D PS1 Review

When we look over the history of survival horror games on the PlayStation there is a variety of titles that showcase many aspects and elements that would help to popularize the genre on the platform. 

As during the time of the console survival horror was still in its infancy in terms of being a defined genre. 

But throughout the process of many of the games being developed on the platform would help pave the way for future classics that would be considered among some of the greatest games of all time that also helped to spawn future generations of games within the survival horror genre itself. 

While the heavy hitters such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill would become the standard in the survival horror genre, there were quite a number of other titles, some of them even released before those games that would prove influential to the success of the genre overall and one of those games is known simply as is D that is a horror themed interactive movie and adventure game that was developed by warp entertainment and directed by Kenji Eno which originally saw a release on the Panasonic 3DO in 1995 before being there ported to the Sega Saturn, the PlayStation and the Windows PC or MS-DOS.

For its time this would be a very different type of horror game as essentially it was an interactive movie depending on the different choices and interactions that you made in the game would play out different video sequences and it all helped to alter and progress the stories plot. 

And it was one of the few games at the time that was able to manage to generate quite a unique and unnerving atmosphere which very few games had been able to manage to master up to that point which is why D goes down as a cult classic in the video game space. 

Although there are better games that came out after it, it still holds its own in terms of its relevance within the survival horror genre itself. 

The story behind the game follows a character by the name of Laura Harris that finds herself investigating a hospital after learning that her father who is a doctor in the hospital went berserk and went on a mass murdering spree killing everybody inside and then barricaded himself within the hospital.

So it is up to Laura to investigate the cause of her fathers change in his mental state and to discover why he went through with those heinous acts. 

Not long upon entering the hospital Laura is quickly overcome by some sort of portal that transforms her to a gothic castle and from there the plot of the game truly begins where Laura must solve puzzles and interact with various objects throughout the environments all while trying to avoid traps to progress the story and to find out where her father is situated and to unravel the story even further. 

And with this being a full motion video game, you do have a time limit to complete it as you only have two hours in total to get through the game and that's including solving all the puzzles and to escape. 

And while Laura is discovering the elements of the castle and all its intricacies and puzzles, you will unravel the story even further to find out that Laura and her father are also descendants of a vampiric bloodline and her dad is fighting with those demons before being somewhat transformed into a vampire so Laura has to try and stop that from happening.

But she also discovers herself that her urges for human blood were so strong that she ended up murdering her own mother and her father had to erase her memory so that she wouldn't remember any of the acts that she caused and you will later find that out as you progress through the game. 

So there definitely is a unique story arc in the game so you only find that out the further you get into it but that's not to say that it's easy because the game will test you in terms of its relevant topics and more so even puzzles because some of the puzzles in the game aren't as straightforward as they may seem at first. 

In order to solve one puzzle you have to travel to one room to get a clue and then travel back to the other room so if you're not familiar with the areas that can waste you a ton of time and that will eat away at the limited time that you have to complete the game so you do have to be mindful of it when you're playing it. 

During development of the game there were a lot more elements and violent scenes that originally were added during the early production phases of the game but where later removed due to censorship and licensing issues because at the time Kenji Eno was afraid that the game wouldn't get approved for publishing so he ended up having to change and remove a lot of the elements from within the game itself. 

But even regardless of those elements the game was still a commercial and critical success especially in Japan that sold over a million copies after its release and would later be popularized on both the PlayStation, Sega Saturn and even on the PC and even in recent times you can gain access to the game if you go on to various gaming websites such as like good old games or gog.com you can download the PC version of the game as well that you can play on your modern desktop or laptops which is another really good way to experience an all-time classic. 

The character of Laura Harris would also be used in two later games both from warp with a sequel D2 that would be released in Japan for the Sega Dreamcast in 1999 but Laura would also appear in a futuristic science fiction horror game by the name of enemy zero that would appear on the Sega Saturn and also on the PC in 1996 and these games are quite rare and hard to find and if you do manage to find a copy of them you can guarantee you will pay a lot of money for them these days. 

Even the original D is going up into the double or triple digits in terms of its value now depending on which version of the game that you decide to get as it is highly regarded as one of the all-time greats in the survival horror genre and just in video games in general as the game itself helped to pave the way for future titles such as Resident Evil and Silent Hill due to its mix of not only the movie style elements but where the game really made itself known was through its atmosphere that was the one main premise that really stood out with D is its very unique atmosphere. 

It has very dark tones in terms of the music and sound effects but it's just it has such a creepy nature about it and when you're playing the game for any period of time even from going back for my own experience I bought the game on eBay a number of years ago because I wanted to experience it this was before I could get the chance to play games like true emulation and all that and I was collecting games for the PS1 back about 15 years ago and the one thing that struck me straight away was the elements that D had in terms of its atmosphere. It was very very creepy and very unnerving.

 It just gave you a really unsettling sense that something wasn't right when you're playing it and especially if you were left in a room at night when it was totally dark, there definitely was a creepy feeling about it. 

There's just something about the game that really does unnerve the player and that was the one thing it done really well which it's easy to see why it's such a cull classic in all regards.

 It's one of those games in essence you have to experience it to believe it and if you like me love survival horror games especially on the original PlayStation, it is one of those games that I would recommend that you truly have to witness or experience at least once treasure gaming journey regardless of which format you decide to play the game on whether you have the Panasonic 3DO version or you have it on the Sega Saturn, even the Windows PC or if you can get access to it on the PlayStation. 

Whichever version you have I do recommend that you go and try it out because it is a cult classic and it is one of the best and probably one of the most scariest games to ever be seen on the PlayStation.

 Although it isn't as easy to pick up and play compared to such games as Resident Evil or Silent Hill among many others, the controls compared to more modern day games can feel quite sluggish and clunky and that was one of the disputes in some of the game's reviews and in the magazines at the time was that was one of the major issues that the game had was the fact is that it was criticized in some ways for its limited time frame that you had to complete the game but it was mainly the sluggish controls that most gamers had an issue with. 

But aside from that it was praised on everything else due to its atmosphere, its setting and its overall story plot so it is highly regarded not just within survival horror but in video games history in general. 

So it is a truly classic in every respect of the word and like I mentioned I highly recommend that you try it out if you haven't done so already so that you can see a true classic in action plus you get to witness a taste of what early movie type games would have looked like back in the day with all of the old school graphics which is definitely unique for its time but has enough charm around that they're really makes it appealing and worth trying out. 

It is definitely up there among the greats of survival horror for sure. 

The game itself can be quite tricky to play in most respects but there are a few areas in the game where will cause you a little bit of trouble especially later in the game once you get to the sequence where you have to defend yourself from a knight with a sword as it utilizes quick time events and the problem with it is it's so sensitive that at times even when you press the right buttons that is prompted on the screen a lot of the times it doesn't even register and it finds that you have to restart that sequence over and over again. 

I found myself and even years ago playing it and even playing it recently with recording this video it is the one part of the game that most gamers will get caught out on because it's just it's very hit and miss. 

You would have to replay it probably multiple times before you even get one good go at it and it will drive you crazy so you have been warned. 

And I would love to know your thoughts on D for the PlayStation or even regardless of whatever format you've played it on and I'd love to hear your experiences of the game itself and what do you think of it overall.

Did it creep you out and unnerve you just as much as it did with me if so I'd love to hear whatever stories you do have with the game so be sure to share it in the comments below and be sure to keep watching to see more content on other games similar to D, you can check out the blog where we will be diving into the iconic elements of these classic video games and as always keep those gaming memories alive...