Horror Games That Are Better Than You Remember
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While horror games have been popular for more than three decades by this point, considering the sheer number of them that are released on a consistent basis, it can admittedly make it a little easy to forget about a few of these games after the credits roll. This isn’t to say that these types of games are bad, just that, for one reason or another, they quickly faded into obscurity and left people’s minds once the story was all wrapped up, which can often make it difficult to remember just how good they actually are.
While the video game industry is going through somewhat of a horror renaissance at the moment, there are still many slightly older horror titles that may have seemed only okay at the time of their release, but are actually pretty amazing in hindsight, and it’s these titles that this list will be taking a closer look at today. These are a few excellent horror games that are a lot better than most fans remember them being, and that all fans of the genre should definitely think about trying out.
Resident Evil: Revelations
A Handheld Experiment Which Turned Out To Be Just What The Series Needed
The main thing most people remember most about Resident Evil: Revelations is simply the fact that it was a Resident Evil game released for a handheld. Being able to fend off hordes of biological monsters and mutants while on the go was a gimmick that raised many eyebrows, but it largely overshadowed the game itself, which many people saw at the time as just another one of Capcom’s quirky experiments. In truth, though, Revelations is an amazing spin-off that did a lot of work to bring the series back to prominence after it started to exit its dark period.
While Resident Evil 5 and 6 may have gone a little overboard with the action, Revelations strips things back by putting players on the back foot for the majority of the game. Creeping through dark corridors and desperately trying to survive against swarms of hideous enemies is at the core of Resident Evil: Revelations’ gameplay loop, making the game well worth returning to, especially for fans of the classic entries in this beloved series.
Silent Hill 4: The Room
Silent Hill 4 Is A Great Game That Came Out At The Wrong Time
Silent Hill 4 occupies a pretty peculiar position within the wider series. At this point, Team Silent had already crafted three iconic horror games, which were all well received by fans and critics. As a result, following all of this up with another entry, which was expected to be even better than what came before, was no easy task. On the other hand, many people had also started to get a little fatigued with the Silent Hill formula, and with rumors that development for the series would be shifting over to western studios, it’s easy to see why Silent Hill 4: The Room became quickly overlooked.
The game itself, however, is an extremely creative project that does an excellent job at sending shivers down the player’s spine through its intense gameplay. While players are able to once again venture into the nightmarish Otherworld, where they will encounter all kinds of grizzly monsters, they will also need to occasionally return to their apartment, which acts as a Save Room, though over time, the room will start to become corrupted by hauntings that need to be fended off. To put it simply, there really is nowhere safe to catch your breath in Silent Hill 4, and it’s this sense of despair and panic that has made a lot of people warm up to it over the years.
Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
No Game Has Pulled Off The ‘Sanity’ Mechanic Quite As Well As Eternal Darkness
When Eternal Darkness was released in 2002, much of the coverage surrounding the game revolved around how it had managed to launch on a Nintendo console despite being a mature-rated game. While it did therefore become well known for the amount of stories written about it, the game itself sold extremely poorly, which ultimately resulted in it becoming an obscure gem that many people assumed was just okay or even mediocre. These presumptions, however, couldn’t be any further from the truth, as in contrast, Eternal Darkness is an extremely compelling, frightening, and massively influential title that toys with the player in some pretty unique ways.
While the Sanity mechanic has been replicated in many horror games, most famously in Amnesia: The Dark Descent, none have been able to pull it off quite as well as Eternal Darkness. Sometimes, if the player’s Sanity gets too low, the game will adjust the volume of the TV on its own or will even change channels at random points in a level. On other occasions, players will notice the heads of statues following them as they move, or even the camera angle being shifted to a peculiar position. All of this results in a truly unique experience ,which is a whole lot better than most people might remember it being when it launched.
