The videogame horror genre has been around longer than the PlayStation brand itself, but its evolution has spanned across two decades of Sony consoles to become a strange, new beast. From exciting, schlocky beginnings, to the dilution of scares almost killing off the genre -and all the way to the rebirth of horror of recent years with various fresh and interesting takes on long-established ideas - horror games have played a huge part in PlayStation’s lifetime. As such,we felt it only fair to document the highs and lows in the run up to Halloween, which arrives only shortly after the 20th anniversary of the PlayStation brand. Starting with the games that kick-started the popularity of horror in videogames and made for some of the most memorable experiences of the early life of Sony’s gaming brand: the rise of survival horror.
It was the 1992 PC game Alone in the Dark that provided the building blocks. The game would later become the progenitor of a smash hit horror series that would be a defining moment in the lifecycle of the original PlayStation. The forefather of the genre that would become ‘Survival Horror’ introduced a new spin on the classic adventure game, using the backdrop of that genre’s use of puzzles and key-finding and putting it into a more action-orientated title with monsters to kill or evade. Camera’s were fixed, much like a point n’ click adventure title, but this created a tension, a fear of what you couldn’t see as the monsters could be lurking around that next corner. Would you make it to your next objective or is there something lurking just off-camera that will see your ultimate demise? This was the magic formula that would be seen further as Human Entertainment’s Clock Tower series began on the SNES in 1995 -albeit in a more classical point n’ click style- where monster’s had to be avoided rather than fought. Then the genre was truly refined when Capcom’s Resident Evil released the following year. This is where the PlayStation horror journey begins. On the road to Raccoon City.
Straight from the delightfully hammy FMV intro it was clear this was very much a game of its generation, one that had started to take small steps towards dealing with more adult themes whilst still revelling in its childlike glee at fart jokes, violence, gore and swearing. The voice acting that followed was another sign of the infancy of the games market as a mainstream juggernaut. It was still so thrilling to have voice acting on a console that it was easily forgivable for that voice acting to be absolute dreck. It added to Resident Evil’s B-Movie charm though and stood the test of time when you consider how easy it is to identify where the infamous ‘’Jill Sandwich’’ line came from nearly twenty years later.
Resident Evil - 1996
The undead were still a relatively fresh, and terrifying idea for a video game bad guy in 1996, and Resident Evil arguably brought the work of George Romero (Dawn of the Dead) et al to a new generation and -in part- sparked the revival of the zombie genre in all media. Behind all the camp, wooden dialogue and a downright stupid (yet enjoyable) plot there was the setting of Spencer Mansion and its grounds. A place that seeped menace and brooding horror from its walls, as it tried its very best to kill each and every soul who dared step foot within them. A haunted house where the ghosts are flesh, and wanting to eat yours. The mansion, with all its tricks and traps, is undoubtedly the star of Resident Evil, with the steady trickle of ever more horrifying monsters as a gruesomely perfect supporting cast. Alone in the Dark and Clock Tower may have been the start of this new blend of genres, but Resident Evil moved the goalposts significantly and, while none of these franchises are exactly in their pomp anymore, it’s Resi that remains the brand that transcends gaming because of that initial impact.
Capcom knew it’d struck gold from here and work began on a sequel soon after, though that first attempt -historically known as ‘’Resident Evil 1.5’’- was scrapped very late into development and redesigned to be a more ‘’cinematic’’ experience. That game became Resident Evil 2. Still set in Raccoon City, but taking place two months after the events of the first game. The main difference here was while there were still two protagonists like the first game, here the story for new characters Claire and Leon differed at certain points as both try to escape the city as the virus from the Spencer Mansion incident runs amok. Resident Evil 2 was released in 1998, less than two years after the original, and was a sprawling epic compared to the claustrophobic confines of the first game’s mansion.
