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As we reach our annual celebration of all things ghoulish, demonic and undead this Halloween , and with the recent horror revival fresh in the memory thanks to impressively freakish games like Alien: Isolation and The Evil Within , there’s no better time to countdown the top 10 horror video games.
This list was scarily difficult to compile considering the impressive back catalogue of horror games the industry has seen over the years, but the titles below are those that have either left a significant mark on the genre or simply achieved a plain of terror unmatched by their peers.
So for those thinking of clutching onto a controller in the shadow of a candlelit pumpkin , here are the very best horror games you should be playing into the dark hours of the night… if you dare.
Show all 10 1 /10Top 10 horror video games Top 10 horror video games Lone Survivor A cryptic, creepy gem from the mind of indie developer Jasper Byrne, Lone Survivor’s unique pixelated 2D graphics added new life (and death) to the survival horror despite its obvious debts to the psychological trauma of the Silent Hill games and David Lynch’s mundane-turned-abnormal aesthetic. Fourth wall-breaks, obtusely bizarre dream sequences and an odd side quest involving a cat all give Lone Survivor its own distinct identity while also paying tribute to its genre forerunners.
Top 10 horror video games Limbo That spider. Do I need to say anything else? Limbo’s oppressive world of death traps and despair takes cues from the cold artistry of German Expressionism and the fragile bleakness of shadow puppetry to create a viciously unforgiving platformer in the vein of Another World. Watching the bright white eyes of the big-domed child protagonist quietly go out after yet another untimely demise is a chilling experience. Also… that spider.
Top 10 horror video games P.T. You have to feel sorry for Hideo Kojima and Guillermo Del Toro. In creating a teaser for the upcoming Silent Hills they accidentally produced one of the most legitimately terrifying experiences in any entertainment medium and in the process an impossibly hard act to follow. P.T. (short for ‘playable teaser’) is a cyclical journey through an everyday suburban household that gradually descends into the realms of sheer, unadulterated terror. Ignore the radio and trust me, you do not want to look behind you.
Top 10 horror video games Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem A forgotten classic on Nintendo’s unfavorably remembered GameCube, Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem is a time-travelling, character-hopping nightmare where your worst enemy is your own mind. As the Nintendo-patented ‘sanity meter’ lowers with each enemy encounter you’re subjected to a variety of unsettling consequences ranging from bleeding walls, inexplicable whispers, walking upside down and the game’s most notoriously devilish trick of the mind: a fake blue screen of death.
Top 10 horror video games Resident Evil Widely accredited with popularising survival horror in 1996, Resident Evil’s stringent ammo supply, pre-rendered haunted mansion and shambling hordes of undead set the blueprint for an entire genre for almost a decade. Despite its legacy it was the 2002 GameCube remake (set to be rereleased in HD in early 2015) that graciously redacted the original’s preposterously cheesy dialogue and in doing so captured the purest essence of survival horror. Capcom’s classic franchise was arguably never better than on its influential debut.
Top 10 horror video games Amnesia: The Dark Descent While not the most accomplished game on this list, Amnesia: The Dark Descent is easily the scariest. While the hallucination mechanics and basic stealth add to the fear factor, Amnesia’s finest quality is its chilling atmosphere and the palpable sense of anxiety that comes from defenselessly progressing through its murky castle halls. Made by the creators of the equally frightening Penumbra series, Amnesia’s most valuable resource is light which offers only a brief respite from the deadly monstrosities that lurk in the dark. Not for those with a weak disposition for things that go bump (and then kill you) in the night.
Top 10 horror video games System Shock 2 Before BioShock’s pelagic city of Rapture there was the cold, mechanical Von Braun starship. Auteur developer Ken Levine’s cyberpunk RPG/FPS hybrid System Shock 2, first released on PC in 1999, laid the foundation for BioShock’s world of splicers, plasmids and failed utopian ideals with its legendarily haunting depiction of a malevolent rogue AI overseeing the spread of a rampant virus. With weapons that break under duress and a severe difficulty curve, System Shock 2 isn’t for the faint hearted, but its aging mechanics shouldn’t dissuade those who haven’t endured SHODAN’s wrath and been witness to the game’s notoriously devilish plot twist.
Top 10 horror video games The Last of Us As well as being home to one of the finest videogame stories ever told, The Last of Us is also a nerve-shredding survival horror triumph. Joel and Ellie’s devastatingly emotional trials are heightened by the total desperation of the crumbling post-apocalyptic world around them. With survival horror staples like a lack of resources and fraught stealth combined with a logical, real-time crafting system, the game delicately balances its terse combat with enough breathing space for narrative exploration. Whether it’s the sinister scavenger Bill or the audible cracking of a nearby Clicker, The Last of Us is an absolute modern horror classic.
Top 10 horror video games Silent Hill 2 A horror game is often defined by its location and the misty town of Silent Hill is the definitive horror destination. While its predecessor laid the groundwork for Team Silent’s distinctive brand of ambient psychological horror, Silent Hill 2 is the series’ unquestionable high point as the subconscious guilt of protagonist James Sunderland manifests itself as a cavalcade of emotional turmoil made flesh. While the iconic Pyramid Head grabs most of the attention in his debut outing, it is James’ own unsettled mind that gives the foggy streets of Silent Hill 2 such a disquieting edge.
Top 10 horror video games Resident Evil 4 Resident Evil 4 re-defined the genre it had initially helped establish. With the narrow corridors and fixed camera angles replaced with a third-person viewpoint that became an industry standard, Resident Evil 4 set the standard for survival horror in the last decade by boldly swapping out the familiar moaning undead for hordes of swift, deranged foes named ‘Ganados’. Leon Kennedy’s journey through rural villages, gothic castles, dilapidated laboratories, arcane churches, molten furnaces, beast-infested lakes and abandoned mineshafts mixed action-packed set pieces with a series of memorable boss battles. With the terrifying Regenerators and the chainsaw-wielding Dr. Salvador creating enough tension to offset the game’s silly, but enjoyable B-movie plot, Resident Evil 4 expertly blends thrills with chills to create the ultimate horror experience in gaming to date.
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