Prolific horror film producer Roy Lee (It, Barbarian, Late Night with the Devil, Strange Darling) will lead the adaptation. Lee will bring the film the same terrifying authenticity that has made the critically acclaimed psychological horror game franchise a fan favorite for over 37 million players worldwide.

J.T. Petty (The Burrowers, Hellbenders), who is deeply involved in the story for the games themselves, will be working on the film’s screenplay. Petty previews, “Red Barrels has been pushing the limits of horror in games for more than a decade, and expanding the Outlast Universe into film is an incredible opportunity to dive deeper into the characters and killers we love.”

With Lionsgate’s success and expertise in high-quality cinematic storytelling in the horror genre as the studio behind the SAW franchise, as well as the recent hits The Strangers: Chapter 1 and Imaginary, and many other hit films over the decades, along with Red Barrels’ reputation for pushing the boundaries of horror in gaming, the upcoming adaptation promises to deliver a gripping experience that captures the franchise’s signature elements—immersive atmosphere, chilling sound design, and relentless suspense.

“When Outlast launched in 2012, it changed the landscape of horror gaming, setting a new standard for immersion in the genre,” said Roy Lee. “Its deep, emergent lore has provided a perfect foundation for creating a film that delves into the psychological and physical horrors at the core of the franchise. I’m excited to bring this unique world to life for both new viewers and the series’ dedicated fans.”

“As die-hard fans of horror across every medium, at Red Barrels we are great admirers of Roy Lee’s and Lionsgate’s work. Horror movies old and new have had an undeniable impact on our franchise over the years, and to now have the opportunity to work on an Outlast film with true horror legends is a dream, or should I say, nightmare, come true,” explains David Chateauneuf, Co-Founder and Creative Director at Red Barrels.

Since its launch in 2012, the Outlast video game series has evolved as a single-player narrative-driven survival horror franchise beginning with the original game and followed by the prequel Outlast: Whistleblower and the standalone sequel Outlast 2. Most recently, The Outlast Trials launched in 2024, offering an immersive multiplayer experience for up to four players. Beneath the psychological terror that defines each Outlast installment lies a recurring theme of manipulation and abuse of power, with corrupt institutions exploiting people for their own sinister purposes.

The Outlast film adaptation marks an exciting new chapter for the franchise, expanding its reach from gaming to the world of cinema.

Luiz H.C. celebrated the 10th anniversary of Outlast here on Bloody Disgusting just last year. He wrote, “players step into the shoes of Miles Upshur, a journalist who receives an anonymous tip about illegal human experimentation at a private psychiatric hospital. Armed only with a camcorder and good intentions, Miles trespasses onto hospital property only to find himself trapped amongst homicidal patients after a catastrophic security failure, with players forced to navigate this labyrinthian hellscape as they unravel the secrets of Mount Massive Asylum.”

“Outlast remains a must-play for the Halloween season even a full decade later,” Luiz notes. “There’s a reason why it’s still undefeated when it comes to pure interactive terror.”

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That’s why I find it baffling that so few developers have managed to take advantage of the similarities between these two mediums when coming up with new horror experiences. While it can be argued that titles like Michigan: Report from Hell and even Slender incorporate elements of found-footage into their mechanics, the closest thing to a non-FMV game that fully commits to the diegetic POV horror experience is Red Barrels’ infamous hide-and-seek simulator, Outlast.

And with the game currently celebrating its tenth anniversary, I thought that this might be a good time to look back on how the title does such a great job of translating found-footage thrills to an interactive medium.

The story of Outlast actually begins years before the game was even in development, with Red Barrels co-founders David Chateauneuf, Hugo Dallaire and Philippe Morin working for EA and Ubisoft and finding themselves frustrated with mainstream gaming studios’ reluctance to finance new single-player IPs. This led to the creation of an independent studio which would end up pioneering the “mid-budget indie game” – independently produced titles with enough production value to feasibly compete with AAA projects.

