StarTopic Horror |ST| Fear, Fiends and Fami testing their nerves

[Sadist]

ENTER... if you dare!
​

Hello Fami, welcome to the offical Horror games community topic on Famiboards! I personally enjoy the great RPG thread where there is a great vibe of people playing RPG's. So here I am, thinking, hey, it would be cool that a topic would exist for horror games? So here we are... let's talk about all things that instills fear into our hearts. From cosmic abominations, undead who walk the earth again or super natural creatures which haunt our dreams. And why, just why we want to submit ourselves to play these type of games. What is wrong with us?

Kidding. It's for kicks. Most def for kicks.

Horror games? On my Famiboards?

I know, right? Fun story; when I was a kid, I was easily scared of things. Hear me out, it had a reason. I think I was about five years old when I couldn't sleep, so I decided to go to my sisters TV in her room and started flipping the channels. My dummy child brain made one mistake; I started to watch Carpenter's classic the Thing (1982). Suprisingly, I did not care for that. I had a few nightmares because of a few revolting Thing reveals. My parents scolded me and did everything to comfort me as well to make sure, this was not real. It worked in the end. Fast forward to my teen years and slowly I started getting into horror movies and videogames too. The fear I had as a kid was replaced by curiousity. And the rush I felt when I play horror games. Don't get me wrong, every genre has their rush moments, but a well designed horror game can really sink its teeth in you, like a hellish creature on the prowl searching for it's next victim.

Plus I checked my collection and next to a boatload of Nintendo titles, I realised I have a good amount of horror games as well.

But horror on Nintendo systems...?

Oh yeah. Nintendo has a rich history of horror titles on it's system. I mean, there is Luigi's Mansion and his most recent outing on Switch!. All jokes aside, there is a long history of horror games on Nintendo consoles and even handhelds. Back on the NES we had Sweet Home. It even evolved into a little series called Resident Evil, it even was exclusive for a while some purple Cube. But there is Clock Tower, Zombies ate my Neighbours... even later on Nintendo had it's own horror title with Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Reqiuem.

Through the years, more horror themed games appeared on Nintendo systems and very good ones, if I might add. On Switch there is a plethora of amazing titles that will make your spine tingle and sweat like no tomorrow. On Switch you can play things like Aliens: Isolation, Little Nightmares (II), the Resident Evil series, Outlast, Observer, Death Mark, Vampyr, Amnesia, Doki Doki Literature Club, The Walking Dead Telltale series, the Fatal Frame/Project Zero series, Dying Light and many more. And even if you play on other platforms, you can find a nice selection of horror games as well. It doesn't matter where you play; as long as you want scarry stuff, you can post about it in this topic.

Question time!

Question 1: So I can talk all about horror here?
Answer: Why yes, you can! Just be chill about it. We all love to discuss things, we all are passionate about certain games; just do the Fami thing. Discuss, talk, listen and exchange posts politely.

Question 2: So I want to get into horror games, is this the place to be?
Answer: absolutely! I'm sure fellow Fami horror peeps will glady help you in your journey of terror. Well unless we are in mortal danger, you are pretty much on your own and you can fend your yourself.

Question 3: Anything else I should know?
Answer: Yes. They think me mad. A city full of creatures, abominations. I warned everyone, but they laughed and jeered at me, thinking me mad. And they threw me in this forsaken place. Damn them. Damn their eyes. They just try to hide from it. Don't you see? The darkness comes. MAY THE RATS EAT YOUR EYES. I am now lost to your cause! The darkness comes! IT WILL DAMN US ALL.

Question 4: Not what I expected, but alright. So what did you play?
Answer: Ahum, got something stuck in my throat. Here's a list from what I played, with short descriptions.

Spoiler

Sadist's list of horror games I have played; (and small descriptions of what I thought)

Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare (PS) A good spin on the classic franchise. Shame the series never had it's moment anymore. (7.5/10)
Alone in the Dark (Wii) The best part of this game is that thanks to its feature, you can skip to the end right away. And that's a good thing. Great music though (3/10)
Alan Wake (PC) It sure helped my writers block! (8.5/10)
Aliens: Infestation (DS) A great 2D sidescrolling adventure where your marines only have one life... but there are a lot of Xenomorphs! (7.5/10)
Aliens: Isolation (PC) The perfect digital version of the Alien films. Set your armpits to sweat! (9/10)
Condemned: Criminal Origins (PC) Oh hey is that a be- OMG (7/10)
Dead Island (PC) Great trailer, cool setting... absolutely boring (5/10)
Dead Space (PC) If Resident Evil and Alien had a very violent lovebaby and grotesque body horror in a scary spaceship (9/10)
Dead Space 2 (PC) Great sequel, cool zero G, OH MY GOD MY EYEBALL (8.5/10)
Dead Space 3 (PC) Excuse me, waiter, there are some micro transaction in this soup. And no... why co-op? 6.5/10
Dead Space Extraction (Wii) Fantastic on-rails adventure and from a story perspective a great game that expands the universe. (8/10)
Dead Rising (PC) I've covered wars you know! The perfect shopping experience (9/10)
Dead Rising: Chop 'till you drop! (Wii) Wait, this is Resident Evil? Wait, zombie parrots throwing grenades? Zombie poodles? Oh no... (6/10)
Dead Rising 2: (PC) A good sequel. (8/10)
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record (PC) What if Frank sleazed it up in this what if story which is kind of fun. (7/10)
Deadly Premonition TDC (PS3) Wow Zach, we got mentioned in someone's list. I am honored. You see, the coffee this morning mentioned it. (9/10)
Deadly Premonition 2: A blessing in disguise (Switch) Does not capture the spirit of the original. It has it's moments. (6/10)
Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem (GC) Maybe it was all just in your mind? (9/10)
The Evil Within (PC) Shinji Mikami doing weird shit? Sure, I'm game. Cool game that has a RE 4 vibe. (8/10)
The Evil Within 2 (PS4) Open world-ish game with some neat ideas. Not the best, you miss Mikami's hand in this one (7.5/10)
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly Wii Edition (Wii) A bone chilling game that actually got my hair to stand right up. I was shook. Terrifying. (9/10)
Fatal Frame: The Maiden from Black Water (Wii U) Not as surprising as the second one. Still a good time. Fudge the Tall Lady. (6.5/10)
Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (Switch) A weird PS2-esque game on modern hardware. Still happy I played it. (7.5/10)
The House of the Dead: Overkill (Wii) GOREGASM. This game is so wrong, it's good. (8/10)
The Last of Us (PS3) An emotional game about two people getting to know each other while fighting spore infected people. (9/10)
The Last of Us Part II (PS4) A more emotional rollercoaster than the first. I was drained, but what an adventure. (9.5/10)
Left for Dead (PC) Great multiplayer shooter. (8/10)
Left for Dead 2 (PC) The best multiplayer/team based shooter. Improves on everything. Spent several hours in Survivors vs Special infected. (9/10)
The Walking Dead Season 1 (PC) Lee and Clem, the true powerhouse team. (9/10)
The Walking Dead Season 2 (PC) Not as good as season one, still a good ride. Captures the essence of the Robert Kirkman book. (8/10)
The Walking Dead: A New Frontier (PS4) Okayish inbetweener. (6.5/10)
The Walking Dead: The Final Season (PS4) Good way to end Clem's journey. (8.5/10)
Silent Hill 2 (PS2) A classic. Must Play. (9.5/10)
Silent Hill 3 (PC) Not as good as the previous one, still one hell of a ride you should experience. (8.5./10)
Silent Hill Shattered Memories (Wii) A really good and fresh take on SH and cool use of Wii features. One of the best games on Wii. (8.5/10)
Resident Evil (PS/DS) For 1996 this was the hypest shit. Still a classic (9/10 PS, DS version 7.5/10)
Resident Evil Remake (GC) Remade into perfection. The best. Truly. Made me a fan of the series. (9/10)
Resident Evil Zero (GC) I'm on a train and nobody is doing the locomotion, everyday they keep shufflin'! (8/10)
Resident Evil 2 (GC) The classic never lost its touch. Amazing game. Truly improved on everything that the original achieved. (9.5/10)
Resident Evil 3 (GC) STAAARZZ. Starz? Staaaarz! Starzz starzz starzz. Starz. Starz! (8/10)
Resident Evil Code Veronica X (GC) Well... those twins are something. I really hate Steve btw (7/10)
Resident Evil 4 (GC) THAT'S WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT. THAT'S WHY IT'S THE GOAT. THE GOAT. (10/10)
Resident Evil 5 Gold Edition (PS3) Base game was bare bones, but the DLC and tweaks made the game better. Still a far cry compared to the genius of four. (7/10)
Resident Evil 6 (PC) Hey do you know that the logo looks like two giraff- SHUT IT. Lowest point of the mainline series. (6/10)
Resident Evil Revelations (3DS) Portable RE done well! Best played on a handheld. Console versions are fine, but do not cover the experience. (8.5/10)
Resident Evil Revelations 2 (PS3) Oh snap it's playable Barry! Fun little game, weirder plot. Weird for RE standards even. (7.5/10)
Resident Evil VII Gold Edition (PS4) Welcome to the Family son! Welcome home. (9/10)
Resident Evil Village (PS4) Weird fever dream with RE 4 infuences, werewolves and other abominations. Also, puzzle baby! (8/10)
Resident Evil 2 Remake (PS4) Fantastic remake of a classic. Capcom keeps winning. (9.5/10)
Resident Evil 3 Remake (PS4) Same problems as the game twenty years ago; to close to RE 2 and well... it's more of a reimagining. (8/10)
Resident Evil 4 Remake (PS4) Perfection... the goat is still the goat. Amazing stuff. (9.5/10)
Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City (PC) the only scary part about this game is that Capcom thought this was a good idea. Why. Why. Why. (3/10)
Vampyr (Swtich) Vampires with British accents prowling around in a plague infested London? Yes. (7/10)
The Quarry (PS4) Aight, werewolves everywhere! And it's awesome. (8.5/10)
Until Dawn (PS4) Some very disturbing stuff and I love that a different monster plays a role here. (8.5/10)

