You’ve had a long week. Come sit down. Ice those knees. Treat yourself to a custard cream. It’s time to crack out ol’ reliable.
Sentient
It’s wild to sit back and look through the PS1 library and realise just how many games more catered for a PC crowd actually managed to launch on Sony’s grey rectangle of wonders. Warcraft 2 and the Theme trilogy are just a few that stand out, but Sentient didn’t seem to stand out for anyone.
Developed by Psygnosis in their twelfth published game of 1997, what were they feeding their employees back then, Sentient is a wildly ambitious first-person adventure game that sees you playing as Garritt Sherova after he’s sent to a space station to investigate radiation sickness aboard.
What’s brilliant about Sentient and so far ahead of its time is how open-ended it is. You can fail your very first task, and the game will just go about its business towards one of its multiple different endings. You can also really influence those endings by simply talking to people, with the conversations themselves being far more complex than about 99% of other PS1 games, or just games in general. Being able to select every other word in a sentence is wild.
However, Sentient is more than just a bit slow, with a story that could have been tightened up a tad, and the facial models do kinda look like you’ve tried to 3D print your nan a new kneecap. That said, it’s nuts to see just how many wild swings were taken with this some 27 years ago, and it’d be good to see a modern dev trying something similar.
Threads of Fate
Threads of Fate is one of those “hidden gems” where it feels like every JRPG fan who’s even sniffed a DualShock says it’s underrated to the point where it’s pretty well renowned within those circles. However, we’re nothing if not a democratic bunch of birds here, and if you guys keep wanting us to give Threads of Fate some shine, we’re gonna manifest just that, people.
Developed by Square, Threads of Fate is another action RPG from the company released at the turn of the millennium like Vagrant Story that kinda got a bit caught up in the swarm of RPGs released in the wake of Final Fantasy 7’s massive success, with it coming out just a couple of weeks after Final Fantasy IX.
In it, you play as Rue or Mint as they search for a hidden relic that will grant them a wish, with each story going in different directions. You will be platforming, puzzle solving, enjoying some pretty approachable combat, transforming into monsters as Rue, and listening to Mint do a whole bunch of swearing across Threads of Fate’s decently sized story.
Threads of Fate has some pretty serious moments, but overall has a breezy, relaxed tone, and so is a pretty good palate cleanser between much bigger, more traditional RPGs, but multiple playthroughs are recommended if you wanna connect Rue and Mint’s story together.
If you got a kick out of something like Brave Fencer Musashi, you will probably get a kick out of Threads of Fate too. And as far as PS1 exclusive RPGs go, it’s not the most expensive game ever to grab physically, but matey, you know where to turn to play this one.
Cosmo Warrior Zero
It’s pretty common to see anime get turned into a video game. Shush. Listen quietly, and you can probably hear another Naruto Ninja Storm game getting released. But it’s very rare to see a video game get turned into an anime, especially if they’re both one and dones.
Originally released for the PS1 in Japan in 2000 and then turned into an anime in 2001, Cosmo Warrior Zero is an almost completely forgotten IP that focuses on an ex-military man with a tragic past who must hunt down a space pirate called C aptain Harlock.
In terms of how that translates to a video game, Cosmo Warrior Zero is a pretty dang eye-catching arena battler of sorts with tonnes of environmental interactivity, great sound design, and surprisingly fluid animation and controls as you hunt down rebels.
Interestingly, the game also a downtime moment where it becomes fixed perspective with tank controls as you chat to the legendary Leiji Matsumoto, creator of Cosmo Warrior Zero and also the massively influential Space Battleship Yamato, as well as a whole bunch of other things within this space opera, um, space.
With some awesomely styled cutscenes, multiple modes and characters, and pretty tense, chaotic gunplay, Cosmo Warrior Zero is a genuine gem. What’s going on in it? Don’t ask me that please.
The Divide
If I said “PS1 3D Super Metroid” to you, how quickly do you think you could download an ISO? Not related to that super depressing movie, The Divide: Enemies Within is instead the most deliberate Metroid clone you could ever get. I mean, its creator even said that’s what they were going for.
