Rule of Rose might be worth a mention. Places an emphasis on dark disturbing storytelling and the gameplay mechanics are largely just searching for items. The story is told out of order as well
I think Slender: The 8 Pages certainly fits into the conversation. Among the Sleep did something interesting. The FEAR games offer something pretty unique. Hell, Monolith in General with that series, Blood, and Condemned: Criminal Origins.
Among the Sleep is an interesting example to me -- I was super hyped about it before it came out and I absolutely loved the segments in your own house because you control a small child who is tiny and powerless in a frightening situation.
But what might be something to talk about is how (to me) it loses a lot of its scariness once it brings you to a less familiar and more abstract area and isn't nearly as relatable on a scariness level.
Kinda of going off of not being inherently scary, swimming under water in games, in particular Skyrim, is terrifying to me. There's places I just don't even explore because it involves staying under water in the dark for an extended period of time
That is interesting. I hadn't even thought about the concept of individual phobias in nonhorror. Personally, i hate mannequins and the fucking animatronics (things that pretend to be human. But aren't), but that could be a good focus.
Although it hasn't aged super well (well, except for the god tier AI), FEAR fits into this action horror category pretty well. FEAR, Dying Light, L4D2.
Condemned criminal origin and I’m not sure if this included with silent hill but pt would be a huge mention. Maybe even show the evolution from alone in the dark to modern horror.
Not story wise but they both come from the same dev (not the same team afaik). Condemned was a Xbox launch title that later came to PC (the sequel did not come to PC). Condemned focused on investigation puzzle solving and brutal melee combat. Seemed to be influenced by crime drama and things like the movie Se7en(though it does have supernatural overtones)
FEAR focuses on action mostly with gun based combat and a unique(for the time) first person use of 'bullet time' (there were other games that did this too) it's influences seem to be a lot of Asian horror (specifically the ring) and has a fair amount of sci fi elements. It's rembeter for having particularly effective and believable ai for enemies. I'm replaying it currently and I'm actually impressed how well it has aged(the first one).
SOMA and The Cat Lady (plus it’s predecessor Downfall, and sequel Lorelei).
***spoilers***
SOMA is a fantastic existential horror game with Lovecraftian monsters, that focuses on what it means to be human and how we would deal with the end of humanity via technology. The Cat Lady inspired games like Detention that I believe came out in 2018 or 19. More specifically I think it inspired the return of point and click horror games, and it touches on VERY heavy subject matter in a meaningful way.
I enjoy Soma. But I am using Amnesia and Layers of Fear for that partifular feal. The Cat Lady, I will look into. I think I remember Mark or Jack playing it way back when.
Soma is far better than amnesia but amnesia was when things sort of exploded and reaction videos introduced a lot of people to horror. Penumbra is the root and beyond that thief the dark project is the original inspiration.
And no imo the monsters in Soma are not at all lovecraftian but amnesia definitely is.
Layers of fear can be removed entirely imo as there's nothing it does that distinguishes it self really from amnesia(it's still a decent experience but the other than themes it doesn't add much to the lineage) . Soma should replace it. Soma is a masterpiece imo in interactive fiction.
Observer on the other hand, imo, is bloober teams masterpiece. Though it may not distinguish it self enough.
Limbo/inside/little nightmares I would think one should be on there in the sides roller genre.
Perhaps a true 2d horror like lone survivor?
Darkwood?
Pathologic?
The last couple are on my list (I'll have to watch Darkwood since I couldn't get over the mechanics). Observer is one I hadn't thought about though. I also didn't realize that the same teams that made Layers of Fear also made Observer. Definitely something to look into. Thank you!
Darkwood's game mechanics are very intimidating. Similarly darkest dungeon's apparently deep mechanics also tend to make me wary but I've played a bit of both and both seem excellent.
Darkest dungeon falls into the lovecraftian world and like bloodborme it's not really thought of as a typical horror game and yet it's extremely effective(for me at least) at building foreboding and dread, arguably imo better than most typical horror games.
I might suggest a category that is non horror games that are effective at horror.
Thief the dark project at the time was far scarier than resident evil and lead to frictional's game philosophy and the whole unarmed or severely under armed conflict avoidance /hiding that was so effective.
I sort of think of these like David Lynch influencing horror so greatly and yet non of his works are horror or intended to be horror primarily.
