Parasite Eve is a 1998 role-playing video game created and published by Square. It is a follow-up to the novel Parasite Eve, written by Hideaki Sena, and is the first game in the Parasite Eve video game series. The story follows New York City police officer Aya Brea over six days in 1997 as she tries to stop Eve, a woman who plans to destroy the human race through spontaneous human combustion. Players explore areas of New York and use a combat system that can be paused in real time, along with role-playing features.

Parasite Eve was SquareSoft's first M-rated game and marked the first major collaboration between American and Japanese developers for the company. It was produced by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita. The game's music was composed by Yoko Shimomura, who created an "inorganic" and "emotionless" soundtrack that was released on two albums. Critics praised the game's graphics and gameplay but noted that the story was too linear and had limited replay value.

The video game was part of a renewed interest in Japanese horror inspired by the original novel. It was released with a film adaptation and two manga comics: one based on the book and one based on the game. The original game was followed by two sequels: Parasite Eve II in 1999 and The 3rd Birthday in 2010. It was also re-released on the PlayStation Network in 2010. By 2010, the first two games in the series had sold over 3 million copies worldwide.

Gameplay

Parasite Eve is a role-playing video game created by Square for the PlayStation during a time when many of the company’s games had unique combat systems, as described by Peter Tieryas of Kotaku as an "experimental period." Reviews from GameSpot and Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine compared the game to a mix of Final Fantasy VII and Resident Evil. The game’s director, Takashi Tokita, called it a "cinematic RPG," meaning it had a style similar to an interactive movie.

In the game’s "world map," which is a map of Manhattan, players can only move to specific locations. When players walk over a "hot spot," there is a chance for a random enemy encounter. These battles occur on the same screen where the player controls Aya, without switching to a separate battle screen. The combat system is pausable real-time, using an Active Time Bar (ATB) to determine when players can act. While waiting for their turn, players can move Aya to avoid enemy attacks. During each turn, players can choose to attack with their weapon, use Parasite Energy (PE) for defense, assistance, or attacks, use items, change weapons or armor, or escape the battle. If attacking, the game briefly pauses, showing a dome symbol that represents the weapon’s range, allowing players to target enemies. PE refills during battles, but the more it is used, the slower it recharges.

Outside of battles, players can modify weapons and armor using tools and special tools. To do this, players select the "tune-up" option, choosing which weapon to alter and which weapon’s attributes or effects to transfer. Weapons have various properties, such as "acid," which causes continuous damage to enemies. A key feature of the game is experience-based leveling. When players level up, their attributes improve, and Bonus Points (BP) are earned. These points can be used to enhance the ATB, item capacity, or weapon and armor attributes.

After completing the game, players can play an "EX game" mode. This mode differs from the original game in several ways: players have access to all items stored in the police station, start with the final weapon and armor chosen in the first game, but begin at level one. Bonus Points (BP) earned at the end of the game are now usable. Items, weapons, and power-ups are stronger, and enemies are more powerful. The most significant difference is the addition of the Chrysler Building, a new location with 77 floors (mostly containing randomized content), leading to a final battle with Aya’s older sister, Maya.

Plot

On December 24, 1997, Aya Brea, a new police officer in New York City, attends an opera at Carnegie Hall with a date. During the performance, a sudden and dangerous event happens: many audience members catch fire, while others run out of the building in fear. Aya, her date, and the lead actress, Melissa Pearce, survive the incident. Aya confronts Melissa onstage, and Melissa says Aya’s mitochondria need more time to develop. Melissa runs backstage, and Aya follows her. Backstage, Melissa changes into a creature and escapes into the city’s sewers, claiming her name is now Eve.

The next day, on December 25, Aya and her partner, Daniel Dollis, visit Dr. Hans Klamp, a scientist at the Museum of Natural History. Dr. Klamp explains mitochondria but cannot help Aya and Daniel understand what happened the night before. Later, they learn Eve is in Central Park, where a crowd has gathered to see a performance by Melissa Pearce. Aya enters the park alone because Daniel cannot enter without catching fire. She arrives at the theater too late to stop Eve, who causes the audience’s mitochondria to rebel, turning the crowd into a slimy orange mass. Aya chases Eve, but Eve knocks her unconscious during a fight on a horse-drawn carriage. Daniel discovers his son, Ben, was at the park but left when he felt sick and noticed his mother acting strangely. He also learns Manhattan is being evacuated because of the threat Eve poses.

While the city evacuates, a Japanese scientist named Kunihiko Maeda secretly enters New York and witnesses a police officer catch fire. Aya wakes up in an apartment in SoHo with Daniel and Maeda. Maeda explains that Eve originated from a scientist who tried to grow cells from his wife after a car accident, but her mitochondria took over her body. Maeda believes Eve may be trying to create an "Ultimate Being." The next day, Aya, Daniel, and Maeda visit Dr. Klamp again. After examining cell samples from Eve and Aya, Maeda concludes that Aya and Eve’s mitochondria are competing for survival based on selfish gene theory. Dr. Klamp suddenly questions Aya in a harsh way. The group then goes to St. Francis Hospital, where Maeda thinks Eve may try to collect sperm for the Ultimate Being. They find Eve already there, and she takes the sperm before escaping.

