Summary
- RPGs infuse horror games with deeply unsettling and unexpected experiences.
- Mass Effect 2 sets a dark tone by killing the protagonist and introducing eerie elements.
- Games like Earthbound and Omori blend innocence with darkness, creating a haunting experience.
Horror in video games hits differently than any other kind. Unlike movies, books, or TV, the onus is on the player to resolve whatever spooky situation might transpire. The genre continues to innovate, but sometimes the most powerful scare is the one the player didn't expect. RPGs are a frequent culprit for this - sneaking frightening experiences into the story to shake things up.
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RPG elements make progression feel rewarding in these eerie, spine-tingling, and even terrifying horror games.
RPGs tend to tell grand, sprawling stories in complex worlds. That gives the developers the license to fill those worlds with all manner of monsters, locations, and characters that make the blood run cold. It's one thing to threaten the character the player has been building for 60+ hours, it's another thing to scare their wits out in the process.
10 Mass Effect 2
The Classic Space Opera Has A Dark Side
Mass Effect 2
- Released
- January 26, 2010
WHERE TO PLAY
Why it's Scary:
- A villain who could be anywhere at any time
- All the comforts of the first game stripped away
- Heavier, harsher ideas and character decisions
How does a sequel show it isn't messing around? Kill the protagonist in the opening. This was Mass Effect 2's gambit, and it set the tone for a much darker mid-section to the trilogy. Elements of the original Mass Effect were frightening, but the sequel took things to new extremes. The player is forced to work for one of the previous game's main villains, whilst being hounded by a silent race of insectoid body snatchers.
The influence of the reapers intensifies throughout the main storyline, and the side quests offer little comfort. From the haywire AI of the Overlord DLC to the eerie silence of the Normandy crash site, a sense of despair, isolation, and the end of everything.
9 Drakengard
A Game Full Of Dragons Where The Scariest Monsters Are Human
Drakengard
- Released
- September 11, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- m
- Developer(s)
- Cavia, Square Enix
- Publisher(s)
- Square Enix
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG, JRPG, Fantasy, Science Fiction
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2
Why it's Scary:
- The player character is a monster
- The surprisingly heavy themes
- The dark inversion of JRPG tropes
Cut from the same cloth as Panzer Dragoon with a blend of flying and ground combat, many a poor soul likely picked this 2004 PS2 title up thinking it would be a light fantasy romp. The game is actually a disturbing, unrelenting march through a desolate world where the only character having any fun is the player avatar - a bloodthirsty maniac.
Themes of abuse, cannibalism, and insanity permeate the plot, and the game's score reflects this with abstract, urgent orchestral arrangements. Some of the in-game imagery plays on the idea of corrupted innocence, and while there isn't much explicit gore, the unease lingers.
8 Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
A Haunting Entry In The Tabletop Adaptation
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
- Released
- November 16, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Sexual Themes, Strong Language
- Developer(s)
- Troika Games
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- Source
- Genre(s)
- Action RPG
- Platform(s)
- PC
Why it's Scary:
- The unreliable, two-faced characters
- Stories of murder and betrayal
- That level
The Vampire: the Masquerade series has enjoyed a reputation for kitsch, gothic fun ever since it made the jump from the tabletop to desktop. Vampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlines was the second installment, and it was a massive increase in scope from its predecessor, not least because it was among the first to utilize Valve's Source engine.
That atmosphere was routinely sinister, and led to one level so terrifying it lives in infamy to this day. Ostensibly, the Ocean House Hotel mission is a routine fetch quest, but once inside, it's anything but. Soft, disjointed piano breaks the silence, threatening messages are scrawled on the walls, and an invisible phantom tries to kill the player with hurled objects. The only way to explore this level is slowly, never knowing what might fly across the room next.
7 Earthbound
Existential Dread Disguised As Nintendo Cutesiness
Earthbound
- Released
- June 5, 1995
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Crude Humor
- Developer(s)
- HAL Laboratory, Ape Inc.
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Genre(s)
- RPG
- Platform(s)
- SNES, Nintendo Game Boy Advance
Why it's Scary:
- The theme of innocence lost
- The darkness behind the cutesy exterior
- The final boss
For many, the most familiar thing about Earthbound is Ness, the player character, immortalized by the Super Smash Bros. Series. Increasingly though, the third installment in the Mother series has gained a cult following because of its surprisingly macabre nature.
The innocent, cartoonish outer layer peels back to reveal a game with the oddity and menace of a David Lynch film. Enemies are abstract, the fabric of the world changes, and at the culmination, the party faces Giygas - a swirl of screaming chaos so incomprehensible that even its attacks can't be understood.
