Parasite Eve (1998)

Parasite Eve is a unique mix of survival horror and turn-based RPG elements, developed by SquareSoft, set in a hauntingly atmospheric New York City, the story follows NYPD officer Aya Brea as she investigates mysterious combustions linked to an ancient mitochondrial entity named Eve. The game stands out with its cinematic presentation, haunting soundtrack, and a real-time battle system that adds tension and strategy. It combines horror storytelling with Square’s signature RPG mechanics, creating a compelling and mature narrative, and in my opinion it hasn't aged a day, it is still a blast to go through even for today's standards. Though I got to admit that I have a soft spot for Resident Evil and JRPGs, so I might be just the right target audience for this one.

While the game is relatively short and linear, its bold genre fusion and memorable boss fights make it a cult classic of the PS1 era, it's especially recommended for fans of Final Fantasy and Resident Evil looking for something in between, and as I already said, just the perfect mix for my taste. I remember not being able to progress further than the first few stages because of the english knowledge limitation, but I managed to pull it off when I replayed it on modern platforms, not just that but I had a lot of fun grinding some levels to be able to make Aya OP since her powers are very fun to use.

One aspect that still impresses is how combat manages to feel tense without abandoning its RPG roots. Movement within battles forces you to constantly reposition, creating a sense of urgency closer to an action game than a traditional turn-based system. As you unlock more abilities, encounters become less about raw stats and more about smart positioning and timing, which keeps fights engaging until the very end. This hybrid approach was ambitious for its time, and even now it feels distinct enough to set this game apart from most of its contemporaries.

When it comes to its visuals, the game also holds up remarkably well, the pre-rendered backgrounds capture a moody, wintery New York that complements the story tone, and the body-horror themes still feel bold for a console title from its era. Combined with a darker tale, and significantly more adult story, this title feels like a confident experiment that paid off. It may not be flawless, but its ambition, atmosphere, and memorable protagonist secure its place as one of the most interesting and enduring titles of its platform.

Unlike some games from my childhood that I've replayed continuously every five years or so, Parasite Eve is a beloved game that I replayed for the first time in 2024 after a good 20 years' break from it. I remember enjoying it back when I played it at release quite a bit, but I had to wonder how this strange Survival Horror-RPG hybrid would play from my more modern perspective. And honestly, I loved it, perhaps even more than the first time. While it's not without it's flaws, there's just too much I really enjoyed about this game and though I replayed it during a rather stacked 15-game Spooktober marathon, it was one of my favorite plays of the month.

The gameplay I mostly find interesting enough that I can look past some of its growing pains. Parasite Eve appears at first glance to be a classic Survival Horror game, like Resident Evil or Silent Hill. In some ways, it is a Survival Horror game. You still use guns to shoot down twisted body-horror monsters, using semi-limited resources and inventory space. The tone and exploration are somewhat similar to that genre, though there is less of an emphasis on puzzles and central environments you return to over and over again. The main transformative difference is that Parasite Eve incorporates explicit RPG aspects such as random encounters with ATB-style turn-based combat that feel more in line with Squaresoft's other releases of the time. You also level up, developing special powers that are essentially spells, and despite having fluid movement that allows for important maneuvering, most of combat is more turn-based than free-flowing action. This system isn't perfectly implemented and at times feels a little jank, especially given some of the strange gun mechanics like traits that cause guns to fire a random number of times per action and enemies that stun-lock you mid-action. But for the most part, it's at least a pretty cool new system that I haven't seen many other places and it works well enough for what it is.

I actually find the story of the game a lot of fun. The game is...very loosely a sort of sequel to a Japanese novel of the same name, though in my opinion, the game has much better story-telling. There's a lot of weird B-movie sci-fi lingo and ranting, but it strikes a good balance of approachable but intriguing, if a little silly. The narrative structure is also more RPG than Survival Horror, with extensive dialogue provided by text boxes. We get introduced to a slew of characters over the six days in which the game takes place and aside from a bit of confusing twists that can be lost in the sci-fi babble, the narrative is surprisingly engaging and easy to follow. The game also takes place over the course of six days and while you can revisit many locations, the different days have you going to new environments that are fresh and present a progression of their own.

As I said, I definitely had my doubts about replaying the game, but in my opinion, Parasite Eve holds up pretty well. For a PS1 game, it still looks pretty good and the soundtrack is bumping. The monsters are sufficiently horrific and look even better with the detail given in the simplistic but evocative cutscenes. Though the story is simpler than it seemed when I was much younger, I still had a blast with it. For an RPG (or quasi-RPG, whatever), it's a little short at just about ten hours, but it strikes a good balance of remaining engaging and not overstaying its welcome. There is a bonus dungeon that I've heard is very grueling and could add some padded time, but I never had the patience to give it a try. Even without it, the game feels plenty complete as it is.