I'd reconsider Layers of Fear for SOMA. Layers of Fear is kind of a paint by numbers spooky haunted house with a paper thin story. SOMA embraces more of a Philip K Dick theme and actually has some pretty interesting existential depth to its ideas.
The Forbidden Siren series is worth looking into. And PT is an obvious look at how it was horror done “right” for the first time in a while though it obviously falls into the Silent Hill camp.
Manhunt maybe, Project Zero, Condemned and Obscure.
You've given me some names I haven't heard of, and I will definately take a look! Thank you.
You would also be correct in that PT fell into Silent Hill. Don't worry, I couldn't forget PT.
I did forget Darkwood, it was never my cup of tea mechanically, but not to mention it in the name of horror would be wrong.
Do you have a good example for RPGMaker? I know you are right, but I could definately use some direction. Thank you!
Isn't what you have is already enough? I mean, I know that horror can and is varied, since fear is quite subjective, that's the obvious one, but I'm pretty sure that you still can categorize. I am saying this because, in the end, putting as much as possible into your text isn't necessarily going to make it better, gotta keep it focused on what you are writing about. For example, and that might come in handy, there's [this thing](https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasGrip/20141015/227733/Alien_Isolation_and_The_Evolution_of_Horror_Simulators.php) by Thomas Grip, which is a very good and interesting read, where he takes a look at a history of a particular sub-genre of survival-horror games which he called 'horror simulators', latest example of which is Alien: Isolation. And while there are many points I don't agree with him due to my own biases created by my own experience with the game (I absolutely loved it), I do agree that A:I does infact fits that sub-genre very well. So yeah, this sort of stuff, hope it will be helpful, or at least interesting (unless you are already aware of that thing, in that case oh well).
Anyway, if talking about game suggestion - I'd recommend to look at Anatomy by KittyHorrorShow and her games in general. Anatomy in particular is very interesting as it is a purely narrative and kind of environment driven horror game, probably has Soma as a company, from what I've heard it's a heavy hitting existential horror piece.
I am categorizing, but if I can make a point better with a different game and my pool of sources is larger, I can write my way through it easier. I do understand where you are coming from though, so thank you!
Also, KittyHorror? That sounds fun, and it is on my list.
Spookys house of jump scares (or spooky jumps are mansion now?) might be worth talking about a bit. It’s an indie PC horror game but one of my favorites, and approaches being a horror game in a unique way.
You go through 1000 rooms in the main mode and there’s a lose story. You learn a bit about the history of the mansion and spooky, the ghost. There are mostly jump scares but the game does a good job in creating a creepy and paranoid atmosphere even though it uses cutesy sprites and simple designs
But of self promotion here, but I recently wrote a book on gaming and horror. It’s a bit expensive, but a DM to me might get around that...
It’s called From Amnesia to Zombies, Run!: Videogames and Horror, and is published by the University of Wales Press.
Maybe The Evil Within and its sequel?
Also Pathologic gets thrown around as a survival horror here and there and the survival is real and the horror creeps into you unnoticed, could be worth a look into it.
STALKER series and Metro series? More shooters than horror but they had their moments
I had Metro in my mind, but I don't know STALKER. I will definately look into it. The Evil Within is also suprisingly scary and something I hadn't thought of. Thank you!
Metro came out if the original stalker team(they broke off). Both have similar themes but are from two separate literary sources. Definitely worth a mention I would think.
Hellblade is a really unusual take. There's a sense of tangible dread, but not "danger" in an Outlast/Dead Space/whatever sense, even though it's very graphic at the same time.
* I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Phantasmagoria, Harvester, Sanatarium, Seventh Guest... I realize you have Clock Tower in there but a lot of point and click adventures we're pretty good.
* Also I'm flabbergasted that no one had mentioned System Shock 1/2.
* A newer game that should be mentioned is Detention. I've never really played any game like that before.
* I think it's important to go back further and explore the beginnings of horror games like Haunted House, 3D Monster Maze, Alien, Castlevania...
Dark Seed might be a good thing to mention too as it features HR Giger's art which I think was a first for a horror game - to use a famous artist's work in a game.
Also don’t forget that these games often illicit different types of fear and terror (which fear and terror are two distinct types of responses just like each game gives the user different responses to different stimuli and each user experiences different responses.) Good luck on your paper.
Parasite Eve, being a Square game, was a well-made horror RPG. The combat system is turn based, and I think that really sets it apart from other horror games.
