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About

Fear Effect, the pioneering cel-shaded cinematic action game, returns!
Days before her eighteenth birthday, the quiet, enigmatic Wee Ming Lam, disappears under mysterious circumstances. Hana, Glas, and Deke, three self-motivated and ruthless mercenaries conspire to track her down and ransom her off to her father, Mr. Lam, the most powerful Triad leader in Hong Kong, for a large sum of cold, hard cash.
What begins as a simple extortion mission to retrieve the young runaway becomes a lesson in survival against the most unimaginable of enemies.
Immerse yourself in this intense thriller featuring revolutionary Motion FX technology where you direct your cast of 3D characters within dynamic, full-motion-video worlds. Who lives? Who dies? Only you decide, if you can control your fear.
Fear Effect on PC features:
The full classic game available on PC for the first time ever.
Shoot your way through 7 - 9 hours of gameplay featuring numerous adversaries and boss fights.
Innovative cel-shaded graphics.
Full voice-acting.
Soundtrack by Matt Furniss and Jason Agolia.
Full-motion video environments.
Revolutionary Motion FX technology that puts you inside the action.
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English**languages with full audio support
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 40 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 40 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
Fear Effect es un título muy único, que aún con numerosas inspiraciones y referencias, consigue sentirse muy especial y diferenciado. Moviéndose entre géneros como el thriller, el terror, la fantasía y la acción consigue una experiencia muy cinematográfica, donde las transiciones entre escenas de vídeo y las jugables son apenas notorias. Con una jugabilidad base que recuerda a los primeros Resident Evil, se introduce un sistema rudimentario de sigilo, unos puzzles bastante enrevesados la mayoría y un combate solvente para la época que nos permite esquivar y movernos mientras disparamos. La estética cel-shading junto con escenarios prerrenderizados dinámicos y su contenido adulto que incluye gore, erotismo y lenguaje soez, hacen de este juego algo muy genuino y que no se ha repetido. Aún con un control mejorable, una duración algo escasa y su dificultad excesiva en varios tramos, sigue siendo un juego muy recomendable para los que les gustan las historias maduras y experiencias cinemáticas añejas. 8 Análisis completo: https://yexreviews.wordpress.com/2026/01/02/fear-effect-1999/
A great game from the PS1 days that's a given. But what an absolute gem of a remaster. You can quick save and load anywhere, what an awesome piece of lost technology from a higher civilization. Remember the time when you could quick save in almost every game? Remember when games respected your time instead of pretending that wasting your time is punishing difficulty? Remember when games were programmed by skilled people who did not churn out bloated Unreal5 abortions that would simply implode if you tried to save and load a random game state? And yes this game is forgiven for having ties to a piece of 💩 company like Limited Run Games.
Have you ever heard of Fear Effect? During the golden era of the Sony PlayStation 1, many games required more than one CD. Experimenting with the change from cartridges to CDs was a bold move, yet it opened up massive creative possibilities. This game was released with four discs. Back then, the storage limitations of data made multiple discs necessary for large cinematic games. Released in the year 2000 on February 24, Fear Effect is a glorious, unhinged relic. It features an aesthetic that can only be described as "cyberpunk mercenaries accidentally stumble into a literal Bureaucracy of Chinese Hell." Developed by Kronos Digital Entertainment, this PlayStation cult classic took the standard survival horror template, added a massive dose of B-movie edge, and wrapped it in some of the most experimental tech of its era. It's a highly regarded classic masterpiece of an action-adventure game celebrated for its ahead-of-its-time aesthetic, mature narrative, and inventive twists on the survival horror genre. If you love the bold, cinematic edge of late-90s gaming, you should buy this game. It seamlessly blends the urban mercenary grit of Blade Runner vibe with ancient Chinese folklore. While the graphics are heavily compressed and the original tank controls can feel incredibly rigid today for some, the original Fear Effect and its prequel Fear Effect 2: Retro Helix remain highly regarded cult classics. Their appeal stems from a groundbreaking artistic vision, an adult-focused narrative, and distinct gameplay systems that standard survival horror games of the era completely lacked. You play as a trio of ruthless, gritty anti-heroes of mercenaries—Hana (an assassin), Glas (a hardened war veteran), and Deke (a psychopathic contract killer)—who are trying to kidnap a powerful Hong Kong Triad boss's daughter purely for a massive cash ransom. The rain never stops in this cyberpunk hell, and neither does the bleeding. Fear Effect strips away your safety net, forcing you to balance on a razor's edge where your own skyrocketing pulse is more lethal than the triads. It is a raw, blood-soaked fusion of tactical espionage and occult terror. Your fear is a death sentence. Control it, or choke on it. Forget everything you know about survival horror. Fear Effect doesn’t just test your ammo—it weaponizes your pulse through a revolutionary tension meter where panic equals death. Wrap yourself in a stunning, mature cyberpunk noir aesthetic that looks like a living anime and plays like a cinematic thriller. You aren't just playing a game; you are surviving a mercenary's worst nightmare bleeding into Chinese mythology. Death waits around every dark corner, but glory belongs to those who control their terror. I want to reveal more, but it will be splurging spoilers. By holding my urge not to do so, obviously I really want you to experience the whole thing instead. Trust me, you will be totally mind-blown by the entire plot from start to the very end. With multiple endings! :3
It's a port of the PS1 game and not a remaster. Love the game! Press the Select button (View button) while in game to change the controls to original tank controls. Not a good port but an amazing game.