I am often surprised that so many beloved games from my childhood have held up to the test of time, but I'm really glad this was one of them. Of course, I must admit that nostalgia goggles are definitely a thing and a newcomer may find the game a little too jank. For me though, I'm really glad I gave it another try and I'm really looking forward to replaying the second game later this year.

I came into Parasite Eve with moderately high expectations and came out really underwhelmed. I'm not someone that puts a whole lot of stock into a game's story. If I want to be on the edge of my seat wondering how the plot will play out, I'll watch a movie or read a book. That's not to say that video games are incapable of telling a good story - far from it, in fact. But when the story is the main selling point of a game, especially one that shows its age as much as Parasite Eve, it better be good. Unfortunately, for my tastes, I did not find much to latch on to here.

To be fair, I'm not a huge sci-fi guy in the first place. Horror is definitely my thing, but I think it's a stretch to lump this game in with the likes of Resident Evil (more on that later). I do like the real world setting, but I didn't find any of the characters particularly compelling. Perhaps most importantly, I think the whole "mitochondria are taking over the world" thing is flat out stupid. I don't know anything about biology, and maybe if I did I would think of PE differently, but as it stands this just strikes me as bog standard sci-fi fluff.

Now onto the Resident Evil comparisons I've seen. Sure, PE has fixed camera angles, and I guess you could say it has an element of resource management, but not in nearly the same way as a true blue survival horror. Rather than needing to limit my ammo and item usage, I found myself using all the items I reasonably could because my inventory was always full to the brim. The RPG random encounters also don't really add to the (lack of) tension this game has. I never took a deep breath before opening a door, afraid of what I might encounter in the next room. More often I was just getting annoyed having to press X next to every object because it is almost never clear what you can interact with.

It's not that this game doesn't have any redeeming qualities. Just read some of the more positive reviews on here to get a different perspective. For me, however, those qualities are completely undermined by my distaste for the story and the gameplay. As I've said before, my dislike of Parasite Eve reminds me a lot of my dislike of Metal Gear Solid. They are both PS1 games that are trying to be movies, and without an element of nostalgia, there just isn't enough to like here.

So, if you aren't like me and love Metal Gear Solid, I wouldn't be surprised if you end up liking this! But if you are like me (my condolences), then I would just stay away. There are better uses of your time.

Parasite Eve is a hybrid between a horror action rpg and turn based JRPG made by SquareSoft for the Playstation 1. Drawing heavy inspiration from Resident Evil (as most horror games in the late 90s) you play as Aya Brea, a New York police officer who finds herself as the sole survivor after a weird and horrific bio attack at an opera house. Along the way you will interact with other officers and individuals assisting you in your journey while you go through various locations throughout the city trying to stop the attacks. The locations aspect is interesting as the multiple different locations can be visited as they are unlocked in the story, or sometimes able to visit them even when it won't progress the story (but you can grind out leveling in these areas!). The story itself is pretty interesting, though definitely gets odd and a bit convoluted at times. Aya will learn various powers or abilities to aid in combat throughout the game, starting with basic heals, to rpg mainstays like Haste, and eventually a super move that I won't spoil here. Gameplay consists of running around the various set pieces until an encounter takes place. There will be a brief pause, a grayscale screen flash, then enemies will appear on the screen and the battle commences. The battles take place in a small-ish arena with boundaries that you can't really see. You have to wait until your action bar reaches the end, then decide which actions to take whether that's shooting the enemies, using an ability, changing equipment, or using an item. The enemies will constantly be moving around and attacking you while waiting for your action bar to fill up, and you can attempt (though sometimes it feels impossible) to dodge the attacks. My only big gripe with the game is the lack of explaining the crafting/leveling system. Early on your told that you can increase stats of weapons or armor by using "tools" found throughout the game. It doesn't explain the full scope of what you can do, and I was finding new ways to utilize these up until almost the very end of the game. Having full knowledge of how this works, you could make some really fun, goofy, and powerful weapons or armor.

In total I believe it took me about 13 hours to make it through the game. There is an "EX Mode" which is basically a new game +, with a tower that needs to be completed to obtain the true ending. That tower is unfortunately 70 randomized floors, with every 5 or 10 I believe being a boss battle. This can be started after maybe 2 or 3 hours progressing through the game again, but looking up details of it it's almost recommended to get through most of the game again to ensure you are leveled pretty high.

Definitely glad I went back and played this game as it was as fun and interesting as it was weird!