And when your company is trying to craft low-budget experiences that can stand toe-to-toe with mainstream productions, what better genre to borrow from than found-footage horror? Taking inspiration from games like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and films like the Vicious Brothers’ Grave Encounters (a horror flick that simulates a ghost-hunting show gone wrong as the cast and crew become trapped in an abandoned mental hospital with a mind of its own), it was decided that the studio’s debut game would be a night-vision-heavy scare-fest of the first-person variety.

In the finished game, players step into the shoes of Miles Upshur, an intrepid journalist who receives an anonymous tip about illegal human experimentation going on at a private psychiatric hospital. Armed only with a camcorder and good intentions, Miles trespasses onto hospital property only to find himself trapped amongst homicidal patients after a catastrophic security failure, with players being forced to navigate this labyrinthian hellscape as they unravel the secrets of Mount Massive Asylum.

Fortunately for genre fans, the found-footage elements are much more than mere window-dressing here, with the camera actually aiding you in gameplay with its aforementioned night-vision mode (which rapidly expends battery-life, adding an anxiety-inducing element of resource management to the game) and zoom function helping you to explore and document the horrors of Mount Massive like a bona fide reporter. The camera also holds some narrative significance as the catalyst of this entire story, with this fragile device being the only thing capable of taking down the Murkoff Corporation if you can only find some way to escape.

That being said, it’s the found-footage-inspired visuals that really make Outlast stand out. From predatory eyes reflected in the greenish hue of night-vision to seemingly harmless patients finding ways to cope with the madness of the asylum in increasingly disturbing ways, one could argue that the realistic presentation is the main selling point of the experience. In fact, some of the title’s freakiest imagery seem eerily reminiscent of the infamous 1967 documentary Titticut Follies, in which a lawyer-turned filmmaker documents the inhuman treatment of patients at the Bridgewater State Hospital for the Criminally Insane. While those patients never resort to murder, there’s a clear connection between the horrific living conditions of Bridgewater and the abuses perpetrated by the fictional Murkoff corporation.

Beyond these real-world scares, there are plenty of familiar yet effective set-pieces here that are likely to make you sweat all over your controller – like moments of complete darkness where the player is separated from their only source of light or perfectly orchestrated jump-scares at the end of claustrophobic passageways. Hell, I even appreciate how the camera ends up damaged by the end of the experience, with a small crack reminding you of the horrors you’ve been through to get this far.

Outlast’s aesthetic elements are also exacerbated by the title’s use of epistolary storytelling, with this classic survival horror trope feeling even more fitting here once you realize that you’re creating an eerie document of your own as you play. Naturally, the frequent notes and environmental storytelling also serve as a bit of much-needed downtime in between scares, with the player being encouraged to freely explore as they catch their breath.

Unfortunately, this high level of immersion is sometimes broken by a handful of unfair chase sequences and formulaic missions that operate on repetitive logic (such as having to acquire a certain number of objects in an arena inhabited by a maniacal stalker). While these sections don’t exactly ruin the experience, it’s clear that the developers were trying to pad out the game’s brief runtime in order to make it feel more like a proper AAA title.

And on a more nitpicky note, I think Outlast would have been a much more cohesive experience if the developers had insisted on keeping the camera in the hands of the player at all times, as the digital filter and added level of authenticity only add to the scares and would have made the entire thing feel more like a proper interactive found-footage flick. Red Barrels could even have played some player-recorded snippets of their version of the ordeal over the end-credits, further emphasizing the importance of the footage to the story.

It may not be a perfect experience, with frequent jump-scares and some formulaic chases probably scaring off fans of slow-burn horror, but there’s a reason why Outlast is still undefeated when it comes to pure interactive terror. Even Red Barrels themselves couldn’t quite top this one with its sequels, and it can be argued that games like Alien: Isolation and even Resident Evil 7 have been chasing this terrifying high since 2013.

With that in mind, one can only hope that future horror games learn from Outlast’s cinematic inspirations. However, even if they can’t quite replicate the found-footage thrills of this claustrophobic dive into madness, the original title remains a must-play for the Halloween season even a full decade later.

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A brand new take on the acclaimed survival horror series, The Outlast Trials is set in the same terrifying universe as the previous titles, only this time you can choose to play on your own or with friends in a team of up to four people.

