For me, the best horror games combine the best aspects of horror films with the best aspects of modern narrative video games. Films like Alien, The Shining, and 28 Days Later are among my favorites, and their particular themes of isolation and survival are well translated into some of the best horror games around today. Here are some of my personal favorite horror games that achieve everything a solid horror game should be.
Left 4 Dead (2008)
This title is widely considered the best in the zombie survival genre. Its atmosphere is yet to be matched and its portrayal of flesh-eating hordes is akin to that of 28 Days Later, straight-up horrifying and “Nope”- inducing.
In the game, you and a team of 3 others journey from safehouse to safehouse, seeking escape from horde upon horde of zombies frantically sprinting toward any noise you make, where when things go south, your team is left fending them off with whatever weapons you pick. It doesn’t strip your power and abilities as you might think. As a result, the game is more enjoyable and challenging without being a complete rage fest.
Alien: Isolation (2014)
When this came out in 2014, one would usually think that having a great game based on an existing franchise is near impossible, but this particular title flipped gamers’ expectations of what the deprived “Games Based on Movies” subgenre can offer. “Movie” games have had a strange history, usually being direct adaptations of events from their respective films, i.e. The Great Escape, The Thing, and a vast majority of superhero and animated film franchises (Marvel, Disney, Pixar, etc.).
This game succeeds in many places, most importantly taking what people loved in the original 1979 film, and putting players in a world atmospherically and visually identical to the film that remains respectful to its source. The game takes certain trends in horror survival such as crafting, sneaking under tables and through vents, sound detection, and many others and uses them to make surviving on a space station with an occupying xenomorph feel both immersive and heart-pounding.
Until Dawn (2015)
Akin to the trope of high school teens residing in a cabin while a masked killer stalks and preys on them one by one, Until Dawn takes that and puts its own twist to make an unforgettable experience meant to be played more than once to give different experiences.
This game utilizes its platform as a video game to make both your choices and gaming ability affect the story and the game’s ending. It follows a group of teenagers returning to their yearly retreat after the last one ended in tragedy, where two of the members went missing following a prank gone wrong. The game takes inspiration from popular horror films like Evil Dead and Saw and makes many homages to those and many others. Unlike those films, however, you take action as the cabin dwellers as certain mysteries arise and unravel, until disaster strikes. The appeal of this game is its branching storyline, making it important for you as the player to keep from making mistakes so that every character makes it out alive. One small mistake could cost one’s life and it makes a game like this infinitely enjoyable to play and replay as much as it is to watch.
