The PlayStation 2 at 25: The Lesser-Known Horrors

At the risk of sounding repetitive, what else can anyone say about the mighty PlayStation 2 at 25? The best-selling console ever, Sony’s follow-up to the original PlayStation defined a console generation, gave the DVD format a huge boost, and gave us countless hits, both horror and otherwise. And we all know the big-name horror titles on the console. Heck, we’ve talked about them multiple times over the years.

But what about the games that don’t get the recognition? The proverbial “hidden gems”, if you will. There are plenty of them, seeing as the console saw over 4,000 titles (you read that right) across its 13-year life. So rather than focus on the obvious ones (Resident Evil 4, Fatal Frame, The Thing, Silent Hill 2, and so on), here’s small list of titles you should check out if you’re a fan of the Sony’s monolith.

ObsCure

For Josh, Stan, Shannon, Kenny, and Ashley, life at Leafmore High School hasn’t been easy. Multiple students have inexplicably disappeared, and the faculty seems to be hiding something. When Kenny goes missing, the other four friends decide to get to the bottom of things and search the campus after classes have ended. However, after being locked in the school, the group quickly discovers that they aren’t quite alone on the campus.

As close to The Faculty as PS2 fans would get and cheesy as all get out, ObsCure does offer up a few unique touches. For one, the game offers up a two-player mode, which was a rarity for Survival Horror titles (and still is, sadly). Also, each character has their own unique characteristics and abilities, such as being able to run faster or being able to more efficiently pick locks. The game also sports a crafting system, which allows you to even tape your flashlight to your gun (take that, Doom 3). Be prepared to pay out the nose for this one, unless you’re okay with the Steam version.

Cold Fear

When a Navy SEAL team is mysteriously wiped out while aboard a Russian whaling vessel, a distress call is sent out for any other government ships to investigate. Coast Guard veteran Tom Hansen and his team picks up the call, and heads to the ship. When his team also meets their demise, Hansen boards the ship to determine what happened.

Released around the same time as Resident Evil 4 on the PS2, it’s no surprise that Cold Fear stood no chance. That, and the fact that it shared similarities in its plot with Capcom’s juggernaut, dooming it further. It’s a shame, since there’s plenty of shooting to be done, and the game utilized extensive animations to mimic the ship’s movements in the water, along with having the accompanying physics for the objects on the ship (as well as aiming your gun). Things admittedly fall off a bit once you do leave the ship, and the ending is extremely lacklustre. Still, Cold Fear has a cool setting, and makes for an interesting romp for fans of RE4.

Extermination

U.S. Marine Corps Force Recon member Sergeant Dennis Riley and his Team Red Light squad have received a distress call from a top secret American research facility in Antarctica named Fort Stewart. En route to investigate, the plane malfunctions, scattering the team and crashing into the tundra. Once Riley arrives at Fort Stewart, he discovers the facility’s research into a mutant strain of bacteria has resulted in some unexpected outcomes.

One of the first Survival Horror releases for the PlayStation 2, and it shows. Extermination doesn’t exactly hide its inspirations (particularly in the dialogue department), and the story lifts the plot of John Carpenter’s The Thing.  However, the game mixes up the Survival Horror formula for the time by presenting you with a far more agile protagonist, as well as offering third and first-person modes for combat. Extermination also employs an infection mechanic that requires you to be wary of the bites and bile from the monsters, requiring you to seek out antidotes to prevent total infection and having your health decrease significantly.

Michigan: Report From Hell

A heavy fog descends upon Chicago, which soon engulfs the entire city and begins spreading even further. In response, the government calls for an immediate evacuation of the entire city and for everyone to seek refuge where possible. The ZAKA TV crew, who, sensing a good story, heads to Chicago to record the phenomenon. However, upon arriving, they quickly realize that things have taken a far more horrifying turn.

Yep, this is a Suda51 game. Painfully cheesy dialogue that flops between the “so bad it’s good” and “just plain bad” aside, Report From Hell offers up the unique mechanic of you being behind the TV camera. You not only choose what to film, but can also “direct” the other characters what to do by focusing on specific points, but also “ramming” them with the camera (with hilarious results). This was never released in North America, so if you’re looking to import, be prepared to pay through the nose (and have a Japanese/European PS2 to boot).

Ghosthunter

What started as a simple report of strange occurrences at an abandoned school has become something much more for rookie cop Lazarus Jones. After arriving at the school with his partner, Anna Steele, Jones unwittingly unleashes hundreds of ghosts from their containment facility in the school’s basement. One ghost also kidnaps Steele, leaving Jones to enter the ghost realm in order to recapture the ghosts, but also rescue his partner.

A few years before got a new Ghostbusters game from Atari, SCEE Cambridge Studio gave us this. While it’s admittedly a product of its time as a third-person shooter and from a gameplay standpoint, Ghosthunter looked pretty darn good upon release, and it still does today. It’s a brisk 10 hours of gameplay, and much like the title sounds, it leans more on the lighter side rather than leaning hard into horror. Plus, for the 80s kids, you have Rob Paulson as the voice of Lazarus.

