The PlayStation 1 offered an impressive array of scary games for players back in the day. Today, we’re looking back at the best of the best from that generation.
Spooky season is upon us and if you want to travel back in time and play some old school horror games, we got you covered! Today we’re going back to the past with the original PlayStation and the five games we thought were exceptionally well done. I bet you can guess at least two of the games we have here, but did your top horror game make the list?
Silent Hill
Silent Hill is one of my favorite franchises in this genre, and the first game is a pure classic that I love having on my shelf. While Silent Hill 2 on the PlayStation 2 gets more of the attention these days (having taken all of what made the first game so great and amped it up to new levels), the original shouldn’t be ignored.
Silent Hill resembles a few games on this list, but it’s a slower paced game that haunts you with atmospheric fear and it does a great job of using psychological fear. If you are more into solving puzzles and being frightened every time you turn the corner, this is more your style.
Resident Evil
The first Resident Evil, much like Silent Hill, is a pure classic. I could argue pretty much any Resident Evil deserves a spot on this list, but it makes sense to go with the one that started it all. Everything works perfectly for haunting you, and the environment is just something Resident Evil shines with in every iteration.
To this day I still remember sitting down, playing this game, and how much fun it brought the whole neighborhood. Unlike Silent Hill, Resident Evil is faster paced; a more action oriented game. You still solve many puzzles and explore, but the fact you can blast your way through pretty much every area helps ease the haunts a tiny bit.
Parasite Eve
Honestly one of the most visually stunning games on PS1 is also one of the best horror games of the generation as well. What also makes this game so great is that it’s a continuation of a novel by the same name, so you get two mediums in one. Parasite Eve’s horror isn’t exactly like that of Silent Hill or Resident Evil. It’s more along the lines of creepy creatures and imagery that you come across.
Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare
I was debating which game of the series to toss on this list, but this one seems like the one. Picking between two distinct characters you can have two really different experiences throughout the game. Plus the puzzle solving involving the weapons, lights, and different aspects of the game were really interesting. One of my favorite aspects was also the use of newer technology to blend shadows on objects to make the atmosphere even creepier.
Echo Night
This game will have you remember just how horrible controls were on PS1, but it’s FromSoftware. If you can survive Souls’ games, then you’ll (probably) be okay here too. FromSoftware took an interesting new approach to horror with this one though.
Instead of shooting down spooky enemies your only option is to literally run from them. Plus there is that aspect that when you see a spooky ghost you need to turn out the lights and make everything pitch black. Yep…..turn the lights off to get away. How scary is that?
The PlayStation 1 had a substantial amount of horror games (obviously we couldn’t list them all here) which spawned franchises that we still play to this day. Would you head back and replay any of these games if they were remastered with today’s technology?