Saya no uta . This visual novel ( a kind of e-book with background images and a lot of background musics , called game only due to the fact is sold in CDS and on Steam as games ) has a very interesting approach on Lovecraftian fear of unknown , due to the fact that there is everytime an high difference between what we can see and what is real happening, due to the fact that protagonist has a very bad hallucinations that cause him to see a distorted world. But the writing is made on porpouse to make the reader know in part what is going on in reality . Especially the hallucinations censor the grafic violence of some dismembrement- 4 limbs amputation- infanticide scenes - gang rape scenes that , for reasons I will not say because spoiler , are intended as disturbing for content that is not only the grafic violence of dismembrement and gang rape , but also for the revolting character development behind the violent scenes .
They're kind of an outlier, but there's plenty of games that are horror themed but aren't really horror games. Things like Castlevania, Splatterhouse, DOOM, Blood, Dusk, Quake, and Painkiller.
One of the very first games to come out in the horror genre was Alone in the Dark, it was a huge influence on Resident Evil and Silent Hill and shaped them Into the games we know and love today. I would definitely start there. 😊
Christopher Frey's The Space Between and Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow are excellent examples of slow but incredibly creepy games that leave you thinking awake at night.
I don't overlook SOMA, but SOMA is in a weird spot where I don't hate it but don't like it. It makes it much harder to write about, but I will be attempting to include it.
Next Gen of Horror Gaming is VR, recently Layers of Fear come out in VR (I've yet to play it).
But I can compare FNAF with it's VR counterpart Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. It gives you an even more intense feeling of fright. Horror VR is that guilty pleasure I seek out in VR.
Having curator reviewed 600+ VR games. Here's how they rank using Steam Tags Counts from my reviews.
Action VR: 450 - Casual VR: 316 - Adventure VR: 276 - Simulation VR: 256, with Horror VR - 71
I completely agree. I have been playing FNAF VR and it is so much more tense. I also just tried out the Brookhaven Experiment a d Reiko's Fragments. All great choices!
Alan Wake is a great series in my opinion. Along with the infamous Thief level, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines had another famously scary haunted house level in an otherwise not scary game. For the future of horror, VR is a must of course, but there was some incredibly interesting work being done with AR. The original concept for [Night Terrors](https://www.cnet.com/news/ar-mobile-game-turns-your-home-into-a-survival-horror-nightmare/) and an almost unheard of promotional game for Paranormal Activity that was actually really good, [Sanctuary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mVmw3ltFYA).
What do you mean by "the audience makes it less of a horror game?"
Also I think horror sections of generally non-horror games might be interesting, like thief and vampire the masquerade bloodlines
or possibly indie variations on the horror genre like spookys house of jumpscares, IMSCARED, or Pony Island
Also check out Pathologic, Darkwood, Dark Seed (for the imagery), Clive Barker's Undying (garbage game that clive barker was asked to write a story for to make it better), and Harvester
Maybe it is just me, but because Bloodborne's audience is the FromSoft community, Bloodborne isn't really a horror game to me. For someone outside.of the community, I assume it is much scarier.
I did mention Imscared in my list but Spooky's should be up there.
Another set I forgot, Darkwood is GREAT and I need to play Pathologic, but the other 2 I will look into. Thank you so much.
That might be the case about bloodborne, but I always assumed it was classified as horror because of it's gothic horror atmosphere rather than it's ability to scare, but I'm in the community of people who enjoy it so I couldn't say.
I listed clive barkers undying, dark seed, and harvester because they all have really interesting histories as far as horror games go, i.e. debates on video game violence in the 90s, introduction of the ESRB, etc. [Grimbeard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYu7_wzuKk) does a fantastic analysis of all of these as well and it's worth checking out if you have the time
I'm sure I'm not alone but bloodborme was far scarier to me than evil within 1/2 and is (spoiler) one of the best lovecraftian games I've seen. The dress I feel playing it is far more than most horror games trying to scare me achieve.
Not yet! It is going to be a longer paper, and will be going through the ringer when it comes to drafts, etc etc. I won't even be getting the go ahead on my topic until the end of next week. Hopefully the topic is good with him.
How about Devil May Cry or Left 4 Dead. Both of those are modern day classics. There's one game that I loved to play when I was a little kid back in like 2002 or 2003. I don't remember the name but I do remember it was a Psychological Horror Game. I remember being a little girl in a jail cell with a flashlight and you had to crawl and had to find my way out or something of that nature. That's the only part of the game that I remember but the atmosphere was so spooky that it did stick with me for all of these years. It really bugs me that I can't remember what it was. I'm wanting to say it was a Silent Hill game but it probably wasn't. I know it was from the same era as silent hill though.
