Halloween has come and gone, but still we find ourselves with the perfect excuse to recount some of our scariest moments in video games. We all know at least one or two wimps who avoid the horror genre at any cost, yet many of us actually enjoy the thrill of being subjected to a little terror, whether that be through cheap jump scares or cruel tension building.
For me, the thing that scares me most in video games is the open water. It’s an irrational fear, I know, but it’s one which reflects one of my few real life phobias. Although far from crippling, when swimming in the ocean I’ve always felt slight pangs of paranoia, no doubt induced by watching films such as Jaws and Deep Blue Sea. There’s just something scary in not being able to feel or see what lurks beneath you.
I’ve always found it interesting how this slight fear carries into my playing habits. With most games I’m absolutely fine, but there are a few outliers that really took me by surprise. I still remember to this day how frightened I’d be of falling into the sea when I played through Jak & Daxter as a kid. In doing so would trigger certain sound effects as a piranha-like creature closed in. It’s surprising how often this trick is still used to keep players in line, preventing them from taking detours. It was done particularly well in Batman: Arkham City or Grand Theft Auto V, and even Call of Duty: Ghosts had a bit of shark-on-man action.
The one game that really took the biscuit, however, was Tomb Raider: Underworld. Aside from being criminally underappreciated, Lara’s final adventure before the 2013 reboot involved not one, but two major underwater sections. The first was actually quite manageable as Lara went up against a modern-day Kraken nested within a temple. Much later in the game however, sharks were thrown into the mix. Big sharks. Sharks that would tear silently across the screen and would grab you from behind. The worst type of video game shark I could imagine.
But that’s enough about me and my fishy little friends. Over the years the horror genre has continued to grow and mutate, having been given somewhat of a recent boost in profile. Thanks to popular YouTubers such as PewDiePie and the increasing availability of horror games, the genre is arguably at an all-time high. However, before this surge in interest, I remember a brief period of stagnation. As the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 began to hit their stride towards the end of the ‘noughties’, original horror games were hard to come by with even fewer managing to hit a good balance between fear and tension.
It was also a time when publishers like Konami and Capcom started to experiment with ageing franchises, producing divisive results to say the least. Despite the franchise having been spun off across a number of platforms, Resident Evil still managed to garner a following with its fifth mainline instalment, but Silent Hill didn’t fare so well. Placed in the hands of western studios, we had the completely unnecessary Homecoming which was then followed by Downpour which also did little to impress. Although it did slightly better, Atari’s Alone In The Dark: Inferno also left fans pining for new blood.
Thankfully, their calls would not go unanswered. With the old guard having fumbled, a number of up and coming studios would soon step in to carry the torch. What we didn’t expect, however, was for many of these studios to come from the west. One of these was Monolith Productions, the same developer that worked on last year’s terrific Shadow of Mordor. Before enveloping themselves in the Middle-earth franchise, they created the first person frightfest F.E.A.R, as well as Sega’s Condemned series.
Elsewhere, we had Alan Wake, BioShock and many others providing their own unique twist on the horror template. One high profile entry to the genre that really stood out though was 2008’s Dead Space from Visceral Games, formerly known as EA Redwood Shores. Back then, we saw a very different side to the publishing giant as it continued to invest in risky projects like this and Mirror’s Edge.
Through its obsessive attention to detail and stellar audio work, Visceral created a truly incredible horror game that still holds up to this day. Although not entirely original, Dead Space hand-picked the best tropes it possibly could have, drawing inspiration from Alien, Event Horizon, and various zombie flicks.
The industry has changed a lot since 2008, however, with fewer horror games being made by AAA developers. Instead, we’ve seen a sharp rise in the number of indies whose combined efforts have pushed the genre into a new era, giving us hits such as Outlast, Slender, and SOMA. Of course, with many of these studios developing for PC and with wildly varying budgets, the consistency isn’t always there. Just take one look at Steam Greenlight and you’ll see just how many flawed, sometimes passionless, attempts there have been to expand the genre.
However, there are those occasional success stories that keep the genre moving ever forward. In the past year alone we’ve seen a number of big additions such as Five Nights At Freddy’s, H1Z1, Alien: Isolation, and the sublime Until Dawn, each with their own unique twist on the genre.
Then, looking further ahead, we also have the next wave of horror games. Although we’re likely to see a continuation of established trends in the genre, one area that could really open up is multiplayer. Although rarely referred to as a horror game, Turtle Rock’s Evolve borrowed from monster horror and action films with its four-versus-one online action, and there are other projects like “Last Year” and “Friday The 13th: The Game” which are both set within a multiplayer environment, allowing one person to become an almost unstoppable killing machine as the other players look to hide and survive. Although we’ve yet to see this concept in action, it could become yet another landmark in the genre’s timeline.