Question 5: Are you playing anything now?
Answer: not yet, but I do have the Callisto Protocol in my backlog!

 

[afternoon delight]

Oh hell yeah Horror Fam.

Two other titles you can play on Switch today that I highly recommend for sci-fi horror and survival horror fans: SIGNALIS and WORLD OF HORROR.

Of course it's also home to the best horror game ever made, Resident Evil REmake.

 

[Legion of Primes]

Dead space, the og and the remake, is one of my all time favorite horror games

 

[Supreme Overlord]

Is this the Eternal Darkness thread?

I'd say I'm glad for this thread and thank our resident Sadist for its creation, but Luigi up top exemplifies my reaction to its existence.

 

[spider]

On the note of Nintendo console horror games I will always attest to the Wii having a surprising solid horror library: The Calling, Ju-On: The Grudge Haunted House Simulator, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, Cursed Mountain, the Fatal Frame 2 remake, Fatal Frame 3, and Night of Sacrifice (the coolest use of the balance board by far) all instantly come to mind. Even some beloved kusoge like Escape from Bug Island and Alone in the Dark 2008. Even Fragile Dreams could be argued as having a strong survival horror lineage, though I think it's a must play with the most poignant story of any game on the system regardless of how you classify it.

I think the 3DS even had it's horror gems too. Kazuya Asano and Takemaru Abiko brought us The Starship Damrey in Level 5's Guild compilation games. It's a solid take on an old school point and adventure game with a sci fi horror theme. And I deeply regret that it's unavailable with the closure of the e-shop. Though at least The Creeping Terror has a PC port. It was legit the only one of the string of Clock Tower spirtual sucessors that I think really stuck the landing.

There's a few Switch horror games I have that are in my backlog. Signalis will probably be the first one I get to because it's one of my partner's favorite games.
Signalis
Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo
Kwaiden Azuma Manor Story
Tormented Souls
Dredge
Iron Lung

But I will mention a few horror games on Switch I have played.

The Remothered series: I waited for Remothered for over a decade when it was still a Clock Tower fan game, so I deeply wanted to love it. I think how terrible the Switch ports for these is infamous at this point, though the game is a buggy mess regardless of what you play it on. And even when it's running well, it's the cheap deaths and hack writing that hold this duology back for me. Even putting aside the transphobic undertones of the first game's antagonist, a borderline incoherent mash up of Dario Argento references is way less endearing than it would have been in '95.

GOHOME : It's relentlessly bizarre in a great way, I love everything about the visuals, and the soundtrack is a treat. However, I can't recommend it without the heavy caveat that it can be incredibly frustrating.

Detention : Absolutely incredible. It's by the devs Red Candle Games who went on to make Devotion. The game draws from the local ghost stories of the region and has you playing as a student in the 60's living under the martial law of the Kuomintang. Besides the historical background, there's such a well done opressive atmosphere to it and a really well told story that scatched that same itch I have for the Silent Hill franchise. It's somewhat Clocktower-esque. 2D with a really well done art style, point and click-esuqe, and avoiding and sneaking past ghosts. I highly recommend it.