6 Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
Surrealist Scares In The White Wilderness
Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey
- Released
- October 8, 2009
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood, Fantasy Violence, Language, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes
- Developer(s)
- Atlus, Lancarse
- Publisher(s)
- Atlus
- Genre(s)
- Adventure
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo DS
Why it's Scary:
- The wilderness of Antarctica
- The infrequent glimpses of armageddon
- Inexplicable existential threats
As John Carpenter's 1984 film The Thing taught us, the Antarctic is the last place anyone would want to encounter an otherworldly invader. Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey, a Nintendo DS exclusive entry in the sci-fi RPG franchise, takes this notion to creepy new places.
The "Schwarzwelt", the spatial distortion that acts as the villain of the game, is an unknowable, mind-bending threat. The creatures lurking within mimic friendly characters, jabber in unintelligible codes and toy with the player as the cast gradually succumbs.
5 Bloodborne
Darker Souls
Bloodborne
- Released
- March 24, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Violence
- Developer(s)
- From Software
- Publisher(s)
- Sony
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 4
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Why it's Scary:
- The menacing, decaying world
- The untrustworthy surroundings
- The frantic gameplay
Demon's Souls and Dark Souls both toyed with horror iconography, but Bloodborne took it much further. It took the building blocks of its predecessors and used them to create a manic, gothic hellscape.
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Pulse-pounding boss battles are one thing, but the tragic, brutal iconography of Bloodborne maintains a constant sense of dread, especially once dream and reality begin to weave in and out of each other at the game's midpoint. Almost no respite is offered, and the few friendly characters almost all meet grizzly ends.
4 Omori
A Haunted Storybook That Hits Close To Home
OMORI
- Released
- December 25, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ Due To Blood, Strong Language, Violence
- Developer(s)
- OMOCAT, LLC.
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
Why it's Scary:
- The relatable narrative and characters
- The contrast of style and content
- Mechanics that play on human emotion
For many, the relatable is more frightening than the supernatural. 2020 indie title Omori blends both, inviting the player to explore a hallucinatory mind palace of half-remembered places and people, uncovering increasingly disturbing details about who the protagonist is and how he came to be there.
Half the game is spent in a classic, top-down 2D RPG environment, while the other is unfurled in interactive cutscenes with a hand-drawn, children's storybook motif, which seems quaint at first, but gradually steers things to a darker place. Most unsettling is that the events recounted could have happened to anyone, and the game lays bare the stress and confusion of processing guilt.
3 Shadow Hearts
A Frantic Turn-Based Fight Against Insanity
Shadow Hearts
- Released
- December 12, 2001
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Violence
- Genre(s)
- JRPG
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 2
Why it's Scary:
- Ever-depleting sanity meters
- Gruesome, disfigured bosses
- A haunting, bombastic score
Turn-based combat is not a gameplay style that naturally lends itself to horror. It's hard to get too scared of a monster that waits patiently to be hit before hitting back. Shadow Hearts is one of the few games to get it right. Utilizing both a sanity meter and the "Judgement Ring" timing challenge, it creates a more tense battleground that rewards quick thinking and dangles a ticking clock over the player's head.
The game is set in Asia shortly before the First World War, as the party attempts to forestall a demonic cataclysm. The problem is, not all of the characters can be trusted, and many of them are barely clinging to lucidity. If a party member's sanity does deplete in battle, they will go berserk and turn on the others, sometimes transforming into a hideous beast in the process. The constant threat is enough to keep the game tense throughout.
2 Look Outside
Be Careful Out There
Why it's Scary:
- The bizarre, chaotic story
- Freakish 16-bit monster designs
- Cleverly implanted survival mechanics
Many people wonder what they would do if they survived the apocalypse. In Look Outside, the answer is - carry on. The game offers little insight into what is actually happening, and tasks the player with trying to survive 15 days whilst contending with monsters and widening rifts in reality. Stay alive, don't go nuts.
Venturing outside is the best way to do this, and the game finds ways to shove the player out the door, but that way lies madness. The monsters are one thing, but human characters pop up too. Some of them can even be added to the party, but placing trust in them is always a calculated risk.
1 Parasite Eve
A Battle Against The Scariest Witch Of All Time
Parasite Eve
- Released
- September 9, 1998
WHERE TO PLAY
Why it's Scary:
- The seemingly unstoppable villain
- Abstract body horror
- Mounting hopelessness
It's clear something sinister is in store when a game opens with the cast of a stage play catching fire. This is how Eve is introduced, the eponymous antagonist of this 1998 PS1 title. The gameplay is built around turn-based combat and random encounters, and that's about as normal as things get.
Most of the enemies players face are sickeningly disfigured victims of Eve's powers, and they gradually become more grotesque as the game progresses. The narrative references cellular structure and mitochondria, and raises disturbing questions about how fragile the physical form really is.
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