It’s been a very long time since Square Enix released a new Parasite Eve game; the last entry in the series came out on PlayStation Portable back in 2010. The series has been dormant ever since, and some fans have wondered about the possibility of a return. Original Parasite Eve producer Hironobu Sakaguchi is currently promoting the release of Fantasian: Neo Dimension, which is being co-developed by Naoki “Yoshi-P” Yoshida’s Creative Studio 3. In an interview with 4gamer.net (via @Genki_JPN), the two developers talked about the PC and console version of Fantasian, as well as some of Sakaguchi’s past games.
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During the discussion, Yoshi-P brought up the possibility of Sakaguchi reuniting with Square Enix for a new Parasite Eve. Sakaguchi noted that the game’s protagonist was named after his daughter, and he’s now a grandfather. This gave Yoshi-P the idea of naming a new protagonist after Sakaguchi’s grandchild. Sakaguchi seemed to dismiss the possibility of making a new game in the series himself, but he is open to Square Enix doing so; if the company were to make a new Parasite Eve, he claimed he’d even promote the new game alongside his grandchild!
Unfortunately, Yoshi-P was quick to note that the possibility of a new Parasite Eve might be slim. Without a central voice at the company pushing a game forward, it’s hard to get the wheels in motion when it comes to development. There doesn’t seem to be anyone at Square Enix doing just that, and it can be difficult for a new voice to kickstart that kind of project, because there’s so much reverence for the source material. From the way Yoshi-P describes it, these types of projects come about more naturally when there’s an existing voice that worked on the older games, but newer developers tend to question whether they should go back to that well. Parasite Eve has clearly not been forgotten by Square Enix, but there doesn’t seem to be a lot of momentum behind a return right now.
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The original Parasite Eve was released on PlayStation in 1998. The game featured a mix of RPG and survival horror elements, making it one of Square’s most unique offerings in that era. The story followed protagonist Aya Brea, a New York City police officer and one of the few survivors of an event in which an audience spontaneously combusts at an opera. While the game maintains a passionate following, it remains surprisingly unavailable on modern platforms. Coincidentally, the original Parasite Eve recently topped ComicBook’s list of horror games in need of a remaster or remake, so it will be interesting to see if we ever get that, let alone a whole new game!
Would you like to see a new Parasite Eve game released on modern platforms? Do you think we’ll at least see a remaster or remake of the original? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter atย @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky atย @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram atย @Dachampgaming!
