Editorials
[Retro Collection] Eleven PC Horror Games, Past and Present, That You Need to Play
PC gaming, due to its open, ever-evolving platform, has the benefit of the largest video game library around and naturally, that means it’s home to some of the best, most diverse, PC horror games of all time.
Some have been pioneers, some have flipped the established rules on their head, and some have brought horror games and the medium itself to a whole new level. There’s so many to choose from and making a condensed list is far harder for PC than it is any other format, but damn it we’ll try!
So here’s the PC horror games that most deserve to be in any collection. A mix of old and new(ish) that represents the best examples of where horror has been shaped on PC.
Bioshock
The setting is a key point in building the right atmosphere. Bioshock is a game that expertly builds its otherworldly atmosphere with one of the most iconic locales in video game history; the undersea city of Rapture.
So much of the story behind this decadent city’s fall from grace can be found in its design, and the result is a fascinatingly macabre tragedy that unfortunately for you, isn’t quite done yet. The way shadows fall on the wall, the manic, hushed rambling of the Splicers (humans mutated via self-inflicted genetic monkey business), and the guttural roar of an enraged Big Daddy are just some of the intimidating and scary moments that dog you as you delve deeper into the still-decaying city.
Bioshock may well be remembered for its twists and quotable dialogue, but Rapture is what makes it one of the most compelling PC horror games of all time.
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R. is almost a laughably typical mishmash of pop culture movie concepts wedded to a digital form. Essentially this is a John Woo movie smushed together with turn of the century Asian horror and while you can be cynical about that, it doesn’t stop F.E.A.R. from being a truly interesting horror with a massive action bent.
While the original is not necessarily the best, it is the purest form of its concept, and that concept leans into its horror a bit more. It’s also a pretty decent shooter, one that deserves a better standing in history.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
Not enough games are about the cat and mouse chase for a serial killer, and far fewer are as unflinchingly brutal as Condemned: Criminal Origins.
You play as FBI agent Ethan Thomas, out to capture a serial killer who has framed him for the murder of other serial killers. Of course, the suspects being killed are all connected to investigations our agent has been involved with, so he’s looking especially guilty. You’ll be looking for evidence, dusting for prints and fighting off dangerous criminals
What makes Condemned tick is its sickeningly crunchy melee combat. The game’s first-person perspective is used to great effect as weapons such as rusty pipes and box cutters do some disturbing damage to foes. Throw in the twisted hallucinations Thomas is increasingly afflicted by and things somehow take an even darker turn.
Its investigative path is a frustratingly linear one, but there’s enough meat on Condemned’s bones to flesh it out beyond this. There’s few PC horror games as visceral as Condemned.
The 7th Guest
At this stage, 7th Guest may be something of an acquired taste, but if you truly want to sample a slice of important vintage PC horror games, then this is an essential title to get your hands on.
One of the first video games on PC to be entirely on a CD-ROM, 7th Guest puts you in the befuddled shoes of an amnesiac wandering a mansion, trying to piece together your own past, which is naturally just a touch on the grisly side. What follows is almost a prototype for what Resident Evil would be, as it featured live-action scenes and a variety of puzzles.
The game was so packed full of video for its 1993 release that it required two whole discs. That didn’t stop it doing gangbusters and pushing the CD-ROM drive into popularity alongside the like of MYST.
7th Guest is not as scary as it once was, but it’s such a fascinating and ambitious product of its time. You owe it to yourself to experience it as an enthusiast for PC horror games as it helped to shape PC horror games for years to come.
American McGee’s Alice
While these days the most disturbing things that concern Lewis Carroll’s creations are films that feature Johhny Depp, there was a time where former Id Software developer American McGee really twisted the world of Alice in Wonderland into a grotesque work of art and we got some pretty beloved games out of it.
McGee’s own eccentric and dysfunctional upbringing would serve as inspiration for this dark sequel to Carroll’s novels. Alice loses her grip on reality after her family is killed in a fire, and after a lengthy spell of catatonia, she returns to Wonderland. Because Wonderland is a product of Alice’s mind, it has mutated into a hellish mirror of itself, so none of the inhabitants are quite as she remembered them.
American McGee’s Alice was, even for the year 2000, a tad too mechanically straightforward to attain classic status, yet the combination of sumptuous visual design and an inspired musical soundtrack helped it gain significant popularity and a solid fanbase.