"You can say we are parasites and the Earth is our host"

While a lot of the concepts of this game are based in hard science, it takes that hard science to absurd and silly heights in the best ways possible. I'm honestly surprised no one else before or since have really explored the idea of mitochondria being sentient the whole time and using humans as cheap vehicles, bidding their time for their conquest. I haven't read the book that this game acts as a sequel for, but I'm curious to check it out. I can't imagine it's as bonkers and full anime as this game was, but it seems like it would be a fun read regardless.

Parasite Eve is a very unique experiment from the generation of video game development when the general principles of video game design were being established. Making games was significantly cheaper and faster when compared to modern AAA games, which opened the door for more experimentation since the risk was substantially lower (less money and time). It's kind of a shame major studios don't release more experimental games like they used to in this golden age. It's one reason why there's been a convergence in modern AAA games. Most big budget games can be broken down into the following:

1. Open World
2. Resource management
3. Progression systems to maintain engagement throughout the game
4. Massive amount of repeated/generic content to fill the giant procedural generated world.

This new paradigm of video game development panders to all but not to one specific demographic. Often relying on a wide breadth of semi-disconnected systems that procedurally get stacked on as new trends emerge, typically from the independent video game scene. Thus the game throws enough shit at the wall to always appeal to some extent to every gamer. Back in these more humble times, devs were just trying to make something awesome. The only way to successfully monetize a game from this time period was to make a game good enough to sell. Don't get me wrong, there were certainly cynical devs back then that would just try to shamelessly exploit a popular trend, but the most successful games typically had a different philosophy. Now a days, it is more profitable to make a minimally acceptable game and build a complex monetization system, derived by psychologists, as the core mechanic. Think micro-transactions. This is substantially more profitable than the old model of monetizing games (and also a loop hole for legalized gambling), and it shows in the quality of the product as a result. And I got to say, this experiment to make an awesome and unique game was a success in my book.

Parasite Eve is an interesting blend of JRPG and horror. I wouldn't really call this survival horror in the conventional sense. There are technically resources and limited inventory, but both are plenty to be honest. And I found the limited inventory to be more annoying than a full-fledged mechanic like it was in Resident Evil. At least in the early phases of the game. Combat is simple. Where you run around and avoid enemy attacks and then when a bar fills you can then take an action (attack, spell or item). It's kind of like Crono Trigger too, where you have random battles, but you stay on the same screen and enemies appear before you. Pretty simple but still fun and engaging. You get new powers as you level up, but most of combat will be focused around your guns. You do get some really broken powers towards the end of the game. Such as Aya turning into a full blown anime protagonist, going super Saiyan and dishing out heavy damage.

The gun system is among the best in an RPG. You have a system called weapon tuning, where throughout the playthrough you get "tools" that allow you to take abilities or stats from one gun and apply it to another while destroying it. You also pick up weapon and armor stat upgrades that just apply to your weapon. Thus, you can beef up a weapon for awhile, find a better one with base stats, and swap over all your upgrades to the new gun. It's a great way to make older weapons still feel viable and worth investing in, since you can eventually swap it over to a new shiny toy. The guns themselves have all kinds of variables. Rate of fire, special abilities (such as giving you multiple attacks per action) and types. Different types can have different recharge rates. I didn't study or look this up, but from what I observed, hand guns recharge the fastest and a rocket launcher recharges the slowest in terms of when you can take an action in combat. It is satisfying and rewarding to customize your own weapons and armor. Towards the end of the game you even get the chance to name one piece of armor and gun which is pretty neat to personalize it further.

The story is pulpy insanity making for a fun ride. Certainly more spooky than scary, but that isn't a bad thing. The body horror elements are top notch, even if it borderlines on silly at times (Eve's design is a bit goofy, but the other monster designs are pretty rad). I like the hardboiled pulp of the cops as well. Daniels makes for a fun partner and I do like the pacing of the game. Including the police station as a hub/breather from the main gameplay. Aya is easily one of the most badass protagonists to grace video games. She's just awesome. She will even show vulnerabilities from time to time, which add depth to her, but really she isn't meant to be a complex character. Maeda I think is interesting. Not only as a potential reference to the author of the book this game is based on, but also as a surrogate for Japanese audiences. An outsider with information that has some fun interactions that highlight the cultural divide between Americans and the Japanese. Such as the following lines:

"Wow! They weren't joking when they said you can buy guns here!"

But even the side characters that are mostly in the game for mechanics end up having compelling arcs. Such as Torres who dies when Eve attacks the police station. It turns out he was so cautious around guns and reprimanded the younger rookie because his daughter died in a gun related accident.

Overall, at first I thought the writing was pretty silly especially with the line I used for the title of the review. But they commit so hard to the bit that it ultimately won me over and I was on board for the absurdity and creativity. It is funny listening to a mad scientist rave about mitochondria being the highest level organism on the planet mutating 10 times faster than humans and surpassing our understanding. Pretty silly, but hey it's fun. Not to mention how they explain the combustion as a person's mitochondria all being active at the same time.

