Visual Novel

• Platform(s): Super Nintendo, PlayStation, Game Boy Advance, PC, iOS
• Released: 1994-11-25
• Developer(s): Chunsoft
• Genre(s): Horror, Adventure

Until the iOS port in 2014, Banshee’s Last Cry was never translated into English. It’s unlikely, then, that many fans of the console would recognize this seminal horror visual novel, though they might be familiar with its legacy. For example, Banshee’s Last Cry is one of Chunsoft’s first games, developers of the Danganronpa and Mystery Dungeon series.

Banshee’s Last Cry is the story of a winter vacation retreat gone wrong, when one of the guests staying at the protagonists’ cabin is killed. The player must explore almost all the paths through the game and find different bad endings before unlocking the dialogue choices necessary to reach the true ending. While the idea of unlocking dialogue choices might sound weird to mystery visual novel newcomers, it has since become a standard of the genre.

7 Clock Tower: The First Fear – 1995

The Horror Adventure Reboot

• Platform(s): Super Nintendo, PlayStation, WonderSwan, PC
• Released: 1995-09-14
• Developer(s): Human Entertainment
• Genre(s): Horror, Adventure

Clock Tower only reached Sony’s console in 1997 as Clock Tower: The First Fear, a remake that almost acted as a reboot of the young series. Gone was the pixelated, hand-drawn look of the original, replaced by charming but blocky early 3D models. In exchange, this version of the horror adventure classic has voice acting, even if it’s not very good.

Clock Tower: The First Fear is an adventure game, first and foremost, like the rest of the Clock Tower series. Unlike dedicated survival horrors, there is no real action to speak of besides occasionally running away from monsters. While Clock Tower: The First Fear is stuck on the original PlayStation, WayForward should release a remaster of the original sometime in 2024.

6 Resident Evil – 1996

A Legendary Survival Horror

The original Resident Evil might be the most well-known horror game on the PlayStation, and certainly one of the most popular games in the early years of the console. Curiously, Resident Evil wasn’t actually a Sony exclusive, being released for Windows computers later that same year.

The story of Resident Evil is simple: a group of police special operatives take refuge inside an old mansion after their helicopter crashes in the nearby woods. What they find, from monsters to secret passages, requires further investigation. An investigation that causes them to blow up the entire structure and kill the biggest monster of all, the Tyrant.

5 Nightmare Creatures – 1997

Atmospheric Horror Action

• Platform(s): PlayStation, PC, Nintendo 64, Mobile
• Released: 1997-09-30
• Developer(s): Kalisto Entertainment
• Genre(s): Horror, Action

Nightmare Creatures is a weird beast. If it weren’t for some technical limitations and awkward controls, it would probably be regarded as a hidden gem. The game is set in a 16th-century London overrun by werewolves and other classic monsters. This setting, together with the game’s slow-moving melee combat, have caused fans to (ironically) refer to Nightmare Creatures as Bloodborne on PS1.

The PlayStation version of Nightmare Creatures came with long pre-rendered cinematics for the intro and the ending, a gift of the new CD-ROM technology. This goes hand-in-hand with the game’s interest in creating a unique atmosphere. The city is immersed in constant fog, visibility is low, and the animations are quite impressive for the time.

4 Parasite Eve – 1998

Unique Horror RPG

Parasite Eve is a unique survival horror game, especially for a 1998 PlayStation title. For one, it’s based on a novel, and a fairly popular one at that. It’s also an RPG, mixing the genre’s traditional mechanics with heavy survival horror influences like a fixed camera.

One thing that immediately stands out about this game is the combat; a traditional RPG without real turns, in many ways similar to the (much more recent) Final Fantasy 12. Fans of Parasite Eve often praise the game’s soundtrack, by Kingdom Hearts composer Yoko Shimomura, and the story, a weird and dramatic romp at once based on every kind of speculative science imaginable.

3 Silent Hill – 1999

Classic Horror With A Little Action

Silent Hill is now such a classic series that it’s hard to imagine playing the original without the context of its sequels. But the original Silent Hill is quite different from the others, with a lot more overt supernatural elements. In Silent Hill2 and 3, the monster-filled Otherworld is implied to be, at least in part, a nightmare that takes over the Earth. In the original, it’s pretty much just hell.

That isn’t to say Silent Hill is as silly as other 1990s horror games. It might not take itself as seriously as its sequels, but it’s a far cry from the giant snakes and rocket launcher finale of Resident Evil.

2 Dino Crisis 2 – 2000

Horror-Infused Dinosaur Action

The Dino Crisis series is sometimes referred to as Resident Evil with dinosaurs. To its credit, this horror-inspired series successfully implements the horror classic’s formula into a much more intense game. Dino Crisis 2 has classic survival horror puzzles, fixed camera angles, somewhat limited ammunition, and even a few scares.

Still, there’s no denying the facts: Dino Crisis 2 is about shooting dinosaurs in the face, which is as far from horror as it gets. Unlike its predecessor, the sequel even has “Extinction Points,” a currency that dead dinosaurs somehow drop and which can be used to buy guns and ammunition.

1 Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare – 2001

The Series’ First Reboot

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare is a big departure from the first games in the series, so much so that it could almost be called a reboot. It’s certainly more in line with the oppressive tone of the original, but without the humor that continuously grew in the sequels.

Edward Carnby, the protagonist of the original, has been transported to the 21st century, but other things have stayed the same. The game actually begins when the player starts investigating an abandoned mansion, just like in the original. Unlike the original, the plot soon loses its horror focus, with evil lizard people and ancient curses taking the focus. Still, even without its scares, the game manages to stay interesting the whole way through.