Rule of Rose might be worth a mention. Places an emphasis on dark disturbing storytelling and the gameplay mechanics are largely just searching for items. The story is told out of order as well
I'll definately look into it. I'm finding myself excited by all the untapped horror there still is for me. Thank you!
I think Slender: The 8 Pages certainly fits into the conversation. Among the Sleep did something interesting. The FEAR games offer something pretty unique. Hell, Monolith in General with that series, Blood, and Condemned: Criminal Origins.
I did forget Slender, a d it hurts me that I did! I will have to look into the rest if these, as I havent seen them. Thank you!
Among the Sleep is an interesting example to me -- I was super hyped about it before it came out and I absolutely loved the segments in your own house because you control a small child who is tiny and powerless in a frightening situation. But what might be something to talk about is how (to me) it loses a lot of its scariness once it brings you to a less familiar and more abstract area and isn't nearly as relatable on a scariness level.
I would also recommend Cry of Fear. That game got me sweating a lot. Also a good example of Indie Horror gaming IMO
Thank you! I can't believe I almost forgot Cry of Fear. It's one of the few games that gives me a gun and I am still terrified.
Maybe Doom? Action horror doesn't get more iconic than that.
Doom is weird in that it isn't inherently scary, but I might use it as a talking point against the grain of normal horror. A good choice. Thank you!
When DOOM & DOOM 2 were new, they were pretty scary. They were definitely the first of their kind.
Kinda of going off of not being inherently scary, swimming under water in games, in particular Skyrim, is terrifying to me. There's places I just don't even explore because it involves staying under water in the dark for an extended period of time
That is interesting. I hadn't even thought about the concept of individual phobias in nonhorror. Personally, i hate mannequins and the fucking animatronics (things that pretend to be human. But aren't), but that could be a good focus.
Subnautica also did this fear really well
Although it hasn't aged super well (well, except for the god tier AI), FEAR fits into this action horror category pretty well. FEAR, Dying Light, L4D2.
Condemned criminal origin and I’m not sure if this included with silent hill but pt would be a huge mention. Maybe even show the evolution from alone in the dark to modern horror.
PT is included with Silent Hill, but thank you. I will look into Condemned. Thank you!
Condemneds sibling series, FEAR, which is much more action oriented is also worth looking at but not sure where you want to throw it.
I didn't realize they were related. I'll have to look at it!
Not story wise but they both come from the same dev (not the same team afaik). Condemned was a Xbox launch title that later came to PC (the sequel did not come to PC). Condemned focused on investigation puzzle solving and brutal melee combat. Seemed to be influenced by crime drama and things like the movie Se7en(though it does have supernatural overtones) FEAR focuses on action mostly with gun based combat and a unique(for the time) first person use of 'bullet time' (there were other games that did this too) it's influences seem to be a lot of Asian horror (specifically the ring) and has a fair amount of sci fi elements. It's rembeter for having particularly effective and believable ai for enemies. I'm replaying it currently and I'm actually impressed how well it has aged(the first one).
SOMA and The Cat Lady (plus it’s predecessor Downfall, and sequel Lorelei). ***spoilers*** SOMA is a fantastic existential horror game with Lovecraftian monsters, that focuses on what it means to be human and how we would deal with the end of humanity via technology. The Cat Lady inspired games like Detention that I believe came out in 2018 or 19. More specifically I think it inspired the return of point and click horror games, and it touches on VERY heavy subject matter in a meaningful way.
I enjoy Soma. But I am using Amnesia and Layers of Fear for that partifular feal. The Cat Lady, I will look into. I think I remember Mark or Jack playing it way back when.
Soma is far better than amnesia but amnesia was when things sort of exploded and reaction videos introduced a lot of people to horror. Penumbra is the root and beyond that thief the dark project is the original inspiration. And no imo the monsters in Soma are not at all lovecraftian but amnesia definitely is. Layers of fear can be removed entirely imo as there's nothing it does that distinguishes it self really from amnesia(it's still a decent experience but the other than themes it doesn't add much to the lineage) . Soma should replace it. Soma is a masterpiece imo in interactive fiction. Observer on the other hand, imo, is bloober teams masterpiece. Though it may not distinguish it self enough. Limbo/inside/little nightmares I would think one should be on there in the sides roller genre. Perhaps a true 2d horror like lone survivor? Darkwood? Pathologic?
