Summary

  • Many classic horror games on the PS1 never created big franchises but offer unique and terrifying experiences worth exploring today.
  • Alien Trilogy and Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge are some overlooked horror games on PS1 with their own frightening elements.
  • Clock Tower, The Note, and OverBlood are other horror games on the PS1 that have their own creepy and challenging gameplay experiences.

When it comes to the survival horror genre, most fans tend to think of the PS1 as its birthplace. It’s hard not to see why as Resident Evil instantly became a hit when it was released in 1996. Besides that, there was also Silent Hill in 1999 and both of these games went on to spawn numerous horrific sequels on the PS1 and beyond.

Other PS1 horror games weren’t so lucky to create giant franchises. There are a lot of one-and-done horror and horror-adjacent classics on the system that many haven’t experienced yet due to low availability beyond emulation. Let’s explore the back catalog and bring new light to these terrifying adventures from the early years of the PS1.

6 Alien Trilogy

An FPS Horror Highlight Reel

Shooting a xenomorph in Alien Trilogy
  • Released: February 29, 1996
  • Publisher: Acclaim Entertainment
  • Developer: Probe Entertainment

Alien Trilogy was a PS1 exclusive at first but it was eventually brought to the Sega Saturn and MS-DOS supported PCs. It followed the events of the Alien film franchise loosely and it was a first-person shooter. In that sense, it was more of an action game than a horror game.

Face Huggers and Xenomorphs fell a lot easier in the game than they did in the movies, taking away some of their scary powers. However, it was not without its tense moments. The lighting, for example, could obscure enemies, making for some frightening jump scares and sometimes ammo could be scarce like in many survival horror games.

5 Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge

The PS1’s First Foray Into Darkness

Shooting a zombie in Alone in the Dark One-Eyed Jack's Revenge
  • Released: August 22, 1996 (PS1 NA)
  • Publisher: Infogrames
  • Developer: Infogrames

Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge is the second game in the Alone in the Dark series which was just called Alone in the Dark 2 on PC. Strangely, the name was different in Europe too as it was called Alone in the Dark: Jack Is Back when it came to consoles. Weird names aside, it’s very much a predecessor to what Resident Evil would become, predating it by three years as it was released on MS-DOS computers in 1993.

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The game began with players pulling up to a large compound only to find it overrun with zombies. With a few quick shots, they could run past and make their way inside a mansion to solve puzzles and shoot more zombies. It’s more of an adventure game than an action game and the series overall could never quite catch on with console players. This is probably why Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge, and its sequels, are more often forgotten.

4 Blood Omen: Legacy Of Kain

A Diablo Adjacent Vampire Zelda

Exploring a dungeon in Blood Omen Legacy Of Kain
  • Released: November 1, 1996 (NA)
  • Publisher: Crystal Dynamics
  • Developer: Silicon Knights

Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain is the first game in the series that would be usurped in popularity thanks to its spinoff sequel, Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver. The two games couldn’t be more different mechanically as Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was a top-down action RPG akin to early entries in The Legend of Zelda franchise.

Players begin as Kain, a vampire who has awakened from his slumber after being betrayed. Players could hack and slash away at enemies, drain them of their blood, and solve some light puzzles for good measure. It has horror vibes but it is not exactly the scariest game on the PS1.

3 Clock Tower: The First Fear

Run From The Scissorman

Exploring a dungeon in Clock Tower
  • Released: July 17, 1997 (Japan)
  • Publisher: Human Entertainment
  • Developer: Human Entertainment

Clock Tower is not remembered by most because it was never released outside of Japan despite its radical legacy. The game was released in 1995 on the SNES but it would then get enhanced for the PS1 as Clock Tower: The First Fear. CG cutscenes were added, for example, but the graphics weren’t touched much. Western fans of horror games can at long last check the game out sometime soon as a remaster, Clock Tower: Rewind, is set to debut on a plethora of consoles.

The second game did make it to North America on PS1 in 1997, but it was just called Clock Tower similar to how many Final Fantasy games were numbered incorrectly early on. Now, Clock Tower was a point and click adventure game with detailed menus. Players assumed the role of a young girl, Jennifer, who was stalked in a manor by a crazed killer with a giant pair of scissors aptly named Scissorman. It’s a hard game to navigate and one truly terrifying due to the little amount of control players have.

2 The Note

A Journalist’s Investigation Goes Ary

Akira and Angela in The Note
  • Released: October 1, 1997 (EU)
  • Publisher: Sunsoft
  • Developer: NK System

The Note will be unfamiliar to most in North America as it only received a release in Japan and Europe. It’s another horror adventure game that emphasizes menus, but there is combat, unlike Clock Tower. Players assumed the role of Akira, a reporter, who journeyed to a mysterious village to investigate a mystery alongside his partner.

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Players could begin exploring areas in first-person and then fast travel to major locations via a menu. There was a hotel, for example, that was necessary to stay alive. Akira could get tired, signaled by the limited cone of vision that would dip players in and out of reality. It had some interesting ideas for an early survival horror game to be sure, along with some hilarious early voice acting, but The Note wasn’t immediately an all-time classic when it launched in 1997.

1 OverBlood

More Like Needs More Blood

Exploring a room in OverBlood
  • Released: May 20, 1997 (NA)
  • Publisher: EA
  • Developer: Riverhillsoft

OverBlood was released in 1996 in Japan, months after it debuted both in Japan and North America. It was developed and published by the same company in Japan, Riverhillsoft, but thanks to the success of Resident Evil, Western publishers were looking to get another survival horror hit on the shelves. That is probably why EA published this in 1997 for North America. It’s more of a puzzle game, taking place in the future wherein an amnesiac man, Raz, has to escape a laboratory.

He is aided by a robot, Pipo, and the two characters can be switched between. That’s the starting duo, but there are other characters and surprises in store like all of the ways the game tries to kill you. The variety and cheap deaths wrack up there with the 2013 reboot of Tomb Raider. There are some spooky bits, but it is beyond challenging and the only reason some may want to seek it out today is for the cheesy cutscenes.

Box art of main characters
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