Happy Halloween! It’s that time of year, so welcome to Sequential Planet’s first HorrorFest! We will be taking a look at some of our staff’s favorite spooky games. Let’s get started!
Marcus Orchard – Fatal Frame 2
There’s a lot of survival horror out there, but one of my favorites will always be the Fatal Frame franchise. The Japanese horror series often focuses on one or two protagonists as they investigate ghostly villages in search of someone. Unfortunately, these ghosts are pretty malicious spirits, and the only way to defend yourself is to take pictures of the ghosts using Camera Obscura. Fatal Frame 2 is both my favorite and the scariest entry to date. Despite the dated graphics, the way the game forces the player to face spirits that will be in their face the moment they switch to the first person Camera Obscura will always be traumatizing. Throw an eerie tale of two sets of twins with a tragic connection and you have a terrifying experience. I’ll never forget the woman falling down the stairs and her contant howling in pain.
Chris Terry – F.E.A.R.
Horror is a crowded video game genre with a lot more misses than hits. I am bringing F.E.A.R. to horrorfest simply because I want people to be aware of it. There are better games from better studios, but this one needs some attention. Originally, brought to Microsoft Windows in 2005 and ported to X-Box 360 and PS3, F.E.A.R. proved that taking the Resident Evil formula and multiplying the pace by five is something that would work. This game moves quickly and the scary moments come when you least expect them. The FPS mechanics worked well and the story was decent. The developer, Monolith Productions, did a great job of using flashes on the screen to affect the players’ subconscious. People or kids are there one second and gone the next. Things move on their own. It all works great with the tactical assault that your character brings. F.E.A.R. had expansions and sequels, but none topped the first. If you are into horror but don’t feel up to survival horror, then F.E.A.R. is for you. Seek it out.
Steven – State of Decay
I’m a fan of most zombie-centric media. Movies, TV, comics, I like the genre of zombies. So when a game that put a focus on survival, stealth and resource gathering, rather than shooting countless hordes, popped up out of nowhere, I was all in. Five years later (5? Really? I’m getting old) I still play the game a few times a week when I get the chance. The graphics and gameplay are a little clunky compared to newer stuff, but it’s still the perfect game to me. Nothing else has made me panic at 3 a.m. because I was surrounded and ripped apart by a crowd of zombies.
Pashtrik – Bloodborne
FromSoftware’s dark fantasy Souls series has always had a nice touch of horror to it, but it’s nothing compared to it’s 2015 PlayStation 4 exclusive, Bloodborne. The game follows an unnamed hunter who arrives at the gothic, Victorian-inspired city of Yharnam. The inhabitants are afflicted with a blood-borne disease and it’s up to the player to uncover the city’s secrets and survive the hunt. Not much is given to the player in terms of goals except for one mysterious message – “Seek Paleblood to transcend the hunt.” The game starts as a stokerian action-adventure, but it slowly descends into Lovecraftian madness. It’s one of my all-time favourite games and easily one of the scariest I have ever played. The inexperienced player might feel like he is hitting the wall with his head for the first couple of hours due to it’s (seemingly) unforgiving game design, but the overall experience is well worth the price. Do it!
Lilith – Resident Evil 4
I’ve played Resident Evil 4 all the way through at least a dozen times, so it’s safe to say it’s not just one of my favorite horror games but one of my all-time favorite games overall. The reason I love it so much is it’s the perfect B-grade Horror Movie, except it’s a video game. The writing is cheesy in just the right way to make it enjoyable despite/because of the ridiculousness, the guns are satisfying in their oomph, upgrading and exploring are satisfying, and it’s the perfect length. It may not be very scary, but it’s still one of the most fun romps out there.
Callum – Dead by Daylight
Speaking honestly, this game makes me shit my pants. Even more impressive is that this game does it with basically no plot, voice acting or scripted moments. An asymmetrical multiplayer game where a team of up to 4 survivors have to escape a dimly lit enclosure and avoid one of several walking horror cliches, Dead By Daylight lets you live out that most spooky of Halloween traditions, first-degree murder.
What makes this game so essential is the atmosphere; the music is beyond tense and reacts to the murderer’s proximity to you by building intensity until you’re literally taken out with a chainsaw. Combine that with your character’s heartbeat becoming louder and louder as the murderer gets close, and even when they stroll right past your hiding spot, there’s no way you’ll forget it. If you enjoy the classic slasher films like Halloween then this game is (hopefully) as close as you’ll ever get to living them out.
Matt D- System Shock 2
This classic FPS/RPG hybrid combined innovative gameplay with a strong story and horrific atmosphere. It paved the way for a number of great titles, most notably Bioshock. The last soldier on the experimental spaceship Von Braun to finds it’s been infested by an unknown parasite. As he makes his way through the crumbling vessel, he learns the crew’s fate and battles increasingly warped beings. The soldier quickly discovers what he faces is far more than a mere infection but rather a struggle between two inhumanly vast intelligences. System Shock 2 shows its age but its immersive world, solid gameplay, and great writing ensure that the game is still just as frightening as it ever was.