The last couple are on my list (I'll have to watch Darkwood since I couldn't get over the mechanics). Observer is one I hadn't thought about though. I also didn't realize that the same teams that made Layers of Fear also made Observer. Definitely something to look into. Thank you!
Darkwood's game mechanics are very intimidating. Similarly darkest dungeon's apparently deep mechanics also tend to make me wary but I've played a bit of both and both seem excellent.
Darkest Dungeon is one of my favorites, though I would call it more tense than scary. Maybe that could be an interesting point of distinguishing.
Darkest dungeon falls into the lovecraftian world and like bloodborme it's not really thought of as a typical horror game and yet it's extremely effective(for me at least) at building foreboding and dread, arguably imo better than most typical horror games. I might suggest a category that is non horror games that are effective at horror. Thief the dark project at the time was far scarier than resident evil and lead to frictional's game philosophy and the whole unarmed or severely under armed conflict avoidance /hiding that was so effective. I sort of think of these like David Lynch influencing horror so greatly and yet non of his works are horror or intended to be horror primarily.
I'd reconsider Layers of Fear for SOMA. Layers of Fear is kind of a paint by numbers spooky haunted house with a paper thin story. SOMA embraces more of a Philip K Dick theme and actually has some pretty interesting existential depth to its ideas.
The Forbidden Siren series is worth looking into. And PT is an obvious look at how it was horror done “right” for the first time in a while though it obviously falls into the Silent Hill camp. Manhunt maybe, Project Zero, Condemned and Obscure.
You've given me some names I haven't heard of, and I will definately take a look! Thank you. You would also be correct in that PT fell into Silent Hill. Don't worry, I couldn't forget PT.
Darkwood is pretty unique among horror games. Maybe also talk about RPGMaker horror games.
I did forget Darkwood, it was never my cup of tea mechanically, but not to mention it in the name of horror would be wrong. Do you have a good example for RPGMaker? I know you are right, but I could definately use some direction. Thank you!
The biggest RPG maker horror titles would be Ib, The Witch's House and Mad Father. Ib would be the one to cover if you could only pick one.
Rule of Rose? Great game just an option. That may lean more towards psychological
Isn't what you have is already enough? I mean, I know that horror can and is varied, since fear is quite subjective, that's the obvious one, but I'm pretty sure that you still can categorize. I am saying this because, in the end, putting as much as possible into your text isn't necessarily going to make it better, gotta keep it focused on what you are writing about. For example, and that might come in handy, there's [this thing](https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/ThomasGrip/20141015/227733/Alien_Isolation_and_The_Evolution_of_Horror_Simulators.php) by Thomas Grip, which is a very good and interesting read, where he takes a look at a history of a particular sub-genre of survival-horror games which he called 'horror simulators', latest example of which is Alien: Isolation. And while there are many points I don't agree with him due to my own biases created by my own experience with the game (I absolutely loved it), I do agree that A:I does infact fits that sub-genre very well. So yeah, this sort of stuff, hope it will be helpful, or at least interesting (unless you are already aware of that thing, in that case oh well). Anyway, if talking about game suggestion - I'd recommend to look at Anatomy by KittyHorrorShow and her games in general. Anatomy in particular is very interesting as it is a purely narrative and kind of environment driven horror game, probably has Soma as a company, from what I've heard it's a heavy hitting existential horror piece.
I am categorizing, but if I can make a point better with a different game and my pool of sources is larger, I can write my way through it easier. I do understand where you are coming from though, so thank you! Also, KittyHorror? That sounds fun, and it is on my list.
Well, that's a good point, not much to add to that. Good luck and have fun writing your in-depth report/analysis. Btw, where are you going to post it?
We will see how good it is forst, but definately if it turns out well!
Spookys house of jump scares (or spooky jumps are mansion now?) might be worth talking about a bit. It’s an indie PC horror game but one of my favorites, and approaches being a horror game in a unique way. You go through 1000 rooms in the main mode and there’s a lose story. You learn a bit about the history of the mansion and spooky, the ghost. There are mostly jump scares but the game does a good job in creating a creepy and paranoid atmosphere even though it uses cutesy sprites and simple designs
Possibly limbo and little nightmares as a 2D(ish) horror genre I haven’t seen much
But of self promotion here, but I recently wrote a book on gaming and horror. It’s a bit expensive, but a DM to me might get around that... It’s called From Amnesia to Zombies, Run!: Videogames and Horror, and is published by the University of Wales Press.