Developed by Radical Entertainment, who would go on to make the more than cromulent The Simpsons: Hit and Run, The Divide is a very narratively ambitious PS1 game, dealing in stuff like existentialism and technological advancement. You play as both Tanken after an expedition to a frozen planet goes terribly awry and he wakes up years after his partner is taken.
The Divide has a really eerie, thick atmosphere as you explore the ruins in your mech and gradually become able to discover more of the map with the more items you acquire, and the more exotic the biomes become. There’s a very neat power curve that comes with unlocking more and more items for your suit, just like in Metroid.
The Divide also looks pretty good with solid animations and great creature designs, but the audio is really crunched within an inch of its life sometimes, and the native framerate can be some of the worst on the console at points.
It’s certainly a flawed game, but The Divide is extremely ambitious for a 3D game released in 1996, the year of the cat, and it just has this really alien, really disquieting vibe that hits well. It’s a blast if you can get on its wavelength.
Blaster Master: Blasting Again
Just when you thought it was safe to go back outside, here comes the master of blasting, blasting again.
The fifth game in the Blaster Master series that stretches back to the NES, Blaster Master: Blasting Again was Sunsoft’s attempt to bring the game into the 3D world. And well, it didn’t really work out for them, as following Blasting Again, the series was dead until a reboot in 2010.
But Blasting Again itself is not entirely to blame for that though, I think? I mean, it did take until November 2001 for it to reach the United States, when the PS2 was already long out.
Blasting Again follows Roddy and Elfie, the children of the hero from the earlier games, as they look to stop their father’s old nemesis by digging deep underground and laying waste to his Tetsuo abominations, with Roddy piloting a pretty fun to control tank and blasting away. Again.
The big ace up Blasting Again’s sleeve is the exploration, with each of the game’s levels being super open for discovery as you zoom across them. However, there are also some moments where you have to get out of your tank to go on foot and acquire new items. Sometimes you even need to backtrack to waaaay earlier areas with those items to unlock new routes, and I’m not saying this is a Metroidvania, but I’m not saying it isn’t like one either.
Blasting Again has some very clunky on-foot controls, constant loading screens, and kinda dull environments, but the actual blasting while you listen to music that honestly could have come from Sonic R remains pretty fun throughout.
Juggernaut
You couldn’t convince most younger players these days, but Myst really is one of the most important, influential game series ever. While Myst itself did come to PS1 itself, it’s basically a slideshow with constant loading screens, so let’s talk about Juggernaut instead.
Developed by Tonkin House, who also made Super Tennis on the SNES, Juggernaut is a feverish old school adventure game with horror elements that hops between about a million different settings and ideas. One minute you’ll be in a mansion, the next you’re in the future finding people who are accused of diet fraud?
Oh, and also you’re exploring the soul of your girlfriend after she’s been possessed by demons. Probably should have led with that.
Juggernaut is pretty light on gameplay, with you venturing between different hubs and solving puzzles by collecting items and clicking everything that can be clicked. However, it has some really cool environments for people who make liminal spaces their personality, and it’s just so off-kilter that it’s worth checking out.
If you liked LSD but wish there was an off-putting priest popping up every other minute and telling you how to live your life, Juggernaut is certainly an experience.
Dragon Valor
It’s always fun to find an old game where the critical reception just completely clashes with what the players thought. Critics did not jive with Dragon Valor at all, but it must be noted here that the worst review for the game came from a publication that seems to have been completely shamed out of existence?
Dragon Valor is an action RPG helmed by Now Productions, who later helped to make Katamari Damacy, and is the third game in the previously Japan-only Dragon Buster universe. You will never guess what you have to do to dragons in this one.
A pretty meaty action RPG with chunky, heavy combat, Dragon Valor feels a bit like a more expansive 3D Golden Axe, but with you able to cast spells too. The combat is overall pretty solid, and hitting stuff with a big bastard sword is always good, but the choice-driven role-playing here is a bit nuts, with single choices spinning off into big new directions.
Your character, Clovis, can marry different women, with you then playing as one of his children, then leading to multiple endings. This one has a tonne of replayability.