The game world itself is designed around a hub. The 3-D rendered city hub for location selection is an interesting mechanic that honestly looked good, considering when the game was made and the hardware limitations. There isn't really any complex mechanics around the hub world. You can select where you want to go, but most of the time this is really clear. The only exception is with Day 5 and a warehouse you can optionally go to. It's a big step up in difficulty compared to where you are supposed to go, but you do get rewarded with a rocket launcher for your trouble. I suppose there's also the new game plus gauntlet of the Chrysler building. I didn't bother with it since it's a 77 level gauntlet with no save points. I did watch someone beat the hidden alternative boss and see the "canon" ending. Honestly I don't like it. I think the way the base game ends is a better conclusion and I'm going to stick with that as my canon ending.

Still the hub works and it allows you to take breathers whenever you want which I like. Unlike Silent Hill 2, which was mostly unrelenting and stressful, this game has intensity but plenty of quiet time to relax and recover. Thus I was able to beat this game much faster than Silent Hill 2 even though it's a longer game. Pacing being the key difference. That said, the pacing is a double edged sword for this game. For one thing Aya walks and runs like she is wading through a swamp... it's not a deal breaker for me, but I wouldn't have minded if they doubled her speed. I don't think anyone would have minded that... but hey I guess you just have more time to admire the absolute craftsmanship that went behind the fantastic pre-rendered backgrounds. Square truly was a master at this craft. Pre-rendered backgrounds is a true lost art. The Resident Evil remake/HD on steam is proof that pre-rendered can still be a work of art that ages well. When done with craft. The game world feels like a work of art. Sure the enemy and character models are low quality as you would expect from a PS1 game, but it didn't bother me. The music and sound design further elevate the atmosphere and support the pre-rendered backgrounds.

This might be a hot take, but I think the battle music theme didn't fit the tone of the game. It was too upbeat and kinda soothing and clashed with the horror vibes. I don't think it's a bad theme at all, just kind of jarring. Especially if you compare it to the droning horror of the central park sound design... aside from that one gripe, the rest of the sound design and music are top notch. Blending together technowave with opera music. The best moment of sound design though would be in the grungy apartment after Aya collapses from the flaming horse carriage ride. The apartment is brimming with atmosphere. You have the static droning of the CRTV and the sound of fire burning in a trash can. The flickering light of the TV screen casting uneven shadows, with the flames from the trash can licking away the shadows at the same time. Then music plays as an extra layer over the atmospheric sound, seemingly like it's a part of it.

Overall, I think this is a gem that is underrated and worth checking out. A very unique blend that mostly works for me. It has some pacing issues, both with Aya moving sluggishly through the environments and a few levels that feel cheaply labyrinthine (Sewers and Museum). Aside from that, the level design is great. The pacing with the horror to quiet moments is great. The combat is fun and engaging. The bosses are grotesquely creative and varied. And the game ends with you killing the mother of God and then a proto-featus God, like all great Animes do.

I took other notes as I played that don't exactly fit in cleanly to the above review so I'll just add them below in case you find them interesting.

Before the worm boss in central park, there's an optional zoo exhibit you can go into. One of the signs mentions giant worms, which you don't see until much later as the boss fight. Clever foreshadowing.

Scene with Sheeva (dog) is clever. Creating tension since we've seen all manner of animals turn into grotesque body horror abominations, but not a dog yet. This acts as a quiet moment given the previous gauntlet had two bosses in it.

The bosses were all varied and rad. I mentioned the worms from the park, but then you have a Cerberus split head dog monster (something out of The Thing). This boss was pretty tough for me. Then you have a giant spider human hybrid with a giant pulsating brain you fight on a roof. Which a helicopter crashes on! Followed by a giant centipede boss that splits into different parts. A giant crab that was very hard, but gives the rocket launcher to you as a reward so worth it. The museum has a triceratops and T-rex boss fight. Sure it doesn't make sense but any game that includes dinosaurs always scores high marks in my book!

Why do sewer levels always suck? Not only is the level padded out, full of lots of interchangeable hallways, making it disorienting, but it also has bats that make you blind! So annoying! You do get a shotgun here (or right before it, I don't remember) and that thing does work on those damned bats.

• Unique blend of survival horror and JRPG.
• Beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds, low-poly characters and retro soundtrack. Checks all the marks for PS1 nostalgia.
• Combat is a bit jank but the blend of real-time movement with ATB action works well. Weapon upgrade system is very poorly explained within the game but interesting.
• Exploration can be very tedious as a result of confusing level design, interactive objects not being highlighted in any way, and semi-random battles (once per room).
• Story is not very good (B-movie horror biology-babble) but has good pacing and is endearing nonetheless.

