Long before Resident Evil coined the clunky term “survival horror,” Lucasfilm Games (now LucasArts) gave gamers of the ’80s the biggest jump-scare of their lives. Though it sold itself as a fairly straightforward (though visually amazing for the time) space shooter, 1984’s Rescue on Fractalus! features a deeply disturbing moment barely hinted at in the instruction manual: at random, some of the downed pilots the game tasks you with rescuing turn out to be grotesque aliens in disguise, who suddenly smash your cockpit’s windshield with their bare fists, letting the corrosive atmosphere leak inside. And if you can believe it, this concept came from the mind of one George Lucas, a non-gamer who’s not exactly known for good ideas these days.