ZombiU
Ubisoft Went All-Out In Making This Wii U Launch Title Different And Creative
It’s no secret that Nintendo’s Wii U is a system that got off to a pretty rough start. Due to a confused marketing campaign and a lack of launch titles, there wasn’t really all that much buzz about the system’s release, which is why ZombiU, a survival horror game developed by Ubisoft, inevitably went under the radar. While it was common to see clips and quick reviews of the game on the week it launched, these did a pretty poor job at conveying just how weirdly creative ZombiU actually is, and how much of a blast it is to play because of this.
While the game follows a pretty typical formula of exploring open areas and scavenging resources during a zombie apocalypse, what makes the game so addictive and different is that, if the player dies, their character will be turned into a walking corpse. When respawning as another survivor, they will therefore need to decide whether to embark on a dangerous journey to retrieve all the items or to simply play it safe and start from scratch. Pair all of this with graphics that still look good today and some great environmental atmosphere, and ZombiU is a game that horror fans definitely need to give a fair shot.
Haunting Ground
Though It Was Overshadowed, Haunting Ground Has Slowly Risen Back To Relevance
Haunting Ground was released just a handful of months after the highly influential Resident Evil 4, so it’s understandable why the game was brushed to the side by many horror fans. With Resident Evil 4 instantly popularizing the over-the-shoulder camera angle, Haunting Ground, which was still using the fixed cameras seen in classic Resident Evil games, was viewed by many as a little outdated and tiresome. Not only that, but the fact that the protagonist, Fiona, couldn’t attack at all was a lot less appealing than the run-and-gun style that Capcom had been incorporating into their other horror franchises at the time.
As the years have gone by though, many people have started to look back on Haunting Ground a lot more fondly, and it’s largely due to all of these systems and mechanics, which were looked down on when it released. The slow and methodical pace of Haunting Ground, combined with the small batch of dangerous enemies, as opposed to giant swarms of zombies, gives the game a terrifyingly intimate vibe that lasts from beginning to end. This leads to plenty of heart-pounding gameplay segments where players must think on their feet in order to escape being grabbed by the latest stalker.
The Evil Within
Shinji Mikami’s Return To Form Has A Lot Going For It
The Evil Within was legendary developer Shinji Mikami’s first horror game since he left Capcom, so needless to say, there was a tremendous amount of hype leading up to its release. Because of the fairly janky controls and unfocused story, many people either bounced off the game quickly or simply regarded it as being decent, but not great in its execution. It would especially be overshadowed once the sequel was released a few years later, which many regard as being a lot more polished than what came before.
However, The Evil Within is a game that has only gotten better with time. The controls, for example, while a little unresponsive, help add to the horror element by making the game a lot more difficult. On the other hand, while it was easy for people to criticize the story when blasting through it, by taking their time in each area, players can find a lot of documents and files throughout the game that paint a much clearer image of the disturbing narrative that runs throughout the story. If anything, The Evil Within’s rough-around-the-edges presentation is what makes it stand out in a time when overly polished horror games have become the norm.
Parasite Eve
Square’s Crack At The Horror Genre Was Ambitious, But Ultimately Paid Off
By 1998, developer Square had finally broken into the mainstream with its immensely popular Final Fantasy franchise, especially thanks to the seventh entry, which had been released just the year before. As a result, it’s understandable why there was some skepticism surrounding Parasite Eve, considering this was a game that was dipping into the horror genre, but was developed by a group known for fantasy RPGs. Not only that, but it was also released during the meteoric rise of Resident Evil, which led many to believe that it was simply a clone, or maybe even a quick cash grab.
In reality, Square somehow managed to fuse its signature RPG mechanics into the experience without taking away from the horror. Parasite Eve puts a major focus on horror relating to biology and science gone wrong, resulting in some frankly jaw-dropping enemy designs and deep story themes that help to elevate the plot. While some at the time felt the random encounter gameplay segments were a little slow, they are a lot more fun to return to these days, considering how oversaturated the market has become with run-and-gun horror tiles.