(Played with a walkthrough and would recommend doing the same)

Beat 2 playthroughs, including the Chrysler building and optional super boss. I first heard about this game back in the early 2000s when I used to listen to video game radio online, and heard some great music from this game. I would have loved this game back in the day. I dived in blind and immediately sensed the inspiration from Resident Evil; the fixed camera angles and creepy atmosphere. They missed the classic door opening cutscenes and distinctive sound of doors being closed behind you. And there were no tank controls, which actually messed me up a little bit. The entire theater section was very well done and set a great horror vibe. This lessened a bit once I got into battle. I liked the battle system but the music did not fit. It was too subdued and happy, and really did not make me feel like I was in a life or death struggle. The battle system reminded me of Crisis Core. It was essentially the classic Final Fantasy active time battle with menus, but you were expected to move around in between your turns. She took more damage while standing still, had to stand still to attack, and enemies would still move around and attack during her turn. So there was quite a bit of nuance to the combat with positioning and timing, and some bullet hell elements. I used the club for the entire first day to conserve ammo, but ammo was a non issue. Many enemies dropped ammo and there was a lot of ammo to loot so I never felt that survival aspect of managing limited ammo. All guns except the rocket launcher used the same ammo, which I think hurt the survival and immersion. I got stuck twice in the beginning and had to check a walkthrough; once for finding the key and again for reading the diary. I did press X on those spots scouring for loot just like in a classic Resident Evil, but it just did not register. I had the same problem in the zoo with the key there. Apparently your position and facing needed to be just right and you could not also be pressing the run button. This was a huge flaw that should have been fixed in QA testing. Some of the later plot items had sparkles to show where to search and that should have been added to the rest of the game. Now that I knew how finicky the searching was, I did not have this problem again. I also missed several items in the gun store and pharmacy for this reason, though before the end I used a walkthrough to get everything I missed.

Speaking of the run button, the god awful movement speed was the worst aspect of the game. The basic walk was so slow that it should never have been programmed in. The Resident Evil characters moved faster than that while critically wounded! I have never liked the concept of having to press a second button to move at an acceptable speed, or in this case a slightly less unacceptable speed than the snail walk. You should move at maximum speed at all times. The game had location triggers for random battles so the slow movement speed served only to waste the player's time. It was not until day 5 that learned how to use tuning. Up until then I had been storing all excess gear and putting my bonus points into inventory, because why would I want to power up a gun that I will eventually replace? So the game was quite difficult and I barely scraped by the bosses. I looked up the purpose of junk, so I found out about the 300 junk ultimate weapons. I resolved to farm 1 but not use it until new game +. However, the crows were doing insane damage to me when I tried to use my steal club, and I actually died once. I put that on hold until later. At the hospital I switched out the M16 for the tranquilizer grenade launcher (must be tear gas?), and I really had to step up reloading after each battle, just like classic Resident Evil. I got game over on the roof after beating the boss when I had a stupid time limit to get to the corner window washing platform, which was not visible unless you went all the way over to it. I tried to go down the hole made by the boss and go back in the door. How the hell was I supposed to know what to do there? If there had been a checkpoint right after the boss then this would have been a barely passable dick move.

Then I went to the warehouse and the enemies jumped significantly in difficulty. So I decided to read up on tuning and start powering my gear up. I put first strike from the PPK on my tear gas launcher and was using the armor with auto potion. I only had so many tools so I only salvaged gear that had a good number of bonus points. I researched online to find out the best weapon and found conflicting opinions. The options were smg, pistol or rifle. Smg had the fastest firing rate but fewest mod slots, poor range and bad starting mods. Pistol had the most mod slots and 2nd fastest firing rate, but again poor range. Rifle had the best base stats but shot significantly slower. I decided on the smg camp and began dumping bonus points into range on my launcher, which was also one of its weaknesses (the others being slow shooting, slow reloading, and small clip). I beat the crab boss but ran out of healing items during the fight. Had to do some scumming to get out of that warehouse alive. Then I did the sewers. The samey tunnels there were a little annoying, but the enemies were much weaker than the warehouse. Damn I should have came here first. I knew the museum was the final dungeon and had a point of no return. I was also low on healing items, so I decided to kill 2 with 1 by farming the zoo for junk and healing. Used the steal club and now was taking 0 damage from the crows. I saved before turning in to try out the smg and rifle. It was tough to judge them without modding out the smg's 10 shot hit all and they performed about equally well. I stuck with the smg and put it in storage. I wanted to beat the game without an ultimate weapon.