Set in the height of the Cold War era, players take on the role of test subjects abducted by the shadowy Murkoff Corporation. Imprisoned in a secret Murkoff facility, players will be thrust into a series of physical and mental ordeals, tormented by iconic characters, and challenged alone or in teams to survive with their sanity intact.

Stepping into Murkoff’s Sinyala Facility during Early Access, players will experience mind-numbing terror, whether surviving alongside friends or daring to go alone. Early Access includes all the main features of a classic Outlast game and will introduce a whole new program structure. Players will be pushed to their limits in new environments, new trials, several challenges and variators, a seasonal program, character and cell customization, full character progression with a narrative introduction and a surprising conclusion for each Reagent released, and more, gradually throughout the Early Access.

“We’re eager to see and hear how Reagents (players) perform in Murkoff’s experimental program during The Outlast Trials Early Access,” said Philippe Morin, Co-Founder of Red Barrels. “Feedback from players throughout Early Access is key to us delivering a more refined and balanced game. The Outlast Trials is our most challenging production and we’ll continue developing the game until we feel the game delivers our initial vision.”

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From Pac-Man to Resident Evil, the thrill of being chased through a virtual world can make for some great game design, and the videogame industry has plenty of enemies to choose from. That’s why we’ve come up with this list celebrating six of the scariest videogame stalkers, as these adrenaline-filled experiences are only as good as their relentless antagonists.

While this list is based on personal opinion, we’ll be following a couple of rules. Entries are limited to one character per franchise, and we’ll be choosing enemies according to their scare factor, regardless of the overall quality of the game that they appear in.

As usual, don’t forget to comment below with your own favorites if you think we missed an important one.

Now, onto the list!

6. Dr. Trager – “Outlast” (2015)

Red Barrels’ Outlast has no shortage of enemies that pursue players around the Mount Massive Asylum grounds, but I’d argue that Dr. Richard Trager takes the cake as the most memorable of these terrifying lunatics. While he was once part of the Asylum staff, forced commitment has left him a psychotic shell of his former self, with the Walrider incident becoming an opportunity for the doctor to experiment on his fellow inmates.

While the disfigured doctor is intimidating enough as he threatens players with an oversized pair of surgical scissors (an obvious homage to Clock Tower’s Scissorman), it’s Trager’s eerily casual demeanor that makes him horrifying. He’s also responsible for brutally chopping off a couple of the main character’s fingers, making this one appointment that players won’t soon forget.

5. Sledgehammer – “Clock Tower 3” (2003)

Featuring time travel, possessed serial killers and Sailor-Moon-style magical girl transformations, I’ll be the first to admit that Clock Tower 3 is a batshit crazy game. However, it’s precisely this manic creativity that made me fall in love with this survival horror classic and its menagerie of crazed stalkers.

While the game features several memorable pursuers, the first one stands out to me as the most intimidating. Known as Sledgehammer, this English brute introduces himself by smashing a poor little girl’s head in, immediately establishing the game’s penchant for horrific violence. Clock Tower 3 may have its highs and lows, but I’ll never forget the first time I hid under a bed and prayed that Sledgehammer would walk on by as he creepily muttered “Alyssa…”

4. Walter Sullivan – “Silent Hill 4: The Room” (2004)

From Pyramid Head to Valtiel, The Silent Hill games boast a plethora of monstrous stalkers, but I’d argue that the scariest of the bunch happens to be a plain old human being. Walter Sullivan may not initially look like much, but the entirety of Silent Hill 4 is built around exploring this serial killer’s damaged psyche through his version of the Otherworld.

In fact, one might consider Walter the real main character of The Room instead of the player-controlled Henry, as most of the game involves uncovering the murderer’s horrific backstory and dealing with his literal inner demons. It’s this psychological depth that earns him a place on this list as a terrifying stalker.

