For Halloween, here are the most scary 3 video games I still remember about. That, excluding the Atari E. T. game that cause childhood trauma because it was so bad. (Really. I really hated that game.) Of course, there are a lot of unintentionally scary games, or specific levels in games that are so difficult that are scary to play (like most boss levels), but here I’m talking about games that make horror part of their distinctive style.
Eternal Darkness is a classic “survival horror” game, that for me worked (scared me) much better than Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil. While I didn’t care too much about the story in the game other than its Lovecraftian overtones, everyone remembers the game’s “sanity meter”, and the various tricks the game would play on you. Also, apart from that gimmick, the game’s level design and the flow between the levels keep an increasing level of tension I’ve rarely seen in video games, making it difficult to not go through in a single sitting.
I was pleasantly surprised by Doom 3, even though I had the opportunity to play it only a year ago. While during its original release it was derided for its overuse of a flashlight that prevents holding a weapon at the same time, the rooms’ darkness often completely change how the game is played compared to its successors. Good weapons are kept only for much later levels, and ammunition is severely limited, making this dread at the cost of “shooting at nothing” in the dark far greater than Resident Evil. The game have its fair share of “jump scares”, yet also incredibly creepy moments that I don’t want to spoil. The game story (yes, there is one) is incredibly good and engaging. Also, many classic enemies from the previous games come back, and with the different gameplay style simple “throaway” enemies are now fierce and will pose challenge to even experienced gamers, rather than just cashing in on nostalgia. An updated “BFG Edition” of the game is now readily available for modern Windows machine for digital download.
Finally, Killer7 still creeps me out. An earlier game of Suda51, before he moved towards a more Japanese Pop culture style, it is about a serial killer with multiple personality disorder. Or something like that. I still don’t understand fully whats going on in the game, but it’s nasty. The gore is oddly cartoony, yet the story’s tone is very dark and genuinely creepy. The game is not too fun to play and gets tedious, but the storytelling, visual style and the slow insanity of it just makes you want to come back to it, or stop playing right away. The last levels are some of the best interactive “psychological horror” moments I’ve seen in a video game.
Published on October 31, 2012 at 21:55 EDT
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