October has entered in style, with great announcements of the survival horror genre. Thus, for example, it has been confirmed that Gylt, the acclaimed game from Tequila Works, will arrive on all platforms. And we have also been able to enjoy the spectacular first trailer for Dead Space, a remake of the original title that will arrive in January 2023 from Electronic Arts. The genre is increasingly consecrated, with an increasingly important number of users. For this reason, after telling you the first curiosities of survival horror, we want to continue detailing new clues that the titles have left us throughout history.
10 curiosities of survival horror that you probably didn’t know (part 2):
1.- Deep Fear (1998. Sega Saturn)
This little-known survival horror adapted the Lovecraftian metaverse to transport us to the depths of the Pacific Ocean. There, in the skin of a Navy Seal, we had to rescue a group of civilians, but they were being attacked by mutated humans due to a radioactive experiment. Inspired by movies like Leviathan and The Abyss, the game put a very interesting twist on the killer parasite: it was weak to other viruses and their antibodies. So anyone who had had a cold or even, to imagine, Covid-19, would have gotten rid of their plague.
2.- Parasite Eve (1998. PSX)
Square Enix released this futuristic survival horror in 1998, in which we go to New York to learn the story of the police officer Aya Brea, who must put an end to the creature Eve and her mutant parasites. Despite not enjoying the same popularity as other more relevant games of the genre, the game had a niche audience that continues to enjoy it to this day. Specifically, it is usual for fans to organize events to play it between December 24 and 27, which is the period of time in which the game’s history takes place.
These are the first curiosities of survival horror that perhaps you did not know
3.- Sanitarium (1998. PC)
Sanitarium offered us a point-and-click psychological horror adventure starring Max, who has an accident and wakes up in a mental hospital, we must discover how we got there and how we can escape. The game has several similarities with the classic Jacob’s Ladder (1990), by having a protagonist with amnesia, with a permanent mixture of reality and fiction, making it difficult for us to understand what world we are in, and with an ending that we do not expect .
4.- Silent Hill (1999. PSX)
One of the icons of the genre along with Resident Evil, Silent Hill could not be missing from the list. On the way to the town of Silent Hill, where Harry Mason hopes to spend a vacation with his daughter Cheryl, the car has an accident and the girl disappears. Harry will have to go through the cursed town to find her, while he discovers what links Cheryl to this place. Silent Hill is one of the games from which we can find the most curiosities and references, so we leave you the one that is perhaps the most useful for the adventure: if you come to the confrontation with the Incubus, the final boss, and you run out of ammo, you will automatically win. Although the end will depend on your actions throughout the game.
5.- Dino Crisis (1999. PSX)
Dino Crisis is, along with Resident Evil Code: Veronica, the Capcom game whose remake is most requested by fans. And is not for less. This title arrived in 1999 offering a very similar approach to Resident Evil, with dinosaurs instead of zombies. The game not only had elements very similar to that of the star saga, which also launched Resident Evil 3: Nemesis that same year, but also with its protagonists. And it is that Regina, the protagonist, is loosely based on Jill Valentine and Dr. Kirk on William Birkin, whom we meet in Resident Evil 2.
6.- Project Zero/Fatal Frame (2001. PS2)
Koei Tecmo’s terrifying classic, Project Zero is one of the main references in survival horror and one of the few rooted in Japanese folklore. In the skin of Miku, we will have to visit the Himuro Mansion, a huge villa from the Edo Period in which her brother has disappeared. Armed only with a polaroid, we will have to face the ghosts that inhabit the place and discover what is hidden behind the black legend of the mansion. The game is not only, to date, one of the most terrifying survival horror that we can continue to enjoy today, but it was released with the quote “based on real events”, despite not being true, to be more disturbing to the public.
7.- White Day (2001. PC)
The horror based on Asian legends not only has Project Zero as a reference, but also White Day. This South Korean title is made up of several horror stories that take place in a high school, in which the protagonist and his friends are locked up and from which they must flee before the ghosts, monsters and beings possess them. And it all takes place on the night of March 13, the eve of the romantic White Day. And it is that in Asia on Valentine’s Day it is the girls who give gifts to the boys, while on White Day it is the other way around.
8.- The Thing (2002. Multiplatform)
Based on The Thing by John Carpenter (1982), this title managed to recreate that atmosphere of paranoia and distrust so typical of the film, moving us to the Antarctic base where the film takes place. Sequel to the title by John Carpenter, in The Thing we will have to discover who is that Thing that is killing all the investigators, before we are the next to fall. The game was not only quite faithful to the film, but also featured a cameo from Carpenter himself as Dr. Faraday.
9.- Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem (2002. GameCube)
The quintessential Gamecube horror classic, Eternal Darkness offered a Lovecraftian horror adventure, in which the university student Alexandra Roivas must return to the family mansion in Rhode Island, after the death of her uncle. There she discovers the Book of Eternal Darkness and must prevent the imminent arrival of some ancient entities.
The most characteristic of this game was, without a doubt, its madness system, patented by Nintendo; Through its 40 visual effects, the game managed to “drive players crazy”, making them believe that the game was corrupted or that the gameplay was failing, that the walls were oozing blood or that Roivas was dying suddenly.
10.- Forbidden Siren (2003. PS2)
Following in the footsteps of Project Zero, Siren also wanted to combine Japanese news with traditional elements. The game took us to the Hanuda mountain, where a group of survivors had to discover why the inhabitants of the area submerged in reddish waters, after hearing “siren” songs, to emerge in the form of the dead. living creatures called shibitos.
Without a doubt, one of the most important visual aspects of the game was the tears of blood that the enemies cried. And it is that, according to its development team, that blood is really the blood that the inhabitants lose, to be replaced by red water and become zombies.
And this is all for now. Do you know any other curiosity from the list? See you in the third part!