hellnight is such an intriguing game - its scarce distribution in the west coupled by the fact that absolutely no one knows who the developers of this game are makes me feel like i'm unearthing some ancient relic that's been sealed away for decades. seriously though, how does a huge company like konami publish a game everywhere except the two major countries that this game would have done way more well in, the us and the uk? did they think it was too weird for them? if so, why even publish it in the first place? there's way too much mystery surrounding this game and its development, and this along with the entire dev team just disappearing from the face of the earth piqued my interest in this game immediately.

hellnight's gameplay is very barebones, but this is its biggest strength since it helps to build its incredibly tense atmosphere. first person dungeon crawler navigating a labyrinth, coupled with the low draw distance and wonderful sound design adds to the fear factor a ton. it always feels like there's something waiting to jumpscare you beyond the black void ahead, and while this can happen unintentionally with npcs lurking around, there are no real threats other than the "hybrid" monster (that evolves every single floor, creepy) who's growls and snarls you can hear from a mile away - if anything, it's predictable when he arrives because he always makes noises when you're around him. the sound design is masterful though, any miniscule noise made in the environment, coupled by the eerie ambience gives the game so much charm . i genuinely dreaded my time playing this because the monster was so fast late in the game (even if its AI is simple) but the setting was really what kept me playing.

the tokyo mesh is one of the most interesting and terrifying settings for a horror game - a gigantic underground complex built during world war 2 that was meant to shelter the entire population in fear of a nuclear strike, but was immediately abandoned following the surrender of japan - the devs struck gold with this, but i just wish they would have built on its backstory a little bit more in-game, maybe through extra characters hiding throughout the mesh under the impression that the war is still going on, who would have provided us with some lore about the making of the place. it's great, but hellnight just decides to drop it in the latter half of the game by teleporting you into some freaky cultish otherworld - i don't mind it, but the mesh was a lot more interesting, and the game becomes way less interesting from that point on. the story (and the main cast by extension) is unfortunately where i think the game falls flat. these characters don't really have a lot of moments going for them to really shine (apart from some flashbacks near the ending, but it's too late at that point) and your interaction with them is minimal - usually only giving you a few sentences saying your objective or what their current thoughts are, but nothing too interesting. they do tie into the gameplay a bit though - the first companion, naomi, is a completely helpless schoolgirl who can't really do anything but run away with you from the monster. if you let her die and find another companion to take on with you later on, they all have the firearms necessary to stun the hybrid and buy you some time if he's too close to you. i beat the game with naomi initially and i really don't think it's possible without save scumming given how rarely you're given the option to save your progress (which is absolutely vital in the latter half of the game)i think this is supposed to make the endings worse for each companion you let die, but i can't really tell.
i'll keep the story stuff short, but it starts off pretty nicely. you desperately searching for a way out, with mysterious people like razzo, and the holy cult is some very cool stuff at first. but once you get down to the hive and find all the lovecraftian type demons i just wasn't very interested. it is cool, but it's complete total whiplash when they start doing some "you are the chosen one" shit along with the hybrid, who's now a god to this cult, acting like the player is connected to him, it's all very sudden and ditching the mesh feels like wasted potential. the endings really soured the game for me though - they are not worth it at all for how basic it is. even after watching the rest, they're all the exact same, with some slight variations. a fucking you're winner screen from big rigs would have been more satisfying than any of these.

although its plot isn't very well-thought out, this game is still a vibe and one i'd highly recommend. the atmosphere is so so fucking heavy, especially when the hybrid chases you - like i said before its very simple but that's what makes it so terrifying. i still want to know about the behind the scenes of this game though, how everyone working on this went under the radar entirely doesn't sit right with me :(

Está lleno de imaginativa tanto a nivel conceptual como jugable, siendo uno de los pioneros en la implementación de mecánicas hoy en día estandarizadas dentro del género survival horror.

El problema de ser el primero es que en ocasiones puede ser un arma de doble filo, ya que no tienes referencias a la hora de pulir tus mecánicas, y así es como se siente este juego: una joya en bruto con muchas aristas (sobretodo jugables) que empañan un poco el resultado final, algunas fruto de su naturaleza como obra precursora y otras por la evidente falta de presupuesto y la poca fe que se nota que tenían quienes ponían el dinero en el proyecto, algo que se hace más que evidente mando en mano sobretodo en el tramo final, que está hecho con más desgana que un directo de Alexelcapo.

Es una pena que que nunca tuviera una secuela que refinara la fórmula, porque realmente a nivel de diseño tiene aspectos adelantadísimos a su época, es bastante inteligente a la hora de esconder sus limitaciones y de aprovechar sus recursos y la historia tiene un potencial increíble para ser explorada con nuevas iteraciones... Diría que es uno de los juegos con más potencial para hacer algo interesante con un remake o reboot que he jugado en mi vida, pero supongo viendo que en la portada pone Konami solo queda apreciarlo como lo que es y fantasear con lo que pudo ser este concepto tan interesante expandido si alguien hubiera visto más allá de sus falencias.