System Shock 2
Any extended conversation about Bioshock is likely to land back on the game that it owes a huge debt to; its spiritual forefather System Shock 2.
Ken Levine and Irrational Games had a significant hand in both, and if you’ve played Bioshock, but not seen fit to discover its parentage via this 1999 sci-fi masterpiece. You are aboard a starship in the not too distant future and are tasked with stopping the outbreak of a genetic infection (that’s had a nasty effect on the crew).
There is combat and exploration fused with RPG elements (a novel fusion at the time) as you creep around the cyberpunk-inspired halls of the ship. System Shock 2 is part action RPG and part survival horror and it’s easy to see where its legacy has led in the last 19 years.
Nowhere is that more evident than in it the reveal of the crazed AI SHODAN. Even if you know next to nothing about System Shock 2, you’ll likely have seen the striking image of the AI construct, resplendent in circuitry. SHODAN’s manipulation of the player is an iconic moment in gaming history and highly influential on the plots of several high profile games that have come since.
The game hasn’t aged all that well, even if it does remain playable. The proposed remake of the original game is taking its sweet time, however, so this and the recently updated 1994 original, are the best ports of call.
Half-Life
System Shock 2 may have had its own impact on video game history (horror-tinged or otherwise), but Sierra and Valve’s Half-Life is arguably even more important.
The misadventures of Gordon Freeman at Black Mesa sees a portal to another dimension opened, spreading strange and hostile alien life throughout the underground research facility. Mute scientist Gordon Freeman looks to escape the chaos and proves himself to be a dab hand at combat along the way.
The early hours of Half-Life are where it gains its horror badge. The buzzing intermittent light in the facility has the possibility of hiding the facehugger-esque Head Crabs, but its what they create when they latch on to a human host that really gets creepy.
Visually-speaking, Half-Life is obviously a tad dated, but in terms of how it plays? It more than holds its own and remains an immensely tense and enjoyable experience right up until that ill-fated final act.
Oh and there’s a sequel, but who remembers that?
S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl
The haunting real-life Chernobyl seems like a smart place to set a horror of any description given the radioactive disaster area holds plenty of its own myths and legends to begin with. GSC Game World certainly made good use of it for 2007’s S.T.A.L.K.E.R. Shadow of Chernobyl, throwing a variety of horrifying mutants and perilous survival in an almost alien environment that happens to be grounded in reality.
S.T.A.L.KE.R. really kicks your backside when it comes to survival. Not only do you have to struggle against the mutants (which include invisible and psionic monstrosities) and the radiation, but there’s strange anomalies, potential starvation and bleeding out from injuries to contend with. This isn’t the most pleasant experience then, but the harsh brutality of this world is exactly why it gained a following with players seeking a more hardcore survival horror.
The S.T.A.L.K.E.R. games, unfortunately, got upstaged by the return of Fallout, but the Chernobyl-set series is still a PC favorite for many. It even got a spiritual Battle Royale successor in Fear The Wolves.
Doom 3
The easy option here would be to pick Doom II: Hell on Earth, but frankly, that should already be on everyone’s PC/console/kettle. 2004’s Doom 3 is here however because it’s a different beast. One that revels in slow-burn tension and scares and it’s among the best examples of PC horror games around.
That was the major criticism of Doom 3 upon release, that it was too slow for a Doom game, and to be fair, it is for most of the time. The thing is, Doom 3 is actually very effective in its application of trudging horror in its opening hours. The clang of pipes, the threatening mutter of something unseen, the undefinable shape in the darkness, all this and more help ratchet up tension and paranoia to excruciating levels.
When you do see something, the grotesque Hell Beasts are a massive step up in visual design from Doom II. The John Carmack-created engine and its impressive lighting system accentuate their grisly looks while the disconcerting soundtrack provides added menace.
Doom 3 is not the best in Id Software’s near 25-year-old series, but it is the most ambitious departure, and more often than not, it works.
Left 4 Dead
There have been many offshoots from Valve’s Source engine post-Half-Life 2. Among them are the insanely popular Counterstrike, the critical darling Portal, and a co-op multiplayer horror that became an instant classic.
Left 4 Dead sees four players teaming up to escape a nightmarish zombie apocalypse (back when zombies weren’t in every other horror title) by working together and strategizing.
