Top 10 Horror Games That’ll Scare The Pants Off You
6. Resident Evil
There’s no doubt about it that the original Resident Evil was groundbreaking. With its dramatic FMV intro, adult gameplay and cinematic direction, it truly demonstrated that games weren’t just for kids anymore (although many do still unfortunately think that way…)
When it was released, Resident Evil wowed us with its cinematic fixed camera angles and tank-like controls. Tensions were raised high as you explored a seemingly abandoned mansion and uncovered the secrets within, fleeing from or fighting a whole host of grotesque creatures as you sought a way out of the nightmare.
With some truly memorable jump scare moments (zombie dogs busting in though corridor windows, anyone?) and a genuinely creepy atmosphere, Resident Evil introduced interactive horror to the masses, and for that, we should be eternally grateful.
5. Silent Hill
One of our favourite games of all time, the original Silent Hill truly demonstrated how effective games can be at delivering true, nail-biting terror.
What really made Silent Hill unique were its 3D environments that were enticing to explore yet freakishly foreboding at the same time; juxtaposing the isolated calmness of the real world with a hellish “otherworld” of blood and rust. Creature design was equally great, although censorship issues resulted in the freaky killer babies of the American and Japanese release turned into monkey-like creatures for us Europeans, lessening the effect somewhat. Finally, Akira Yamaoka provided an exceptional soundtrack that both disoriented and unnerved you until the credits rolled.
Silent Hill 2 and 3 proved to be worthy sequels to the original Silent Hill, building on its fantastic creature design, story and scares, but each release after them was unfortunately a bit of a letdown. Let’s hope that one day Konami manages to actually provide us with a worthy successor.