The next day, Aya sees the orange mass from the park enter the city’s water supply. She visits Dr. Klamp again and learns he created special sperm for Eve to help her make the Ultimate Being. Dr. Klamp then catches fire and dies. Aya finds Eve in the museum, where the orange mass forms a shield around her to protect the Ultimate Being as it develops. After several failed attacks, the military asks Aya to attack Eve from a helicopter, as she is the only one who can get close without catching fire. The plan works, but Aya must finish the fight on the broken Statue of Liberty, where Eve dies from her unstable cells.

As Aya rests on a naval ship, the Ultimate Being is born and attacks nearby ships. Aya fights it, but its mitochondria cause it to evolve quickly. Aya raises the ship’s boiler pressure to destroy the Ultimate Being. Aya, Daniel, his son Ben, and Maeda return to Carnegie Hall, where Aya’s mitochondrial powers make the audience members’ eyes glow.

Aya notices a strange light coming from the Chrysler Building and finds the original Eve, who appears as her sister, Maya. Maya explains that after a car crash injured Aya and killed Maya and their mother, Dr. Klamp gave Maya’s cornea and kidneys to Aya and Melissa, giving them mitochondria. He also studied the liver cells of the original Eve. When Melissa gave birth to the Ultimate Being, she created a nest in the building. If Melissa and the Ultimate Being failed, the purebred would remain. Aya talks to Maya, but Eve takes over, and they fight. After defeating the purebred, Aya’s mitochondria begin to rebel against her. It is explained that Aya’s mitochondria have evolved more than Maya’s, but Maya’s personality suddenly becomes dominant and fights off the Eve persona. Maya wins, removes the Eve influence from herself, and protects Aya by stopping the original Eve from taking over her. Aya leaves the building after telling Maya to return home with her.

Development

The video game Parasite Eve is based on the Japanese novel Parasite Eve, which was published in 1995. The game is a sequel to the book, mentioning events from the novel. It also states that Mariko Anzai, the girl Eve chose as her host in the book, is Aya's biological mother. The game was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and directed by Takashi Tokita of Square. Development took about two years, including the planning stage. Sakaguchi wrote the story outline without watching movies to avoid being influenced by them. During the first six months of production, the game was planned to take place in Tokyo and be a direct sequel to the novel. However, Sakaguchi suggested changing the setting to New York City.

The game used a modified version of the Final Fantasy VII game engine. Unlike earlier Square games, the team for Parasite Eve included both Japanese and American workers. Much of the production happened in the United States, with a group of thirty people working at Square's Hawaii studio. American artists Steve Gray and Darnell Williams led most of the computer graphics work. Different ideas for the game's opening were considered, including various designs for Aya and Melissa transforming into Eve during an opera scene. The book's author, Hideaki Sena, did not know the game's plot until it was completed because it was a joint project between Square and his publisher.

Aya Brea was created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and designed by Tetsuya Nomura. Originally, someone else was designing Aya, but the early sketches did not meet Sakaguchi's expectations. He wanted a character with long hair, like Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII. At the time, he was designing another character with short hair for a different project and accidentally combined the two designs, creating Aya. The original idea for Aya was for her to be strong, sexy, and "bewitching." Her name came from Sakaguchi's daughter, Aya. The names "Daniel" and "Maeda" were taken from members of the development team.

A video demo of Parasite Eve was shown at the September 1997 Tokyo Game Show. The demo included full-motion videos but no gameplay footage.

Release

Parasite Eve was released in Japan on March 29, 1998, for the PlayStation. Television advertisements showing the game's full motion video were shown in the United States before the game's 1998 release. A mistake in shipping caused over 200 copies of the game to be sent to Best Buy stores a week before the official release. Parasite Eve was Square's first game to receive a Mature rating from the ESRB and the first game released under Square's joint-venture with Electronic Arts. The game was released in North America on September 10, 1998.

Before The 3rd Birthday was released in 2010, Yoshinori Kitase and Tetsuya Nomura discussed re-releasing Parasite Eve and Parasite Eve II. The re-release was delayed partly because the series rights were shared with Hideaki Sena. The game was later made available on the PlayStation Network in Japan in 2010 and in North America in 2011. In 2018, the game was added to the Japanese version of the PlayStation Classic.

Music

Yoko Shimomura composed the game's soundtrack, including the main theme, "Primal Eyes." The ending vocal song, "Somnia Memorias," was performed by Shani Rigsbee. The score received praise from critics, combining influences from opera and electronica. Shimomura explained that she aimed to create "inorganic" music for the game, which she described as "something unique." A separate album called Parasite Eve Remixes was released, containing 10 tracks remixed from the original game by various artists. The idea for the album came from a suggestion to Shimomura to remix the music rather than rearrange it. "Somnia Memorias" was also included on the Square Vocal Collection in 2001.

