Extermination – PS2 – 2001
Extermination was a first-party PS2 game that came out very early in the system’s life cycle, all the way back in 2001. It also happens to be the first game that Swery65 worked on as a writer, in addition to working as a designer. Of course, this means he didn’t have as direct of an involvement in this title as others here, but nonetheless he was an important part of the team. Extermination is a third-person survival horror title, similar to the likes of the Resident Evil series.
The game takes place at a top secret U.S. military research facility in Antarctica, which as you might expect has been used to conduct experiments on genetic organisms and mutations. You play as Sergeant Dennis Riley, a member of the Marine Corps Force Recon and “Team Red Light,” who gets sent in to investigate a distress call from the facility. As you can imagine, things go quite awry and a tense horror story filled with unholy mutated creatures plays out from there.
Extermination is fairly standard with what it does for the survival horror genre, but there are some pretty memorable water sequences with aquatic bosses. The narrative on display in the title is incredibly reminiscent of John Carpenter’s The Thing, and you may find yourself enjoying Extermination quite a bit if you’re a fan of the film. Keep in mind, of course, that a 2001 PS2 game hasn’t aged as well as we all might want.