The great thing about Left 4 Dead is that it nails the undependable nature of co-operating under stress. Acts of boneheaded bravery and weaselly cowardice are a common occurrence when the pressure piles on. If your team can’t keep their cool and avoid panic then chaos soon reigns and your blood is spilled (and the shouting matches can begin). There’s a dynamic personal story to each game of Left 4 Dead that so many multiplayer efforts have tried to emulate since.
Many PC horror games play on the fear of solitude, Left 4 Dead plays on the fear of deceit and cowardice.
Penumbra: Overture/Black Plague
The first two episodes of Frictional Games’ Penumbra PC horror games series set up so much of what modern indie horror became and that alone makes them an essential part of any retro horror collection.
Overture sees a Phillip, a physicist who follows his dead father’s letter to Greenland and ends up trapped in a mine, forced to live on the spiders that occupy it.
This ordeal begins to deteriorate Phillip’s mind and things go more than a little sideways. It’s a clunky first try at the Frictional psychological horror template that would evolve into Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA, but it’s fascinating to see the building blocks in action.
Black Plague improves on the template and kicks off at the point Overture ended, with Phillip returning as the protagonist. This time he’s in an abandoned base full of the undead and the threat of an ancient Inuit entity. It’s a fine slice of creepy psychological horror, and as with Overture, it’s not shy about tackling mature, darker fare.
Neither game has aged well mechanically despite being just over a decade old. That shouldn’t prevent you from ‘enjoying’ two of the biggest head-trips you’ll find in the realm of PC horror games.
College kids, strippers and vampires—those were Donald P. Borchers’ only requirements when he approached Richard Wenk about writing and directing a movie for New World Pictures. As requested, Wenk cooked up Vamp (1986), a tailor-made blend of the decade’s teen movie craze as well as its horror boom.
Grim and earnest stories were still very much a part of the ’80s horror landscape, yet Vamp is something of a comedy. One difference between it and, say, Saturday the 14th, though, is the former avoids using schtick. Wenk’s movie proves that horror comedies also don’t have to subtract thrills from their recipes. Of course, it takes a minute before reaching that point; college antics and culture shocks preface this one macabre misadventure.
Vamp‘s initial setup is apt for a typical college-set, sex-driven comedy; to bribe their way into a fraternity house, two pledges (Chris Makepeace, Robert Rusler) go looking for some adult entertainment. Without wasting time on any further exposition, the characters embark on an all-in-one-night trip that quickly detours into terror.
To procure their elusive MacGuffin—a stripper willing to gyrate for some frat boys—Keith (Makepeace) and AJ (Rusler), plus a third wheel named Duncan (Gedee Watanabe), trade the safety of their remote college campus for the seediness of some unnamed city. The setting is recognizably L.A. by day, but as soon as night falls, downtown, along with the characters, slips into a kind of surreal universe. Director of photography Elliot Davis gave this early entry on his prolific résumé an unusual yet distinctive look; that Mario Bava-esque, magenta-green lighting is omnipresent, so much so that it’s almost its own character.
Chris Makepeace and Robert Rusler in Vamp
The faint comparisons to Martin Scorsese’s After Hours are merited, although not just because of Vamp’s distinguishing nighttime aesthetic. Save for the primary characters, the supporting roles in Wenk’s movie are also quite colorful and transactional in their behavior. The difference here, though, is the additional urge to ruin Keith and his friends at every turn. Some of that harm is humorous and tolerable enough, whereas the moment Vamp dishes out its first fatality, it’s abundantly clear how this movie qualifies as horror.
Vamp falls into that category of horror movie that reveals its genre with a scream rather than a series of whispers. The opening scene can function as a hint of what lies ahead—things are not at all what they appear to be—but otherwise, Wenk is more than happy to hold off on the horror. When that time does come, though, it catches the viewer off guard. In addition to the pure shock value is that sudden decision to upend the movie’s foremost feature. Or so it would seem.
If afraid of major spoilage, those new to Vamp would be wise to stop reading here. There’s just no skirting around the fact that the central fellowship in this buddy movie hits a serious snag when AJ is killed. That development causes the story to become more of a “long, bad night” journey for Keith and his romantic interest. So while Wenk scores points for subverting expectations, there is also a touch of sadness in his decision. Because if Vamp does anything well, it’s making the characters likable.
Something that comes easily to Vamp—and other teen horror movies from this same era—is its ability to invent young characters worth caring about, or at the very least, are interesting and not so immediately off-putting. More impressive is how Wenk did all this without actually fleshing out those characters. Still and all, Keith and his kind are a grade above cookie-cutter, and in some cases, aren’t completely devoid of growth.
