Why This '90s Cult Classic Horror Game Never Got A Sequel

Many successful games end up starting their own franchises, even if they're meant to be standalone experiences. Developers love a sequel because it comes with a built-in audience, and in some cases sequels are planned from the get-go. That's led to some awkward moments when games are so bad their sequel gets canceled, putting a whole studio on its back foot. That's not exactly what happened with "Night Trap," a fairly horrendous 90s horror game that most of the world seems to have forgotten about (beyond diehard fans), but it's honestly close enough.

"Night Trap" was released by Sega in 1992 as an attempt to get in on the fad of full-motion video, a.k.a. FMV. Many FMV games relied on live-action footage to create an experience that was almost like a "choose your own adventure" movie, allowing players to jump in, make a decision, and alter the course of the story. The FMV fad quickly found its way to an early grave, and "Night Trap" remains one of the few moderately successful titles in the genre. The game follows a group of girls taking a weekend trip that ends up being spoiled by attacking vampires. Players are tasked with using various video cameras and traps to defend the girls from the monsters. It sounds (and is) fairly innocuous, but "Night Trap" landed at the perfect time to stir up a massive controversy before disappearing into the annals of video game history.

"Night Trap" debuted the same year as "Mortal Kombat," and some people absolutely freaked out about it. "Night Trap" has far less violence and sexual content than a B-grade horror movie from the '80s, but parent groups and legislators still feared that the game would inspire its young players to become murderous psychopaths. Two United States senators, Joseph Liebermann and Herb Koh, were so concerned about the game that they brought it up in a 1993 senate hearing that also addressed concerns about "Mortal Kombat." During the hearings, Senator Liebermann showed a clip from the game of the villains breaking into a bedroom to kidnap one the female cast members, explaining, "I find this segment deeply offensive and believe that it simply should be taken off the market."

The footage seems pretty tame by today's standards, but Liebermann also incorrectly presented the clip as though it represented the goal of the game. "It's an effort to trap and kill women," Liebermann said at the time, despite the fact that the entire game is about trying to save these characters from their would-be attackers. To a certain extent, Liebermann's misrepresentation paid off, and concerns about the game became loud enough that some retailers pulled the game from their shelves. In 1994, Sega pulled the game entirely off the market. As for that Senate hearing, it's what eventually lead to the creation of the ESRB and the video game rating systems we still have today. 

You could say that Sega never pursued a "Night Trap" sequel because of the controversy the game stirred up, but it's just as likely that the company was never interested because "Night Trap" wasn't a huge hit among gamers anyway. The FMV craze dropped off pretty quickly — partly because creating FMV games could get expensive. Even though "Night Trap" occupies a unique place in video game history and has fans who love it for its cheesy charms, it's not exactly considered one of the best horror games of all time.

In fact, twenty years after "Night Trap" shocked some and bored others, the game's creators launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund a physical re-release of the game, but it went nowhere. The new version would also have been high-res, offering fans the definitive version of the "Night Trap" experience. The interest from gamers just wasn't there, despite the game's notoriety and nostalgic value. The Kickstarter campaign raised slightly under $40,000 — a far cry from its goal of $330,000.

You'll never see a "Night Trap" sequel, but don't despair. "Night Trap" did eventually get reissued for PC, PS4, PlayStation Vita, and Nintendo Switch. Limited Run Games even put out a "footage-only" edition of the game for the Game Boy Advance. Though reviews for the "25th Anniversary Edition" were about as lukewarm as the original release, fans with fond memories of "Night Trap" were beyond pleased to see it get some form of an afterlife.