This year for Halloween, we‘re ranking horror games! So send YOUR favorites over to show@insertcredit.com, and I will collate the results with the panel’s superior lists.
You could also put them in here and have an Enjoy Time, I just won't let it influence my list!!!
Oh man! Uhm, off the top of my head …
[Resident Evil IV](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resident_Evil_4) - I realize that's a pretty domestic choice, but I remember* they really nailed a stranger-in-a-strange-land vibe. I think most Resident Evil titles that reset in a new location work really well, partially because it revitalizes the mystery. I mean, it's always Umbrella Corp. and a weapons project gone wrong, but I enjoy when the details and settings aren't a retread of previous games. *=I haven't played it in ten years ... I don't know how it would hit for me now.
[The Lurking Horror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lurking_Horror) - Infocom game where you're a student at a MIT-like school trying to wrap up a school project during a blizzard, but your final paper gets swapped for some document containing weird crap from someone in the school's Department of Alchemy(??). Coincidentally I am sure, random students have gone missing recently. Maybe there's a connection? I dunno ... go wander around the school and find out.
Everyone at the time was all about Zork, but I remember picking this up for 5 bucks at a computer show at the Cow Palace around 8 or 9 years old and just eating this up. No dungeons, no dragons ... a contemporary (for the time) setting where some weird shit is going down (this was also a factor that really pulled me into Persona/Persona 2/SMT games in general).
[Friday the 13th](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friday_the_13th:_The_Game) - I think most folks know this one as well. Not so much creepy scary, but more just 'playing tag' scary. I have a really close attachment to it because I was recovering from an illness when this came out and I had to be isolated for a few weeks. I was feeling really depressed at the time, and this game gave me genuine laughs I hadn't had in a long time. Something about sitting in a car helpless and nervous while another counselor is desperately trying to drive the car through trees to avoid Jason, while the others in the car at yelling at them to go the other way, is just peak unintentional 3D games goofy shit. Shout out to Dead by Daylight as well, which has a similar vibe.
Man ... I guess these aren't really deep cuts. :P
Resident Evil 2 and Silent Hill for me! I can elaborate further if needed, but I think these two PS1 classics popularized and revolutionized horror games
https://youtu.be/wCnNuUJb8kc?t=380
Here's a deep cut. This was essentially a Swedish "horror" point and click based on a popular children's property. Its not very scary, but there's a really great Lynchian ambiance and some fun 90s 3D environments. There's not much of any text or dialoge which adds to the atmosphere.
It‘s not really a horror game but I thought Gone Home genuinely did a great job of creating a really creepy atmosphere with enough misdirection to make you think “wait is this some spooky shit???” until it finally reveals its hand. There were times I genuinely didn’t want to move on to new areas because they did such a good job at making them look and feel creepy.
>
@sosadillatron#7451 The Lurking Horror
strong pick^^^
Mine:
Hellnight/Dark Messiah
Anchorhead
Pathologic
The Silver Case
Soma (shame there prob won't be enough tiime to absorb the new amnesia)
Yume Nikki
Anatomy
Enemy Zero
Bloodborne
Scratches
.....thanks
I don’t know if they’re “good” games because I’ve only play the first hour or so of each… but the first two Fatal Frame games absolutely scared me more than anything I’ve ever played or watched. I’d say they’re my favorite… if that’s legal (having not played all of it).
Silent Hill is good. When the small kid things first attack me near the beginning (when looking for the kiddo), I screamed. My mom came to check on me, and then of course, made fun of me. “A game scared you?!?” I finished that one though.
enters thread repeatedly chanting Yuuyami Doori* *
wow. this is going to be an interesting one.
I'm going to take a real broad interpretation of 'horror' (not just 'survival horror')
[Lisa: The First](https://rpgmaker.net/games/4412/downloads/) — The LISA RPG series isn't exactly All Horror All The Time, Baby, but this RPGMaker prologue is pretty discomforting. (Very?) similar to Yume Nikki, but kind of different! The soundtrack is sickening.
[Silent Hill 4](https://www.mobygames.com/images/shots/l/90354-silent-hill-4-the-room-windows-screenshot-when-your-social.jpg) — I first played this in an apartment whose floor plan was nearly identical to that of the in-game apartment. I don't know if that made it especially more creepy, but it felt like it added something. Terrible combat is compensated for with weird architecture and visuals which I felt really added something new to the series.
