Halloween is upon us once again. Watching horror movies to get spooky for the season is such a cliche. The characters always make dumb decisions that leave you screaming “NO! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT?” Why watch someone else make dumb decisions when one can make dumb decisions themselves? Scary video games are just what someone who needs the extra element of choice they don’t get to make in the movies. So in the spirit of scaring the crap out of oneself, here are 5 scary video games guaranteed to keep you up all night playing (or crying).
Number 5: Until Dawn
Until Dawn is an action survival horror video game and the cornerstone of choice in a single story. Set in Western Canada, a group of teenagers go on holiday for a night in a creepy cabin on a mountain where two girls formerly in the friend group mysteriously disappeared exactly one year ago. The remaining characters have to fend themselves from a serial killer, however there are other more sinister powers at work. Players alternate between all living characters, making critical decisions in order to survive…until dawn. Most players have one of two mindsets when going to play this game, “I want to save everyone,” or “I want everyone to die.” and most will fail whichever method when actually playing. The game puts you into time sensitive, harrowing and suspenseful situations that have you think on your feet or die without remorse. There are jumpscares galore and a permadeath system that makes sure that your choices are permanent. Making everything even scarier.
Number 4: Prey
Ever want to play hide and go seek against lethal aliens that can literally turn into common office items? Prey is the game for you! Prey is a first-person shooter survival horror video game in which you play Morgan Yu while exploring the space station Talos I orbiting around Earth where research into a hostile alien race called the typhoon is taking place. Of course, the aliens get free, and you have to destroy or escape. The game is massively open world and there are many ways to play. Aliens can imitate most things around you and jump out at the most inopportune times and leave you screaming expletives and jumping out of whatever one sits in or on.
Number 3: P.T.
P.T. had the potential to be number one on this list. The Konami made free demo for the now cancelled game “Silent Hills” was the most downloaded demo in 2014. But the only way to play this game now is to own a playstation 4 that’s not connected to the internet, not updated and currently has P.T. on it. Due to creative differences between it’s creator Hideo Kojima in partnership with famed movie director Guillermo Del Toro and Konami the game was canned and the demo was taken down, a decision that received plenty of criticism and disappointment. The first person psychological horror was the first in the silent hill series to be in first person (previous games in the series have all been in third person), which amplified the terror of walking through a single hallway solving puzzles and exploring rooms in order to escape. The game broke the scary meter and it wasn’t even the full game. That alone cements it’s spot here in number three.
Number 2: Resident Evil 7
It wouldn’t be a horror game list without at least one Resident Evil game. The latest installment in the Resident Evil series definitely delivers. Taking a note from P.T./Silent Hills, Resident Evil 7 is the first in the series to be in first person. Everyone knew from it’s own demo that if P.T. wasn’t successful, R.E. would be. This story strayed from the main characters we know and love, action heavy and instead created a story outside of Racoon City. Resident Evil 7 returns to the franchise’s survival horror roots, emphasizing exploration. The player controls Ethan Winters as he searches for his wife in a dilapidated plantation occupied by a cannibal family, solving puzzles and fighting enemies. Everything about this game makes the player feel uneasy and grossed out. It is a definite must play for all horror lovers.
Number 1: Outlast 2
The outlast series holds the throne for maximum scare. If there was a meter for absolutely scaring the absolute life out of a player, these two games would break it. Outlast 2 is a first-person survival psychological horror video game. It is the sequel to the 2013 video game Outlast, and features a journalist named Blake Langermann, along with his wife Lynn, roaming the Arizona desert to explore the murder of a pregnant woman only known as Jane Doe. Blake and Lynn get separated in a helicopter crash, and Blake has to find his wife while traveling through a village inhabited by a religious group that believes the end of days are upon them. This personally is by far the scariest game out of the group. With monsters chasing, shadows following, hallucinations and a plethora of jump scares. DO NOT play this game alone, in the dark or on the 13th of any month. Just to be safe.
Tony Tann
tdtann@vwu.edu