3. The Dahaka – “Prince of Persia: Warrior Within” (2004)

This 2004 sequel to The Sands of Time may not be a horror game, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find someone who played this underrated classic and wasn’t completely horrified by the time-warping Dahaka. A relentless guardian of time, this horned monster is one of the game’s highlights as he repeatedly chases players throughout the Island of Time, with an instrumental rendition of Godsmack’s I Stand Alone serving as his theme music.

As if that wasn’t creepy enough, the Dahaka also speaks in what initially sounds like a demonic language, though using the game’s time-shifting abilities reveals that the creature is actually threatening players in reverse. Now that’s spooky.

2. Slenderman – “Slender: The Eight Pages” (2012)

Slenderman began life as a viral meme, so it stands to reason that he would also become popular as a videogame character. While the faceless creature appeared in several creepypastas and ARGs before making the leap to videogames, it was 2012’s The Eight Pages that skyrocketed Victor Surge’s creation to worldwide notoriety with its simple hide and seek mechanics and spooky VHS aesthetics.

While Slenderman’s design is simple enough, it’s the game’s clever AI that earns his spot on this list, with The Eight Pages programming its antagonist to become increasingly more aggressive the closer you get to gathering all of the pages. This rising tension is what made the game such a hit back in the day while also making it worth revisiting 10 years down the line.

1. Nemesis – “Resident Evil 3: Nemesis” (1999)

You simply can’t discuss videogame stalkers without bringing up Nemesis, so it should come as no surprise that he’s number one on this list. Genetically engineered to be the ultimate killing machine, the antagonist of Resident Evil 3 has become a survival horror icon as he prowls Raccoon City in search of members of STARS.

Not only does this relentless pursuer benefit from a badass design, but he’s also mechanically significant, with his unpredictable nature keeping players on their toes throughout the entire game. If there’s one character on this list that’s likely to show up again in your gaming-related nightmares, I’d wager that it’s Nemesis.

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Horror has long been one of the most profitable genres of fiction due to horror artists tapping into the collective fears of their respective audiences, which has increased tenfold with the introduction of video game horror. Starting as early as the 1980s, video games began experimenting with the horror genre, often being relegated to using text-heavy mechanics to make up for the lack of the graphical fidelity needed to bring some of the more ambitious ideas to life. Early horror games more closely resembled visual novels, but the seeds were planted for horror to take over the game industry.

A large part of its success had to do with the shift in perspective that became more frequent in the 90s. Though gamers were well aware that the character they were controlling was completely standalone in their creation, the horror became incredibly visceral simply having the players themselves control the actions of their protagonist. Suddenly, we were the hapless dopes walking down a dark hallway.

It wasn’t until Alone in the Dark was released in 1992 that “survival horror” began to take shape in video games. Though undoubtedly rough around the edges by modern standards, the game’s use of 3D models in a hostile environment served as a true breakthrough for horror in video games. No longer were horror games confined to textual scares, as the horror came at the player in real-time, offering up what felt like the most realistic depiction of a fight against zombies ever conceived.

Although Alone in the Dark planted the seeds for horror through perspective, the Resident Evil franchise perfected it for decades to come.

Resident Evil, first released in 1996, is often credited as the father of survival horror and while it wasn’t the first, it popularized the idea and continued to build on it thanks to the first game’s commercial and critical success. What followed were two decades full of sequels, spin-offs, movies, and a helping hand in perfecting the survival horror genre that continues to be lucrative well into the 21st century. 

But a decades’ worth of games all focused on the same concept of zombies trying to kill you sounds like a recipe for burnout, right? It’s foolish to believe that countless sequels building on the same concept won’t get old after a little bit. What was scary at first might not feel as scary with the second, third, and fourth game, no matter how many new enemies are added to spice things up. In order to stay fresh, a franchise should do whatever it takes to keep up with the latest gaming trends.

This is something that the Resident Evil franchise has thrived in, surviving 5 generations of gaming by consistently upping the ante. I’m not simply speaking in terms of the overarching lore itself. While the increasing government conspiracy-heavy story has made for loads of memes in today’s digital age for people to enjoy, Resident Evil has kept a tight grip on its most simple and popular concept: fight your way through monsters while trying to stay alive.

