5. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
I lately had the prospect to speak about this recreation throughout my have a look at forgotten online game franchises, nevertheless it’s by no means a foul time to reward one of essentially the most stunning, superior, and modern 3D adventures on the PS1.
From a technical standpoint, Soul Reaver most actually deserves a spot on this listing. It would possibly simply be the best-looking PS1 recreation ever, and I’d argue that it even holds its personal in opposition to early Dreamcast and PS2 titles as effectively. The recreation’s modern sound design additionally ushered in a brand new period of dynamic scores that didn’t take up extra reminiscence than was completely crucial. On prime of all that, Soul Reaver’s mythology-heavy storytelling confirmed that action-adventure video games have been succesful of delivering the sorts of epic tales usually reserved for RPGs. It was only a gorgeous all-around achievement.
4. Vagrant Story
Catch me on the suitable day, and I would attempt to argue that Vagrant Story is the perfect PS1 recreation ever made. Today, although, I’m far more focused on speaking to you concerning the many ways in which this recreation was so very far forward of its time.
Visually, Vagrant Story confirmed that the PS1 nonetheless had rather a lot left within the tank throughout its “dying days.” The degree of element that went into each inch of this recreation’s visible design set a typical that almost all different studios couldn’t have presumably hoped to match. From a gameplay perspective…effectively, I hate to make use of this comparability, however there actually is a Dark Souls-like high quality to Vagrant Story’s reimagined RPG ideas, gear/weapon mechanics, and strategy to issue. Even then, I’m unsure there’s ever been one other recreation that made strategic fight really feel this fluid. While Vagrant Story was actually a critic’s darling in its day, the sport’s complexity, sluggish pacing, and late launch date doomed it to be relegated to retrospectives.
3. Germs: Nerawareta Machi
I had the pleasure of speaking about this recreation throughout my have a look at the weirdest PS1 video games ever, however I don’t need anybody pondering that Germs was just a few weird curiosity. No, this recreation actually was forward of its time in nearly each method I can assume of.
At the very least, Germs is an open-world recreation launched for the PS1 in 1999. Honestly, although, it could be higher to assume of Germs because the PS1’s model of Shenmue. It was a physique horror thriller title that shunned so many varieties of conventional gameplay in favor of the joys of navigating a online game world that felt really borderless. It was bizarre, it was tough, and…effectively, it wasn’t even all that nice. (*20*), video games like this present what the PS1 was really succesful of.
