Readers beware, you’re in for a scare
Greetings and salutations to all you gamer ghouls. Buckle up for some Halloween content, because this post is all about the best and scariest horror games out there to celebrate what is definitely (this is a fact) the best holiday to ever exist.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
I feel like Amnesia is a good place to start our list since it encompasses so many of the horror genre’s aspects; such as fear, insanity, helplessness and the inability to fight back, only to hide.
In Amnesia, you play as Daniel, a man who awakens in a dark, brooding castle with nothing but a note to remind himself that he is being hunted, and the only way to stop it is to kill the owner of the castle he finds himself in. As you descend into the darkness (see what I did there?), you soon realize you aren’t alone, and that you are sharing these halls with monsters that will kill you if you give them the chance.
This game, like many others in the genre, gives you only one way to defend yourself; hide. There are no weapons, no ammo and no killing, unless you count the countless times these monsters are going to kill you. The only way to escape this nightmare is to hide in the shadows so the monsters won’t find you. Though beware, Daniel has a fear of the dark, which will deplete his sanity bar the longer you hide in the shadows. The longer you hide, the more insane you become, alerting monsters to your location. There are other ways to become insane, but you should play the game and discover them yourself.
Silent Hill 2
Literally the stuff of nightmares, Silent Hill 2 is a game based in the fictional town of Silent Hill. Here is where you play as James Sunderland, who comes to Silent Hill looking for his deceased wife after he receives a letter from her saying she is waiting there for him. What comes next is a downward spiral into hell as you explore the town looking for your wife, but only encounter monsters that are literally the stuff of nightmares, as they are all creations resulting from Sunderland’s own shattered psyche. Unlike Amnesia, you do have the ability to defend yourself with weapons, though you won’t find an easy time taking down any of the monsters that walk the streets of Silent Hill.
I chose Silent Hill 2 over the first game in the series because of its high critical acclaim. While they also share the same name, Silent Hill 2 is not a direct sequel of Silent Hill, with a different plot and different characters. Silent Hill has become an extremely popular series, spawning two live action films and quite the cult following. Disappointingly, Silent Hill was supposed to receive another title in the series, Silent Hills, but was cancelled after legendary director and designer Hideo Kojima parted ways with Konami, the studio behind Silent Hill. Though, speaking of Silent Hills…
P.T.
By far the scariest game on the list (in my opinion, which also means it’s a fact), is P.T. Officially standing for “playable teaser,” P.T. is a demo for the now cancelled game, Silent Hills. While Silent Hills is gone, but not forgotten, we will always have P.T., which is one of the best things to have ever come from a cancelled game.
Seeming as it is a demo, P.T. isn’t full of content, but it by far makes up for it by the pure amount of terror it can cause. Ditching the third-person camera view for a first-person experience, you play as an otherwise unknown character who wakes up in a haunted house. As you walk through the house, which seems to be an endless loop of hallways and doors, you soon hear news reports of murders on the radio and begin to hear noises throughout the house. Soon enough, you aren’t the only thing walking the halls.
It’s an extremely fun and terrifying game so I don’t want to spoil anything in case you want to play it yourself. It has since been taken off the market on consoles, so it might be hard to get your hands on. If you do get the chance to play it though, you might want to leave the lights on.
Dead Space
In space, no one can hear you scream. For my favorite entry on this list, we are taking a look at Dead Space. Dead Space is a game (unfortunately) published by Electronic Arts, that takes place on the USG Ishimura, an intergalactic mining ship. You play as an engineer named Isaac Clarke who arrives on the Ishimura following a stress beacon sent out by the crew. Clarke, whose girlfriend Nicole is somewhere on the ship, is tasked with exploring the now silent and wrecked vessel. As Clarke walks through the corridors of the ship, he soon finds that the crew has been completely wiped out and have come back to life as grotesque alien monsters known as Necromorphs. Now the only survivor of the rescue crew, Clarke has to search the ship for survivors, his girlfriend and a way off the ship.
Dead Space has 2 direct sequels, Dead Space 2 and 3. Though, if you plan to play these games, only 1 and 2 are horror games, while Dead Space 3 leans away from horror in favor of an action title. Dead Space 3 was released in 2013, and EA hasn’t released any information on more titles since it’s release. The developing company behind Dead Space, Visceral Games, has since been closed down by EA, which makes the future of the series unknown, though a hopeful fan would wish that EA will relinquish control of the title to another publisher and studio who will make the series great once again.
Outlast
Jumping back into one of the horror games where you can’t defend yourself is Outlast. A game focused around a journalist named Miles Upshur, you decide to investigate and explore an old shut-down mental asylum (which is always a good idea) in Colorado. Though, just because the mental asylum has been shut-down, doesn’t mean it isn’t abandoned, and plenty of its insane patients still call it home. As you creep through the darkness of the asylum, you have only your video camera to keep you company, occasionally using its night vision mode to see through the dark. You, as Miles, have to use stealth to your advantage and survive by hiding behind corners, under things and staying in the shadows to survive.
The game itself draws heavy inspiration from Amnesia: The Dark Descent, which was another title on this list. This is a brilliant, yet stressful game, and therefore has garnered a following due to its success.
Alien: Isolation
There must be something about space that lures terrifying creatures to it, and that is definitely the case in Alien. Though, it’s taken the gaming industry quite a long time to catch up to the success of its film counterpart. After a few terrible attempts at bringing the Xenomorph into the world of video games, publisher Sega and developer Creative Assembly created a hit success.
In Alien: Isolation, you play as Amanda Ripley, daughter of the famed Ellen Ripley, the protagonist of the Alien movie series. Amanda, like her mother, is an employee of the infamous Weyland-Yutani corporation. She soon finds out that there was a recovery of the flight recorder from the Nostromo, the ship her mother disappeared on 15 years prior. Naturally, Amanda goes along with others from the corporation to listen to the recording on the space station Sevastopol, in order to find out what became of her mother. As the crew is boarding the ship, they learn that the ship has gone dark and they can’t get any communications to the crew. Through some unfortunate events, Amanda finds herself separated from the rest of the crew, and must explore the darkened, lifeless station on her own, not yet aware that there is a Xenomorph on board.
You must use your wits to hide from and evade the Xenomorph, who is stalking you every step of the way. There is no way to kill the Xenomorph yourself, which means you are helpless if it gets its hands on you, and trust me, it will. The best part about this game is the pure atmosphere of being stalked, and the fact that the Xenomorph is run by an A.I. who will respond to loud noises in the game, and will attack you any way it can. This also means that the Xenomorph will always act differently each play through and each time you die, so there is no set way of defeating it, only outsmarting it. Good luck.
With that ends our Halloween special post. I hope you found a title on this list you’ve never played before; they’d all make for a fantastic time this Halloween night. As always, if you have any questions, suggestions or comments, don’t hesitate to let me know. Enjoy your Halloween!
Thanks for stopping by, and look out for that white hand on your shoulder.
