There’s nothing like watching a schlocky horror movie on Halloween night (or any night really), but there’s a genre of game that feels like a spiritual ally of that, the FMV game.

Yes, the blend of live action scenes in video games during the 90’s holds fond memories, even if it wasn’t always for the intended reasons!

Famous folk chewing the scenery, B-movie acting, utter madness captured on film and yours to watch as you await the next puzzle or mystery, FMV games are a curious relic of a previous era. They do seem to be making something of a comeback though, so clearly there’s something about it that resonates even after all this time. Like 3D movies, but less cynical.

Right now is a great time to experience those memories for the first time or all over again as GOG.com currently has a selection of classic FMV titles on sale for Halloween, sitting alongside a host of other horror and sci-fi titles.

If you want to know what to get, we’ve selected some of the best horror-based examples for you below.

Phantasmagoria 1 & 2

These interactive movies from Sierra are the height of decadence for the 90’s obsession with full motion video. The first game alone had a budget of $4.5 million in 1995 and featured 25 actors and a swathe of Hollywood-grade special effects.

In the first game, you play through the story of Adrienne Delaney, who is besieged by supernatural forces in a mansion. Its sequel, unrelated to the events of the first game, was highly controversial due to its sex and violence, leading it to get banned in many countries.

Phantasmagoria did become one of the best-selling games of 1995 and was profitable despite its huge budget. The sequel was less successful. Even so, these are two fascinating slices of gaming history.

Gabriel Knight 2: The Beast Within

Gabriel Knight 2 is one of the more known FMV titles of the 90’s and another Sierra joint. It sees mystery writer Gabriel Knight finding himself in a Bavarian werewolf plot with strong sexual overtones. This sequel is a mesmerizing shift from its predecessor.

Stripping out its lead (Tim Curry replaced by Dean Erickson) and changing Gabriel Knight himself massively as a result, a budget that blew up way too much, and performance time being limited to a couple of takes tops, it would be easy for Gabriel Knight 2 to have been a massive failure. As it was, it did well critically, but failed to strike up the kind of numbers of its labelmate Phantasmagoria.

Shivers

Another from that fabled mid-90’s run of FMV titles, Shivers was billed as the horror answer to Myst and a rival to The 7th Guest (which we’ll get to in a bit). It sees you control an unwary teen, forced to capture ten spirits from a haunted museum.

Much like Myst and The 7th Guest, Shivers is entirely in the first person, but the key thing here is you have a life bar, that can be depleted by encounters with the game’s spirits. It’s a rare FMV game from that time that actually bothered to have closed captions for dialogue, and it allowed you to rewind cutscenes too.

It’s also another connection to Phantasmagoria, as Sierra co-creator Roberta Williams worked on this as a creative consultant while working on that game.

Harvester

Probably the most violent game on this list, Harvester does not fuck about. Playing as an amnesiac in a strange 1950’s town, you unfurl a greater mystery about why you’re here.

It may be violent, but Harvester actually does a decent job of observing that violence and its depiction in fiction and reality. It also has a fucked up ending that feels very much like the plot to an episode of Black Mirror a good 15 or so years early.

The 7th Guest & The 11th Hour

Two of the most prominent early horror games of their era, there’s no denying the impact of The 7th Guest and The 11th Hour.

The 7th Guest is one of the earliest examples of FMV in games, and while it definitely shows its age in that regard, there’s still a goofy charm to it’s haunted house movie/puzzle hybrid.

The 11th Hour takes place 60 years after the events of The 7th Guest and is a murder mystery that leads back to the original haunted mansion.

These aren’t the best examples of the genre, but they are very important games to experience when revisiting the wonders of FMV gaming.

Bad Mojo

Possibly the most ambitious story told of these titles, Bad Mojo sees a cursed locket cause a seedy guy named Roger to have his soul transformed into a cockroach. From there it’s a race to get back to his physical form by assisting other roaches, avoiding rats, and jamming cutlery down food disposal units. Not your average FMV game.

Sounds like a fun game to make, but the development was actually a troubled one, and described as being rather unpleasant by those involved. A shame, because Bad Mojo is the right kind of nuts. It’s like It’s A Wonderful Life if Jimmy Stewart got turned into an insect and was actual scum to begin with.