Shadow Hearts

Set in 1913, Yuri Hyuga is a young Harmonixer: a man with the ability to capture and transform into monsters. He meets Alice Elliot, a young British girl whose father was brutally murdered, and is being chased by a mysterious warlock who calls himself Roger Bacon. During their journey to Shanghai, they are hunted by the Japanese army and Dehuai, a powerful sorcerer obsessed with obtaining power over a dark god.

Lovecraft fans did indeed have a series on the PlayStation 2 to get their cosmic horror fix with Nautilus’ Shadow Hearts. Director Matsuzo Machida drew inspiration from Lovecraft and Go Nagai‘s Devilman manga for the basis of the game, with the former being a source for the monster designs. Mixing things up further was the Judgement Ring mechanic, which added a bit of complexity to the turn-based fights, requiring you to hit areas on the ring as the pointer passes over them to score a successful attack.

Darkwatch

You are Jericho Cross, a seasoned outlaw. In search of the big haul, you raid a secret treasure train. Unbeknownst, to you, the train belongs to the Darkwatch, an ancient organization dedicated to defeating supernatural evils. The cargo of the train is not money or jewels, but the captured vampire lord Lazarus Malkoth. Jericho ends up freeing Malkoth, only to be bitten by him as a reward. Now Jericho hunt down Maloth before succumbing to the bite and becoming a vampire himself.

Filling that niche of Wild West horror FPS quite nicely, Darkwatch offers up some great atmosphere, as well as the unique mechanic of its protagonist being a vampire. Throughout the game, and depending on your choices, you’ll gain supernatural abilities, which incentivizes replayability. That, and the fact that you have two endings, again depending upon your choices. The PlayStation 2 version also has split-screen multiplayer shenanigans, or you can team up in co-op action in the game’s story mode.

Haunting Ground

Fiona Belli is an 18 year old college student who, after a car crash which claims the lives of her parents, awakens in a cage in the dungeon of a strange castle. Quickly escaping the cage, Fiona wanders around the castle, eventually uncovering the mystery behind her kidnapping. She also befriends a white German shepherd named Hewie, who defends her from the castle’s disturbed residents.

Probably one of the more well-known “obscure” games, Capcom mixed up the Survival Horror formula with the addition of Hewie. Not only does he function as an offensive tool to distract foes, but he also helps Fiona with the various puzzles found in the castle. Haunting Ground also emphasizes Fiona’s vulnerability as a protagonist, especially when she enters panic mode and begins acting irrationally, creating a greater sense of tension when it comes to combat and, well, survival. Coupled with a cast of disturbing characters that each have their own form of obsession over Fiona, and some of the best-looking environments you’ll find on the PS2, Haunting Ground is one Survival Horror title that you should look to experience. Unfortunately, those prices on eBay aren’t getting any lower.

Rule of Rose

Jennifer is a young girl who has lost her memory and now finds herself on a bus, holding an unfinished storybook given to her by a little boy. Following the boy into the dark countryside, Jennifer discovers the dilapidated Rose Garden Orphanage. Soon she finds herself trapped on a dirigible controlled by a group of twisted orphan children known as the Red Crayon Aristocrats. Jennifer is made a member of the society, although she is the regarded as “filthy”, and made to suffer under the rules of the hierarchy. She must not only survive and escape, but re-discover her own past.

Released just two months before the PlayStation 3’s debut, Rule of Rose became an unfortunate blip when it was released. It also probably didn’t help that the game garnered controversy in the UK due to a moral panic regarding alleged sexual content. Nonsense aside, those who actually played the game found it to be atmospheric and a story that while disturbing, stuck with players. However, gameplay is unfortunately frustrating, as combat is clunky, and your adopted canine companion sucks the fun out of exploration by leading you straight to the item you need each time. And don’t get us started on the second-hand price…

Echo Night: Beyond

In the year 2044, Richard Osmond and Claudia Seifer take a flight into space in order to be married on Earth’s Moon. However, the shuttle crashes during landing, and Richard wakes up disoriented and alone. Richard soon begins seeing ghosts of the people who were killed in the crash wandering the moon base, along with a strange mist that has permeated the base. He has to find Claudia before it’s too late, and figure out what’s going on.

Steeped in atmosphere where you’ll be spending a good portion of the game searching the base with just a flashlight in the dark, Echo Night: Beyond is a uniquely tense experience. There’s no combat, and no health restoration. Instead, the main game mechanic revolves around your heart rate. If you happen to even be in the vicinity of one of the ghosts, it’ll start to go up. Let it get too high, and you’ll go into cardiac arrest. Therefore, you’ll need to make use of the various cameras to make sure the coast is clear before you work to dissipate the mist, which is the only way of “fighting” the ghosts. Coupled with a story that comes across as more sentimental than sappy, Echo Night: Beyond is a nice break from traditional Survival Horror fare.

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