5. Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
This series has always seemed like the ugly stepchild amongst the more popular, attractive Resident Evil and Silent Hill juggernauts, but Fatal Frame does what it does very well, and if you’re on board with it, you’re likely to get the hell scared out of you.
Fatal Frame deals with ghosts. More specifically, the photography of ghosts to ward them off. This leads to you swinging around your Camera Obscura, in the first-person, as ghosts fling themselves at you as you try to take the perfect photo. It’s really upsetting. It is. And since you need to wait for these specters to get close to you, it’s ultimately more frightening than shooting a zombie on the other side of the room.
The Fatal Frame game always have a deep cult influence too, and the cut scenes here are some really unnerving footage steeped in Japanese folklore that hold a lot of weight to them. While all the Fatal Frame titles are reasonably strong, Crimson Butterfly deals with twins, and so, take everything you’ve already read, and then throw creepy twins into the mix on top of that. Yeah, I thought so.
4. Dead Space
Dead Space has been one of the more recent bright spots in the survival horror family, as former classics like Resident Evil have gotten more action-centric (and unfortunately, this is exactly what happened in Dead Space 3 too, and it might have cost the franchise its life). Dead Space intelligently takes the established zombie framework but transports it into space to great effect. The original Dead Space truly takes advantage of its setting too, providing a lot of quiet, stark moments that only amplify the fears.
The Necromorphs that sub in for your resident zombies are deeply creepy, but dealing with them is a particularly gruesome experience here. They can only be killed by having their limbs dismembered. So rather than your standard headshots, you find yourself shooting off the arms and legs of your oncoming beasts.
There’s also a very rich story going on in the background about cults, religion, and paranoia that provide the perfect internal backdrop that compliments the chaos you’re dealing with in battle.
3. Resident Evil 2
We’ve all played this one, right? Remember that Licker for the first time? That second trip across the two-way mirror? These are iconic experiences that largely defined a gaming generation and that’s the power of Resident Evil 2. Before this series became the bloated mess that it is now, Resident Evil 2 was an extremely solid entry in a growing series.
Claire Redfield and Leon Kennedy (having the worst first day ever) are great protagonists as you work through Raccoon City and the contaminated police station, seeking safety. There’s a lot to get into with this game, but it’s not just the specific examples that sell it. It’s just this tight, enjoyable game that knows how to position camera angles, ration ammo and wealth, parse out enemies (the new ones of which, are wonderful) to create the perfect experience with a chilling soundtrack. It’s a title that fans keep asking to see remade, almost as much as Final Fantasy VII, and it’s because this game just gets it.
And seriously, that two-way mirror…
2. Silent Hill 2
Nothing quite says survival horror like fog, right? The Silent Hill series has become deeply revered, and the second title in the series is largely seen as the definitive, scariest entry. Sure enough it does master a lot of the concepts brought up in the first game, as you move through that eerie, foggy town as James, searching for your wife who is supposed to be dead.
Silent Hill 2 works so well, not due to the monsters, but almost by what it isn’t showing you. The bleakness and empty nature of the community creates the perfect atmosphere, and as you meet damaged after damaged person, this feeling only becomes stronger. All of this works wonders and would be a great game in itself, but then there’s also a little something called Pyramid Head. I guarantee that monstrosity will give you nightmares, and it’s a good reminder that going to hospitals is never a good idea in Silent Hill games.
1. Amnesia: The Dark Descent
This is it, guys. The peak of it all. Amnesia: The Dark Descent will get in your head, root a hole in there, and never get out. It essentially borrows the best concepts from all of the games on this list, creating a uniquely twisted, upsetting video game. You find yourself in the immediately stressful setting of navigating through a dark castle, resorting to solve puzzles as your setting warps reality.
Amnesia really builds on the isolated setting idea, and the suspicion that you’re lost and there’s no hope here is a very real feeling that will strike you often during this game. Amensia’s main concept it plays with is light and dark, acting as a sort of boundary line for the monsters you face. Again, you must hide rather than fight your enemies, but you’re given choice in the matter, with a decreasing sanity meter (although a less robust one as Eternal Darkness’) as your alternative. What’s kind of great here is that when you hide in this game, or set up barricades, sometimes your opposing forces will just break them apart or fling them away. There’s an overwhelming feeling of helplessness in this game, and it goes a long ways.
While these are what I thought were at the top of the tier in this genre, obviously there are a wealth of other frightening games at your disposal. Which did we overlook? What’s your favorite game to keep you up late at night? Let us know!
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