From the very first incarnation to Resident Evil 7: Biohazard and the recent remakes of 2 and 3, your goal throughout every game is to survive each respective ordeal with the various weapons at your disposal. It’s a thrilling concept even at a surface level, letting you feel in control of the monsters and zombies trying to kill you. That may seem like a simple thing for any action-horror video game to understand, but Resident Evil’s masterful handle on perspective gives it a leg up over a good chunk of the competition.

Perspective is one of the most crucial aspects of not only video game design, but deciding exactly how a game world will be viewed by the players. Artists can think up of some crazy and ambitious game worlds, but the perspective of the players will dictate whether those worlds will go to waste or not. While this seems like a mere aesthetic choice, the changes in perspective throughout the franchise not only reflect the gaming capabilities of their respective time periods, they demonstrate a masterful handling of survival horror and the various tones the games have gone through over the years.

The first Resident Evil took heavy inspiration from Alone in the Dark, adopting a similar look with 3D models operating in real-time overlocked and pre-rendered backgrounds. Playing as Chris Redfield and Jill Valentine, players would navigate through a twisty mansion filled with zombies and other nightmarish creatures while trying to figure out the mystery behind the mansion. 

The original game is undeniably dated, spawning countless memes surrounding the infamous voice acting (Jill Sandwich) and the now crude graphical quality. 3D gaming was picking up steam, but it was very much a work-in-progress at the time of Resident Evil’s release, hence why the camera is locked down for every angle shown in the game. Though that presented an obvious limitation to what the developers were reasonably able to do, it would also play an important role in creating the core scare factor of the franchise.

What the franchise, and eventually Silent Hill, would succeed in is fear through unpredictability. The monsters could pop out at the player with a simple change in angle. Perhaps the room the player has explored is empty, so they proceed to the hallway. After the famous loading screen with the opening of a door finishes, you can either be greeted by an empty hallway or a bloodthirsty zombie shambling towards you.

One of the most famous jumpscares of the game comes from a zombie dog breaking through a window as you walk down a seemingly safe hallway, ripping away any remaining sense of comfort in the mansion for the player. But what makes these scares so discomforting is the stationary position of the camera. No quick movements, pans, or perspective shifts apart from a different angle of the same room. 

The camera sits completely still, forcing the player to witness their avatars get chased by zombies as though being viewed on a security monitor, not unlike something out of a found footage film, which itself was rather uncommon in 1996. This type of distance from the character creates a fleeting sense of control through this 3rd person lens and when you factor in the clunky controls of the time, your character is close to helpless, even with weapons at their arsenal.

This is a strategy that would become a staple for the next two big entries in the series with Resident Evil 2 and Nemesis. Even with some minor graphical improvements, the two sequels would implore the same 3D-style gameplay over a locked pre-rendered setting, with the added bonus of having new giant creatures chase the player down: The Tyrant (or Mr. X, if you will) in 2, and Nemesis in 3. Even as the setting changed, the perspective still felt cold and strained as the players were conditioned to not feel safe in any corner of any map.

Though something like this is now a staple of most horror games, the first three Resident Evil games both popularized survival horror and had the accidental advantage of limited 3D play mechanics to help manipulate perspective against the players. But now that this format was familiar to players, it was inevitable that the scares would become less frequent. It’s only natural that players would adjust to the game world, risking potential burnout if the series continued in this direction.

But Resident Evil was aware of that, leading to the refreshed sequel that is Resident Evil 4, released in 2005. No longer hindered by dated developmental tools and with an updated graphics overhaul, 4 introduced the third-person “over the shoulder” perspective that is still going strong in 2020. Instead of the usual fixed camera angles, the perspective of the player was closer than ever to the main character while upping the violence to an action-horror level, straying away from survival horror in the process.

But just because the title was supposedly less “scary” than the first three games, manipulation of perspective still benefited the game by thrilling and scaring players through sheer chaos. While the first three games were pretty wild in terms of their violence, the shift of the camera meant that the player’s perspective was much closer to the action. The first three games were cold in their presentation of the monsters attacking the player, but here, there was a new level of intimacy that would create a whole new batch of nightmares.

