So it's the fall (thankfully) and Halloween is only about two weeks away. This is one of my most favorite seasons! I always try to play at least a few spooky games around this time of year. (For example, I'm currently playing Shadow Hearts on PS2, which is decidedly a horror JRPG indeed.) Anyway I figured it'd be fun for us to recommend some lesser known scary games to one another in spirit of the season. I will start off with six:
The Void (PC)
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Before souls completely die they stick in The Void – an odd space between life and death. There is an outside chance to survive in The Void and even to come back from it. This chance is The Color – the only food of a dying soul wandering through the mournful realms of The Void, governed by monstrous Brothers and malicious Sisters, who are desperately struggling for the last drops of it. The Color is not only the sense of life of these mysterious creatures but also gives power and vital force to the whole Void. The Color gives you power to do almost everything even to get out of Death's clutches if you gain enough! More information: http://www.gog.com/game/void_the
Hellnight (PS1)
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Hellnight, known as Dark Messiah to our Japanese cousins, is a survival horror game released only in Japan and parts of Europe. Published by Atlus in Japan and translated into English by Konami. Hellnight is viewed from a first person perspective, but you don't shoot anything. You have no faithful means of defense, and there's only a single enemy to contend with. In many ways, it's like a 3D version of Clock Tower. You take on the role of standard salaryman on your way home from work, when some occultist types called the "Holy Ring" approach you, babbling about their "Dark Messiah" and the impending armageddon. Not wanting to be bothered, you decide to hop on the last train home - possibly the worst move you could make, as any horror fan will tell you. Needless to say, the train ride doesn't go smoothly - it crashes and it appears that everyone on board is dead. Except for yourself, naturally, as well as a Japanese schoolgirl. More information: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/hellni ... lnight.htm
Calling (Wii)
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From a first-person perspective, players explore the Mnemonic Abyss' haunted locations such as a doll-filled houses Shosei school, an internet cafe, a hospital, a bedroom, and a hair salon. Players use the Wii Remote's pointer function to interact with objects and move around. The controller also acts as a mobile phone in which ghosts speak to the player character via the speaker. In addition, the player can also use the phone to warp around to different locations, as well as take pictures and record ghostly voices. The ghosts also confront the player in featured "fright events". The player has to fight the ghosts off by swinging the Wii Remote and following button commands. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Calling_%28video_game%29
Echo Night: Beyond (PS2)
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The game tells a science fiction ghost story, set in the not-too-distant future. Players take the role of a newlywed, off for a honeymoon on the moon. The vessel crashes before reaching its lunar resort destination, however, separating the just-married couple and leaving the hero alone at an abandoned research base. Players explore the station from a first-person perspective, inside a spacesuit. In addition to the many spiritual anomalies that haunt the station, strange lunar lights and relative weightlessness add to the atmosphere of the game's environments. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Echo_Night:_Beyond
Haunted House (Atari 2600)
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Haunted House is an Atari 2600 video game, first released in 1982, in which the player (represented by a pair of eyes) must navigate the haunted mansion of the late Zachary Graves to recover the three pieces of an urn. (The game has been identified as one of the earliest examples of the survival horror.) The house has three floors and a basement. The player's character may pick up only one of three items at a time (a key to open doors, a sceptre to ward off evil spirits, or the urn) and must avoid a bat, a tarantula, and the ghost of Mr. Graves himself. If the player is hit by the monsters nine times, the game ends. If the player escapes the house with the urn, the player wins. Haunted House has a total of nine different levels which make the game more challenging; in particular, later difficulty levels make the walls of the house itself invisible unless the player lights a match. If a monster enters the same room as the player, a howling wind from the monster will blow out any lit match. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haunted_H ... eo_game%29
Shadow and Ash (PC)
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(Disclosure; I actually created this game so maybe a little bias listing it here.) You were supposed to have a relaxing weekend getaway in a rental cabin deep in the woods. But when a queer object is found nearby, it leads you on a dark path of vexing questions. To answer them, you'll have to navigate an ever darkening forest, find hidden clues, and endure strange visitations. Ultimately you'll face a wicked puzzle thought long forgotten. Yet could the true mystery of your situation require an altered perception of reality to solve? More information: http://ardent.atspace.cc/Ardent%20Shado ... 20Ash.html
So those are my initial picks. Anyone else care to chime in with recommendations?
