Entertainment: Best Scary PlayStation 1 Games

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Improvements in game engines and console hardware have allowed developers to create more immersive, realistic, and ultimately more terrifying games than ever before. Sony's PlayStation 1 was released in 1994 and was the gaming industry's most popular console until the PlayStation 2 hit stores in 2000. Unsurprisingly, technological advancements in the gaming industry have meant that many of the PlayStation 1's classic games don't hold up today.

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Although some gameplay mechanics and visuals don't hold up, the games on this list still manage to provide unsettling experiences that make great use of the PlayStation 1's limited hardware to strike fear into the players.

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Updated on October 14th, 2022, by Jack Pursey: While it's true that PlayStation 1 games don't hold up too well in terms of visual and sound design, which have come on leaps and bounds since the late '90s and early 2000s, the ingenious design of some of the classic console's games has ensured that a selection of horror games are still scary to play today. To help players choose which old-school scary game to play next, we've expanded this list of the scariest and best PS1 horror games.

Resident Evil 2

• Initial Release Date: January 21, 1998
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Windows, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, GameCube, Game.com
• Main Story Completion Time: 6 hours
• Best Feature: The delightfully horrifying combination of eerie audio, visuals, and sound effects that provides an unsettling atmosphere throughout

Following the enormous success of the revolutionary Resident Evil, Capcom released a sequel just under two years later. Resident Evil 2 introduced a ton of iconic characters to the franchise, including Leon Kennedy, Ada Wong, and the horrifying antagonist T-00, also known as Mr. X.

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The critically acclaimed remake may seem like the best option for modern gamers to play Resident Evil 2, but the original PlayStation 1 iteration offers an irreplaceable level of nostalgia for past players, and the horror still holds up for those experiencing the classic game for the first time.

Evil Dead: Hail to the King

• Initial Release Date: December 5, 2000
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows
• Main Story Completion Time: 8 hours
• Best Feature: The wide range of enemy types that keep the combat and horror fresh

Evil Dead: Hail to the King is the second video game based on the Evil Dead film franchise, following The Evil Dead from 1984. Evil Dead: Hail to the King was the first game developed by Heavy Iron Studios, a California-based studio that has released numerous other movie tie-in video games over the years, including The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, The Incredibles, and WALL-E.

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Evil Dead: Hail to the King struggled to impress fans and critics, exemplified by its lackluster 51 Metascore. However, its fear factor didn't disappoint, as the game's Resident Evil-like semi-fixed camera angles led to some terrifying and claustrophobic encounters.

Nightmare Creatures

• Initial Release Date: September 30, 1997
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo 64, Mobile
• Main Story Completion Time: 6.5 hours
• Best Feature: The excellent gothic horror atmosphere

Nightmare Creatures features elements of gothic horror and takes players back to London in 1666, a very apt choice of year as a devil-worshipping cult is trying to take over the city.

Nightmare Creatures is a great example of how much talented developers can do with restricted hardware, as Kalisto Entertainment were able to create an incredibly atmospheric experience despite the PlayStation 1's limitations. The game was published by Activision, although the company was replaced with Konami for Nightmare Creatures 2.

Hellnight

• Initial Release Date: June 11, 1998
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 6 hours
• Best Feature: The fully 3D environments, which look fantastic for a mid-1998 release

Hellnight certainly deserves recognition for being one of the PlayStation 1's scariest games, though unfortunately, its quality doesn't quite stack up. The game was released in Japan and Europe in 1998 and 1999, respectively but didn't release elsewhere, contributing to a lackluster commercial performance.

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Despite its poor critical and commercial reception, Hellnight does succeed in providing an unsettling experience. So it's still worth checking out for fans of the horror genre.

Galerians

• Initial Release Date: August 26, 1999
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 5 hours
• Best Feature: The well-written, thought-provoking story

Galerians differentiates itself from most horror games which tend to feature fairly mundane and nondescript leading characters, with the more charismatic and interesting roles going to allies and enemies.

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Galerians' protagonist begins the game with amnesia and soon discovers that he has psychokinetic powers; if that wasn't enough, Rion then discovers that he is the last hope to save humanity from the Galerians, a race of genetically enhanced humans. As for the gameplay, Galerians is one of many horror games from the late 90s to take inspiration from Resident Evil, fit with fixed camera angles and tank controls.

