It’s Halloween, which means if you’re not playing some scary games, are you even gaming? Probably. But you’re not gaming right if you aren’t trying to scare yourself right now. It’s Halloween, so play some games that are appropriate for the times. It’s a shitshow and real-life horror story with the UK government recently, and now we’re recommending you take that into your gaming life. Get those adult diapers on, get your nerves ready and prepare your heart for some seriously fast beating.
Today, we’ll go through five of my top scary games. Scary might be pushing it, actually. Some are not even that scary, but they’re still perfect horror games for Halloween, so they count. You want that creepy feeling. Let me know what games you’d swap out and why.
Outlast
Developed By: Red Barrels
Originally Released: 2013
This game comes first in the list purely because it’s the only game I’ve ever noped out of. Nope, nopity, nope, nope, nope. Hated this game. The atmosphere it creates is incredible, and your character is completely powerless. For most of the game, your screen looks like the night vision setting on a camcorder, which adds to the whole atmosphere of the game. You play as investigative journalist Miles Upshur as you explore Mount Massive Asylum and try to survive long enough to discover its terrible secret. With no weapons, you basically have to try and stay undetected for as long as possible whilst you try to find out what you need. It’s all about the atmosphere the game creates, and it’s horrible – ideal for Halloween, then!
Little Nightmares 1 & 2
Developed By: Tarsier Studios
Originally Released: 2017 & 2021
Is adding two games as one in a list of five cheating? Maybe. But since you can buy them as a pair, and it’s my list, I’m saying it counts. Little Nightmares 1 & 2 might not be the scariest game out there, but it’s one of the prettiest horror games going. Pretty in a terrifying way, that is. It’s pure nightmare fuel where if you put yourself in the mind of a child, you’re not going to be sleeping for a long time. You have to solve the occasional puzzle, and then you have to run for your life or sneak around grotesque-looking characters like the chef.
The designs are incredible, and it’s a joy to play. It can be frustrating in parts, but that’s the whole fun of the game. How can you survive, how do you solve this puzzle and how do you get past what can only be described as a mutant that could be described as being Cronenberged?
Buy Little Nightmares on Steam.
Darkwood
Developed By: Acid Wizard Studio
Originally Released: 2017
The best way to describe Darkwood would be to call it a top-down survival game. You’re only safe in your hut, and sadly you need to maintain that. That means going further and further into the forest of horrors to find what you need. Unlike some other games, on your journey through the woods, you sometimes find weapons to defend yourself with. It’s something you need to carefully balance, though, as you have limited inventory space to gather what you need, and your cone of light can only see so far. It’s not like you’ll know what or how many weapons you’ll need or how much inventory you’ll need, either. Gather what you can in the daylight as come nighttime, it’s a fight for your life as you frantically try to stay alive. For a top-down game, Darkwood shows that you can craft an incredible horror game that draws you in just as much as the first-person ones. The lines between reality and nightmarish fantasies blur until you are dreaming of the Darkwood.
Inside
Developed By: Playdead
Originally Released: 2016
Good horror is something that sticks with you. It doesn’t necessarily need to be terrifying. If the sound, imagery and story are good enough to stay with you, then you’re likely onto something good. For a side-scroller, it’s a brilliantly dark game. If you’ve played Limbo, then you should know what kind of game you’re getting into. Hunted and alone, a boy finds himself drawn into the centre of a dark project. Inside is a narrative-driven platformer combining intense action with challenging puzzles. It’ll leave you surprisingly haunted come the end. The only problem is that it’s a really short game, but it’s an experience worth having. It’s a masterpiece of a game.
SOMA
Developed By: Frictional Games
Originally Released: 2015
SOMA isn’t a game without flaws. But what it does have is, hands down, one of the most unpleasantly disturbing stories of any game I’ve ever played. The game plays with ideas of consciousness and what makes you human in a terrifying way. When you’re not exploring the rusting, decrepit undersea base of PATHOS II, you’re playing with some pretty heavy concepts to try and make you question life. PATHOS II is filled with broken machines full of glitching human consciousnesses and slimy gross-looking growths that expand and morph into something terrible the longer you spend exploring. It’s a game that’ll stay with you long after you’ve finished it.
