Halloween is just a couple of days away, and while I’m not the biggest fan of the event, trick or treating and dressing up in costumes that make you look like you’ve put on a few pounds, I am a massive fan of scaring myself to death with a good horror game.
Therefore here are a couple of PlayStation games from the last few years that will help you have a rather restless night sleep. If you haven’t played them then there is no better excuse then Halloween to pick them up. If you have then there is no superior time of year to dust them off and live on the edge again. This isn’t a list of the top scary games ever but rather a few that has come out recently and deserves a little mention.
Dead Space 1 and 2
We start with what has become the pinnacle of survival horror games. Dead Space 1 and 2 follow the story of Isaac Clarke an engineer who is looking for answers to he is his, what happened to his girlfriend and what the hell has happened in his life.
The games are some of the scariest out today and although not particularly frightening or jumpy, the locations and sounds make it one of more eerie horror game collections. The Ishimura is dark, tightly compacted and lonesome location. Blood drips from light fittings, messages written in blood sprawl across the ship’s hull, lights flicker and floorboards rumble. Add the fact that creatures jump out of ceiling titles and engine exhausts and you have one hell of a heart pounding ride. However it’s the unbelievable use of sounds in the game that make this series truly terrifying. It’s the screaming and growling that fill the corridors which put you on edge. On occasions it’s so quiet that all you can hear is Isaac breathing into his helmet, unaware of the grotesque being that has snuck up behind and is about to give you a face full of Necromorph puke.
Dead Space 2 follows the same sort of structure apart from this time Isaac has to find the answers he is looking for by trawling the Sprawl Space station. The areas are bigger but that just means that more nasties are on the way. The bosses are bigger and the deaths are far more gruesome, but that eerie feeling is retained. Add the amazing storyline that these two games create which I won’t spoil if you haven’t played them and the perfect game play and controls and you have a recipe for success. These should be in your collection and if not here is the greatest excuse to add them to your collection. I will say that you should brace yourself for the Intro to the original, one of the greatest game intros ever made. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Resident Evil 4 HD (PSN)
Forget Resident Evil 5. That was about as scary as a dozen kittens in a box. Resident Evil 4 is where it’s at. Sent to rescue the President’s daughter; Leon. S. Kennedy finds himself somewhere in Europe with a bunch of crazy lunatics who are
hell bound on killing the intruder. Like Dead Space Resident Evil 4 has some of the best sound effects you could wish to ask for, from the crazy roar of a chainsaw to the heavy pouting of the regenerators, Resident Evil 4 will eat you up and spit you back out if you let your guard down once. The creatures are as frightening as they sound. As is the crazy lunatics that run the whole scenario.
The intro is again like Dead Space, fast paced and scary as hell and helps set the tone for the rest of the game. Just don’t get caught out with no ammo trying to fend of a hoard of delusional maniacs with a knife, it’s not the best strategy. Trust me I’ve tried.
Dead Nation
Firstly I’m going to say that I find zombie games to be about as scary as going to the zoo, ye the monkey’s may frighten you when you’re young but as you get older they become more comical and eventually boring. Every developer who wants horror has for some reason decided that zombies equal this when actually they equal comedy to me.
Dead Nation is scary due to its fast passed no hold bards difficulty and the speed in which everything can go wrong. One minute you can be wandering in the eerie silence and the next you are fighting thousands of flesh eating zombies. The
rather apocalyptic art style also helps makes that pace changes more memorable. Housemarque have mastered the art of pacing in this game.
If you want a game that will leave you breathless and worried for your gaming ability then this is it. The game will change in seconds and the scariest part is when you’ve got two or three thousand blood thirsty maniacs bearing down on you and you’ve got only one clip of ammo left; better start running.
Bioshock
Bioshock may seem like a strange inclusion on this list but I feel a necessary one. Rapture is one the scariest locations I’ve had the privilege of visiting. It’s full of crazed Splicers and Little Sisters which are just unnerving to say the least as they visit corpses around the city to collect ADAM.
The broken walls flickering lights and crazy residents having what can only be described as bone chilling conversation help create an eerie, moody and fear-provoking world that only the strong willed should visit. Rapture will leave you questioning your sanity, but it will also leave you mesmerised, however which one is scarier?
And then there are the Big Daddy, do you remember your first encounter with a Big Daddy. That first groan or those mighty footsteps it’s no surprise you turned around and entered a different room. That poor man sealed in a divers suit protecting the Little Sisters with all their might and power. Only for you to come and steal their girls off them. No wonder they’re pissed.
Fallout 3
Now I know what you’re saying, Fallout 3 isn’t scary at all, but ask yourselves this question. If you woke up in a world which was devastated by an apocalyptic war, with no food, radiation poisoning and no laws wouldn’t you just be a little nervous?
Fallout 3 although for the most time isn’t scary in the same way that Dead Space or Resident Evil is it has it’s moments. Take a trip to Springfield for example, and then enter the school. Seems rather quite until the ghouls find you. I’ve almost had numerous heart attacks when they jump out from behind you and start feasting on your skin. These appear numerous times around the game and every time they send a shiver down my spine.
The location is also rather unnerving, Washington DC and it’s surrounding area is decimated and walking from one location to another can be lonesome and uncomforting, waiting for what will come next.
And do I need to mention Deathclaws….
Limbo
We end this article with a game which is deceivingly frightening. A little boy alone in the woods at the edge of hell.
searching for his sister. In which everything kills and will kill. And to top things off you are not alone. Limbo is an action adventure game mixed with psychological horror. Add the fact that it’s set up with a monochromatic black-and-white tone and you have on eerie and down right disturbing video game.
Limbo with leave you shuddering and asking more questions than dares to answer.
And what is more scary than watching small boy being cut in half by bear traps or being decapitated by other traps just waiting for you.
Obviously there are many more games you could play and we haven’t got the time to include them all but what game will you be playing this Halloween? Let us know below