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[BlazeHedgehog]

Since it's in the spirit of the thread (no pun intended), I hope nobody minds me linking a video review/feature I just got done with today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgMJMjs7D98

Five free (or cheap!) PC horror games.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Having just finished Corpse Party yesterday, which I planned on playing through on Halloween I have to find a new Halloween game, perhaps this thread will help.

 

[WiiredShawn]

OP, your post is almost too reasonable in its tastes and evaluations. Good work, and I agree with most of your horror choices.

...with one exception: Alan Wake. If that game is horror, then RE6 is secretly a Silent Hill title. With games like Amnesia, Clocktower, and SH2 as models, I cannot honestly understand how a game with a protagonist who blabbers constantly and blue-collar shadow workers who vomit corniness constitutes survival horror. Regardless of Alan Wake's constant verbal masturbation to horror writers like King and Lovecraft, I can't help but see his game as some joke of meta-fiction - and that's my best interpretation.

You can probably tell I didn't enjoy Alan Wake that much. But most everything else you listed is magnificent, and I approve of the nod to Shattered Memories, even if it's not really "frightening" in the way common to Silent Hill.

 

[Alex]

Corpse Party
Fatal Frame
Fatal Frame 2
Amnesia

Most scary games just aren't scary, to me. Anything with any kind of a combat focus automatically isn't scary to me, ejecting things like Resident Evil (well, only Remake/1 tried anyway) or Dead Space. Lots of other stuff that gets halfway there, like Condemned, but good atmosphere alone doesn't really scare me much. Of course, that popped up mostly in recent years, the first game to really scare me good was System Shock 2 and that probably wouldn't get me much anymore. Silent Hill always nailed the aesthetics but I haven't played one in years, so I should throw 2 or 3 back into my rotation when I get some time. I still got stuff of this cut that I haven't even truly gotten to yet, like Rule of Rose for old and Lone Survivor for new.

Gotta have that mental bend to fuck with you, that's why I liked Corpse Party a lot, it stamps on your humanity and you know you got a good thing going when the narrative makes mere death seem like an attractive option. It's funny because I actively avoided buying it originally due to the art.

 

[FadeX]

Excuse me for bumping!

imho, Forbidden Siren on PS2 is one of the most frightening games of all time. Really underrated too.

This list is pretty accurate, albeit a bit outdated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiE12vtUq5o

 

[Krappadizzle]

Excuse me for bumping!

imho, Forbidden Siren on PS2 is one of the most frightening games of all time. Really underrated too.

This list is pretty accurate, albeit a bit outdated: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiE12vtUq5o

I've never even heard of it.

 

[Atuin]

Amnesia. Didn't even finish lol.

Finish Amnesia? My "gaming experience" with Amnesia was opening the game, looking at the creepy "adjust your brightness level" dungeon picture and nope.avi-ing the hell out. I have literally played Amnesia for 0 seconds.

This might sound ridiculous, but some of the weird Spore creatures fill me with a strange feeling of disgust/fear. It felt like some sort of body horror to see these abominations wriggling trapped inside their unnatural tentacled bodies. Might also be about my huge octopus phobia, but Spore was too spooky for me to finish.

 

[Rawshocker]

I've never even heard of it.

Siren for US and Japan

Amnesia not scary at all

 

[BigDes]

Now I am not sure if these games constitute as scary, although both are certainly horror games

Home: http://store.steampowered.com/app/215670/ A nice little 2d adventure game, you wake up in a deserted house knowing only that something bad has happened. You may or may not be alone.

The Last Door: Collector's Edition: http://store.steampowered.com/app/284390/
A very weird horror game. Certainly not a jump scare game. Think King in Yellow and Lovecraft. Ancient gods, deciding to just fuck with humanity.

The Fall: http://store.steampowered.com/app/290770/ Paradise Lost but with robots

 

[Angry Fork]

Can someone give me horror games that don't have either A. invisible enemies, B. pointlessly complex puzzles or C. batteries/flashlight/energy etc. having a limit and you have to recharge/find more?

I love the atmosphere in horror games but whenever any of those show up I just get really irritated and impatient and stop playing. I loved Silent Hill 2/3, and I've played Resident Evil 1/2/4. Is there anything else that has great atmosphere without those gameplay mechanics?

