The survival-horror genre is characterized by having limited resources with scary themes, though there is, of course, deviations and additions that can be added to the formula. The genre’s inception started off with games like 1992’s Alone in the Dark for the PC, or 1989’s Sweet Home for the Nintendo Entertainment System.

While the previously mentioned games can be classified as survival horror games due to their themes and gameplay, the actual term survival horror was first used in 1996’s Resident Evil which also popularized the genre. When it comes to the system with the largest and arguably best selection of survival horror games, many would have to point the PlayStation 2. There were many great new survival horror franchises that started on Sony’s second console and many already established franchises had some of their greatest entries. So to look back at the console with some of the great survival-horror games, here are the best the genre had to offer on the PlayStation 2.

10 LifeLine

LifeLine is an incredibly ambitious and creative game. Rather than directly controlling a character, you would guide a character with voice commands. In LifeLine, you guide a young lady named Naomi through a monster-infested space station.

When Naomi enters into a fight against the creatures, you tell her where to aim her gun and where to shoot. When not fighting, you can have small talk with Naomi and find more about her while you slowly uncover the secrets of the space station and the monsters that are causing havoc within it.

9 Haunting Ground

Haunting Ground is a spiritual sequel to Clock Tower 3 in which you can attack and dodge enemies but all of your actions are tied to your stamina that you must keep an eye on. You can also have a dog you befriend early in the game fight for you by giving it commands.

Commanding the dog is a large part of the game. However, at the beginning of the game, the dog won’t be as willing to listen to your commanded but after time as you spend more time with the pooch, he will start to like you and will listen more willing to you.

8 Siren

Siren inserts real people’s faces onto polygonal character models, giving the game as a whole a very off-putting feeling. In Siren, you can look through the eyes of the enemy which is used as a way to hide from or avoid them entirely.

Each stage is played out by a different character with all of the objectives interconnected which will create an effect in different stages. Throughout each stage, you will come across items that help tell the story and help give insight into what is actually going on in the game’s story.

7 Kuon

Set in feudal Japan, Kuon takes a lot of influence from Japanese history and mythology. A large mechanic within the game is that while running is possible, it will both decrease your health and attract near-by enemies, so you must creep through the stage which acts as a great way to increase tension.

In order to refill your health, you must stand still and temporarily be vulnerable and mediate. It is typically more advantageous to avoid enemies in Kuon, however, you do have a very short blade as well as some magic to help keep the enemies away from you.

6 Echo Night: Beyond

Echo Night: Beyond is a very interesting take on the survival horror genre. You are in a haunted spaceship and must help the dead pass rather than attempting to fight them. To help ghosts past, you learn about them, find an item that used to be theirs and bring it to them.

There is no combat within the game and no way of defending yourself, instead, you must activate the ventilation system where the ghost resides in order to avoid it. While there were previous games in the series, they were all left in Japan.

5 Rule of Rose

Like Haunting Ground, in Rule of Rose, you have a dog helping you throughout your journey. Like many survival-horror games at the time, the combat in Rule of Rose is clunky and unintuitive, though this can be argued that it is all part of making your feel vulnerable.

This would also explain why the main character, Jennifer attacks with short-ranged weak attacks as she fears the monsters she fights with the best method of survival being to avoid enemies entirely. While this works well, for the most part, there are bosses in the game that must be fought which can bring down the experience.

4 Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly

In the Fatal Frame series, you must fight ghosts by taking pictures of them rather than attempting to fight them head-on. This refers to the old myth that if you take a picture of someone, it will steal their soul. The camera used is called the Camera Obscura and you must use different lenses and film through the game in order to stop some of the spirits.

Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly’s story centers around twin sisters Mio and Mayu who decide to explore an abandoned village and begin to experience paranormal events. Evil sprites that inhabit the village Mayu and hope to sacrifice her in an ancient ritual.

3 Clock Tower 3

The Clock Tower series had its start on the Super Nintendo with the Japanese exclusive Clock Tower where you played as a young girl in a point and click adventure running away from the Scissorman. There were also two sequels that were released in North America for the PlayStation 1 called Clock Tower and Clock Tower II: The Struggle Within.

In Clock Tower 3, the main character is Alyssa Hamilton, a 14-year-old girl who is in boarding school. The game has little to do with the previous games in the series with many other monsters aside from Scissorman stalking the protagonists.

2 Resident Evil 4

Resident Evil 4 was the first game in the series to ditch the fixed camera angle perspective held in the first few entries of the series. Resident Evil 4 also had a lot more action than previous games in the series with large, over the top bosses and quick-time events that made it feel like an action movie.

While it did drastically deviate from the formula established in past games in the series, Resident Evil 4 stands as one of the best in the series and help usher in an entirely new genre with the third-person behind the back perspective.

1 Silent Hill 2

Silent Hill 2 is not only one of the best survival-horror games on the PlayStation 2 but also one of the greatest survival-horror games of all time. You play as James Sunderland who has traveled to Silent Hill after receiving a letter from his dead wife that she was in there.

The game’s voice acting is stilted and awkward, creating an odd, eerie atmosphere that permeates throughout the entire game. You encounter many disfigured creatures throughout the game, all of which represent a broken part of Jame’s psyche.

NEXT: 5 Scariest Silent Hill Monsters (& 5 That Are Just Silly)