The horror still tied to an unpredictable environment working against the player, but the new camera shift meant that the area behind you was a new source of caution. You’ve killed everything in front of you, but are you sure that there’s not something else lurking behind you? The fixed camera of the first three games at least gave the player a look at the layout of the room (from that angle anyway), but in 4, you control the camera, meaning that confronting the horrors of the village was almost entirely dependent on you. This could make for a more thrilling action game and as the likes of Uncharted and Just Cause have shown, it works well for the action genre. 

Yet there’s something visceral about the perspective of Resident Evil 4 and the following two sequels that feels like an update on the franchise formula without losing sight of its pulpy horror core. Even as the games switched to a more action-oriented tone, the terror of feeling overwhelmed by a seemingly endless wave of feral monsters made for a worthwhile substitute to the stilted security camera perspective of the first three games.

But soon, video game horror extended beyond the third-person.

Don’t get it twisted, 1st person horror was far from new even during the span of the first three games. Games such as Doom, Wolfenstein, System Shock, and Half-Life had already been experimenting with 1st person action-horror, slowly reinventing the video game format in a manner that we still see today with the likes of Call of Duty, Overwatch, Halo, and story-heavy walking simulators like Gone Home and What Remains of Edith Finch. 

Although horror had dabbled in the first-person, the 21st century saw a rise in first-person horror that would eventually come to define the survival horror genre. Games like F.E.A.R., Condemned: Criminal Origins, and Bioshock helped revolutionize first-person action-horror for the modern era, achieving the heights that just weren’t in reach two decades earlier. With first-person, over the shoulder became through the eyes, further bringing the player closer to the game world.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent, released in 2010, provided the launching block for first-person horror to enter untapped territory with the character being almost completely helpless to the terrors that players could once combat in more action-focused titles. Amnesia and soon games like Slenderman, Outlast, and P.T. put a stronger focus on atmosphere and helplessness over dynamic action gameplay and with Resident Evil 6 receiving mixed reviews for its lack of scares in 2012, it seemed as though the franchise had finally reached burnout. 

Amazing what a fresh perspective can do to change all of that, huh?

In 2017, Resident Evil entered brand new territory for the franchise with the release of the sequel/soft reboot, Resident Evil: Biohazard. Though technically taking place in the RE universe, Biohazard took the players away from the crazy government conspiracy story from before and only sprinkled it in here, making way for a standalone story about a man named Ethan Winters who searches a seemingly abandoned residence to find his missing wife, Mia. I’m sure we know by now that Ethan discovers that the house isn’t exactly empty.

What was namely an action-horror franchise about government corruption is mostly replaced with a contained escape story told entirely in the first-person. The nightmare that is the Baker residence is experienced in a new level of immersion by forcing the perspective through the character’s eyes. This applies to the cutscenes as well, playing out in front of Ethan’s and by extension our own eyes, applying a mean and visceral atmosphere to the House of Horrors that does everything in its power to throw everything at the player.

By 2017, first-person horror games were among the most popular in the market, largely thanks to YouTube Let’s Plays surging the demand for these games. The closest modern comparison to Biohazard is Outlast, given that both are first-person games from the perspective of an overeager man walking into the middle of a nightmare in a seemingly abandoned building. But Biohazard gets a leg up by adding a revamped combat system that brings with it a new level of unpredictability.

The guns and melee combat may not seem too different, but the 1st person perspective retrains the player to take everything they know about Resident Evil gameplay and apply it to Biohazard’s confrontational lens. Monsters are no longer just overwhelming the character you’re playing onscreen, now they want YOU and will chase you down in a manner not unlike the fear many have of staring down a darkened hallway, anticipating something to jump out at them. 

It truly is no wonder that Biohazard is considered a return to form for the franchise, updating its gameplay and going back to its survival horror roots sorely lacking from the recent installments. It’s this type of pure unadulterated pulpy horror that helped the Resident Evil 2 and 3 remakes succeed by keeping a firm grasp on survival horror, even as the remakes returned to over the shoulder third-person. The response to Biohazard only solidified this new direction for the Resident Evil franchise and the upcoming sequel, Village, and its 1st person perspective is concrete proof of this.

