Summary
Horror as a gaming genre has picked up over the years, first finding success in older hits likeResident EvilandAmnesiawith original and immersive horror experiences. Some styles of horror gaming make the player unable to defend themselves, while others allow them scarce ammo and resources. The fear is often derived from making the player feel vulnerable and incapable of fighting back.
Horror gaming has only continued to grow. It is still widespread through returning franchises, but the rise ofindie horroris particularly notable. Some fans of the genre watch their favorite creators exploring the niche indie gems online, while brave souls pick up these unique games for themselves. It’s clear that people are yearning for fresh experiences that can be found in the experimentation of indie gaming.
5Ten Bells
A Gruesome Story Soaked In Realism
The uniqueness ofTen Bellsis thanks to its location, a long-standing pub in London with its own dark story. Believed to be associated with at least two victims of the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper, Annie Chapman and Mary Jane Kelly, this eerie and rather niche setting instantly grounds the game with its essence of realism.
But the game is so much more than that. It enhances the growing genre of anomaly finding with open rooms throughout the pub for players to explore. It doesn’t expect players to watch screens, as other games in the genre have established. Instead, players walk around and monitor changes in person. They are thrown headfirst into the horror with no escape, there to document every terrifying new thing for themselves.
An Open-World Of Terror
Few horror games dare to boldly allow players access to an open world, butSiren Head Resurrectionfeels almost genre-defining for that reason. As players arrive at a remote park to look into their missing brother’s disappearance, they experience an abudnance of strange things. Spooky events range from the missing cave divers and their scattered belongings, to the unnatural feeling of being watched.
Allowing full exploration of the map with various points of interest,Siren Head Resurrectiondoesn’t hand-hold in the slightest. Instead, it forces players to make long treks and big decisions for themselves. The game offers multiple endings that depend on discovering hidden secrets, or continuing through in New Game+ for extra changes. The sheer scale and openness of this world makes it stand out like nothing before.
Gaining popularity for its distinction in the horror genre,Lethal Companydelivers a co-operative and horrifying experience in whichfriends experience the terrors together. It utilizes proximity chat for voices that cuts out in death, and an overall fearful gaming objective that everyone must complete as a team. This excellent concept saw flocks of players coming together to enjoy the frights for themselves.
As groups of players embark on trips to differing planets, their objective is to find scrap littered through levels and buildings. This all needs be sold to the company they work for. But with limited ability to hold things, and plentiful non-human entities that live within each area, that task becomes all the more difficult.
SOMAcannot help but stand out in the horror genre, as it is anything but typical. Instead, it delivers an unsettling horror experiencebuilt around its psychological narrative. It even offers the opportunity to play in ‘safe mode’, in which enemies will leave players alone along the way. It’s clear that the fearful experience is not derived from a need to escape, as in many horror games, but instead through the storyline itself.
Built around an existential nightmare on both what it means to be human and players' own individual identities, SOMA encourages its audience to look within. Through moments like a robot that wields human memories, and therefore believes it is human, the terrifying question at its core comes to life. Players will question not only the game, but the possibilities of what may happen in life itself, with a future of uncertainties when it comes to technology and robotics.
There’s something distinct aboutthe experience thatInscryptiondelivers; a horror, but so much more. This scary gem is equally a card-based deckbuilder, placing the player in an uncomfortably dark room to play against a horrific creature known as Leshy. Everything about it feels dark and unsettling, like the player is a prisoner to this world and unable to escape. Instead, they are forced to play along with this strange being’s sick games.
Within this psychological horror, there are plenty of disturbing elements. For example, players can pull out teeth for benefits in fights. These details provide subtle but gruesome touches that add up to a truly anxiety-inducing playthrough. That’s not all, though, as the game continues far beyond Leshy’s cabin. Spoilers will be avoided here, but safe to say, Inscryption takes its unsuspecting victims for a journey that’s hard to anticipate.