I completed the museum and used all my rockets on the T Rex. I felt the auto potion on my armor was the crutch carrying me through boss fights; action economy. I used magic for haste, and sometimes barrier. I felt barrier was more economical than healing. I got both of the double command pistols and went past the point of no return, foolishly not keeping a backup save. This was just like Final Fantasy Tactics all over again. I was not prepared for Eve, though I could have toughed it out if I had a chance to fill up my inventory with healing from the stash. I tried several times but it was not happening; the launcher was too slow and caused me to get hit too often. I ended up using a tool to move the launcher's stats to the double command pistol, thereby losing first strike and tranquilizer. I first thought to move double command onto the launcher but no free slots. That pistol was enough to win. I used all my mana on liberate because that did a ton of easy damage, and I could time it to avoid an attack. Then came the final boss and I made sure to fill my inventory with the best healing items. The fight was not difficult at all, with liberal use of liberate. However the chase sequence afterwards was a different story. I tried to save at the phone but the creature caught up and game over. Watch the cutscenes and fight the final boss again. Then the camera angle change messed me up and I accidentally went the wrong way. Game over, watch the cutscenes and fight the final boss again. Then I got to the boiler room and it said to escape via the ladder. So I went the way I came in. No, can't go that way. Wtf? What other ladder is there? Oh there it is, ship explodes game over watch the cutscenes and fight the final boss again. For fuck sakes.

On to new game +, I rushed through everything and tricked out my sweet P90 with 2X shot, double command, 1st strike, burst and acid. I went to the point of no return then started the Chrysler building. It was a tedious process but not challenging at all until floor 50+. I was still using that early armor with auto potion, so my defensive stats were low. I started pumping bonus points onto the armor to mitigate, though I did die to a mimic and twice to the crab boss. Revives prevented any progress loss. Floors 61+ were challenging because the mimics and wolf men were hitting me for 200 to 300. I could kill mimics in 2 turns and I started using barrier to avoid damage. I also put counterattack on my gun, which helped occasionally. I did not have trouble navigating the floors by holding a map in my head. From 61 to 67 I drew maps because I back tracked out after getting the ultimate armor. From then on I put all my points into attack. Then I decided to grind xp and junk on floor 61, and was dismayed to find the floor layouts changed with each visit so my maps were now useless. Random layouts per game would make sense. Randomly changing layouts between visits did not make sense at all. I spent a few hours grinding to level 38 and another 300 junk to get the ak47 (lucky first try too). By now I had infinite super tools and had my weapon and armor as good as they could be. I switched acid for cyanide, which helped the grinding significantly because the enemies were very susceptible to instant death. Also got crit up and triple command. The ak could take both acid and cyanide but was significantly less effective due to the much slower shooting. Confirmed, smg was the best weapon type. I went to floor 70 and beat that boss without trouble. I did have to heal a few times. Then I beat the optional super boss. It was not difficult. I had to heal a couple times and burned her down in only a couple minutes. I read the strategy afterwards, particularly the part about not attacking to avoid revenge healing. But I did not even notice that during the fight. I was hitting for over 400 damage per shot, with 6 shots going out in 1 or 2 seconds, and my ATB bar filling back up another 2 or 3 seconds later for another attack. I shredded her. My final stats were:

Level 53

P90: 535 attack, 163 range, 286 clip. Armor: 291 defense, 277 energy defense, 145 crit defense. All mods.

I really enjoyed this game and could definitely sense the FF7 influence; Barrett and gender bent Cloud as detective partners going up against Hojo and Jenova. The core concept of a lifeform hidden inside us that suddenly vied for control was extremely interesting, though the actual science in game was off the wall. Maybe I could believe the spontaneous combustion and healing/haste magic, but not the Resident Evil level of instantaneous creation of biomass from nothing. I could see animals mutating into the monsters over months of feeding and growing, but not violating the laws of physics. It would have made more sense for this to have been a zombie apocalypse situation, with the mitochondria directly taking over the bodies. The game had great characters, setting, atmosphere, story and gameplay, minus the problems with movement speed, insta fail, and lack of direction. I would have liked to see more realism and survival mechanics, like limited supplies, and black magic in the way of direct elemental attacks or making grenades/launchers a special attack. Would love to see more of this style of game, not necessarily the same franchise. I was getting some Shin Megami Tensei vibes too. A game in that setting with this gameplay would be awesome.

8.3/10

This game fucking slaps. Really cool story, visual aesthetic, and soundtrack. Very cool mix of Resident Evil type game and a Square Soft RPG in a sci-fi horror story set in NYC.

Hardest to believe thing in the story is NYPD actually helping people lmao.