The story begins on the streets, heads to the Raccoon City Police Department building for a sizeable chunk of the game before heading underground to the dark secrets of the city for the final hours of the game. Everything was ramped up to evoke a feeling of pure desperation as the duo of Claire and Leon juggle puzzle-solving, monster-killing/avoiding, and investigating a greater conspiracy with the rather more pressing need to get the hell out of town. Needless to say the game was another hit and firmly established the survival horror genre as a force to be reckoned with. Even the combat light Clock Tower series was aping the success of its usurper with 1998’s Clock Tower II’s later hours relying more on weaponry than it’s trademark evasion tactics, even if it did maintain more of its adventure game roots than Resident Evil at this point.
Resident Evil 2 - 1998
The following year would see Capcom branch out the fledgling genre with the dinosaur-themed survival horror Dino Crisis, but while it shared many of Resident Evil’s traits, it was far more action-orientated, setting up the groundwork for the 2000’s Resident Evil 3: Nemesis; which became the first hints of the series moving much further from its beginnings. An alternative was needed, and nobody was truly competing critically or commercially with the Capcom behemoth. Enter Konami; who introduced a far more cerebral take on the genre. One that was all about atmosphere and thoughtful tension over jump scares. It was time to welcome the fictional fog-shrouded town of Silent Hill to the horror party.
Silent Hill saw Harry Mason; a man looking for his lost daughter in said town, uncover the disturbing truths of the area and of his own daughter’s part in them. There were many differences on show in Silent Hill, enough for it to truly stand out and become the thinking man’s alternative to Resident Evil’s schlocky horror. The Wicker Man to Resi’s Zombie Flesh Eaters. The game has no HUD, instead relaying Harry’s health through a separate menu or through the rumble of the DualShock controller. Also there was a greater focus on melee combat, with Harry using pipes and knives whenever combat was required. It also added a more dynamic camera system compared to Capcom’s use of fixed, dramatic camera angles. There is a wonderfully unnerving feel to the town, the fog that envelops Silent Hill was a design decision that was meant to obscure areas that hadn’t fully loaded, but it ended up being a pillar of the Silent Hill mythos for years to come because of the way in which it invites that fear of the unknown, even in wide open spaces. When combined with the crackle of your radio whenever an enemy drew near, it was enough to fill your heart with cold dread. That’s all before you get to the sinking feeling you get from the ominous howl of the siren that sees the town transition into a hellish mirror of itself.
The original Silent Hill
The PlayStation was in the autumn of its lifespan by the time Silent Hill and Nemesis arrived. A sequel to Dino Crisis also managed to squeeze into the final months of the console’s reign, mere months before the PlayStation’s successor would take up the mantle. Now there had been five survival horror games from Capcom in four years with no signs of the company slowing up. So the question invariably turned to what the franchises and any potential rivals would do on the PlayStation 2.
Resident Evil branched away from Raccoon City for the first time as the new generation of consoles dawned. Code Veronica started life on Sega’s ill-fated Dreamcast mere months after Nemesis came out on the PlayStation. The jump in visual quality was immediately noticeable, but journalists and fans alike criticized the game for using the same structure, mechanics and camera angles of the older games. This was the first time the series had faced any real criticism from its fan base (well, outside the godawful Survivor). There was some progression. The backgrounds were no longer pre-rendered, and the voice-acting was another step in the right direction (though still hammier than a pig rolled in salt), pus it was a nice change of scenery to be out of the Raccoon City loop and on the creepy Rockfort Island home of the criminally eccentric Alfred Ashford, but it also gave the world Steve Burnside; a mewling whingebag who only manages to garner sympathy when he dies near the game’s conclusion.
Resident Evil Code Veronica - 2000
Meanwhile, Silent Hill was about to hit its peak with Silent Hill 2. Whereas Resi embraced it’s TV soap opera melodrama (with zombies, granted), Silent Hill 2 delivered a thought-provoking adult narrative and a well-constructed set up of characters and locations to create a truly unsettling and mystifying experience that showed other would-be horror titles that you didn’t have to follow the Capcom route to success. At this junction in gaming history, you’d be forgiven for believing Silent Hill would become the new king of horror and Resident Evil would fade away. The direction of the next games in the series and the emergence of fresh alternatives would shape the genre of horror and survival horror for years to come.
Stay tuned for Part Two of 20 Years of horror games on PlayStation next week.
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