Hellnight

PlayStation exclusive

Hellnight (Dark Messiah in Japan) is a survival horror game at heart, although it has no combat gameplay. Controlling the nameless hero, the player must travel through the underground and protect Naomi. There is only one monster in the whole game, the "creature" itself, which is invulnerable and cannot be killed. Instead players are constantly on the run from it, making sure it does not catch them.

Released: 11 June 1998
Platforms: PlayStation
Genres: Adventure Puzzle Survival horror
Developers: —
Publishers: Konami
Modes: Single-player
Perspective: First person
Themes: Horror Survival Stealth
Country: Japan
Languages: English, Japanese
Composers: Harumi Fujita

About

Hellnight, known as Dark Messiah (ダークメサイア, Dākumesaia) in Japan, is a first-person survival horror video game developed by Dennou Eizou Seisakusho and published by Atlus Co. in collaboration with Konami in 1998.

›Story

The future Tokyo is a megapolis built on top of a huge system of underground tunnels and sewers. A rumor is heard that in this underground world hide the followers of a mysterious cult, known as the Dark Messiah. At the same time a symbiotic life form escapes from scientists and makes it's way into the sewer system. There it causes the crash of a subway train and starts devouring the passengers on board.

A lone hero, along with a schoolgirl Naomi Sugiura are the only survivors of the crash.... and must flee from the creature in order to survive.

Keywords

action-adventure
survival horror
hide and seek
cult
polygonal 3d
retroachievements

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

The game uses a first-person perspective, very similar to first-person shooter games, only without any means of combat. Throughout the game, players must travel through different areas of The Mesh and beyond, and must solve puzzles to progress to the surface. The player encounters only one type of enemy, and that is the mutating monster called The Hybrid. The only possible way for players to survive is to run away.

Any close contact with the enemy will result in the deaths of their companion (and finally themselves). Once the companions are attacked, they are killed off permanently.

Story

Tokyo at the end of the millennium is a megapolis with a huge system of subway tunnels and sewers. The game opens with the protagonist fleeing from a group of notorious cult members through the city streets and escaping on a late-night subway train. As he contemplates why they want to kidnap him specifically, the scene changes to a secluded research station. There, a symbiotic lifeform breaks free of its confines and attacks a research scientist. He soon mutates into a zombie-like creature and makes a bloody exit towards the subway system.

Time passes and the protagonist's train is derailed by the creature roaming the tracks, as if purposely being drawn to that point. The only survivors of the crash are the protagonist and a schoolgirl named Naomi Sugiura. They both flee the train wreck when the creature starts systematically killing everyone left alive on board. They are soon confronted by a black-ops squad (secretly sent to destroy the creature from the lab), but the creature wipes the team out within seconds.

Development

The game was first mentioned in December 1997. The game was shown off in the March 1998 Tokyo Game Show. The game was released in Japan on June 11, 1998. It was then released to most of Europe with the exception of the United Kingdom. The game, however, was never released in the United States.

Reception

The game received polarized reviews with some giving it praise, while others being highly critical of it. German magazine Maniac gave the game a score of 19/100. German magazine Video Games gave it just 7%. French reviewers also gave mixed reviews.

Consoles + gave it a 55 out of 100 score, and Joypad gave it 6/10. Japanese reviewers were more positive, with Famitsu giving it 28/40 score.