Echo Night

• Initial Release Date: August 13, 1998
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, PlayStation Network
• Main Story Completion Time: 5 hours
• Best Feature: The mysterious story that encourages players to progress and reach one of the four endings

1998's Echo Night was developed by FromSoftware, who were a little-known studio at the time, but are now one of the gaming industry's most esteemed teams thanks to games like Bloodborne, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice, and the Dark Souls trilogy. Echo Night puts players in a first-person perspective, which was rare for horror games at the time, and tasks the players with investigating the disappearance of a ship.

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Echo Night received a sequel in 1999 titled Echo Night 2: The Lord of Nightmares, though unfortunately for western gamers, it was only released in Japan.

Resident Evil

• Initial Release Date: March 22, 1996
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Windows, Sega Saturn, Nintendo DS
• Main Story Completion Time: 6.5 hours
• Best Feature: The revolutionary survival horror gameplay that pioneered the genre

It's not too much of a stretch to say that if Resident Evil had never been released, then most of the games on this list wouldn't have either. The game didn't just spawn one of the gaming industry's most iconic franchises; it was also a pioneer of the survival horror genre as a whole.

Many other horror games have improved upon the gameplay mechanics that Resident Evil innovated, consequently making it rough in spots to revisit. Still, the game offers a great trip down memory lane, and the iconic sight of the first zombie will still send shivers down the spine.

OverBlood

• Initial Release Date: August 2, 1996
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 5 hours
• Best Feature: The need to switch between characters to solve puzzles is well integrated and reminiscent of the classic Day of the Tentacle

Published outside of Japan by industry giants Electronic Arts, OverBlood is a science fiction horror game that is remembered today for its being the first survival horror title to use a fully three-dimensional virtual environment.

Along with the environmental innovations, OverBlood was unique for its time for blending fighting and puzzle mechanics, as well as allowing players to seamlessly switch between third and first-person perspectives. A sequel, OverBlood 2, was released in 1998 to a lackluster reception.

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D

• Initial Release Date: April 1995
• Available Platforms: 3DO, Sega Saturn, PlayStation, MS-DOS
• Main Story Completion Time: 1.5 hours
• Best Feature: Fantastic FMV sequences that help provide an engaging, cinematic adventure

Released in 1995, D is an interactive movie that puts players in the shoes of famous digital actress Laura Harris, who is tasked with investigating a hospital that her father has locked himself inside after a killing spree; it soon becomes clear that things aren't as they seem though, as the hospital transforms into an eery castle once Laura arrives. Befitting of the interactive movie genre, players cannot save the game and must complete it within two hours.

Clock Tower

• Initial Release Date: December 13, 1996
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 3 hours
• Best Feature: Scissorman, who is an all-time great horror villain

Clock Tower (1996) was developed by Human Entertainment and is a point-and-click survival horror game; it is the sequel to a Japanese exclusive that was also titled Clock Tower (1995).

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The point-and-click game raises the stakes from most others in the genre by having players be hunted down by the game's terrifying antagonist Scissorman. Scissorman is undoubtedly one of the gaming industry's scariest, most intimidating villains of all time and is likely the key reason why X-Play listed Clock Tower as the eighth scariest game of all time in 2006.

Parasite Eve

• Initial Release Date: March 29, 1998
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 9.5 hours
• Best Feature: The visuals, which are some of the PlayStation 1 era's very best

One of the better-known names on this list, Parasite Eve, was developed by Square (who merged with Enix in 2003 to create Square Enix) and was released in 1998. The action role-playing game is based on the horror book of the same name, which also inspired a 1997 film.

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The game's horror themes, fixed perspective, and the story that is centered around police unsurprisingly caused the game to be frequently compared, sometimes unfairly, to the revolutionary Resident Evil. Despite having to deal with comparisons to the iconic Resident Evil, Parasite Eve was well-received by fans and critics, exemplified by its 81 Metascore and 9.0 User Score, which is one of the highest user scores on the entire site.

Koudelka

• Initial Release Date: December 16, 1999
• Available Platforms: PlayStation
• Main Story Completion Time: 12 hours
• Best Feature: The strong range of charismatic and interesting main characters

Developed by Sacnoth, Koudelka is a Japanese role-playing game from the Shadows Hearts series. The game is set in Wales and has a nice blend of puzzle-solving and turn-based combat.

