It takes a lot to stand out, especially at a time when Resident Evil and Silent Hill were starting to get a foothold in gaming, but that’s what Parasite Eve accomplished. If you compare Parasite Eve to Capcom and Konami’s genre frontrunners, Square Enix’s take on survival horror was unique.
It might have told a scary story with an eerie environment, but it was a Square Enix game. It had an ATB mechanic like Final Fantasy and combat gameplay similar to Vagrant Story. But, for some reason, it worked. It also helped that it was an M-rated game, which allowed it to tell a darker and more adult story compared to its contemporaries.
Parasite Eve ended up becoming the third best-selling game in Japan in 1998 with a sequel the next year. Unfortunately, Square Enix did what it did best and failed to capitalize on the game’s success. A third game followed in 2010 and Parasite Eve hasn’t been heard from since – until now.
Gematsu notes that Square Enix filed a trademark for the word “Symbiogenesis” in Japan, which, as per Wiktionary, means the “merging of two separate organisms to form a single new organism.”
This is the best word to describe the entire plot of Parasite Eve, which first started as a novel in 1995 before becoming a movie, manga, then finally, as a video game series.
Although there’s no official confirmation, Square Enix hasn’t been shy about its intention to revisit its older franchises. The most recent example is Tactics Ogre: Reborn. Not to mention, Ryan “AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem,” alluded to a potential new Parasite Eve game on Twitter when talking about the impact Capcom had on the survival horror genre when it released Resident Evil 2: Remake a few years ago.
If you ever have doubt that Capcom is the king of Horror Games & sets trends in the industry even to this day, look no further than Resident Evil: 2 Remake resurrecting several dormant horror IPs w/new Remakes for Silent Hill 2, Dead Space, Alone in the Dark & maybe Parasite Eve.
— AestheticGamer aka Dusk Golem (@AestheticGamer1) October 23, 2022
Companies are cashing in on the nostalgia wave. It’s arguable that studios can no longer think of original ideas, which is why we’re seeing them go back to older titles. At the same time, there might be a bigger and more creative reason for this.
Now that they can afford the type of technology they could only dream of, many executives feel like they can fulfill the potential of the original vision of their older games. Square Enix has proven that it can do remasters and remakes right.
Parasite Eve originally launched at the height of Japanese horror. Over two decades later, it might see a resurgence just when its older contemporaries are making a comeback.
In other news, there’s a long list of iconic survival horror games that’s getting either a new game or a remake in the next year or two. The list includes Resident Evil 4, Dead Space, and Silent Hill. It’ll feel like the 90s all over again if we see another Parasite Eve and Fatal Frame game join the lineup.
