History VideoGame / HellNight

''Hell Night'' (''[[MarketBasedTitle Dark Messiah]]'' in Japan) is a First-Person SurvivalHorror, developed and published in Japan by Creator/{{Atlus}} for the Sony UsefulNotes/{{Playstation}} system in 1998. Creator/{{Konami}} published it in Europe the following year.

The player navigates the underground of Tokyo while staying out of harm's way. It also includes a few point-and-click segments, albeit without any pixel-hunting. The game is unique with that you can always have a partner who follows you. The partners are limited and you can only get a new one by having the previous one killed. Each partner has their own unique ability to aid the player and an ending exclusive for that partner. This serves as the base for the game's replay value, as well as its RPG-feel.

* Naomi Sugiura, a 17 year old schoolgirl. She was also chased by the cult members. She's the default partner and is with the player from the start of the game. Her unique ability is to sense if the creature is nearby. She is the only partner unavailable to stun the creature. [[spoiler:Until later on.]]
* Kyoji Kamiya, a 28 year old serial killer, who still carries a gun taken from his first victim, a cop. He doesn't see the player as worthy prey, and is the first recruitable partner. His ability is to lightly stun the creature with his gun.
* Leroy Ivanoff, a 30 year old Russian soldier. The second recruitable partner. He was sent to destroy the creature but his squad was wiped out. His ability is a rocket launcher, which stuns the creature for quite a while.

* AbsurdlySpaciousSewer: After escaping the maintenance tunnels, the player and Naomi ends up in one with a town.

* AndThenJohnWasAZombie: [[spoiler:The player becomes this if they have no partners or complete the game with Kamiya.]]

* AttractMode: The game's intro that plays before the start screen, serves as this, both introducing the names of your partners available, shows you the setting of the game, and tells you who you are.
* ButNowIMustGo: [[spoiler: That Which Wanders]]
* CosmicHorrorStory: [[spoiler:The Hybrid and the Holy Ring are both linked to an alien race named the [[Creator/HPLovecraft Old Ones]] that exists deep under the earth in a sort of spaceship that doesn't obey normal physical laws and has technology far beyond our understanding]]. Although the threat can be destroyed, it requires the power of a [[spoiler:nuclear reactor]].

* DugTooDeep: [[spoiler:How the Hybrid was originally uncovered]].

* DwindlingParty: If you aren't careful with navigating the Tokyo's underground tunnels and sewers, this occurs. All your party members can die, but you can only have one with you at a time.
* EldritchLocation: [[spoiler:The Hive]].
* TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt: [[spoiler:The Dark Messiah, who is worshiped by the cult, is known to bring this upon the world]].

* ForebodingArchitecture: Some areas have these (See SchmuckBait). An early one is a dark staircase that the player says the monster could hide under. [[spoiler: It does during the first time you go through there. Afterwards, it's gone.]]

* HellIsThatNoise: The player ''quickly'' learns to listen for the monster's presence - a certain noise means that the monster is nearby and that the player should either check the map (if they have Naomi) and/or get ready to bolt (Whether they have Naomi or not)

** Ending A: [[spoiler:Escaping with Naomi which is the game's GoldenEnding.]]

** Ending E: [[spoiler: One of the alien creations, That Which Wanders, decides to help you out - but it is a sad ending as they cannot go with you.]]
* NonStandardGameOver: You can either be captured by the cult... or if Kamiya is with you, try to go up the stairs again. [[ShmuckBait Kamiya at least warns and asks if you're sure you want to do that]], but maybe you decide to screw that... and guess what he does?

* OneHitKill: Getting caught by monster will result in this. If you have a partner, they die instead.

* VideoGameCaringPotential: Keep away from monsters to keep their partner alive, especially Naomi, the first partner available.