Hellnight is a cool little horror game with a lot of unique concepts and some not-so-unique ones done with varying levels of success.
You take the last train home alongside some highschool girl, but something happens and it crashes down into the sewers, where you get chased by a creature into a secret underground town built under Tokyo during Imperial times, called TOKYOMESH, because it's a mesh of tunnels put together in a maze-like structure. Your objective is to get out back to the surface, but it seems every exit you find only takes you deeper underground...

The gameplay is nothing special. First person tank controls, you gotta explore the locations while evading encounters with the monster chasing you. You're always faster than him when running, but your character gets tired fast, so you gotta plan out your dashes well. There are tons of weird NPCs you talk to for key items, or just general exposition and lore. And some which are just weirdos. They're all really cool and very "90s PS1 game"-y. I guess an easy comparison would be calling it "PS1 Amnesia".

What's really interesting is the "lives" system. You die on contact, but if you have a partner (one of the characters you meet underground) they serve as a "life" to soak up the blow from the monster if he does catch you. The catch here is that there's only 5 partners, and you can't get them back if they die, or if you miss them, and each of them has their own ending. It's really interesting, although they didn't do much with it or the endings themselves to justify multiple playthroughs unless you love the game.

The soundtrack is really bad. Roughly 6 seconds of... some noise, followed by 10-14 seconds of complete silence, then the same 6 seconds again. I honestly thought something was wrong with my system at first. There are two tracks which are fantastic though.

The story is honestly great.
Without spoiling anything, it changes horror genres every chapter until the big reveal, which by itself isn't that crazy, but the execution is outstanding for such a tiny silly little game. Not on a technical level of course, the cutscenes and dialogue are pretty lame, but the concept and how it's done are surprisingly great.
This really, really surprised me. I would've never expected a game like this to be that great at it, but it goes to show you can't judge most books by their cover.

What's not great, are the actual endings. I assume this was a budget title, and they had none left by this point.
One of those is the Bad Ending, where something happens.
Two are a black screen with 3-4 lines of dialogue about... nothing.
The other three are the same footage of some grass while different voiceover plays... and they say nothing interesting either.

The only other big game this studio made was 2001's deSpiria on the Dreamcast, and then they were sent to the Atlus mines.

I wonder how much different horror games today would've been if they had been blessed with popularity back then. I feel like this style was a little too ahead of its time back then, and the technology just wasn't quite there yet.

What a shame.

I've heard this all over in lists of underrated PS1 horror, it makes sense some bangers would get buried considering how much great horror was on the PS1. This is a surprisingly solid horror exploration game, where you navigate various mazes and run away from monsters, on paper it sounds like nothing to write home about but in practice it's a really strong experience that doesn't outstay it's welcome. It's a great length and has a decent ammount of environment variety even if the gameplay is a bit samey.
Quite pleasantly surprised by this one.

The premier survival horror escape simulator, with a monster AI that was surprising and engaging and rather unmatched for the style of game until Alien: Isolation came around. I don't know if the game wasn't finished or what, but there were many items that had no purpose I was aware of and some areas felt a little unfinished.

I rate this game so highly because there are defining moments in gaming where you get immersed thoroughly and the way the AI for this game ramps up from area to area despite how basic it was for its time meant and still means a lot to me.

What a weird PS1 game (in all the good ways), had a great time with it. Story is certainly unique, with the usual twists and turns. Gameplay loop is pretty good, it is as simple as "look for a way out while there's monster lurking around ready to maul you and your companion" with locked doors/key searching, chose to stick with the default companion but it's nice to know that the other companions offer something different. Game looks pretty good, and surprisingly has varied environments considering it mainly takes place underground (might suffer from some long hallways though) and, last but not least, this game is scary as sin (almost gave me a heart attack at times). Nice replay value with the different companions you can take alongside you too, looking forward to seeing how the outcome of the adventure changes with them. Such a thrilling experience.

An interesting survival horror title where you are hunting by a single monster that can kill your companions before killing you, a dead companion is replaced with a new character with their own personality, story elements, and that leads to different endings.

Good sound design for the environment, the monster, footsteps, and the sound of your breathing and heartbeat. Monster can appear near you and attempt to rush you or it might wait around a corner while holding its breath potentially making the silent moments as tense as when you are being actively chased. Able to replace or get the NPCs, 4 total, that can follow you around killed can change the story and multiple endings, difficulty, increase replay value. Interesting setting as you descend further into "The Mesh" and meet people who have their own society underneath Tokyo. Not the best translation unfortunately.

