Happy Holidays! I hope everyone has been enjoying the chilly holiday season so far and have gotten time to finally play some games. Especially since, just like last year when I recommend you play Yakuza for the holiday season, I have yet another joke/not so much of a joke recommendation! This time around you should totally give an old school game called Parasite Eve a try.

Like I was just saying, this post and recommendation is much like my Yakuza one from last year, it’s both a joke and a serious recommendation. And it’s a way for me to make some amends for forgetting to include Parasite Eve when Ray and I ranked the best horror games on the podcast in October. And yes, that does mean I somehow managed to talk about yet another horror game despite Spooky Month ending awhile ago! But hey, this game takes place around Christmas so it totally counts.

So what is Parasite Eve exactly beyond a horror game that happens to take place around Christmas? Well it’s an old PS1 horror game that was basically Square Enix’s, or as they were known at the time just Square, attempt at making their own Resident Evil. That’s right! This is a horror RPG made by the same people who make Final Fantasy! And that’s honestly the best way to describe the game. Parasite Eve is basically a combination of Resident Evil and Final Fantasy and it is shockingly amazing.

Before I get any deeper though, just know that I’m not going to be super in depth with this post. This isn’t a full review of Parasite Eve, this is just a quick shout out for a cool game that I have a good excuse to talk about right now. So I’m not going to go super in depth on the game now, but I would like to in the future since this game is so rad and more people really should play it!

Now, horror RPGs existed back then, Resident Evil was originally going to be a remake to one called Sweet Home before becoming its own thing in fact, and they very much aren’t a new thing nowadays either with games like World of Horror! But despite that, I feel like Parasite Eve is the only horror RPG that really does feel like a traditional RPG. While you could probably describe plenty of games as “Resident Evil meets Final Fantasy” Parasite Eve is the only game I’ve played that actually comes close to really feeling like that.

Just like any other RPG, there’s leveling up, stat management, turn based battles, and random encounters. And just like other survival horror games, there’s freaky monsters, inventory management, and limited ammo! And Parasite Eve manages to blend all this together pretty seamlessly. It’s kind of amazing how well all of this fits together and feels so natural. Which makes it all the more confusing as to why we really don’t see many other games like this, then or now.

I would say the game plays more like an RPG than a horror game though. While there is some light puzzle solving as well as plenty of locked doors for you to get around, it feels far more like the usual RPG dungeon crawl with you going to an area and fighting your way through the place while you make your way to the boss at the end. But rather than going through castles and dungeons, you’ll be running around New York City! Your “dungeons” are Central Park and the National History Museum to name just a few! It is an awesome change of pace honestly.

And you will be running around these places fighting twisted versions of basic animals as Aya Brea. A rookie cop with the NYCD that gets pulled into a crazy plot about DNA, cells, and mitochondria. There is so much talk about mitochondria…

Yeah, this game goes into some actual biology to explain what’s going on and try to make things a bit more believable, and it certainly goes in depth too. It’s a lot to cover so I won’t be going into it here but trust me, it’s a great story despite how crazy it is! One very much worth seeing to the very end. Even if the true ending is in new game plus and locked behind a massive 100 floor long dungeon with plenty of battling!

Speaking of battling, Parasite Eve actually has a pretty unique battle system! While it is technically turn based, meaning you’ll be waiting a bit before you can attack, you aren’t statically standing in place and waiting like you would with a lot of the Final Fantasy games of the time. When you get into an encounter you are basically locked in an arena with some enemies, an arena you can actually run around in! Something that is very important since you’ll need to dodge attacks and keep in mind your placement when you attack. How you attack is also pretty interesting too! You use a gun. And yeah, that sounds pretty basic, but think about a lot of the RPGs of the time, most are fantasy focused with you using things like swords, but in Parasite Eve you’ll be firing away at enemies for the most part! In fact, customizing your gun throughout the game is honestly one of the coolest parts! You’ll be mixing and matching different upgrades and abilities to make something that works for your play style. I ended my playthrough with dual wielding pistols if I remember right!

And that leads us back to what is probably the most unique thing about Parasite Eve, its setting! It’s rare to find RPGs of this style set in the modern day, even nowadays! I feel like people should give the game a try for that alone honestly. And for the fact that the game is set during Christmas of course, making this very much a Christmas game obviously!

I’d go more in depth than that but like I said, this was more of a joke post recommending another Holiday game for this year. I’ll save a far more proper review for another time. Though one last thing I have to bring up is the fact that if you do want to play this game you’ll likely have to emulate it. Yeah, sadly like all my game recommendations from Spooky Month this year, Parasite Eve is another that just isn’t available anymore. It is on the PS3 digital store but that’s the only place to grab it. Here’s hoping next year we’ll get some ports of these awesome games! We managed to get Dino Crisis on PS5 this year so here’s hoping for more of that!

And with all that said, I hope everyone has some happy and safe holidays! And I hope you’ll keep checking out the blog next year. See you again in 2025!