 

[ffejeromdiks]

Posted this in the newer horror thread but I figured I'd post them here since I feel they deserve some attention from the horror game fanatics out there that might not have heard of them...

These may not count, but I know for a fact I never see point and click flash games mentioned in neogaf horror threads but these two are actually kinda unsettling in many ways, and you can play them in your browser! Doesn't get much better than that.

The Ugly: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/284306

You play as a little girl who comes home from school only to find that all is not well...Won't take you long to see how disturbing this short little game can be

Exmortis: http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/189227

Exploring a creepy abandoned house in the woods, and much like the mansion in resident evil, it's mysteries go much deeper than you would expect from the surface. Kinda lengthy for a flash game and has a thrilling conclusion.
Warning though, there's a screamer in the opening titles, it's the only jump scare in the game and it's worth enduring, cause the game is dripping with atmosphere. Despite there being no traditional enemies or threats, I remember it's very common for people to give up just because of how unsettling the vibe is, it definitely took me a lot of courage to finally get through it back in the day, and from what little I just played...I'd say it still holds up ten years later.

 

[Krappadizzle]

I'll add them. Thanks!



edit:Added.

 

[BeamImpact]

something that isnt in your list is Cry of Fear, its a Half Life 1 Mod and free to play from Steam
requires HL1

it has some shocking scenes in there and for its age it really holds itself against the new games in terms of scary moments

 

[RetroMG]

I know it's been talked about a lot lately, but Five Nights at Freddy's scares the hell out of me.

 

[Krappadizzle]

something that isnt in your list is Cry of Fear, its a Half Life 1 Mod and free to play from Steam
requires HL1

it has some shocking scenes in there and for its age it really holds itself against the new games in terms of scary moments

I'm surprised I forgot that. I loved the mod. It's pretty scary and the coop is fun. The docks were terrifying.

I know it's been talked about a lot lately, but Five Nights at Freddy's scares the hell out of me.

Added.

 

[freakzilla3000]

Eternal Darkness scared the crap out of me when I played it back in the day...

 

[Krappadizzle]

Eternal Darkness scared the crap out of me when I played it back in the day...

It scared everyone I think, for multiple different reasons.

 

[Lord_Balkan]

I see have Thief 3 on there, but I will say the original Thief (while not exactly scary) had a lot of great horror style atmospheres. But good list.

 

[eliochip]

There were parts of Shin Megami Tensei IV that had me genuinely creeped out. It has an awesome atmosphere too. I feel comfortable calling it a horror-rpg

 

[Demigod Mac]

Metroid Fusion

The first time you play and don't know when she will show up and say hello.

 

[TheGameChanger]

The Thing on ps2 was creepy as hell. I bought the game because I thought the cover was cool looking and had no idea it was a horror game. Couldn't finish it because I though it was too creepy and I was young. Returned it after a few hours of playing.

 

[Krappadizzle]

The Thing on ps2 was creepy as hell. I bought the game because I thought the cover was cool looking and had no idea it was a horror game. Couldn't finish it because I though it was too creepy and I was young. Returned it after a few hours of playing.

You had never seen the movie? That's hilarious.

 

[AlphaDump]

Outlast deserves some credit.

If you liked the P.T teaser for Silent Hill, i'd highly recommend it.

 

[Ionic]

Dreadhalls is horrifying and it's a small budget game that has barely been realized yet. Once VR takes hold this whole list is going to be small potatoes.

 

[Krappadizzle]

Dreadhalls is horrifying and it's a small budget game that has barely been realized yet. Once VR takes hold this whole list is going to be small potatoes.

I dunno if I'd say small potatoes as it's gonna be a while before Horror games with a budget start coming to the Occulus. I can't wait for the day, but it's gonna be a while. Not that a horror game needs a huge budget or anything, but I imagine we'll get a ton of throwaway software from people hoping to cash in quick on the OR before some studios come along that actually care and make a full fledged, dedicated horror game. We'll see though, I'm excited for the future of horror games. With Alien and TEW coming out here soon with some promising things in the future, it's a good time for horror.