Mixing two genres like horror and RPG probably didn’t sound as strange back when this game first released, as playing Parasite Eve made me realize that the two genres, specifically in the PS1 era, used to share a lot more commonalities than they do now. The pre-rendered backgrounds, the heavy focus on music, the amount of times spent in menus managing inventory, the constant scavenging of every last room to find items, there’s a surprising amount of similarities I wouldn’t have expected. SquareSoft in the 90s was probably the perfect company to take a crack at the idea, and what they came up with is definitely good, but I can’t help but feel like there was potential for a lot more.
The strongest points of the game are without a doubt its horror elements. Super intriguing atmosphere, cool story, awesome creature design, checks all the boxes there. The FMVs are especially grotesque and the aged animation only adds to the horror in my opinion, can’t imagine these working as well or feeling nearly as dreadful with hyper realistic graphics like we see in the modern Resident Evil remakes. Special shout-out to the final day of the game which was very exciting.
The RPG mechanics, while leaning on the simpler side, generally work well for a game as short as this. There’s no real character building so these mainly revolve around the weapons, but being able to consistently upgrade and swap traits between them is interesting enough to hold my attention.
Where the game tries to implement those survival horror gameplay elements though… that’s where I start wishing more had been done to flesh this concept out further. You’ve got some genre staples like inventory management, limited ammo, etc, but none are nearly as effective as they usually are. Ammo is so abundant you will never run out, and the inventory is large enough that you’ll probably never have to really consider what you’re carrying, but it’s just small enough that you’ll probably be cramming it with countless potions that just go unused until the endgame difficulty spike.
Combat is generally fine, but never really had me engaged. It’s mainly focused on avoiding any attacks while waiting for your ATB bar to charge, fitting considering the emphasis on avoiding damage in horror games of the era. However, unlike those games, Parasite Eve has a strict encounter system where you’re forced into killing those enemies. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, but it places a higher emphasis on enemy attack patterns which are usually not very interesting or fun to avoid. Some are flat out unavoidable (yes I checked online to confirm this, it’s not a skill issue), which makes sense for an RPG but doesn’t feel great in a game that feels like it encourages you to avoid everything that you can.
All in all, there’s really not much to dislike about Parasite Eve. I certainly enjoyed my time with it and it’s a pretty easy recommendation, the presentation alone makes this worth playing. But I just feel like there’s so much more to explore with this concept that holds it back from being something that really clicked with me. A more skill focused combat system with more consistently tense encounters and less materials scattered everywhere (or dropped from enemies) could’ve made this something really special.
The strongest points of the game are without a doubt its horror elements. Super intriguing atmosphere, cool story, awesome creature design, checks all the boxes there. The FMVs are especially grotesque and the aged animation only adds to the horror in my opinion, can’t imagine these working as well or feeling nearly as dreadful with hyper realistic graphics like we see in the modern Resident Evil remakes. Special shout-out to the final day of the game which was very exciting.
The RPG mechanics, while leaning on the simpler side, generally work well for a game as short as this. There’s no real character building so these mainly revolve around the weapons, but being able to consistently upgrade and swap traits between them is interesting enough to hold my attention.
Where the game tries to implement those survival horror gameplay elements though… that’s where I start wishing more had been done to flesh this concept out further. You’ve got some genre staples like inventory management, limited ammo, etc, but none are nearly as effective as they usually are. Ammo is so abundant you will never run out, and the inventory is large enough that you’ll probably never have to really consider what you’re carrying, but it’s just small enough that you’ll probably be cramming it with countless potions that just go unused until the endgame difficulty spike.
Combat is generally fine, but never really had me engaged. It’s mainly focused on avoiding any attacks while waiting for your ATB bar to charge, fitting considering the emphasis on avoiding damage in horror games of the era. However, unlike those games, Parasite Eve has a strict encounter system where you’re forced into killing those enemies. This isn’t a problem in and of itself, but it places a higher emphasis on enemy attack patterns which are usually not very interesting or fun to avoid. Some are flat out unavoidable (yes I checked online to confirm this, it’s not a skill issue), which makes sense for an RPG but doesn’t feel great in a game that feels like it encourages you to avoid everything that you can.
All in all, there’s really not much to dislike about Parasite Eve. I certainly enjoyed my time with it and it’s a pretty easy recommendation, the presentation alone makes this worth playing. But I just feel like there’s so much more to explore with this concept that holds it back from being something that really clicked with me. A more skill focused combat system with more consistently tense encounters and less materials scattered everywhere (or dropped from enemies) could’ve made this something really special.