What developer Tripwire Interactive did with Killing Floor was take the proven cooperative horror formula of Left 4 Dead and give it a dash of Clive Barker. The goal is the same, to survive, only now you’re battling demonic creatures in deeply unsettling and creative environments. The game was successful enough to fund a quick sequel, but instead Tripwire cleverly spent the years following its release supporting it with patches, improvements, DLC and special holiday-themed content. This fostered a dedicated community — which includes myself — that cannot wait for the sequel.
Okay, yes, technically, this is a mod. I really wish Dean Hall and friends would’ve gotten the standalone out so I could include that here (and so I can play it), but they’re smartly taking their time with it. No one wants another disaster like The War Z/Infestation: Survival Stories.
If you’ve ever found yourself craving a realistic zombie apocalypse (that’s a massive oxymoron) than DayZ is the best video games have to offer right now. There are others, like State of Decay, Contagion, No More Room in Hell and The Dead Linger, but those are either unfinished or don’t come quite as close to offering the realistic survival simulation that DayZ does.
In case you missed it, you should definitely check out our list of reasons why you should be excited for the standalone.
With the recent surge in indie horror games, we’ve seen a handful of trends take off. One of them is the aforementioned growing number of “Slender horror” games and another is the use of pixel art.
Numerous developers have decided to craft horror games that have a pixel art style, like Home and the upcoming Claire. It serves as a fantastic tribute to the good old days, back when Resident Evil and Silent Hill were pushing boundaries on a consistent basis, rather than aiming for the Call of Duty market or gradually fading into obscurity.
Jasper Byrne’s Lone Survivor is one of the greatest indie horror games of this gen and, in my humble opinion, it’s hands down the best looking one as far as pixel art games go. Its a love letter to the survival horror games of old — particularly Silent Hill — and it’s cheap and available on enough platforms to extinguish any excuse you may want to muster for not having played it yet.