10 Weirdest Horror Games Ever Made | Game Rant
There are countless ways to terrify people through creative media. The easiest and most conventional route is to simply present something grossly violent or repulsive. While some consider this cheap, it is still effective. The other, more creative method of eliciting fear from audiences is making them feel uncomfortable or confusing them.
The ten games featured below are so weird, they terrify gamers as they question reality and wonder what in the game is real or not. Sometimes this is done through gameplay mechanics, and other times it is purely through the story. The best of the best, however, accomplish this sensation through a combination of the two.
10 Silent Hill 2
While it plays like a traditional survival horror game, James Sunderland's journey through the titular town is anything but traditional. The game starts with him entering the town looking for his deceased wife, Mary, who recently sent a letter to him from beyond the grave. Once he starts exploring, he meets several other characters and the mystery around his relationship with Mary starts to unravel.
For 2001, such a narrative was simply unheard of. The creature designs are amazing, and Pyramid Head still gives fans nightmares, but the true terror comes from the unsettling environment and mysterious guilt haunting the characters.
9 Alone In The Dark
This one gets weirder and weirder as time goes on, although the 3D character models against two-dimensional backdrops were a format many other horror games would follow. Despite the archaic graphics, the 1991 title still manages to scare the pants off anyone who plays it and thanks to gog.com, the classic horror game now runs on most modern computers.
The story is heavily inspired by writers like Edgar Allan Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, with many of the creatures also taking cues from their writing. The series has since fallen from grace, but no one can eliminate the first game's influence.
8 Harvester
This point-and-click adventure title is meant to explore the nature between violence and various forms of media. The game features numerous brutal acts, some of which are perpetrated by the player as they discover the mystery behind the mysterious town they are in.
The acting and full motion video quality are about what one would expect from 1996, but that just adds the plot's inanity. We won't spoil the ending here, but it really drives its thematic point home about fictional violence's relation to real-world violence.
7 Catherine
Atlus's puzzle-game Catherine deals with relationships and infidelity, splitting the gameplay between social simulation and puzzle-solving mechanics taking place in the main character's dreams.
It deals with the guilt and intensity that comes from cheating and leading a double life. On the surface, it looks like a creepy game about male fantasies, but its plot is far more profound once one actually plays it.
6 Eternal Darkness
Silicon Knights' cult classic GameCube title takes full advantage of the medium to strike unease into the hearts of anyone who plays it. Players have a sanity meter that affects the world depending on how full it is.
The effects of one's deteriorating sanity start out subtle like statues' eyes looking at the player, but increase to such drastic moments like the player's head popping off, or presenting a false, yet convincing, disc read error message. Knowing about them diminishes the terror somewhat, but people experiencing it for the first time in 2002 were in for the shock of their gaming lives.
5 Fatal Frame
Zombies and other monsters are killed with traditional weaponry but how does one harm a force of energy with no physical energy like a ghost?
In the Fatal Frame series, players defend themselves through the use of the Camera Obscura, a device which damages these beings by capturing them on film. The more in-focus the ghosts are, the more damage the photo does. The first game came out on the PS2 in 2001, at a time when most games were still focused on combat, making the premier title an especially unique project.
4 Zero Escape
This adventure game series follows strangers locked in a facility, forced to endure sadistic games for their survival. The art style doesn't indicate such a dark story, but playing the game leaves no illusion to how oppressive the narrative becomes.
The trilogy tells a complete story from start to finish, with the final entry wrapping up the mystery behind the sick games these protagonists are forced to play. One would never expect a puzzle game to be so terrifying, but the Zero Escape series shows us how it is done.
3 Parasite Eve
This science-fiction horror game is a turn-based RPG set in modern-day New York City. This alone gets it on the list, and it helps when the gameplay and story are top-notch as well.
Based on a novel and film, the main character must fight off a mysterious organism taking over the city. In addition to its combat, the exploration takes many cues from Resident Evil, with the player scrounging through every inch of the environment for clues and resources.
2 Corpse Party
Originating on RPG Maker in the mid-'90s, each entry in the Corpse Party series sees a group of students escaping haunted school grounds. The adventure game incorporates RPG elements as well.
The cutesy art style is certainly misleading because exploring the environments sends chills down one spine. While jump scares are about, the real horror comes from the atmosphere, tension, and brutal ways some of the poor students can bite it.
1 PT
People remember PT, the surprise teaser for the ultimately doomed Silent Hills, more fondly than most full releases. The actual experience is a haunting journey through a few rooms constantly repeated with several minute details changed each time.
People still aren't quite sure how the final puzzle is solved, which reveals the Silent Hills announcement. Adding to the legacy, the game has been delisted and is unavailable to download even by those who have the game in their library. Only those who still have it in on their hard drive can play it. As sad as the final game's cancelation was, at least we got Death Stranding out of the ordeal.
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