Weirdest Horror Games You’ve Never Heard Of
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Description
It’s not that surprising that video games have been a medium favored by horror storytellers. The interactivity afforded by games allows for greater agency, which can make players feel vulnerable and anxious just as easily as it can make them confident and powerful. I know that I’ve spent many nights, especially in my younger days, up late with my friends, plugging away at great horror games like Outlast, Resident Evil 4, and Amnesia: The Dark Descent—experiences designed to make us jump in delighted fear.
But in a sense, these are “blockbuster” stories: Outlast and Amnesia key into psychological horror, to be sure, but they are also action-packed and formulaic in a lot of ways. Even more elevated AAA horror games like Silent Hill 2 can be trope-fueled and combat-centric, often aiming for shock more than fear. Perhaps it’s because of such industry trends that the indie scene has sprung forth with more avant-garde horror games than you can shake a stick at, with breakout hits like Mouthwashing and Signalis redefining how horror can be conveyed in the interactive realm. But really, these games are only the tip of the iceberg: there are plenty more weird, experimental horror games lurking beneath the surface.
Centum
Oddly prescient in our AI-defined modern reality, Centum mixes together tech-fueled paranoia, science-fiction, and emotional intimacy and pours the concoction into a beautiful point-and-click mold. Indeed, Centum‘s presentation is immediately arresting and unnerving; its characters and settings feel viscerally unnatural. But beneath this concerning appearance is a unique, labyrinthine narrative that demands constant examination. It is definitely one of the most interesting indie horror games I’ve played in quite a while.
Harvester
So many modern horror games attempt to channel a retro aesthetic, and many of them succeed, but what can be better than the real thing? Released in 1996, Harvester proudly proclaims itself “the most violent adventure game of all time” on Steam, and it certainly lives up to that description. It’s a classic adventure game, and nothing to write home about mechanically, but its surreal, ultra-violent world, bizarre cast of nightmarish characters, video-nasty-inspired FMV cutscenes, and dark sense of humor make it one-of-a-kind, for better or worse. It would be hard to find a contemporary game so fearless in its themes and plot, but whether Harvester is high art or a mass of cheap shock value is up to the player to decide.
Harvester is somewhat campy, but it’s also rife with gore, sexual violence, and just about every other offensive theme in the book, so player discretion is highly advised.
Murder House
Speaking of retro vibes, Murder House is a 2020 survival horror game that leverages PS1-era graphics and 1980s-style, low-budget VHS horror tropes to create a delightfully bizarre and surreal gaming experience. It follows a crew of opportunistic journalists hoping to squeeze a sensational ghost story out of a serial killer’s old home. But as one might expect, they get much more than they bargained for, and are promptly pitted against a vicious murderer in a pink rabbit costume. It can be more silly than scary at times, but its strange, anachronistic aesthetic makes it consistently uncomfortable, at the very least.
Detention
Here is another game where atmosphere is king. Detention is set in Taiwan during the White Terror, a period of intense political strife and martial law, when Taiwanese citizens and activists were at risk of being jailed or killed for harboring real or suspected communist sympathies. The ubiquitous mistrust of the era characterizes Detention‘s narrative, but there are moments of raw, human intimacy as well. It’s an interpretable, metaphor-laden tale, not too dissimilar to something like Silent Hill, though its deceptively simple art style, unique historical backdrop, and strange imagery keep it feeling unique despite its parallels with other IP.
Detention
- Released
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January 12, 2017
- ESRB
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m
- Developer(s)
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RedCandleGames
- Publisher(s)
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RedCandleGames, AGM PLAYISM
- Engine
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Unity