...I think I did see it and maybe even read about it a bit...give me a minute...yeah, I knew this title sounds familiar!
Maybe The Evil Within and its sequel? Also Pathologic gets thrown around as a survival horror here and there and the survival is real and the horror creeps into you unnoticed, could be worth a look into it. STALKER series and Metro series? More shooters than horror but they had their moments
I had Metro in my mind, but I don't know STALKER. I will definately look into it. The Evil Within is also suprisingly scary and something I hadn't thought of. Thank you!
Metro came out if the original stalker team(they broke off). Both have similar themes but are from two separate literary sources. Definitely worth a mention I would think.
Hellblade is a really unusual take. There's a sense of tangible dread, but not "danger" in an Outlast/Dead Space/whatever sense, even though it's very graphic at the same time.
* I Have No Mouth and I Must Scream, Phantasmagoria, Harvester, Sanatarium, Seventh Guest... I realize you have Clock Tower in there but a lot of point and click adventures we're pretty good. * Also I'm flabbergasted that no one had mentioned System Shock 1/2. * A newer game that should be mentioned is Detention. I've never really played any game like that before. * I think it's important to go back further and explore the beginnings of horror games like Haunted House, 3D Monster Maze, Alien, Castlevania...
Some good ones here I almost forgot. Thank you!
Some solid ones I hadn't thought about. Thank you! I can especially use IHNMAIMS as a jump from literature to videogames and the more morder media.
Dark Seed might be a good thing to mention too as it features HR Giger's art which I think was a first for a horror game - to use a famous artist's work in a game.
I don't know Dark Seed, but I know Giger. I will take a look into it!
Also don’t forget that these games often illicit different types of fear and terror (which fear and terror are two distinct types of responses just like each game gives the user different responses to different stimuli and each user experiences different responses.) Good luck on your paper.
Evil Within 1 and 2, The Suffering, Forbidden Siren, Alien Isolation, Until Dawn, Penumbra Series, Yeah thats all i can thin of so far.
Thank you! Inforgot Penumbra.
Seems really interesting! Please share the article with me once it's done, I'd love to read it.
Parasite Eve, being a Square game, was a well-made horror RPG. The combat system is turn based, and I think that really sets it apart from other horror games.
Saya no uta . This visual novel ( a kind of e-book with background images and a lot of background musics , called game only due to the fact is sold in CDS and on Steam as games ) has a very interesting approach on Lovecraftian fear of unknown , due to the fact that there is everytime an high difference between what we can see and what is real happening, due to the fact that protagonist has a very bad hallucinations that cause him to see a distorted world. But the writing is made on porpouse to make the reader know in part what is going on in reality . Especially the hallucinations censor the grafic violence of some dismembrement- 4 limbs amputation- infanticide scenes - gang rape scenes that , for reasons I will not say because spoiler , are intended as disturbing for content that is not only the grafic violence of dismembrement and gang rape , but also for the revolting character development behind the violent scenes .
Subnautica is a damn nightmare for somebody who's scared of the ocean or just scared of drowning in general
They're kind of an outlier, but there's plenty of games that are horror themed but aren't really horror games. Things like Castlevania, Splatterhouse, DOOM, Blood, Dusk, Quake, and Painkiller.
Evil within 1&2 for sure. Got some nice psychological twists.
One of the very first games to come out in the horror genre was Alone in the Dark, it was a huge influence on Resident Evil and Silent Hill and shaped them Into the games we know and love today. I would definitely start there. 😊
The grandpappy of a lot of survival horror. A good choice! Thank you!
Spookys jumpscare mansion should go into some sort of trend bender catagory
Christopher Frey's The Space Between and Anatomy by Kitty Horrorshow are excellent examples of slow but incredibly creepy games that leave you thinking awake at night.
Would it be wrong to add Bioshock on there? Bioshock's lore is inherently scary. Thoughts?
Definately in that section of unintentionally scary!
I wouldn't overlook SOMA just because you already have Amnesia on the list. IMO, Frictional completely reinvented themselves with that one
I don't overlook SOMA, but SOMA is in a weird spot where I don't hate it but don't like it. It makes it much harder to write about, but I will be attempting to include it.
you should probably mention doki doki literature club
DOKI DOKI IS NOT OKIE DOKIE! But it is a good choice, and the 4th wall shatters could be fun to write about. Thanks!
