Play Shadow Madness Online Free for PS1/Playstation.

PS1 1 Player

Here at this Retro Gaming Players Club, we wouldn't be who we are if we didn't give you the ability to play "Shadow Madness" online. Released on the Sony PlayStation, this retro classic is ready the second you press start — no downloads, no setup.

Shadow Madness gameplay screenshot
Getting Your Relived Experience Ready

🎮 USB or Bluetooth controller? Plug it in, Once Detected Click Here to Open Your Controller Options

Download our Mini App on PC/Mac for advanced & more premium functions for your games.

Report this game not working
HIGH SCORE — THRONE EMPTY
Nobody holds this game yet.

First registered run claims the top spot. It won't stay easy for long.

🏆 NOVEMBER 2026 TOURNAMENT November 2026 Top Players Championship Top 3 players on this game share the prize pool — Premium subscribers qualify. Nov 1 – Nov 30, 2026 · 18 days left Enter with Premium ▶

Stinger meets many friends and foes on his way to finding out how the chaos started and how it can be stopped. Random, turn-based battles take place in fully-3D environments, where the player can execute various attacks and spells against enemies, gain experience points, and increase characters' attributes.

The Story Behind Shadow Madness

Here is where Shadow Madness came from and how it reached the Sony PlayStation.

The two-disc game was packaged with a separate demo disc for Jade Cocoon. Artists for the game were made up of professional animators, clay modelers, and military cartographers. "Part of this game is the notion that 'evil' is transmitted through ideas, through communication, and will exist at least until the idea of the 'hero' is powerful enough to supplant the idea of the 'other'." To help present the storyline, the design team chose to develop Shadow Madness on the PlayStation because of the platform's ability to display non-interactive FMV cutscenes.

Prior to Craveyard's closure, a planned sequel to Shadow Madness was also in its initial conceptual phase, as announced by Woolsey. The team took advantage of the PlayStation's unconventional.HMD format, which would allow for real-time interpolation between key frames for smooth animation and low memory use.

How Shadow Madness Plays

Shadow Madness is a retro game for 1 player, played here with your keyboard or any USB or Bluetooth gamepad.

Pressing L2 and R2 simultaneously will make Stinger "hide" on the ground and possibly avoid a battle altogether. Characters can unleash powerful "summons" during battle. In particular, enemies will not wait to attack.

The game includes CG cutscenes to further the storyline. It plays the same on the field in terms of using inventory, moving about and talking to non-player characters. Shadow Madness features 3D polygonal models on 2D pre-rendered backgrounds, with the battle scenes taking place in a fully 3D environment.

Why Players Still Load It Up

Shadow Madness is a retro game that Sony PlayStation players still load up; the reviews and rankings below say why.

Set in the world of Arkose, the player takes the role as Stinger, whose town has just been destroyed as a result of a mysterious plague that is spreading quickly across the land. GameSpot summed it up by saying, "Whoever said 'Graphics don't matter' never played Shadow Madness." X-Play placed it at number 3 on their top 5 worst role-playing games video. After numerous delays, Shadow Madness was released in North America in mid-1999 and in Europe in early 2000.

Shadow Madness was a commercial failure, leading to the dissolution of both Craveyard and Lobotomy. Next Generation said in an early review that the game "emulates the genre well, but does little to enhance it." Other magazines gave the game average to favorable reviews months before it was released Stateside. The group, called Big Rain, was led by Ted Woolsey, a translator responsible for localizing Square's prominent Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) RPGs.

Background sources: Wikipedia.

Shadow Madness — Frequently Asked Questions

Can I save my progress in Shadow Madness?

Yes. Create a free account and the player unlocks save states — snapshot your progress at any moment and resume later on any device.

Videos for This Shadow Madness

See all gameplay videos ›

More PS1 Games