An incredibly important game in the survival horror genre, it basically invented the fixed camera format that would be used by multiple franchises over the coming decade. The story itself is a decent Lovecraftian plot and works as a serviceable setup for exploring the mansion.

Unfortunately, the gameplay itself is where this all falls apart. The aforementioned fixed camera was used due to technical limitations, and as a result also hamstrung the way your character moves through the building. It causes annoyance at just about every scene change, and coupled with the incredibly shoddy combat it creates a constant friction throughout the game. Now, thanks to the horror theme, this frustration works to some degree because it makes the encounters with the creatures more precarious, but that's also a very generous view of what is ultimately bad design.

Beyond that, the game did play around with inventory management and how that too can affect a survival horror title, and it was one of the first games to elaborate on the plot through found media scattered throughout the game in the form of notes and documents. Ultimately more influential than timeless, it's certainly a great preview of much better things to come in the spooky canon.