"Stay alone, stay alive" - this was the last communication of Vita-01 base, the first human settlement on Mars. Ten months after receiving this message, the Allenby Corporation sends a team of three experts to investigate the meaning of the message. Everything quickly goes from bad to worse: the space shuttle crash-lands, forcing the trio to reach Vita-01 base through three different airlocks. During the introduction, the base A.I called MOOD predicts that only two of them will leave Mars alive. The decontamination process feels 'very wrong' to each of the three characters, suggesting the presence of a bacterial agent in the gas. Trying to restart most of the base functions, Kenzo is the first to venture into the base. Silence has fallen upon Vita-01 base and the corridors are full of staff corpses. Apparently, some committed suicide, while others were gunned down. Strangely enough, all the corpses are frozen, even though the station temperature remains steady. As soon as Kenzo suceeds in unlocking the doors, the "non-dead" (a name given to them by the trio) awake from their slumber and start attacking him. As the team goes on, it soon becomes clear that the excavation of a Martian artefact dubbed "Pandora's box" is the root of all this horror. Even worse, one can hear an alien presence throughout the base. To solve the mysteries of the Martian base and escape it, you will need a lot of time, wits and patience. More information: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/martia ... gothic.htm
Clive Barker's Undying (PC)
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Someone should have warned the Covenant children: “Never read aloud strange rituals.” Little did they know that their childish game would unleash unspeakable horrors upon the unsuspecting world. Now, many years later, Jeremiah Covenant, the last sane sibling, lies on his deathbed knowing his fragile existence is the only thing restraining the curse. His only hope is Patrick Galloway, a fellow soldier from the Great War and a specialist in abolishing evil abominations. More information: http://www.gog.com/game/clive_barkers_undying
Extermination (PS2)
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Extermination takes place on December 24, 2005, at a top secret American research facility in Antarctica. The game focuses on U.S. Marine Corp's Force Recon member Sergeant Dennis Riley, as part of "Team Red Light". His squad receives a distress call from the aforementioned base named Fort Stewart. The distress call requests an immediate air strike on the base. Instead, Team Red Light is sent in via C-17 to investigate. En route, the plane malfunctions, scattering the team and crashing into the tundra. Their new objective is to regroup at Ground Facility Building B. More information: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extermina ... ideo_game)
Project Firestart (C64)
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Firestart's story takes place in 2061, with the player controlling government agent Jon Hawkins, sent to investigate The Prometheus, a genetics research vessel orbiting Saturn which has ceased communication. To prevent the experiment contaminating the solar system your task is to retrieve the science log and then self-destruct the vessel, otherwise your superiors will detonate it via remote control. Confirmation that the proverbial has hit the fan comes after docking, when you find a body and severed arm, the victim having written the word "danger" in his own blood. Soon you encounter the genetically modified creatures that caused all this and the fight is on to escape alive and see one of the multiple endings (preferably with the female love interest in tow). More information: http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/firest ... estart.htm
ime to start talking about horror movies, horror games, and showing off pics of your Halloween decorations and costumes (people costumes and cat costumes).
ime to start talking about horror movies, horror games, and showing off pics of your Halloween decorations and costumes (people costumes and cat costumes).
my horror month thread isn't good enough?
Well that seemed to be a catch all thread, whereas this is more specific.
Nice recommendations Ack! Firestart is my favorite C64 game. Undying is a really cool FPS-horror hybrid, although I remember it being hard as hell. I keep meaning to go back and actually beat it.
I don't have time or really the will right now to do a write up so if someone wants to take the recommendation.
Try DEMENTIUM for the Nintendo DS. If horror games get to you that one will mess with you enough.
Also while not a traditional horror game, it mentally will mess with you due to the horror like future atmosphere sadly the sequels lost, and doesn't survive on played out lame pop scare sequences but the original DEAD SPACE.
Both amazing, Until Dawn is my front runner for game of the year and Soma has one of the best stories ever and has moments that are creepy and disturbing as hell
RyaNtheSlayA wrote:
Seriously. Screw you Shao Kahn I'm gonna play Animal Crossing.
