Ludography
Nightmare Creatures cover

1997 · Kalisto Entertainment · Adventure · Historical

Nightmare Creatures

Timed PlayStation exclusive

The story behind Nightmare Creatures draws upon gothic horror elements of the 19th century. The story begins in 1666, when a devil-worshipping cult called the Brotherhood of Hecate were conducting sinister experiments in London so as to take over the city and then the world. The Brotherhood tried to develop an elixir that would endow them with superhuman powers. However, rather than creating their intended superhumans, their experiments created only grotesque monsters.

Released
30 September 1997
Platforms
Nintendo 64PlayStationPlayStation 3PlayStation PortableWindows
Genres
AdventureHistoricalHorrorSurvival horrorZombie
Developers
Kalisto Entertainment
Publishers
—
Series
Nightmare Creatures
Modes
Single-player
Perspective
Third person
Themes
ActionHorrorSurvival
Country
France
Age ratings
ESRB MUSK 18ACB MA 15+
Languages
English
Entry
#1 in Nightmare Creatures
Time to beat
4hmain story5hwith extras
Composers
Frédéric Motte

About

Nightmare Creatures is a 1997 survival horror video game developed by Kalisto Entertainment for PlayStation, Windows, and Nintendo 64. A sequel, Nightmare Creatures II, was released three years later. A mobile phone version of Nightmare Creatures was developed and published by Gameloft in 2003. A second sequel, Nightmare Creatures III: Angel of Darkness, was cancelled in 2004.

›Story

The story behind Nightmare Creatures draws upon gothic horror elements of the 19th century and begins in 1666, when a devil-worshiping cult called the Brotherhood of Hecate were conducting sinister experiments in London so as to take over the city, and then the world. The Brotherhood tried to develop an elixir that would endow them with superhuman powers. However, rather than creating their intended superhumans, their experiments instead created grotesque monsters called nightmare creatures. When they decided to use these creatures as an army of conquest, one of their members, Samuel Pepys, set their headquarters on fire, resulting in the First Great Fire of London.

The game takes place in 1834 when London falls victim to several evil occurrences. Monster sightings are reported along with news of people mutating into ungodly creatures, and that the dead are waking from their graves and walking among the living. All of London is in a panic and vulnerable to the schemes of Adam Crowley (who was based on occultist Aleister Crowley), a mad scientist and occultist enlisting the help of the Brotherhood.

A book is dropped off at the home of Ignatius Blackward, a priest and occult expert. He finds it is the lost diary of Samuel Pepys, which contains the Brotherhood's research. Knowing he needs help, Ignatius sends the diary to a renowned American immunologist named Dr. Jean Franciscus of New Orleans, who shows up with his daughter, Nadia Franciscus.

However, Jean was killed and the book was stolen. Ignatius and Nadia are at Jean's funeral, where they are approached by a man who gives them a note reading: "Know about Adam Crowley, Brotherhood of Hecate --- HVHJ". Ignatius and Nadia head out to an address listed on the note, hoping to seek out Crowley and neutralize the monsters.

Keywords

  • female protagonist
  • undead
  • mutants
  • revenge
  • snow
  • cult
  • playstation network
  • digital distribution
  • psone classics
  • upgradeable weapons
  • werewolves
  • priest

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

A single-player only game, Nightmare Creatures allows the player to control either Ignatius or Nadia. Secondary weapons such as pistols, mines, fire bombs, and magic spells can be used in addition to each character's primary weapon. The game features an adrenaline bar which causes health to be lost if it runs out, and players are forced to continuously seek out and win battles to keep the adrenaline bar full.

Story

The story behind Nightmare Creatures draws upon gothic horror elements of the 19th century and begins in 1666, when a devil-worshiping cult called the Brotherhood of Hecate were conducting sinister experiments in London so as to take over the city, and then the world. The Brotherhood tried to develop an elixir that would endow them with superhuman powers. However, rather than creating their intended superhumans, their experiments instead created grotesque monsters called nightmare creatures. When they decided to use these creatures as an army of conquest, one of their members, Samuel Pepys, set their headquarters on fire, resulting in the First Great Fire of London.

The game takes place in 1834 when London falls victim to several evil occurrences. Monster sightings are reported along with news of people mutating into ungodly creatures, and that the dead are waking from their graves and walking among the living. All of London is in a panic and vulnerable to the schemes of Adam Crowley (who was based on occultist Aleister Crowley), a mad scientist and occultist enlisting the help of the Brotherhood.

Development

Nightmare Creatures was the first video game to be created with LibSys, Kalisto's own proprietary 3D development program. The game's environments were modeled from 19th century maps and blueprints.

Reception

Nightmare Creatures was a commercial hit, with global sales above 1.5 million units by January 2000.

The PlayStation version of Nightmare Creatures received "favorable" reviews, while the Nintendo 64 and PC versions received "mixed" reviews, according to the review aggregation website GameRankings.

Releases by platformdates and regions as published

PlatformReleasedRegions
PlayStation30 September 1997North America · Australia 1 November 1997 · Europe 16 January 1998 · Japan 26 February 1998
Windows30 November 1997North America · Europe 31 December 1997 · Brazil 31 December 2001
Nintendo 641 November 1998North America
PlayStation 3Digital Compatibility Release14 September 2011Japan
PlayStation PortableDigital Compatibility Release14 September 2011Japan

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Description adapted from its source, CC BY-SA 4.0.