Editorials
Ranking 10 of the Best Licensed Horror Games!
Licensed games used to get a lot of flack for their shoddy production value and rushed development cycles, but that doesn’t mean they were all bad. Sometimes, passionate developers and the clever use of beloved IPs can be enough to overcome limited budgets and impossible deadlines, resulting in quite a few hidden gems even in the gaming industry’s least-favorite releases.
That’s why we’ve decided to compile this list ranking 10 of the best licensed horror games, as there’s a lot of fun to be had with some of these interactive adaptations of our favorite horror franchises. They might not all be masterpieces, but I believe they’re all worth revisiting for one reason or another, in spite of their licensed origins.
Naturally, we’ll be omitting licensed character DLC for games like Mortal Kombat and Dead by Daylight, and we’ll also limit our selection to one game per horror franchise. In any case, don’t forget to share your own favorites with us in the comments below.
Now, onto the list!
10. Jaws Unleashed
No matter how much I love the game, Appaloosa Interactive’s Jaws Unleashed is by no means a 10/10. The visuals are muddled and the controls can be confusing, but where else are you going to find a game where you can casually chew through beach-goers on your way to fight a giant Kraken?
Like GTA had a steroid-infused baby with Ecco the Dolphin, Jaws Unleashed may have more in common with the film’s increasingly ridiculous sequels, but there’s a lot of fun to be had prowling the mysterious waters surrounding Amity Island. There’s nothing like sneaking up on unsuspecting swimmers for a midnight snack, especially when that iconic John Williams score kicks in.
9. Parasite Eve
While there was a Parasite Eve film in 1997, SquareSoft’s 1998 game is actually a sequel to Hideaki Sena’s original novel, once again pitting humanity against an ancient Mitochondria-based entity as monsters are unleashed in New York City.
Mixing survival-horror thrills with turn-based RPG elements, Parasite Eve is a unique take on bio-weapons and mutations, and one of the stand-out titles of the PS1-era. While there was a sequel and an eventual spinoff on the PSP, this is one series that I’d love to see make a comeback in the near future!
8. Evil Dead Regeneration
There have been several Evil Dead games over the years, from a traditional survival-horror title on the original Playstation to the upcoming Left-4-Dead-inspired Evil Dead: The Game, but so far, I’d have to say that 2005’s Evil Dead Regeneration is my favorite of the bunch.
Once again featuring the ever-lovable Bruce Campbell as our favorite Deadite-slaying badass (and Ted Raimi as his diminutive half-Deadite companion Sam), Cranky Pants Games’ take on the Evil Dead franchise is a surprisingly fun hack ‘n’ slash with a wicked sense of humor.
7. Saw
Due to the self-contained nature of the franchise’s traps and locations, I would never have expected an interactive adaptation of Saw to work as well as the movies. Of course, I was proven wrong by Zombie Studios’ underrated Saw. Working as a companion piece to the then-ongoing mythology of the original films, this 2009 title puts players in the shoes of series favorite Detective David Tapp as he traverses a deadly insane asylum.
The controls can be clunky and the graphics aren’t all that impressive, but there’s a lot of love for the source material here (James Wan and Leigh Whannell were both brought in to help with the story and traps), and there’s nothing like the looming threat of a horrific death to make you want to solve puzzles as quickly as possible. If you can stomach the appropriately gnarly gore, I’d recommend this one to any fan of the films or Survival Horror in general.
6. Blair Witch
Having already crafted the mind-bending Layers of Fear series, it’s no surprise that Bloober Team would be the ones to tackle this adaptation of one of horror’s most iconic films. It’s not the first game to recreate the Black Hills forest, but it’s definitely the most faithful to the look and feel of the movies, complete with a functioning in-game camcorder and a rich backstory.
Blair Witch has its issues, both in narrative and gameplay, but once you reach the final hours of the game and enter certain a familiar cabin, you’ll realize why Bloober was the perfect studio to bring the world of The Blair Witch Project to life.
5. Telltale’s The Walking Dead
Telltale Games is now just a sad memory, but they left behind an admirable legacy of adventure titles that helped to reinvigorate the genre. My favorite of these (and perhaps the most infamous) is their unique take on Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead. Adapting the world and atmosphere of the comics rather than any particular story, Telltale’s first season of The Walking Dead remains one of the best examples of emotionally-driven interactive storytelling, and I feel like every gamer should try it out at least once.
This iteration of The Walking Dead may be more slower-paced than what some players are used to, but the excellent storytelling proves that it’s possible to make a genuinely thrilling game without resorting to exaggerated action or silly gimmicks.