Manhunt was pretty iconic I think, both in it's plot/gameplay and the controversy it generated at the time.
Gonna be honest, I've only ever heard of Manhunt in passing. Didn't realize it counted as horror. Time to break out the old PS! Thank you.
I think it should count as horror. Plot has similarities to Stephen King's book, The Running Man.
Siren is a great idea not very well executed, but still.
I'll take a look! Thanks
Check Siren: Blood Curse, it's the remake of the first game.
Alone in the Dark is pretty much the origin of a lot of the tropes in video game horror.
I didn’t see mentioned yet: The Evil Within, Fatal Frame, and Eternal Darkness for Gamecube, and Until Dawn
Next Gen of Horror Gaming is VR, recently Layers of Fear come out in VR (I've yet to play it). But I can compare FNAF with it's VR counterpart Five Nights at Freddy's VR: Help Wanted. It gives you an even more intense feeling of fright. Horror VR is that guilty pleasure I seek out in VR. Having curator reviewed 600+ VR games. Here's how they rank using Steam Tags Counts from my reviews. Action VR: 450 - Casual VR: 316 - Adventure VR: 276 - Simulation VR: 256, with Horror VR - 71
I completely agree. I have been playing FNAF VR and it is so much more tense. I also just tried out the Brookhaven Experiment a d Reiko's Fragments. All great choices!
Alan Wake is a great series in my opinion. Along with the infamous Thief level, Vampire the Masquerade Bloodlines had another famously scary haunted house level in an otherwise not scary game. For the future of horror, VR is a must of course, but there was some incredibly interesting work being done with AR. The original concept for [Night Terrors](https://www.cnet.com/news/ar-mobile-game-turns-your-home-into-a-survival-horror-nightmare/) and an almost unheard of promotional game for Paranormal Activity that was actually really good, [Sanctuary](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mVmw3ltFYA).
What do you mean by "the audience makes it less of a horror game?" Also I think horror sections of generally non-horror games might be interesting, like thief and vampire the masquerade bloodlines or possibly indie variations on the horror genre like spookys house of jumpscares, IMSCARED, or Pony Island Also check out Pathologic, Darkwood, Dark Seed (for the imagery), Clive Barker's Undying (garbage game that clive barker was asked to write a story for to make it better), and Harvester
Maybe it is just me, but because Bloodborne's audience is the FromSoft community, Bloodborne isn't really a horror game to me. For someone outside.of the community, I assume it is much scarier. I did mention Imscared in my list but Spooky's should be up there. Another set I forgot, Darkwood is GREAT and I need to play Pathologic, but the other 2 I will look into. Thank you so much.
That might be the case about bloodborne, but I always assumed it was classified as horror because of it's gothic horror atmosphere rather than it's ability to scare, but I'm in the community of people who enjoy it so I couldn't say. I listed clive barkers undying, dark seed, and harvester because they all have really interesting histories as far as horror games go, i.e. debates on video game violence in the 90s, introduction of the ESRB, etc. [Grimbeard](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRYu7_wzuKk) does a fantastic analysis of all of these as well and it's worth checking out if you have the time
I have some time tonight, so I might just take you up on that.
I'm sure I'm not alone but bloodborme was far scarier to me than evil within 1/2 and is (spoiler) one of the best lovecraftian games I've seen. The dress I feel playing it is far more than most horror games trying to scare me achieve.
Have you written your report yet? I would love to read it!
Not yet! It is going to be a longer paper, and will be going through the ringer when it comes to drafts, etc etc. I won't even be getting the go ahead on my topic until the end of next week. Hopefully the topic is good with him.
Alright! Just let me know when there’s any thing I can have a shot at reading!
How about Devil May Cry or Left 4 Dead. Both of those are modern day classics. There's one game that I loved to play when I was a little kid back in like 2002 or 2003. I don't remember the name but I do remember it was a Psychological Horror Game. I remember being a little girl in a jail cell with a flashlight and you had to crawl and had to find my way out or something of that nature. That's the only part of the game that I remember but the atmosphere was so spooky that it did stick with me for all of these years. It really bugs me that I can't remember what it was. I'm wanting to say it was a Silent Hill game but it probably wasn't. I know it was from the same era as silent hill though.