It's revolutionary. And the craziest part is, most people don't know it to be! What did we have before; in the good old horror game genre? Specifically, 1st person horror games? Before Resident Evil 7? Before Outlast? Before SOMA or Amnesia? We had Hellnight, or Dark Messiah as it was known in Japan. This game was simply put, a pioneer of the 1st person horror games. Exploring tight corridors with a pressuring, anxiety inducing atmosphere. The ambient track playing in the background, eerie sounds coming from the other end of a long, dark hallway. You turn around and you start running. Hellnight has a really intriguing story to tell, and you are just one helpless person caught in the middle of it all. I really wanted to give this the best rating I could give, but I cannot deny there is a specific section towards the end that really drags on for far too long, and it gets a bit ridiculous. I feel like the ending was rushed. I feel like it all ends way too abruptly. There's a huge build up, and the game just kind of falls flat on its face. Not that the ending's horrible. No. It's just, something. It's not what I think most people were expecting. And in this case, I'd say that's not necessarily a negative thing, but definitely not positive either.

I'm not a horror person. This is actually one of the first horror games I've ever completed.
It certainly scared my boots off, more effectively than really any other game I've played yet. This is because it has almost perfect atmospherics. The pre-rendered and grainy Playstation look adds to the horror. I don't think it would be as terrifying were it on a modern console.

The premise itself is terrifying. You are being chased by an unrelenting beast of a monster through the underground of Tokyo, called the "Mesh". This monster escaped from a lab (thanks, scientists), and caused a train to crash. This is the very train crash you survive in the beginning of the game, along with a schoolgirl named Naomi. There is nowhere to run except underground. In gameplay, this means you are navigating these labyrinths (with admittedly, perhaps intentionally confusing layouts) in a dungeon crawler style.
There is also a monster taking a stroll around these areas though, so you have to be on your guard at all times. Over time, the monster evolves and gets faster and faster. To make it even more creepy, there is several dead ends in these maze like areas. The trick is to duck into doors (source: walkthrough from Chris's Survival Horror Quest), this resets the position of the monster giving you a better chance to survive.

Even when I was in these rooms though, I didn't feel safe. I think that's a testament to the pervading sense of dread that this game instills in the player. It goes beyond all rationality, that you know it's not in the games program for the monster to barge in. You just feel like something could go wrong at any moment.

The horror of the game is sometimes surpassed by it's frustration, in parts. It's hard to be scared when you're frustrated, at least for me. You're fifteenth time getting felled by a monster in this game might inspire more of a "Come on!" than an "Eek!". It's nowhere perfect in game design. It also is terrifying in that it is partially an old style point-and-click (now THAT'S what I call scary).

It has the perfect, later 90's Japanese industrial horror vibe (if that is a thing), or at least what I imagine that looks like. Grainy and rusty pre-rendered graphics (in a good way), ambient and minimal spooky electronic music, and some sci-fi, biomorph flair. There's even some goofy dialogue, to give at least a little bit of relief from the almost constant darkness.

Overall, I'm happy that I finished my first horror game. I'm probably going to take a break and go back to playing some cheerful Nintendo games as usual, but I'm very interested in this developers other projects such as Despiria for the Dreamcast. I also played Lux-Pain, which some related developers have worked on (although it is a much stylistically different game).

An adventure horror game with 1st person dungeon crawler perspective in which your character is stalked by a single monster during the whole game- if it hits you, either your partner die, or, if you are alone, its game over. This terrifying mechanic makes me glad the monster AI isn't very good, because things already get tense as it is.

The story is not devoid of the usual cliches of horror genre, but its decently written, with plenty of interesting events/encounters and a really cool artstyle full of unique characters.

I'll write a more detailed review once I beat it, but I'd like to say:

If I didn't know about this PS1 game, and somebody described it to me, I would call bullshit. It looks like a creepypasta.

...

I don't know. I had to watch a walkthrough maybe twice before beating it because you can easily get stuck, this also probably happened because I couldn't play it straight and had to shelve it for a week or so between sessions.

I don't understand why it happened to feel REALLY SCARY to me. Cammon, it's just a massive (well, not that massive) amount of polygons chasing you and the AI is not that intelligent.

I didn't understand some stuff about the mechanics and I teamed with Naomi the whole game and I didn't know that that helped me with showing the monster ("the hybrid") on the map when it was close. Even with that, I was some times scared shitless. I play lots of survival horrors and this simple (but strange) game scared me a lot.

Very original but it ain't that fun to play, didn't like the puzzle mechanics very much, mixture of use this with that like in a graphical adventure.

But man, it's fascinating how weird this game is and gets. I'm proud of having it finished!