Editorials
6 Horror Games We Want On Next Gen Consoles!
This console generation has lasted long enough, I say. Let’s bring on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4, the bevy of amazing games and the jaw-dropping visuals they’ll undoubtedly bring with them. The Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 have already given us plenty, let’s give them a break, they’ve earned it. Today, we’re going to chat about horror games I’d very much like to see on next-gen consoles. This is a part two, of sorts, so if you have a game you think deserves a mention, make sure it isn’t here first.
There’s a solid chance you won’t agree with every one of my picks, but then again, that’s the beauty of opinions — we all have one! It just so happens that yours is just as valuable as my own, so if you find yourself disagreeing with me, feel free to set me straight in the comments.
Read on for my list of six horror games we want on next-gen consoles!
I am absolutely in love with Shadows of the Damned. I think it’s a beautiful, vibrant, and often zany little game that’s entirely unique — at least in its world, the controls are very much reminiscent of Resident Evil 4 — and often hilarious.
Unfortunately, like many classics, Shadows of the Damned was largely overlooked when it first released. Despite solid reviews, its sales were practically nonexistent. The story is familiar: a man, the demon hunter known as Garcia Hotspur, sets off on a mission to save his girlfriend, who’s been kidnapped by the lord of hell. With the help of his trusty sidekick, Johnson, the duo set off to break down the doors to one of the most colorful interpretations of hell I’ve ever seen. Thanks to some hugely entertaining dialogue and seriously gorgeous visuals, Shadows of the Damned is one of my favorite games of 2011. It totally deserves a sequel.
In related news, if for some reason you discover you’re still on the fence about it two years later, check out TJ’s list of reasons why it’s worth checking out.
I’ll admit that I’ve never really gotten into the Manhunt series. I played most of the first, but I barely touched the second mostly because the focus of the games seemed too focus more on being as controversial as possible by getting you to kill NPCs in the most gruesome ways possible, rather than introducing interesting gameplay mechanics. I’ve also never been a big fan of stealth games, so there’s that.
With that said, the Manhunt series, and particularly the first, has always been a genuinely unsettling horror series with some seriously twisted scenes. Like torture porn movies, they aim to make you uncomfortable, and in that regard they’ve always been successful. I’d happily return to the franchise, assuming Rockstar can take time away from crafting exponentially more successful games to make room for another Manhunt on next-gen consoles.
Judging from the unprecedented box office success of Kane Parsons’ Backrooms adaptation, you’ve likely already seen the liminal horror hit that managed to make audiences afraid of empty hallways and bad wallpaper. And now that so many of us have already entered the yellow labyrinth (some of us more than once), the time has come to discuss the spoiler-filled details that make the movie so fascinating in the first place.
And if there’s one element here that makes the Backrooms movie stand out from any previous lore/mythology, it has to be the genius addition of the Still Life entities. Warped recreations of real people that somehow wandered into the Complex, these misremembered creatures are responsible for some of the most disturbing imagery of 2026 – as well as laugh-out-loud memes created by one of the film’s very own concept artists.
However, true to Parsons’ word that the movie would rely heavily on practical effects, each of these distorted monsters was brought to life by real actors under heavy layers of makeup and prosthetics (with the occasional splash of CGI enhancements). While Anora and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You actress Ivy Wolk wasn’t among these performers, despite what Letterboxd might have you believe, the creature cast did benefit from veteran players with plenty of genre experience.
For starters, Alien: Romulus alumni Robert Bobroczkyi (who previously brought that film’s horrific Offspring to life during its most memorable sequence) plays the flick’s main antagonist, the Still Life version of Captain Clark. And though there was some obvious CGI involved in making the character’s peg-leg and nightmarish face more believable, Bobroczkyi’s monstrous performance and his natural 7’7″ frame helped to make that final chase sequence a clear highlight among this year’s genre offerings.
The film’s Texas-Chain-Saw-inspired “dinner” scene also features a freaky collection of less-aggressive Still Life creatures in the form of the Bearded Man, the Red-Headed Woman and, strangest of them all, the cheekily named “Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life” (who earned this title among fans and crewmembers as a reference to his apparent affinity for lamps).
While this was the first major horror outing for both Patrick Baynham (The Bearded Man) and Dana Mahmood (Archibald), Rhiannon Roberts has worked as a stunt performer in everything from Yellowjackets to HBO’s The Last of Us adaptation – which is probably why The Red-Headed Woman is the most active out of Clark’s impromptu “family.” That being said, the Archibald Leland Sutter Still Life is my personal favorite of the bunch simply because his anachronistic outfit suggests that the Backrooms phenomenon might be a lot older than the Async Foundation. I also love how hard he tries to be helpful with that little light of his!
That might be it for the Still Life entities, but I think horror fans will also be pleased to hear that the film’s Found Footage prologue stars none other than Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City star Avan Jogia as Naren Warne – and American Mary herself Katharine Isabelle also shows up in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo at Mary’s house party towards the middle of the story (though I have a feeling that she originally had a bigger part that was likely cut for time).
At the end of the day, Parsons’ Backrooms may have been an auteur-driven project motivated by the young director’s unique take on the classic creepypasta, but film has always been a collective artform, so it’s fun to see just how many talented performers it takes to bring this kind of supernatural nightmare to life in a way that connects with so many people.
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