[Outer Wilds](https://i.redd.it/7n87iuh9urx41.png) — There's a part of this game which I think is agreed to be "the scary part," but for me (and others, I am certain) the whole game is basically a nightmare. A certain amount of unpolished indie jank combined with my fear of wide-open blank spaces made playing this such an anxious experience that I couldn't even finish it.
[Resident Evil 4](https://static.trueachievements.com/customimages/004222.jpg) — Adding my vote. Run that baby.
Also, heck: [Silent Hill 2](https://cdn3.dualshockers.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/silent_hill_2-in-game-ds1-1340x1340.jpg) — I leaned toward doing the thing where I didn't want to nominate this because it's the most talked-up spooky game, but that's ridiculous. Add it to the list. Who cares! I love it.
Not exactly SCARY, but Silent Hill Shatter Memories has stuck with me more than any other horror game but Silent Hill 2.
Castlevania 64 - I was a Nintendo loyalist up until the PS2, which came out when I was ten years old. So I didn‘t play a Resident Evil until RE4. But now looking back, I think it’s pretty obvious Castlevania 64 was trying to court that audience. Very flawed but it left a big impression on me (due to its effect on my pulse) and I think being the only Castlevania that actually tries to lean into straight-up horror is worthy of note, at least.
**Silent Hill** - I know people are going to nominate Silent Hill 2, but I just played this for the first time recently and I don't think it should be overshadowed. I've been a big fan of the recent wave of indie low-poly horror games like Paratopic, or any of PuppetCombo's games, and I was still a little surprised to see just how much of their DNA could be traced back to here. Feels like a game that you couldn't do a remaster of in HD without losing something crucial that makes the horror feel the way it does.
**Bloodborne** - In my opinion, all of the Souls games are horror games, but Bloodborne's the one where you fight werewolves and Lovecraft monsters in a foggy Victorian city and you have stats tracking your sanity, so that one wins.
**Alien: Isolation** - This game messed with my nerves more than any other game I've ever played. That's probably partly due to the fact that I always played it after getting off work at midnight, in the dark, with headphones on, while drinking a soda. Like, my hands _violently shook._ But yeah, sneaking around the Alien was really tense, and I loved how the team recreated a lot of imagery from the films but also expanded the universe in cool ways through Seegson and the Working Joes, and it all felt totally in keeping with the series' mythology. If it weren't two or three times longer than it should have been, I could see myself replaying it annually.
Would PT count?
@tomjonjon#7484 Yeah, sure.
@GigaSlime#7483 Good call on Alien Isolation. That would be a perfect game at 6 hours or less.
All my first impulse games are already taken so I'm forced to be a jerk:
@GigaSlime#7483 Yeah! I had just remembered Alien Isolation after I posted. I love it for all the same reasons. My only criticism is kinda similar to yours: the pacing. I also think the flame thrower is too powerful and kinda kills some of the suspense (I try to play without using it). But that first med bay encounter where you really have to play the game was SO GOOD! Such a great first full-blown, “Okay. This is the game now.” level.
Any [Sweet Home](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_Home_(video_game)) love?
@sosadillatron#7522 was it? I remember getting to a point where the Alien doesn‘t leave right away when you use it and instead just waits to see if you’re about to run out of fuel, which I occasionally did.
@GigaSlime#7527 I don't remember ever being in a spot where I wish I had more fuel to handle a situation, and every time I sprayed the Alien it only required a quick burst to shoo-it-off and give me enough time to reset my position to hide/sneak. It got to a point where it felt like it was insurance for when I wanted to stop sneaking as much and just walk/run somewhere (or I ran into an environment with multiple androids/threats and sneaking would take FOREVER … or the multiple threats were laid out so it felt impossible to not have to use it). At worst, it felt like it was so effective that it was undermining the sneak/hide/trick-the-Alien part of the gameplay.
I mean, this could just be a good old fashioned case of different experiences. :P I played the game on release, and maybe they patched it later to not be as good? Or maybe I am not remembering it as clearly, although I remember that being such a huge sticking point for me.
Speaking of Alien Isolation, I just remembered (and highly recommend) [Alien Blackout](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.D3Go.mendel&hl=en_US&gl=US) on Android/IOS. It's using Alien Isolation assets, but it's not trying to straight up be a port of it. It has a Night Trap/Five Nights At Freddy's-ish thing going on, where you're trapped in the vents of a space station with a Xenomorph on the loose. A ship has docked with the station, and you're trying to guide the crew through the environment via a terminal connected to the station's security system. You definitely need headphones, because there's an element where you gotta shut hatches in the vent based on if the Alien has found your location. It's short, maybe 5 levels? I'm kind of surprised it didn't get a sequel/more levels.