The year 1996 was a special period for owners of the first PlayStation console. The gaming industry had seriously stepped into the 3D era, and action-adventures began to offer something completely new — larger worlds, exploration, cinematic atmosphere, and characters that would later become legends of the industry.
As someone who grew up with the original PlayStation, some games from that year are simply impossible to forget. Titles like Tomb Raider, Resident Evil, and Blood Omen showcased how atmospheric, dark, and ahead of their time action-adventures could be.
Tomb Raider
It's hard to describe how revolutionary Tomb Raider felt in 1996. Lara Croft, massive tombs, jumping, exploration, and the sense of adventure were something completely different from most games at the time.
Exploring ancient locations, solving puzzles, and cinematic presentation left a huge impression on players, and Lara Croft almost overnight became one of the biggest gaming icons of the nineties.
Resident Evil
Resident Evil was a game that many will never forget after their first playthrough. The atmosphere of the creepy mansion, zombies, strange camera angles, and constant sense of tension made the experience completely different from anything we were playing on consoles at the time.
Capcom defined the survival horror genre with Resident Evil and showed how much the PlayStation could offer a cinematic experience.
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain
Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain was one of those games that may not have been the biggest hit among the general audience, but left a strong impression on everyone who played it. The dark atmosphere, brutal fantasy world of Nosgoth, and excellent voice acting set the game apart from most PlayStation titles of the time.
It's particularly interesting how Blood Omen later became the beginning of the Legacy of Kain series, one of the most well-known dark fantasy gaming series of the late nineties and early 2000s.
Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars
Although primarily known as a point-and-click adventure, Broken Sword was one of those games that perfectly demonstrated how important story and atmosphere can be in video games.
Paris, templars, mysterious murders, and great dialogues made the game incredibly addictive, and many players still consider Broken Sword one of the best adventures of the nineties.