And now we pass the discussion over to you, our dedicated readers. What’s the scariest game you’ve played in recently memory? Do you have any quirky phobias that manifest when gaming? Can multiplayer really help to advance the horror genre?
MrYd
Heights. That’s my problem. Recently finally got around to playing Far Cry 4. Those creaky wooden towers you have to climb? Terrifying.
Same problem with Dying Light which I also finally got around to buying. It’s an excellent game too. I’ve got no problem with the zombies, or hacking off their limbs and smashing their heads in with a big hammer in a horrible squishy way. And when it gets dark and strange creatures are afoot? No problem. Mild panic running away from them at most.
But climb up a small tower? Nope. Big problems.
Scariest game recently that doesn’t involve terrifying heights? Outlast, definitely. Yes, there are some unpleasant bits in the game. And some jump scares that seem to be perfectly placed and timed. But it’s the atmosphere and darkness that does it. And that bit where you lose the camera with the handy night-vision feature. Something about the whole game just worked for me.
Eldave0
When done right, horror games are absolutely my favourite genre.
To this day the Resident Evil Remake is my favourite game of all time (the RE2 remake could top it however, as it’s my favourite in the series) and titles like Until Dawn, Outlast, Condemned, Silent Hill 2, Alan Wake and Siren Blood Curse have offered up some terrific moments for me over the years.
Getting a little bored of games like SOMA, Slender, Daylight, etc, but its great to see the genre getting some attention again. It felt like it had been completely forgotten for a few years.
JustTaylorNow
I personally think horror is now a cheesy genre. Games like until dawn are not horror, the only horror is the cheesy expected jump scares. For me modern day horror game that did it for me is PT, dead space had its moments. Silent hills was probably one of those games I avoided just cause of the trailer.
But overall the genre horror in video games & movies just doesn’t have that affect they had during the PS1/2 era, I don’t know why, maybe cause I was young & the state of my mind frame was still fragile
rept0n
I think we’ll have a slew of P.T style games coming out – especially with the advent of VR. As a fan of Horror movies and games, Until Dawn did a great job… and then there’s The Last of Us’ storytelling.
The aspect of some horror games that works really well for me is when you are asked to inflict some kind of evil upon another character (or yourself). Dead Space’s eye needle, Heavy Rain’s finger, Until Dawn’s various choices, and The Walking Dead. The dread of being forced to chose one evil over another has such a brilliant impact.
…and then there’s the poor ‘other sheep’ in Catherine.
I also love the psychiatrist bits in both Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Until Dawn (and the confession booth in Catherine). Very clever mechanic and something that I’d like to see nestled beneath the surface of more horror games. Playing a game that deliberately learns and adjusts to play on your fears just makes the whole thing that bit more creepy and personalized.
deepmenace
it helps when CGI is this good:
https://youtu.be/er2xBIZP7WY
JR.
Taking a swim in the sea at night in Far Cry 3 is probably one of the scariest things ever. Seeing several fins circling the waters around you is terrifying, even knowing it’s just a game.
Alien Isolation was also pretty terrifying. Especially if you haven’t saved in a while. It’s probably the scariest/most tense game I’ve ever played for that reason.
More recently, I thought Until Dawn was brilliant. Though it’s really only effective on your first play through. Once you know the plot it takes away some of the fear.
I think chase scenes are probably my biggest fear in games. I hate them. Being chased by a ghost in The Evil Within, being chased by Pyramid head in Silent Hill, being chased by demons in Beyond Two Souls. Hell, even being chased by the shark in the basement in the original Resident Evil on the PS1. Or the Nemesis in Resident Evil 3. Or Chainsaw guy in Resi 4 + 5. Chase scenes are the worst. But I love them.
Special mention to the Evil German doctor in Heavy Rain. That guy was creepy.
Andrewww
Horror games have improved an awful lot lately. Outlast was quite ground breaking for me. I’ve played several horror games over the years, but none really scared me, in the contrary, some I found quite funny. Outlast really did, it was so scary at times I could easily spend a quarter of an hour just hiding in a locker and listening.
And then there was Alien:Isolation. WOW. The Horror. And THE Alien. That was like childhood dreams coming true. I rediscovered the whole genre, and I will definitely play more of these in the future.
bunimomike
Not so much a horror game but fu**ing terrifying nonetheless.
Was playing Ark: Survival Evolved and taming a sabretooth tiger. Two hours into the tame, we heard something big walking towards us. It was nighttime and torches don’t have much of an AoE. Out from the darkness, a wild rex attacked it. We suitably shat ourselves and thankfully fended it off. However, the vision of that big bastard looming out of the darkness with scary speed is something I won’t forget any time soon. :-)