Spontaneous human combustion isn’t synonymous with yuletide cheer quite like hanging stockings or drinking eggnog are, despite Parasite Eve suggesting otherwise. Sure, the tale of a New York City cop chasing after a malevolent swarm of mitochondria may not be the most recognizable Christmas story, but hey, if Die Hard counts then so does this. Square-Enix took their experience with RPGs to create a unique spin on the survival horror formula, rather than make yet another Resident Evil clone. Though if the series were to return (and there’s some hope), there’s plenty of ways to improve it without sacrificing the core tenets that made the original special. A grounded setting, tactical combat, and emphasis on body horror make up the powerhouse of the cell that is Parasite Eve.
Dilapidated ghost towns and spooky mansions were the go-to settings in survival horror’s early days, but Parasite Eve opted for the very real New York City. Opening on a stage play at Carnegie Hall during Christmas Eve where our protagonist, police officer Aya Brea, bears witness to a songstress’ ballad that causes the audience to erupt in flame. The perversion of the familiar is what the game goes for, and that tone should return for a new installment. Having a chat with your fellow officers at the N.Y.P.D. or spending time with friendly police dogs grants reprieve, and accentuate horrific moments when those safe havens become a hell on earth.
Environments are at the will of Parasite Eve’s antagonist, Mitochondria Eve (just ‘Eve’ for short), spreading chaos through New York as she goes. Central Park might be where people walk their dogs or build a snowman with their kids, but once Eve comes through, all that’ll be left is charred bodies and malformed beasts. A new Parasite Eve doesn’t need to specifically return to New York, but it should maintain a juxtaposition between the safe and recognizable, and the mitochondria’s ability to burn it to a cinder. Parasite Eve 2 opened on Los Angeles but immediately ditched the city for, you guessed it: a dilapidated ghost town. So, just saying, the City of Angels is still open to the potential of a mitochondria uprising.
While the original game let players visit New York landmarks like the Statue of Liberty; there wasn’t much in the way of actual exploration. Waiving off the beaten path wasn’t encouraged outside finding hidden items or the endurance test that was the Chrysler Building climb. Parasite Eve should’ve taken advantage of the fact that it was set in a major metropolitan area, and a new installment could easily remedy this. Don’t turn it into an open world or anything like that, rather think how the Yakuza or Persona games flesh their worlds out with districts. They’re dense with various activities, side quests, and NPCs to interact with. Districts would add some personality to the city and up the immersion since a police officer should, you know, actually spend time on duty patrolling the streets. Getting more acquainted with citizens only to have them later wiped out by the mitochondria could add to the emotional weight of the story too.
Combat, on the other hand, makes full use of Aya’s capabilities as a police officer. Battles are fast, proximity dependant, and rely on being mindful of all chess pieces on the board. The closer Aya is to her target, the more damage her guns will do, and the inverse is true for enemies. Trudging up to an enemy will yield high damage in your favor, but it’s tougher to avoid melee and projectile attacks. Parasite Eve’s combat system is more akin to strategy RPGs than it is Final Fantasy. Sure, it’s still turn-based, but Aya is free to move about the battlefield with the only restriction being the parasite energy meter that replenishes after an attack or special ability is spent. There’s a good base here but given how it leans into tactics, a slight subgenre shift might spice things up in all the right ways.
Veering Parasite Eve straight into the strategy RPG lane could improve the established mechanics while amplifying the tension immensely. Imagine if Aya were to lead a SWAT team into battle and worry about their safety in addition to her own. Add in permadeath to the mix, and there’s a gravitas to every action that wasn’t there before. In the strategy RPG Valkyria Chronicles, for example, soldiers that fall in battle potentially die permanently if not resuscitated in time. Make a small tactical error, and the rookie on your team could be down the gullet of one Eve’s minions. It’s a perfect addition to a horror game all about disempowering players with an anxious roll of the dice.
Parasite Eve remains one of the few examples of the body horror making its way into a video game. Cerebrospinal fluid inexplicably gushing from eye sockets and muscle sinew being torn as a rat’s skeleton grows beyond the confines of its body are some of the tamer visuals seen in just the opening hours. Eve likes to manipulate the mitochondria in living cells to make their host either spontaneously combust or twist into an unrecognizable shape. It’s excess, no doubt, but it’s thematically appropriate in a story about microbiology and the emancipation of the organisms that literally power the cells in our bodies.
If there’s one thing from of the original that needs a new coat of paint more than any other, it’s the body horror aspect. This might not be fair, but like most early polygonal games, time has not been kind to Parasite Eve’s graphics. Mutilating the human body isn’t all that psychologically disturbing when the vehicle for the visuals is the original PlayStation. There’s no denying the artistry on display when a skull splits in half revealing a row of misaligned teeth though. It still elicits revulsion in the intended way but only slightly, so the potential is there, it just needs modern technology to bring the vision to life. Parasite Eve’s sequels didn’t attempt to replicate that grotesque nature which is a shame considering it was a defining trait of the original. Basically, the world is in dire need of bodily orifices vomiting up internal organs rendered in Unreal Engine 4, just grant our sick minds this one thing, Square-Enix.
The holidays tend to be inadvertently melancholic, and for a small subset of horror fans, it’s because this time of year is a reminder that Parasite Eve’s time has come and gone. It especially stings this year, considering the original came out within weeks of Resident Evil 2 and that has a remake looming on the horizon while Parasite Eve hasn’t had a new installment in nearly a decade. With such a plethora of fresh ideas it brought to survival horror that makes it stand out even now, there’s no reason it needs to remain bygone. Hopefully, one day Square-Enix will take some cues from the mitochondria, and spark new life back into Parasite Eve.