Horror shooters and action horror PS1 horror

Killing Time: Resurrected

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Shoot your way through a cursed 1930s estate full of ghosts and monsters.

Platforms: PC, PlayStation, Xbox, Switch
Price: Paid
Rated: Very Positive on Steam (92% of 381 reviews)
Players: 1
Made by: Nightdive Studios (remaster); original by 3DO
Released: 2024

Get it on Steam PlayStation Store (PS4, PS5)Xbox Nintendo eShop (Switch)Nightdive Studios

What frightens A ritual for eternal life has gone wrong on a 1930s island estate: the guests are gone, the house and grounds are full of zombie servants, killer clowns and demonic things, and live-action ghosts appear to replay what happened.
Content: gore, violence, alcohol and tobacco use (store notes).

Killing Time: Resurrected is Nightdive Studios' remaster of the 1990s 3DO and PC first-person shooter. As a student of Egyptology trapped on the estate of heiress Tess Conway, you fight through a mansion and island overrun by monsters after a ritual for eternal life backfired, while filmed ghosts show you what happened. The horror is gory and gothic, laced with gallows humor rather than slow dread.

About Killing Time: Resurrected

Killing Time: Resurrected brings back a first-person shooter first made by 3DO for the 3DO console and PC. Nightdive Studios and Ziggurat Interactive released the remaster on Steam in October 2024, with the game also on PlayStation, Xbox and Switch.

The story is set in the early 1930s. You play a student of Egyptology who ends up trapped on the estate of the wealthy heiress Tess Conway on the island of Matinicus. Conway held a ritual to gain eternal life with the help of an ancient Egyptian Water-Clock; it backfired, her high-society friends vanished, and the estate filled with monsters. Your job is to find and destroy the Water-Clock and undo the curse.

Play is classic corridor shooting: over 45 areas across the mansion and its grounds, hundreds of enemies, keys and switches to find, and weapons that were once split between the 3DO and PC versions. Enemies from both versions appear together. The remaster adds high resolutions, smoother controls and key binding, a toggle for the original sprites, and cut content such as the pool house and a shipwreck.

What sets it apart is its ghosts. Over 50 live-action video sequences show the estate's guests as glowing apparitions, giving clues to what went on in the house. Around them, zombie chefs, butlers and polka-dot clowns come at you in blood-spattered rooms. The makers describe it as a shooter with gallows humor and visceral violence: it is gory and grotesque, more a horror romp than a slow scare.

It suits players who liked Clive Barker's Undying or the newer retro shooters such as CULTIC and DUSK, and anyone curious about an odd corner of 1990s horror games.

How to play Killing Time: Resurrected

Buy the game on Steam, PlayStation, Xbox or Switch and start a new game from the main menu.
Pick a difficulty and set your controls; the remaster supports key binding and full controller support.
Explore the estate, picking up weapons, ammunition and health as you go.
Watch the ghost video sequences when they appear; they give clues about the Conway estate.
Find keys and items to open new parts of the mansion and grounds, and work toward the Water-Clock.

Screenshots

A dark stone hall with an Egyptian altar and red demon masks on the walls as two zombie men walk toward the player's gun

Zombie chefs with cleavers in a bloodied 1930s kitchen, the player holding two pistols

A row of grinning clowns in red polka-dot suits with huge white gloves in a wood-panelled room

A glowing ghost of a woman in a white dress standing on a night garden path between hedge walls

Tips

Search side rooms and outbuildings: the estate is large and connected, and supplies are spread through it.
Listen to what the ghosts say; their scenes point to where to go next.
Try the sprite toggle in the options to see the original 3DO or PC character art.

Questions

Is Killing Time: Resurrected scary?

It is a gory horror shooter with ghosts, zombies and clowns, but its makers call its tone gallows humor. Expect grotesque monsters and blood more than quiet dread.

What platforms is Killing Time: Resurrected on?

Windows PC on Steam, PS4 and PS5, Xbox, and Nintendo Switch.

What is new in the remaster?

High resolutions and frame rates, smoother controls, key binding, enemies and weapons from both the 3DO and PC versions together, a toggle for the original sprites, and restored cut content such as the pool house and a shipwreck.