Outside of Switch stuff, did play Silent Hill a Short Message. It's something I really wanted to like. Especially as someone who's wrestled with suicidal ideation before, because the content warnings gave an impression they were attempting to handle their sensitive subject matter more better than the likes of Bloober Team, and because as a fan of the Whispering Corridors films I know something like this can work. But the writing so fundamentally out of touch with teenagers, with social media and the internet, with it's own subject matter, and even it's setting of Germany that I couldn't help getting more fun laughing at it than playing it. I want to engage with it seriously, but it rings hollow. The big highlights of the gameplay being trite poorly controlling chase sequences with a poorly communicated "puzzle" really isn't doing it favors. I'm still looking forward to Silent Hill F and Townfall at least.

 

[meatbag]

Question 5: Are you playing anything now?

Unfortunately I’m not playing any horror games at the moment, but I do have Resident Evil 4 Remake waiting in the wings along with:

SIGNALIS and WORLD OF HORROR

These are two recent releases that caught my eye. Especially loving the weirdo vibes of World of Horror.

 

[SammyJ9]

I'm not a huge horror fan, but I loved Paranormasight! Excellent spooky game with a good mystery and characters. Also one of my favorite 'oh shit is going down' spooky music tracks in recent years:

 

[big lantern ghost]

I haven’t played them on Switch specifically but the Amnesia collection is on there and those are pretttayyyy, prettay scary. Dark Descent has the most cursed “water level” of all-time

 

[Sadist]

Dead space, the og and the remake, is one of my all time favorite horror games

Up top! I love the original too. Played the PC version back in 2010 and loved every second of it. The ambience, the many horrific images, the body horror… plus the Ishimura itself was some top tier stuff.

That’s why I got The Callisto Protocol; I know it’s not regarded as a great game, but I am curious what to expect from Glenn’s Dead Space spiritual succesor.

Unfortunately I’m not playing any horror games at the moment, but I do have Resident Evil 4 Remake waiting in the wings along with:


These are two recent releases that caught my eye. Especially loving the weirdo vibes of World of Horror.

You are in for a treat with RE 4! Great remake. The DLC with Ada is fun too.

 

[Bonejack]

Not too big of a Horror fan, but once in a while, a well made game can be fun.

Fuck Jumpscares though.

It's a cheap and shitty way to make people scared.

Oh and fuck huge spiders and the deep sea.

 

[meatbag]

I think the last horror game I played on Switch was Darkwood. It's a top-down adventure with survival elements, about a poor bloke who wandered into an eerie, off-kilter forest. It's rather unforgiving, but the atmosphere and plot will be delectable for any fans of Lovecraft and/or SCP.

 

[Bishop89]

Dead space, the og and the remake, is one of my all time favorite horror games

Dead Space is my all time favourite horror game. Love it so much.

 

[Legion of Primes]

Up top! I love the original too. Played the PC version back in 2010 and loved every second of it. The ambience, the many horrific images, the body horror… plus the Ishimura itself was some top tier stuff.

That’s why I got The Callisto Protocol; I know it’s not regarded as a great game, but I am curious what to expect from Glenn’s Dead Space spiritual succesor.



You are in for a treat with RE 4! Great remake. The DLC with Ada is fun too.

A pc friend introduced me to dead space and I fell in love when I played it on my Xbox one

It took me to resident evil 4 remake for that series to finally click with me. I relied heavily on guides for the few games I played but I wanna go back and play without them and enjoy them properly.

Re4 remake was fantastic as well.

 

[afternoon delight]

Re4 remake was fantastic as well.

I feel vain but I’m waiting to have either a nicer PC or a PS5 Pro later next year to play this, because RE4 is one of my favorite games ever- that I’ve played many many many times.

I’m also waiting patiently for the final version of a recently released PC mod that converts Resident Evil 2 REmake into a fixed camera angle game, that’s the stuff of legends for me!

Dead Space is my all time favourite horror game. Love it so much.

One of the few games I can think of that is truly terrifying and gnarly and repulsive and wild- another remake I’m eager to play on more powerful hardware to see it so shiny and gruesome. I don’t think bioengineered supernatural mechanical horror has been realized better than this X-rated story!