Randy Robertson
Halloween is approaching rapidly, and what better way to celebrate than by experiencing the best horror video games out there? Over the next few days, we’re going to list off the best games to play no matter what mood you’re in. Whether you’re looking for the scariest, goriest, or most entertaining horror games, we’ll give you a few suggestions for every category. We will also touch on the best classics, and a few recent titles that are noteworthy as well. To help compile this list, we've enlisted the help of Rob Nielsen from RedGoateeRob’s Horror Pages.
We’ve looked at the classics, and we’ve given you the chance to test your limits with gore. Today is all about keeping you on the edge of your seat and scaring the pants off of you! These games are best experienced with the surround sound cranked and all the lights shut off. You might want to have a teddy bear nearby, or at least ready when you go to sleep... that is, assuming you’ll be able to sleep afterwards.
'Dead Space' Series
“Dead Space” is perhaps best known for the famous marketing campaign for the second title in the series, which involved setting 'moms' down in front of footage of the game being played and recording their reactions of horror and repulsion. The commercials are funny, until you find yourself holding the controller, squirming in your chair as you watch slobbering undead monsters with giant knives for limbs rip your protagonist's legs from his torso. Maybe that should be part of the marketing campaign for the next game in the series: 'Dead Space. It'll make you squirm'.
'Silent Hill' series
What can really be said about “Silent Hill” that has not already been said? “Silent Hill” is the gold standard of survival horror. Drawing its inspiration from the works of Stephen King (“The Fog”) and Dean Koontz (“Phantoms”), the original “Silent Hill” inspired many, many sleepless nights for its PS1 audience. Things only got more frightening in the sequel, which received a graphical upgrade when it made the jump to PS2, Xbox, and PC, making the horrors even more realistic. Though all the games in the “Silent Hill” series are worth playing, the first four games - called the 'canonical four' by some in the fan base - are easily the best and scariest. If you haven't played “Silent Hill”, you're missing out on the best survival horror has to offer.
'Fatal Frame' series
A sense of helplessness is integral to horror. In “Fatal Frame”, you'll find yourself alone, lost, and beset on all sides by poltergeists that are entirely capable of killing you. The only weapon you'll have is an old camera. Want to stop the ghosts? Just take a picture of one of them and he'll vanish. Snapping any old photo of the ghost won't do, though. You'll need to get right up close to it, just to the point where you start to feel its rotten breath and its cold arms enveloping you, shove the camera in its face, and snap off a frame. This game doesn’t just put you in the action- it dunks your head in the pool, holds you there, and pours an extra bucket of water over you for good measure. “Fatal Frame” has one mission: scaring the crap out of you, so it’s not recommended for the faint of heart.
Tomorrow we're going to sit back and relax a little. Instead of picking on the extremes of a category, we're going to take a look at which games are just pure entertainment. We have one that will have you laughing up a storm, and a couple games that will really make you think. Don't worry though, they're still most definitely horror games at heart.