4. The Thing
A criminally underplayed gem, this 2002 classic somehow manages to game-ify all the best elements of Carpenter’s classic film while also serving as an action-packed sequel (complete with a surprise cameo towards the end of the experience).
Never knowing if your companions are friends or foes and constantly having to manage resources with unique squad skills, this paranoid adventure is one of the best horror titles of the sixth console generation, and a love-letter to one of the best horror films of all time.
3. Peter Jackson’s King Kong: The Official Game of the Movie
Peter Jackson’s King Kong may be a monster movie, but despite the director’s splatter-movie pedigree, it’s definitely not a horror film. The movie’s tie-in videogame, however, is as far removed from a summer blockbuster as you could possibly get. Putting players in the vulnerable shoes of a hapless screenwriter trapped on a primitive island where nearly every lifeform is out to get you, the game excels at making players aware that they are not welcome on Skull Island.
There are a few fun segments where you play as Kong himself, but the general lack of an HUD, limited ammo and terrifying monster designs make this a truly horrific experience, especially when you’re being pursued by unkillable dinosaurs. Even if you’re not a fan of the film, I highly recommend checking this one out if you’re up for a terrifying first-person adventure in dinosaur-infested jungles.
2. Friday the 13th
Crowdfunded back in 2016, Illfonic’s Friday the 13th is a passion project made by fans for fans. While the end product is just as janky as the low-budget scary movies that it’s trying to emulate, I know that I thoroughly enjoyed my time with this interactive love-letter to Jason Voorhees.
When it works, the game manages to successfully condense the best parts of a Slasher flick into a single online match, making for a rewarding and addictive experience. While it’s a shame that the infamous lawsuit kept us from seeing new and exciting updates/DLC, there’s still a lot to enjoy in this rare instance of an online title that left us wanting more.
1. Alien Isolation
I don’t think any other licensed horror title has ever captured the spirit of its source material like Creative Assembly’s Alien Isolation. Borrowing the original film’s premise of a “haunted house in space” and turning it into an interactive thrill-ride, Isolation remains a shining example of what passionate developers can do when given the proper time and resources.
I’ll never forget how I wandered the eerie corridors of Sevastopol, dreading my next encounter with the titular Xenomorph and becoming increasingly more paranoid whenever I saw a leak dripping down from the ceiling. Whether you’re a fan of the franchise or not, I think every horror fan should experience this nonstop thrill-ride at least once.
Horror was thriving so well in the 1980s that movies like Pen Densham’s The Kiss (1988) would understandably get lost in the shuffle, only to then gain their fans later on in life. Even still, this one Canadian-American curio has had a more challenging time than others, as far as contemporary reevaluations go, which is very likely due to the movie’s limited availability—at least as of this write-up.
However, the scarceness of The Kiss, while a bit annoying, makes it like catnip for ‘80s horror completists everywhere. Hopefully, a lot of them will walk away satisfied after watching this hidden gem.
Even though The Kiss was intended as the first of several horror collaborations between Astral Pictures and TriStar, as well as the first feature produced by Densham, Richard B. Lewis and John Watson’s Trilogy Entertainment Group, it ended up being the only one produced from that former union. Once the movie was released, TriStar’s distribution jitters—they opted for a regional rollout—did the $6-million flick no favors. TriStar’s cold feet toward horror releases have been well noted, but The Kiss still did a tad better than Night of the Creeps (1986), another genre outing that flopped due to its regional opening.
Shot in Montreal, but set in Albany, New York, The Kiss—which was still called The Host just a few months before its October premiere—concerns an average middle-class family and their forthcoming situation. The uncanny problem in store for them was, in fact, set in motion some years earlier. As that hot and dusty flashback to the Belgian Congo shows, a familial curse was set upon the two Dunbar sisters well before Meredith Salenger’s teenage character was born.
Meredith Salenger, Nicholas Kilbertus and Mimi Kuzyk in The Kiss
The Kiss, which was based on a story by co-writer Stephen Volk (Ghostwatch) and penned by both Volk and Tom Ropelewski, has the outward appearance of The Stepfather (1987). This movie, though, is anything but a gender-flipped retread of that classic domestic disturber. For starters, The Kiss is far less grounded in reality—that much is clear from its unsettling opening scene. There, a trusting girl (Priscilla Mouzakiotis) is the victim of her own deceptive aunt (Céline Lomez); the movie’s titular act, and the story’s first shock, becomes the means of transferring an ancient evil from one host to another.