My only real complaints are that because the game is so short (about 12 hours for me & I'm slow) and pretty easy, it feels like there are too many RPG customization options. I guess this adds to replayability because you do runs with different guns. The unskippable cutscenes are pretty whack, especially at the end where I had to make several attempts to beat the final boss.

Also not stoked about there being a "true" ending unlocked by playing through the New Game + and going through what sounds like a long ass dungeon. Might just watch that on YouTube.

Despite it's flaws, this game is cool as fuck and I'm looking forward to playing the sequel. I've been really enjoying some of the shorter PS1 Squaresoft games (Chocobo Racing, Chocobo's Dungeon 2, Threads of Fate) after logging 120~ hours in Dragon Warrior 7. They were really crushing it on the PS1.

Parasite Eve is definitely a sea of great ideas that I've been meaning to dive in for a long time. After spending over 9 hours with it, I can say that it surely shines, but not as much as I hoped it would.

The story of Parasite Eve is quite mature. It's lovely to see how far a game can go when the writing is strong like this one. It takes a while to grasp everything going on, but by the end of the game I felt fulfilled.

In addition to being an elegantly well told tale, it also packs memorable characters and a great protagonist. Aya Brea is very well designed, from her style to her profile, and the fact that she's tied with the main villian (who's also quite memorable, by the way), just enhances your time with her, making her one of the main reasons why the story and setting will stick to your mind.

And it all just immerses you more and more as you go through it. Part of the reason why this game vibes so well with its theme is due to its beautiful renders, amazing environments and epic cutscenes that, while they don't hold up to today standards, they can still pack quite a punch.

On top of that you have Yoko Shimomura composing the sountrack, hitting you with beautiful, classy, intense and diverse songs that refuse to leave my mind even after the credits rolled. Indeed, a genius of video game music.

As for the core gameplay, it's a unique mix of RPG and Survival Horror. Not a perfect hybrid, but a very good one, I must say. I had a lot of fun with the combat. It's a near perfect marriage of Vagrant Story and Resident Evil 2.

And, yes, I know it sounds weird to say it, but it just works. Great enemy variety, challenging bosses, good collection of magics and tons of guns for you to manage your way to the end.

The problem with this game lies in how archaic it is.

Regardless of the time it was developed, I just felt like things should flow a bit better and, definitely, faster. Aya's movement speed is probably the worst thing in the game. She's slow when outside combat and extremely clunky during fights where mobility is key. In a game where you have to backtrack to get everything you want while taking the least amount of damage as possible, movement is essential and it just doesn't work well.

In fact, many other things doesn't work as well as it should. The gun tuning system is very rough, the UI takes a bit to get used to, for an RPG the game can be extremely short (which usually doesn't bother me, but now it somehow did), cutscenes are unskipabble and inventory management is a HUGE mess.

Why didn't they just add an item box instead of forcing a very repetitive trip back to the police department? And while the boss fights are very well done, I have to say that the final boss is an unnecessary difficulty spike. A pseudo-bullethell shooter with a toothless chase afterwards.

Parasite Eve is a pleasant and nostalgic trip back to the 90's. It works great, brings new ideas to the genre, manages to be a unique hybrid and introduces Aya Brea, with a great soundtrack to boot.

But its archaic design, slow pace clumsiness breaks part of the experience.

A great game, nonetheless. One that was stuck with me for months after I finished. I just can't fathom how clunky it can be, since it came from an era filled with wonderful RPGs.

Parasite Eve's setting of 1997 Christmas time in New York City is refreshing, as well as it's blend of horror and rpg elements. It's hard not to think of it as a Final Fantasy meets Resident Evil blend, because it really feels like it in a number of ways.

The thriller plot manages to stay engaging throughout the short length of a playthrough, and the combat system is interesting, if a bit tiring for me by the end. Ultimately, Parasite Eve manages a unique experience that I feel is mostly successful and enjoyable but the experience is slightly bogged down by some of clunkier aspects. Long PS1 load times and slow movement can make exploring and re-treading past areas feel like a chore. Combat is initially fun, but by late game only a few options felt viable making battles a lot less varied than what I had hoped. All in all, still a fun experience worth checking out.

Fresh after seeing the credits I've got to say that I really enjoyed the game. The two last bosses were a bit annoying and cheap; both of them had an almost unavoidable attack that literally left you with 1 hitpoint and the last scene is basically impossible unless you have savestates.

But the game has a nice rythm. The semi turn-based combat works really well. Position yourself, pause, select attack, repeat. There are a lot of enemies with different attacks and status effects and a healthy mix of monsters in each encounter and each area. Throw in some light environmental puzzles of the "find the key" variety and things stay surprisingly fresh throughout.