Dragon Valor is a wee bit rough around the edges, and no multiplayer feels like a whiff, but the huge boss fights against dragons, branching paths, and seriously banging soundtrack make this a really decent time if you wanna swing a massive sword.
Tecmo’s Deception
There’s a lot to be charmed by in Tecmo’s Deception: Invitation to Darkness. The first is the name; you just don’t get developer names in name games anymore. But EA should call their sports games EA’s Deception: Invitation To Waste All Your Money.
The second is that this is an idea that still feels super novel, and while the Deception series would spawn sequels well up until the PlayStation 4, the core concept of the series is difficult to replicate anywhere else.
The first game, also known as Devil’s Deception in Europe, sees you playing as the framed heir to a murdered king who’s seeking their revenge, and so takes over the Castle of the Damned because it’s a nice gift from a nice lady, don’t worry about her, she’s just nice. You can even design the castle yourself with a full on editor, which is a wild touch for a 1996 PS1 3D game.
But the main gameplay here revolves around placing down traps to kill or capture assailants, those traps including some classics and also a giant foot descending from the heavens. Each of your assailants even has a background you can look up — not all of them are here for malicious reasons, giving the game unexpected dramatic weight. That shouldn’t stop you from turning them into monsters to fight for you, though.
Not being able to attack enemies takes a bit of getting used to, and sometimes the traps can be a bit finicky due to early 3D game design, but this is a really unique trap em up on the PS1 worth checking out.
Planet Laika
A Japan only genre-hopper that’s recently had a pretty good English patch published online, Planet Laika is a trip. Not only cos you go to Mars, which is fairly far away, but also because you’ll do so as an anthropomorphic dog with a personality disorder.
Developed by Zeque and Quintet of Actraiser, Soul Blazer, and Terranigma fame among others, Planet Laika’s name is almost certainly a reference to the best girl who ever lived but I can’t think about her for too long cos it makes me too sad. It’s plain to see why Planet Laika didn’t come west in 1999 — people just weren’t ready for it.
Part-reflection on mental health and societal issues, part-Pong, part-a bunch of people with dog faces walking around on an alien planet, Planet Laika feels like a survival horror game in terms of fixed camera perspective and atmosphere, except swap the guns for an energy ball that can deflect attacks back at enemies. Hmm. Oh, and combat only happens when Laika’s personality is split into one of three personalities. Oh, and you do that by absorbing people’s aura.
Yeah, Planet Laika is a lot to take in at once, and sometimes it says and does weird stuff just to say and do weird stuff rather than have any deeper meaning, but its abstract nature and wild narrative swings mean that you will have something to say about it no matter what. If you like Fuga: Melodies of Steel but wish its misery was more esoteric and also, um, not really like it cos this game’s not like anything else out there, Planet Laika is a hidden gem you really just have to roll with.
Rollcage
Alright, look. This isn’t that hidden of a gem on PS1. But the fact is that I’ve somehow never talked about Rollcage on this channel. Also, ask 100 people in a room to mention a PS1 racing game, and Rollcage will probably not be the first name that comes to mind, so in it goes.
For those not in the know, Rollcage is a racing game developed by Attention to Detail of, um, Cybermorph fame — anyone? Bit of Cybermorph on the Jaguar anyone? — and published by our old friends of Psygnosis.
One of many PS! games that shaped childhoods through demos alone, the thing that’s always stuck with me as one of those now grown up children, who is slightly taller but not much, is simply how ball-breakingly fast Rollcage felt, and how fast it could make your head spin.
Pretty novel for the time of its release, cars are able to race along walls and ceiling at breakneck speeds, letting you hit boost pads to give you a shortcut or even reach different routes. The physics on show here were very impressive for 1999, and even today just the way your car reacts to being thrown around everywhere, flipping upside down and bouncing off stuff can make for some fun moments. .
Chuck in that breakneck speed, a banger 90s drum and bass soundtrack, and power ups to ruin your mates with, and you’ve got a pretty fun and silly WipeOut alternative that is still enjoyable today. Check out the solid spiritual successor Grip from some of the original dev team if you need a bit more shiny.
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