In the present day, Salenger’s role of Amy Halloran, a religious schoolgirl, is dealt a harsh blow in life once her mother, Hilary Halloran née Dunbar (Pamela Collyer), suddenly dies in a freak accident. But rather than a complete stranger sweeping the Halloran widower (Nicholas Kilbertus) off his feet some months later, Joanna Pacula’s character is that chosen temptress. Here, Pacula plays the grown-up version of the afflicted girl last seen in the movie’s opener. Since Amy’s mother is insistent about there being no reunion between estranged sisters, and she even contemplates buying a gun shortly before her tragic demise, it’s presumable that Aunt Felice poses a threat to her family.
The Kiss isn’t a movie ever too concerned about its own predictability. The audience is indeed often one step ahead of the story here, but also keep in mind how every one of those steps is loud. Take, for instance, the death of Amy’s mother; the Halloran matriarch goes out in garish, gruesome fashion, as a supernaturally commandeered truck sends Collyer’s character through a store window first, then leaves her one leg short. The directorial enthusiasm truly comes out in horrific moments such as these.
The Kiss is always sure to revel in its characters’ ills and misfortunes. So if the plot doesn’t impress, then its lurid parts should. Amy’s mother’s exit scene was proof of an eager, first-time horror director proving his worth. Then, bestie Heather (Sabrina Boudot) survives to tell the tale of a bizarre escalator mishap that, despite showing relatively less gore, spikes viewers’ empathy meter. The wilder bits of this movie, however, commence with that inevitable hookup between Felice and Amy’s bewitched father; their kitchen coitus is paralleled by Amy’s feverish classroom terror. The outcome there is a disquieting cross-cut of sex magic and a young woman’s menstrual onset plus hallucinations.
Sabrina Boudot in The Kiss
From foam appliances to bladders, that parade of special effects in The Kiss casts its own spell on the audience. Felice’s familiar, a visibly malevolent cat, was realized here with several models, some more articulate than others. Admittedly, the demon cat’s not as convincing as most of the effects here, but accepting that artifice, as opposed to fighting it, will make the whole experience way more enjoyable. As for the makeup used to manifest Felice’s inner villainy, it is more minimal and subtle than one might like; yet the work done to turn Pacula into an antithesis of herself is nonetheless compelling.
The otherworldly perils and dreadful goings-on wouldn’t work half as well as they do in The Kiss without the story’s contrast effect. Finding frights in picturesque, extremely ordinary settings was something that took off in the ‘80s, thanks to that sweeping shift to locales like the suburbs. And Amy’s home, a replica of a real Montreal suburban house, is the ideal battleground for any proper good-versus-evil story. It’s also prime real estate for this movie’s satanic panic-inspired horrors.
Because of their ostensibly similar plots, The Kiss has been compared to The Exorcist (1973). Except in Densham’s movie, the sinister, non-Christian entity targeting a teen girl lies within something less apparent and, perhaps, more devastating upon its exposure. To an outsider, Pacula’s Aunt Felice is too beautiful and unobjectionable to ever suspect of being a monster. More suspicious is how quickly she rips into the fabric of the Halloran home. Felice’s mere presence upsets the “texture of family life,” according to the director.
The demon cat in The Kiss
Taking out Amy’s mother and best friend, and distracting her father, would suggest The Kiss is playing by a different set of rules. It is initially leaving its adolescent target unsupported in a rather grim scenario. In contrast, though, this story offers up a surrogate parent who does her best to fill in the holes of Amy’s eroding home life. Mimi Kuzyk does good work as that family friend and doctor, Brenda, who guides the lost child without also steering her in any one direction; she is naturally skeptical of Amy’s accusations until it’s almost too late to do anything about them. So although The Kiss does an admirable job of undoing the main character’s support system, it never leaves her without a lifeline. This dark movie, in spite of everything that’s transpired, doesn’t deprive itself of light and hope.
The Kiss is a potent mélange of familiar ideas. If not for the director’s surprise flair for horror, though, the movie would have been less effective. What a shame that Pen Densham didn’t continue with the genre. As for Joanna Pacula, she is, too, owed credit as the wicked vixen opposite Meredith Salenger’s pitiable Amy; she never fails to be unsettling in her role. Pacula makes Aunt Felice a sexy yet intimidating character.
For horror that steadily doles out madness and menace, while also delivering a flashy and ghastly conclusion, The Kiss is certain to please. Yes, it’s cheesy all the way, but most favorably, everyone involved plays everything straight. That kind of commitment goes a long way with this movie.
The Kiss
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