On top of that, there are a lot of systems to play with. There's many types of weapons and various possible effects. You can transfer them from one weapon to another, but the "donor" weapon breaks (reminds me of modern games in which you can "evolve" items or characters). Leveling up gives you bonus points that can be used to speed up your turn, increase item capacity or even add damage, range and etc... to weapons and armour. And you've got "spells" like Heal, Haste, Confuse...

Admittedly I didn't engage with the systems fully. I still don't know what does "Slow" really does, and "Confuse" only seemed to work once. Apparently there is elemental damage and you can analyse enemies for weaknesses, but I never encountered a weapon with elemental damage nor found any use to analyse.

The story is complete bonkers nonsense, the type that only really works in videogames. It's also not very well told. Most of the time I didn't understand exactly what was I doing or where I needed to go.

What I really liked was the imagery. The mutated creatures are gross and interesting to look at, and the bosses even more so. The weird PS1-era low-polygon graphics and the stiff, plastic-looking prerendered cutscenes actually enhance the bizarre, unnatural style that contrasts with the realistically presented backdrop.

I'm also surprised of how much I liked the main character of Aya Brea. She doesn't say much, neither does much beside killing monsters, but there's a sort of no-nonsense attitude to her that is supremely likable. The way she combats these nightmarish monstrosities with a gun and dressed in jeans and a black jacket feels fresh and even relatable.

Oh, and I cannot fail to mention the music. It's perfectly weird and eerie, but also high-paced during action scenes. The synthesised opera singing was probably a decision due to limitations of the hardware but it's yet another of those low-fi aspects that work beautifully to create an engrossing atmosphere.

It's always exciting to experience a piece of science fiction that is heavily inspired by science rather than other works of science fiction. With parasite eve the prevailing impression I got was the writers were heavily intrigued by a single scientific phenomenon, in this case the nature of the mitochondria, and proceeded to extrapolate that idea into an absolute extreme. Which is probably true given the game is a pseudo sequel to a book written by a microbiologist. Beyond that Squaresoft touted the game as a cinematic rpg. Playing through it, I recognised some flavour of survival horror as well. All this illustrates Parasite Eve as a highly experimental genre fusion and quintessential of the creative vigour of Squaresoft during the PlayStation One generation. here is a company fresh of the high of Final Fantasy VII ready to conquer the world, much like the titular character of the game.

Through much of the game the player character, Aya Brea, is placed in a position of complete isolation. Set in New York city during Christmas, what should be a place brimming with life and activity is now eerily empty while the landmarks are filled with monstrous creatures. Narratively Aya is also alone in her fight to defeat Parasite Eve since she is the only one capable of the task. She has no back up or companionship in this desperate fight for survival between the human race and the parasitic mitochondria.

Although the game has no shortages of grotesque body horror and Hollywood style bombastic set-pieces, it does have something to say. It reminds us of the true nature of all life, one defined by exploitation, desperation and an all encompassing desire to simply exist. Yet the game looks at this not with condemnation but with optimism. Maybe it is possible to co-exist, to find some harmony between all living things and the planet itself.

I’ve been choosing some gems to play lately and I’m going to fully embracing my luck with these picks while it lasts.

I’ve been meaning to dip more into retro games I was too young to either play or appreciate back when they were originally released. I was always intrigued about the Parasite Eve series, seeing it often cited on “greatest horror games of all time” lists, along with reading at some length about its cult following. Anyway, this game is exactly what the doctor ordered.

The graphics and general esthetic fill me with a warm and fuzzy nostalgia for a time I wasn’t even fully sentient during. Also, just from the couple of hours I’ve sunk in so far, the writing’s great, articulating just enough character and plot solely through text dialogue, the limited tech being in no way a hinderance. And the cut scenes still 100% hold up as the freaky gore-fests they were intended to be.

My only real issue is my mounting anxiety playing an older game where one false move means repeating whole chunks of game from the last place I saved, or making a dire mistake with inventory management. What if I waste or dispose of the wrong items, or miss the rooms with pivotal loot?! I truly am spoiled by modern gaming. I’m persevering however, and this very anxiety is only adding a refreshing edge of fun that I’m not accustom to.

The first game I played from start to finish.

I love Aya to bits. She's a very real and relatable protagonist. Her relationship with her mentor Daniel is heartwarming.

This game has a fantastic storyline. It's a sci-fi horror story that places women in the center. Both Aya and Eve are memorable.

The combat system is interesting and well-made.

If you like horror and sci-fi, this 12-ish hours game will surely please you. And if you want more, the EX Mode (New Game +) has a 100 storeys dungeon.

Pros

• Beautiful music
• Good character customisation system
• Fun combats

Cons

• The 3rd Birthday Let's just pretend it never happened xP