Welcome all!
Samhain comes, and so we don our AWESOME COSTUMES
and present to you a series of creepy, ghoulish,
terrifying and/or Lovecraftian games that you might not have tried.
They may not be polished, they may not be master works,
but we can promis you that they all have something interesting about them.
So, in the spirit of the season, here are some horrors to delight
Let's begin!
Prey
We already did a whole episode about how great this game is, but
if you haven't tried the game yet,
and this makes it look a little bit interesting, go play it through,
and then go back to that episode.
The episode is very spoiler heavy but it might give you a new way to look at the game.
Prey is „Aliens” meets "Deus Ex" in space, which is really all I have to say I think.
And yeah, I can nitpick some things like
combat being a little frustrating on higher difficulties
the objective markers occasionally misleading you or the weightless sections feeling a tat sluggish.
but there's so much else to like that I have no reservations about recommending it.
It got a rock solid narrative, a wide variety of ways to solve any given problem, a neat progression system,
s freely explorable world, you gain more and more access to
as you progress, kind of like a good MetroidVania
and - like we say in that Prey episode -
it as an ending that leaves you with something to ponder.
But what makes this Sci-Fi game worthy of a horror list you might ask? and I'm glad you did because,
it's the enemies, or rather one particular enemy
which ratches up the tension by causing to completely mistrust your environment: the Mimics.
These enemies can take the shape of any ordinary object
so you'll find yourself becoming suspicious of any oddly placed
coffe cup or cardboard box
and then just when you've let your guard down
WHAM! That office chair turns into a slavering monstrosity and eats your face!
Go play Prey!
Bendy and the Ink Machine
Who knew that
those goofy old 1920's cartoons could be made so terrifying?
In this game you play an animator haunted and hunted by one of his creations.
The game itself is a fairly standard mix of puzzles
and jump scares but the atmosphere really sets this one appart.
I mean, imagine walking through Rapture,
only this time, Rapture is an old school cartoon studio,
and the splicers are evil Felix the Cat.
Please tell me some of you still know who Felix the Cat is
I'm gonna be really sad if none of you... Ehhhh... Forget it.
They've only released three out of the intended five chapters of Bendy and the Ink Machine so far
But don't let that stop you. It's Halloween, man,
these games are in season.
Detention
The most interesting thing about Detention is definitely it's unique setting.
It uses the terror of martial law in 1960's Taïwan
as the emphasis for it's horror, deling into Taïwanese myth and history.
There were a few times that I wished the translation was a little bit stronger
and the simplistic nature of it's adventure gamy play, sometimes keep it to be quite as effective as it could be
but it still serves as an excellent example
of how much this genre benefits from reaching past
our traditional go-to monstrers and settings.
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
This game is a major contender for most metal game title of the year.
But, in addition to that, this is the game that I always hoped Ninja Theory would make.
Theyhave taken all of their strenghts
with character and performance and turned them toward a project much smaller in scope
and more intimate in subject matter
A Pict warrior exploring a nightmarish underworld manifested of her own psychosis.
Sure it got a handful of frustrating moments
ans little to no explanation of how it's own mechanics work
but thios is the type of narrative we always knew Ninja Theory could do.
And they do it well!
I can think of another semi-major game release
with a truly neuro-atypical protagonist.
Other games may pay some lip-service to that idea or simply tell you
that their character has a non-standard mental state but,
Hellblade does not mess around. It runs with this.
They don't beat you over the head with it,
but Senua's mental state is abolutely essential to her character,
to the world they build and to the story they tell.
It's not perfect but Ninja Theory clearly put a lot of thought and effort
into representing this stuff in the experience
and it is great.
So go check it out.
Also check out their dev diaries.
Ninja Theory documented the development of this game as they went on Youtube.
and it is a great watch if you're interested in seing
what triple A development on a low budget looks like.
Darkwood
Rogue-like survival horror with crafting and a weird creepy narrative?
Why, yes please!!
Darkwood is basically Don’t Starve,
if Don't Starve had more story
and was way more disturbed.
It's a post-apocalyptic tale about debased humanity
somewhere in eastern Europe, filled with disturbing fungus,
twisted wolf-men and all the horrors of the dark.
What makes this particularly interesting, is that it is entirely delivered in a top-down format.
a rare perspective for horror, but actually quite effective.
and while you play, you will inevitably feel some frustration at the design choices
made to disempower you.
Like limiting your vision to your actual field of view in a top-down game,
or adding a delay to your melee weapon attacks.
But as you start to adjust to these limitations
you may start to realize that it's those very design decisions
that make the world feels so threatening.
And help you to sink in to this staffing, terrifying forest of Darkwood.
Observer
Some games are worth playing for the atmosphere alone
Observer is one of those games.
Observer brings to life a version of Krakow,
that's half bladerunner, and half William Gibson.
It's mind bending cyberpunk horror writ in neon and chrome
Here's the premise:
You are a detective in the near future and you are investigating a murder.
You aren't sure but the victim might be your own son.
This game gimmick is that you can hack directly into the mind of your suspects.
and every time you do
it's a phantasmagoria of surrealistic horror.
Games are an amazing medium for disjointed dreamlike horror
because you can wander through that horror rather than simply having the experience
told or showed to you.
Observer is very very good at delivering that kind of horror.
The Shrouded Isle
Have you ever played that old kids boardgame "Guess who"??
Have you ever wished that you could play Guess Who,
but instead with a group of deranged cultist in a small village just before the Old Ones rise?
Really? WOW.
I got news for you, weirdo!
Somebody made a game just for you, you should probably play this.
Now, I was a little disappointed that the game basically devolves into managing resources bars as you go,
but I love the way this game takes a stab at trying to suss out things about people
rather than simply solving logic puzzles. I wanna see more games try this 'cause it could be great.
Little Nightmares
Imagine Inside,
except this time, filled with claymation horrors.
That is how this game feels.
The controls are a bit awkward, especially on a mouse and a keyboard
and the puzzle design could use some refining.
But those moments where you are hiding from some grotesque monstrosity as it hunts you
or, better still, when you are cowering, hoping to not be seen
While that monstrosity just goes about it's ordinary routine nearby
Those moments are fantastic.
Admittedly, some of the game frustration do dissipate the terror in places
and make you all to aware that you are playing a game
but when it works, it transports you to a horrific
timburtonesque world that I would love to see more off.
And finally...
Nightmare Ned
This is the most horrifying game of all time.
Now, it's intended to be a children game to teach kids
not to be affraid of the dark but... Oh, my god...
It has these rats that sing as they fall into a meat grinder.
It has you playing through a mouth full of your own rotting teeth.
It has your character strapped to a spinner,
In order to determine what organs they will have removed or added by a psychopathic doctor.
This game is truly the stuff of nightmares
So hide under your covers.
and imagine you are eight years old again and you're given this game
to help face your fears.
And then emerge, hours later grasping at sanity, hanging on to the waking world by the barest thread,
wondering what sorts of mind would ever unleashed such horror upon the world...
It was Disney. Disney made this.
Happy Halloween, though! See you next week!