Later, Yoko Shimomura became a well-known video game composer through her work on the Kingdom Hearts series. Additional arrangements were done by Shigeo Tamaru. Despite her previous work as lead composer on Super Mario RPG, Parasite Eve became her most famous project and earned her international recognition. During her work on Parasite Eve, Shimomura spent time in America, where much of the game's staff was based. Because of this, she remembered the project as her most difficult. She wanted the music to be experimental and not fit into categories like ambient or techno. One of her main goals was to create something "inorganic" and recognizable as a product of Square. Before Parasite Eve, Shimomura had written music that reflected her personal feelings, but for this project, she tried to be more "emotionless" to match the game's atmosphere and the character Aya's serious attitude. She believed Parasite Eve was an experimental work in many ways. Because of its role in the story, Shimomura used opera music. However, traditional opera music did not work well for battle themes, so she added rhythms inspired by a nightclub visit with some of the game's American staff. The music was recorded at Andora Studios in Los Angeles.

Parasite Eve was the first of Shimomura's projects to include a vocal theme, the ending song "Somnia Memorias." This was possible because the PlayStation system had enough power to support vocal tracks. Shimomura chose a less well-known singer for the vocals. "Somnia Memorias" was sung by Shani Rigsbee, while the vocals for the orchestrated versions of "Influence of Deep" and "Se il Mio Amore Sta Vincino" were provided by Judith Siirila. "Somnia Memorias" was translated from Japanese into Latin by Raul Ferrando, and "Se il Mio Amore Sta Vincino" was translated by Daniella Spagnolo. Shimomura wrote the lyrics for all vocal pieces. The track "I Hear a Voice Asking Me to Awaken" was an arrangement of Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 140, by Johann Sebastian Bach.

The two-disc album Parasite Eve Original Soundtrack was released by DigiCube on May 21, 1998, with catalog number SSCX-10020. Later, due to fan demand, a reprint was released by Square Enix on January 26, 2011, with catalog number SQEX-10222/3. The music received generally positive reviews and helped establish Shimomura as a popular composer among Western video game fans.

Parasite Eve Remixes is a ten-track album featuring remixed versions of themes from Parasite Eve. The remixes were done by Shimomura, Tamaru, Hidenori Iwasaki, and Keichi Takahashi. Multiple DJs also contributed, including Tomo, QUADRA, Dan K, Tribal Masters, Kay Nakayama, and Dummy Run. According to Shimomura, the album was created after someone suggested making full remixes of the music rather than simple rearrangements. Shimomura was responsible for extending and remixing "Aya's Theme," the main theme of Parasite Eve. The album was released by DigiCube on July 30, 1998, with catalog number SSCX-10023. Reviews of the album were mixed, with some critics saying the remixes were strange, repetitive, or overly chaotic.

Reception

According to Weekly Famitsu, 956,461 units of Parasite Eve were sold in Japan during the first half of 1998, making it the country's third most sold game for that period. By February 2004, the game had sold 1.94 million copies in total, with 1.05 million sold in Japan and 0.89 million sold in other parts of the world. In Japan, it was the sixth most sold game of 1998, with 994,000 copies sold. In its first month of release in the United States, it was the third best-selling home console game, behind Madden NFL 99 and NFL GameDay 99. The game was later re-released in North America under Sony's Greatest Hits label.

Parasite Eve received "generally favorable" reviews, according to Metacritic. IGN praised the game for its beautiful graphics, movie-like scenes, and mature tone, but noted that its story followed a straight path. Game Informer highlighted the game's detailed backgrounds but criticized the long loading times when players entered new areas or faced enemies. GameSpot praised the game's cinematic look and detailed real-life settings in New York City. However, the lack of voice acting or singing made dramatic scenes, such as an opera and a mass combustion event at the start of the game, less effective.

The game was sometimes compared to the Resident Evil series. GamePro stated that Parasite Eve had more complex gameplay, with upgrades for weapons and hidden areas to explore. Reviewers also noted that while the game broke many RPG traditions, it had limited replay value and was relatively short. Combat was compared unfavorably to Final Fantasy VII, which used a dynamic camera instead of a fixed one. The novel's original author, Hideaki Sena, approved of the game, saying he was "actually impressed" by how well the game translated the novel.

The Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences named Parasite Eve as a finalist for the "Console Game of the Year," "Console Action Game of the Year," and "Console Role-Playing Game of the Year" categories during the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards.

In 2000, the game was ranked number 16 by readers of Famitsu magazine in its list of the top 100 PlayStation games of all time. In 2010, GamesRadar included it in its list of "Top 7… '90s games that need HD remakes." In February 2011, Parasite Eve was announced for release on the North American PlayStation Network. It was released on March 15, 2011.

Legacy

The video game Parasite Eve was based on a well-known Japanese book and was part of the "J-horror" movement, which includes other stories like Ring. The game later inspired two follow-up video games and a manga series titled Parasite Eve DIVA, which is based on the game's universe.

Future

In 2017, Shinji Hashimoto, a senior manager at Square Enix and the executive producer of The 3rd Birthday, stated that whether the series would return depended on Tetsuya Nomura's decision.

In March 2020, during an interview led by professional wrestler Kenny Omega with Yoshinori Kitase, a producer at Square Enix, Kenny asked if there was a possibility of making another game in the series. Kitase responded by saying, "I am not aware of any plans at this time, but it would be a shame not to use these characters again."