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Team Innocent; ultra obscure and legit survival horror goodness...and others like it

VGEsoterica

Member
Ever since I played Alone in the Dark on DOS back in the day I was hooked on the survival horror formula and the minute I got my hands on the original RE on PS1 it just solidified my love for the old school survival horror genre. So of course when you are into a genre what do you do when you've played all the "common games"...you go hunting for obscure and only released in Japan stuff! and wow is there a deep roster of content just below the surface in the survival horror genre.

But who knew Hudson Soft would A) release a survival horror game as a launch game for the NEC PC-FX B) it would be legit good and unique and C) somehow they could make it bright, colorful and a bit anime themed and still have it contain some actual scares along the way. Super tight rope to get it right but Hudson managed to pull it off...and they did it a full TWO YEARS BEFORE Resident Evil would even release in Japan. So really it was ahead of its time in many regards.

Since the PC-FX couldn't render polygons it's all pre-rendered backgrounds with sprites on screen and it has a SUPER unique look that I am into. Combine that with a "horror in space" aesthetic and I was sold the minute I started playing it damn near 20 years ago. It's still a blast to play today and thankfully full english walkthroughs exist so you can easily complete it.

But that got me thinking...what are your hidden gem survival horror recs? I will give another for fun...Germs : Nerawareta Machi on PS1
 
Does this game have a fan translation yet? One of the few PC-FX games I've been curious to try, but not without an English patch first.

For obscure survival-horror of the era in general, Galerians is a really cool PS1 title in that genre, it's basically RE meets cyberpunk. Also while it's more a JRPG, there's Koudelka (also on PS1), and pseudo-FPS Enemy Zero (Saturn).
 

CamHostage

Member
Wow, this game is startlingly out of time, like a thing that fell out of another dimension. It's basically a point-and-click adventure game (I never really thought of RE as having those roots, but it does make sense if you think of its lineage) with what looks like a clumsy combat mechanic, but it really does seem like something out of the same primordial ooze that Resident Evil crawled out of.

I love the use of animated scaling sprites over backgrounds, it's a little floaty but it's one of my favorite effects where a 2D character inhabits "3D space".
 
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VGEsoterica

Member
Wow, this game is startlingly out of time, like a thing that fell out of another dimension. It's basically a point-and-click adventure game (I never really thought of RE as having those roots, but it does make sense if you think of its lineage) with what looks like a clumsy combat mechanic, but it really does seem like something out of the same primordial ooze that Resident Evil crawled out of.

I love the use of animated scaling sprites over backgrounds, it's a little floaty but it's one of my favorite effects where a 2D character inhabits "3D space".
Exactly. It has every mechanic RE has except it was released two years earlier. It’s like RE .5 mechanically but wholly unique thematically
 
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Currently emulating the Great, Magnificent PS1 Pal game called Chaos Break! Its pure Survival Horror with traces of arcade gameplay...the gameplay, atmosphere, b movie VA in the Pal version, two characters to pick from, controls, music, menus, exploration/backtracking, saving system, etc. are all so blissful to experience! I'm stuck on a puzzle rn and it gave me RE0 vibes getting stuck on a puzzle with atmospheric music droning on in the background
 
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Well I want to play this now but this is not on any consoles? Even digitally would be fine if that's the only way I could get it.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Well I want to play this now but this is not on any consoles? Even digitally would be fine if that's the only way I could get it.
Mednafen


And get the GUI

 

VGEsoterica

Member
Currently emulating the Great, Magnificent PS1 Pal game called Chaos Break! Its pure Survival Horror with traces of arcade gameplay...the gameplay, atmosphere, b movie VA in the Pal version, two characters to pick from, controls, music, menus, exploration/backtracking, saving system, etc. are all so blissful to experience! I'm stuck on a puzzle rn and it gave me RE0 vibes getting stuck on a puzzle with atmospheric music droning on in the background
Solid fun for sure. Give Chaos Heat a go too. Way harder as you need MAME and all the associated files as it’s arcade only but def one you should check out if you like Chaos Break
 

VGEsoterica

Member
Currently emulating the Great, Magnificent PS1 Pal game called Chaos Break! Its pure Survival Horror with traces of arcade gameplay...the gameplay, atmosphere, b movie VA in the Pal version, two characters to pick from, controls, music, menus, exploration/backtracking, saving system, etc. are all so blissful to experience! I'm stuck on a puzzle rn and it gave me RE0 vibes getting stuck on a puzzle with atmospheric music droning on in the background
Oh and I should mention Chaos Heat is not the same genre. Same franchise but diff gameplay
 

SpiceRacz

Member
Darkseed for PC. I don't know anyone that's ever played it. I randomly found it at a book fair back in the 90s. The art is incredible. HR Giger worked on it and it shows.

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Yeah it’s a ton of fun. Bummer it never got ported from arcades. But it’s great in MAME so it’s just as good minus not being able to put it on the shelf
I heard that Taito is active in software publishing and dev. again, that whole Chaos series as a collection on modern platforms would be a guaranteed purchase from me
 
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