Frighteningly good fun
IT’S that magical time of year when we can turn to the dark side... With Halloween just days away, I’ve been embracing the more macabre side of gaming. Horror movies are all well and good, but nothing gets the blood pumping quite like being immersed in a terrifying game.
The tension, the anxiety, the fear, the adrenaline – it’s thrilling.
So if you’re after a truly terrifying Halloween, these are the games you should be playing ... ALIEN ISOLATION PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, PC DEVELOPERS have tried time and again to make a genuinely scary Alien game – and so far the only one which has come close, is Alien Isolation.
I don’t think I’ve been as scared as I was when I was hiding in a locker, the sound of panicked breathing in my ear as I prayed the xenomorph wouldn’t find me.
Dripping with tension and terror, you find yourself cowering in dark corners and hugging bulkheads in the hope that the alien, which is stalking the corridors, doesn’t hear you.
If the fear factor isn’t enough for you, there’s a VR mod for the Oculus Rift which means you can enjoy the terrifying experience in virtual reality. OUTLAST PC, Xbox One, PS4 THIS simple, yet petrifying survival game sees you play as a journalist investigating strange goings on at remote Mount Massive, a former psychiatric hospital deep in the mountains of Colorado.
Unarmed and unprepared for the horrors that lurk within – you literally have to rely on your wits and your speed to escape.
An unrelenting onslaught of chases, jump scares and the forever failing night vision on your less than trusty camcorder create an atmosphere of incredible tension and foreboding.
Easily one of the best horror games I’ve ever played, you’ll find you won’t escape Mount Massive without a few nightmares. Maybe keep the lights on for this one. CONDEMNED: CRIMINAL ORIGINS Xbox 360, PC A TWISTED serial killer is on the loose, but for FBI agent Ethan Thomas the manhunt will take him on a journey through his greatest fears.
Dark set pieces see you moving through a shopping mall, mannequins silently watch your progress, a building sense of tension that actually has you imagine they’re moving.
Combat is intense and visceral, brutal beatings served swiftly and without notice.
There’s a real heightened level of psychological tension throughout this game, especially if you play with the lights off and the surround sound on... DEAD SPACE PC, Xbox 360, PS3, iOS TAKE a pound of Alien, blend it with Event Horizon, add a touch of Pandorum and bake – voila, you have Dead Space.
Sent to find out why the mining ship USG Ishimura has broken contact, the crew of the USG Kellion soon find themselves in a terrifying situation.
As Isaac Clark, you must fight through the myriad ‘necromorphs’ that now inhabit the Ishimura, and escape back to the Kellion.
You destroy the necromorphs with strategic dismemberment – taking off a limb here, or a head there.
Gory, visceral and full of horrifying ways to meet your end – in Dead Space, everyone hears you scream. SOMA PS4, PC THIS is probably not the scariest game on on our horror list, but it is certainly one of the more unnerving.
There’s something strange happening in underwater research facility PATHOS-2 – the radio has fallen silent, and the mechanical issues plaguing the machinery have escalated to an almost murderous degree.
You have no weapons, and the only hope of escape means you face a horrible death in the deep and freezing, dark waters that surround you.
Beautifully realised environments, rich in colour and texture, add to a real sense of claustrophobia, as the metal hull groans and creaks under the constant pressure of the deep ocean.
While not as truly terrifying as Amnesia, with SOMA, its developers Frictional Games have produced a much more thoughtful horror game which delves deeply into the dark delusions of human consciousness.