Grace Jones in Vamp
Vamp appeals with an assorted cast of characters. No two are the same, nor are they operating on the same wavelength. The cinematically extroverted AJ, whose actor conveyed charm and vulnerability in near equal amounts, comes alive when he’s at his most undead. Makepeace then makes the chronically cautious Keith a sympathetic fellow, even as he’s more and more affected by the night’s bizarre events. Meanwhile, Duncan is indeed the designated loser of the whole bunch, but Watanabe still manages to humanize him. As a bonus, the role didn’t require him to pull a Long Duk Dong.
As for Dedee Pfeiffer, she is plain adorable as the mysterious After Dark server nicknamed “Amaretto”. She spends all night fixing her dress strap while at the same time trying to get Keith to remember how he knows her. As their offbeat romance grows, it becomes another highlight of this movie. Whether or not Pfeiffer’s character is really a vampire also creates some welcome tension in the story.
Like a lot of its contemporaries, Vamp went on to become a bit of a cult classic. That current status is determined by several factors, but without a doubt, the casting of Grace Jones is the most considerable. The image of her writhing on that unique-looking chair, a Keith Haring original, springs to mind whenever this movie is brought up.
Chris Makepeace, Billy Drago and Paunita Nichols in Vamp
Prior to that first display of unequivocal horror, local vampire queen Katrina (Jones) took to the stage and delivered a strip show like no other. One would expect nothing less from that renowned model and performance artist. By now reports of Jones’ tardiness on set are no secret, yet it’s also hard to deny her commitment to the part of Katrina. It was, in fact, Jones who took charge of her character’s appearance—on top of Haring painting her body and that now-iconic chair, she had Andy Warhol handle her costuming. And not too many actors could seize a room’s attention without saying a single line of dialogue.
In 2022, Vamp received a retrospective novelization from Encyclopocalypse. This literary union of preexisting source material—Wenk’s original screenplay—and new ideas from author Christian Francis amounts to a more comprehensive visit to the After Dark Club. The basic story there is no different than what’s shown on screen; however, Francis gets creative with the characters’ origins and designs, and he enhances a number of key scenes.
The novelization expands on the urban and social decay of the main setting, and supplies a background for the After Dark Club. Sandy Baron’s character, Katrina’s emcee and familiar, is given ample motivation for sticking around; up until the fiery end, he is loyal to his friend and former business partner “Squeak”, who looks like he was “fed through a combine harvester, and left as nothing more than a heap of mangled remains”. Then there is Billy Drago’s character Snow, the leader of a street gang called The Dragons. His reason for menacing Keith and AJ is more altruistic than in the movie; he and his peers act tough to scare off any potential food for the vampires.
Lisa Lyon in Vamp
If not for all the backstories, Francis’ Vamp would be a hell of a lot shorter. Instead, this tie-in read dives into how AJ met Keith—the orphaned Anthony Joseph hailed from a broken home back in Brooklyn—and how their friendship flourished over the years. Keith’s archership is no longer just an assumed part of his entire being; it’s a confidence-building extracurricular for a boy who got picked on before coming into the protection of the new kid in town. These supplemental, in-depth looks at the protagonists, plus their close connection, are maybe unnecessary. The movie already did a fair and concise job of addressing their platonic intimacy without the need for flashbacks and insights, specifically in that scene where AJ lays it all out as he sacrifices himself.
Where the novelization gets off course is its approach to the minor characters. Intermittently backstorying the likes of Katrina’s indentured servants, Seko (Leila Hee Olsen) and Vlad (Brad Logan), ends up disturbing the flow of the writing. Was it absolutely essential that readers know Vlad was the Grand Duke of the House of Romanov, or how Snow’s accomplice Maven (Paunita Nichols) became so dentally challenged? No, not really. However, one’s mileage with these random biographies may vary.
The novelization is a more substantial experience, but for a movie like Vamp, less is more. And as plentiful as they are, it never simply coasts on its campy charms, either. The character work sits comfortably in that realm between cursory and meticulous, the script is sharper than first realized, and Greg Cannom’s vampire makeup is straightforward yet effective. Most of all, the movie didn’t squander its out-of-the-box concept. Richard Wenk made his vision of a “comic nightmare in which just about anything that can go wrong does” come true, and it is very enjoyable.
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