Like many games on this list, Koudelka draws inspiration from Capcom's Resident Evil series through its fixed camera angles, pre-rendered backgrounds, and exploration-heavy gameplay.

Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare

• Initial Release Date: May 18, 2001
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Game Boy Color, Windows, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2
• Main Story Completion Time: 8 hours
• Best Feature: The eerie atmosphere that produces a constant sense of foreboding

Also known as Alone in the Dark 4, Infogrames' PlayStation 1 classic Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare was developed by Darkworks and was initially released in 2001. Releasing on the PlayStation 1 over a year after the release of the PlayStation 2 understandably hurt initial sales, though they soon picked up when the game came to PC and the second generation of Sony console a short while later.

Alone In The Dark: The New Nightmare was released on Steam in 2013, though the lackluster port earned the game an All Reviews rating of Mixed.

Dino Crisis

• Initial Release Date: July 1, 1999
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Dreamcast, Windows
• Main Story Completion Time: 6.5 hours
• Best Feature: The Dinasours' impressively realistic movements and characteristics

The first entry into the series of the same name, Dino Crisis was released in 1999 by the era's horror specialist, Capcom. The game has numerous similarities to the Japanese company's early Resident Evil titles, such as the save room mechanic, camera perspective, and influx of puzzles. Although the dinosaurs don't hold up visually today, they're still frightening to come up against.

Dino Crisis 2

• Initial Release Date: September 13, 2000
• Available Platforms: PlayStation1, PC
• Main Story Completion Time: 5.5 Hours
• Best Feature: The game's open areas. They were a nice change of pace from the original game and were smartly designed and structured.

Following the success of the aforementioned Dino Crisis, Capcom released a sequel just over a year later, in September 2000. The game made some noticeable changes to the original's gameplay formula, though, with a greater emphasis on action and combat throughout. The increased focus on combat reduced the fear factor of the original, and the game is more action-adventure than survival horror but Dino Crisis 2 is certainly still a scary game.

Silent Hill

• Initial Release Date: February 23, 1999
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Game Boy Advance
• Main Story Completion Time: 7 hours
• Best Feature: The iconic horror atmosphere that shaped the Silent Hill franchise and heavily influenced the horror genre

Of all the Resident Evil-inspired horror games that were released on PlayStation 1, few would disagree that Konami's Silent Hill is the best. Much like the aforementioned Dino Crisis 2, the game received an 86 score on the review aggregator Metacritic.

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Konami's Silent Hill was a pioneer of the implementation of intricate and branching storytelling in video games. The game's narrative features five different endings, including one secret ending where the game's protagonist, Harry Mason, is abducted by aliens.

Nightmare Creatures 2

• Initial Release Date: May 23, 2000
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Dreamcast
• Main Story Completion Time: 5 hours
• Best Feature: The inclusion of fatality moves that provide a cinematic and satisfying reward for defeating enemies

Nightmare Creatures 2 was developed by Kalisto Entertainment and released in May 2000, making it one of the PlayStation 1's final major releases not to appear on the PlayStation 2. Indicative of the game releasing so late in the PlayStation 1's lifecycle, it has some of the most unsettlingly realistic visuals on the console.

Konami's Nightmare Creatures 2 is far from being this list's most critically acclaimed entry, exemplified by its GameRanking's scores of 49 and 64 across its two releases; though it does have a strong argument for being the scariest entry to play today with its adrenaline-pumping action-gameplay.

Resident Evil 3: Nemesis

• Initial Release Date: September 22, 1999
• Available Platforms: PlayStation, Windows, Dreamcast, GameCube
• Main Story Completion Time: 6.5 hours
• Best Feature: The iconic antagonist Nemesis, who is still frightening today

There's a reason why Capcom's Resident Evil series has been mentioned so frequently throughout this list; the series' initial 1996 game is one of, if not the most influential survival horror game of all time.

The series' third installment, Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, was released in September 1999 and cranked the fear factor up a notch, predominantly due to the inclusion of Nemesis. Nemesis frequently appears in lists of gaming's most terrifying villains, with Red Bull and WGAC being just two of many publications to include the pursuing foe. Following the success of the 2019 Resident Evil 2 remake, Resident Evil 3 was given the same treatment in 2020, though it failed to garner the same critical acclaim as the 2019 game.

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