RE with a focus on action and a bisexual protagonist
I haven't beaten the game yet, but so far it is really fun and runs well on the deck.
Been wanting to play this game a for very long time and I didn't know it was on Steam til i watched a YT vid about something else. Beaten the game on Hard mode and man, it was challenging af but it sure was fun!
While this PC port is not really much better than playing on a PS1 or an emulator, the game itself is pretty decent. The combat is a bit clunky, with most shots missing until your character autoaims at a target. Thankfully your character can actually land shots at two targets at once when you're dual wielding. Rolling is critical to avoid damage as you have no way of healing before you reach a new section. The plot and characters are interesting enough to keep you going, and the game has a very unique signature artstyle for its characters that was innovative at the time. Get it if the price is cheap enough.
The original Fear Effect has always been one of my favourite games and is, toghether with the not as great but still good follow up Retro Helix, the two only physical games I still own. Glad to see that it's now availabe again here on Steam. And to me, playing on a 4K TV, it's all good.
esse jogo ficou na minha prateleira no PS1 por vários anos até eu passar pra frente, mais novo, nunca tive muita cabeça pra esse jogo, revisitando ele em 2026, entendo bem os porquês. sobre o port em si, não existe muita crítica, tudo original funciona, inclusive os códigos da época cretácea dos video games, quanto ao jogo existem algumas críticas que já que estou analisando, vou comentar abaixo: 1. O maior e mais grave erro desse jogo é o de continuidade, você desde o primeiro ou segundo item chave, não sabe aonde ir ou o que fazer com ele, entendo que isso era moda na época, mas de exemplo, o RE1 original é bem mais autoexplicativo comparado a ele e o primeiro RE, não é nem exemplo nessa quesito. Não estou nem considerando os puzzles que mais pro fim do jogo realmente não fazem sentido algum, te obrigando a puxar um tutorial de algum lugar. 2. os controles são eu diria bem desconexos, alguns botões não fazem total sentido de serem como eram, mesmo para a época (Botão de ação Y ou Triangulo? Pra quê? Pq atira com o A ou X?). Foi burrice totalmente minha, mas aprendi a correr apenas no último ato do jogo, não ter um tutorial de controles é um erro bem básico, mas passável, considerando que mesmo com a minha burrice, cheguei no ultimo ato do jogo sem muita "sofrencia" 3. Picos de dificuldade extrema em alguns momentos, entendo que em alguns momentos, é preciso mostrar dificuldade, mas perto do fim, o jogo te deixa muito na mão (combinado com o ponto 1 em que você recebe determinados itens e não sabe o que fazer com eles, pode ser muito prejudicial à sua jogatina). 4. O Jogo em si é muito belo, mesmo para a época, os cenários vivos explicam uma dúvida de infância que sempre perpetuou minha cabeça, como um jogo consegue ter 4 discos? porém a jogatina é muito curta, consegui o troféu de zerar em menos de 3h na minha primeira jogatina, jogando uma segunda vez sabendo onde tudo iria, consegui zerar em uma hora e meia. Que mesmo para a época, é bem triste. 5. Não é um ponto negativo para mim, mas considerando o mercado atual e alguns jogos antigos inclusive dessa mesma DEV, o jogo não tem nem legendas em português, novamente, não é um negativo para mim, mas precisa ser pontuado. No mais de pontos negativos, é tudo. Quanto aos pontos positivos: 1. O Sistema de Rewind do emulador vai calhar muito bem, considerando a questão da dificuldade mencionada como ponto negativo, sei que muita gente prefere uma jogatina mais fluída e sem essas comodidades, porém o jogo realmente não brilha no aspecto dificuldade em alguns momentos. 2. muitos poucos loadings, quase todo o jogo você está fazendo algo, mesmo que seja contemplando o cenário vivo, mesmo numa era que isso era praticamente impossível. 3. A nova onda do mercado de jogos está sendo trazer jogos antigos à tona de forma legal (talvez pelo mercado estar sem criatividade?) Porém esse é um dos poucos ports que não desgraçaram totalmente minha experiência do passado (diferente do Dino Crisis que me broxou legal em vários aspectos). Inclusive diria que sem o Rewind, o jogo se torna pelo menos 80% mais dificil considerando que é necessário voltar do ultimo save point depois de uma tela de Game Over. No mais, é isso, Jogo com nota de 6,5/10, onde deixa a desejar os erros de continuidade, trama bem básica e em alguns momentos sem sentido e com picos de dificuldade muito grandes, porém o jogo é lindo mesmo considerando sua idade, boa variedade de armas e fator replay bem ok, considerando a longevidade baixa do jogo. Jogarei de novo no lançamento do segundo aqui na Steam.
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Trends
Concurrent players on Steam, sampled daily since tracking started.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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