Parasite Eve 2

A survival horror left looking for a host

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The late ’90s and early ’00s were, in many ways, the golden age of survival horror. It’s having a renaissance at the moment, with every new game looking back at what came before and hoping to improve the formula. With several remakes and remasters on the cards, it’s surprising that Parasite Eve still hasn’t been revisited; the sequel, Parasite Eve 2, remains beloved for many.

Both games’ stories are loosely adapted from a 1995 novel by Hideaki Sena. It features many of the tropes we saw coming out of Japan at the time: shady government groups; grotesque monsters; suspense; and supernatural abilities. It was an ideal fit for the PlayStation era. Squaresoft, known now as Square Enix, saw the middling popularity of the first game, along with the success of the Resident Evil games, and pulled out all the stops for this sequel. Resident Evil writer and director Kenichi Iwao was brought on board to ensure the game met expectations and would fit in with the survival horror landscape as it was at the time.