Additionally, it’s the proof that Resident Evil, in its near 20-year lifespan, has managed to use the power of perspective manipulation to consistently reinvent itself for an ever-changing audience. The start of the franchise was humble, yet influential for the state of survival horror in general. When audiences craved a nice mix of action and horror, 4, 5, and 6 delivered on that front and when 1st person horror became the next boom for video games, Biohazard came in late and still capitalized with a purely Resident Evil game in a new format.

To attribute the success of the franchise to shifting perspectives would be foolish, but the constant attention for a refreshed way to experience Resident Evil just shows the love and care poured into making RE a timeless horror franchise. Shifts in perspective can make or break a story and Resident Evil’s willingness to change up the presentation while keeping the formula of the franchise makes for a bold approach to video games, one that has paid off tremendously in the long run.

The post ‘Resident Evil’: How the Franchise Has Mastered the Art of Horror Through Perspective appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

While literal Found-Footage games are admittedly rare (which makes sense, considering that the premise relies on the discovery of pre-recorded media, leaving little room for interaction), there are actually quite a few titles that make use of Found-Footage elements in order to ground their narratives and gameplay, and I’d like to talk about them today. To make things simple, we’ll consider any game that features an organized collection of diagetic (in-universe) media as Found-Footage-inspired, regardless of POVs and setting.

In any case, videogames have been emulating movie trends from the very beginning, so it was only a matter of time before home-video-inspired thrills became interactive. In fact, long before Bloober Team’s recent attempt at bringing the Blair Witch to life for modern gamers, we actually had a trilogy of officially licensed Blair Witch games, though none of them really bothered with the Found-Footage aspect of the story.

However, it was really during the PS2 era that developers began to experiment with the idea of using Found-Footage tropes in order to enhance gameplay. Oddly enough, most of these titles were produced in Japan, and some of them never even made it to Western shores at all, but there are definitely a few hidden gems among them.

One of my favorites of these oddball titles is Lifeline, a 2003 survival horror game developed by Sony’s in-house studio for the PS2. In the game, players take on the role of a young Operator trapped in a space-station’s control center when horrific monsters attack. What’s unusual here is that almost the entire game is viewed through diagetic security-camera footage, and the player can only interact with the world by communicating through a physical headset with a cocktail waitress named Rio, giving her simple commands in an effort to progress through the story. While I’ll be the first to admit that console technology wasn’t quite ready for these ambitious ideas back in ’03, the combination of spooky security footage and limited controls manage to make this a genuinely thrilling experience that wouldn’t have been as engrossing if it weren’t for the grounded aesthetics. It’s just too bad that players are forced to deal with so many frustrating quirks if they really want to power through the entire game.

Naturally, this wasn’t the only case of diagetic cameras in gaming, as Michigan: Report From Hell, another PS2 title developed by Grasshopper Manufacture and released in 2004, actually put players in the shoes of a cameraman accompanying a news crew on a terrifying investigation. Not only was the entire game observed through the viewfinder of the protagonist’s camera, but gameplay is also mostly relegated to tagging important objects or events and waiting for other characters to interact with them. Again, this title also has its fair share of gameplay annoyances, but it’s one of the better (and earliest) examples of an almost pure Found-Footage experience in gaming.

While there were a few more obscure attempts at bringing Found-Footage to interactive life during the 2000s, it was only with the indie-horror boom of the last decade that this type of aesthetic became mainstream. The 2010s brought us a plethora of Found-Footage web-series (not to mention the Paranormal Activity sequels), so it was only natural that developers would start to experiment more with diagetic cameras and ill-fated protagonists leaving their stories behind for players to find. Hell, one could even argue that the now cliché idea of finding audio-logs in to understand the narrative in blockbuster titles was also influenced by these ideas, though they were only properly explored in the indie scene.

The biggest of these Found-Footage-inspired indie titles was probably Slender: The Eight Pages, a free-to-play game more than a little inspired by the Marble Hornets web-series. Released in 2012 to massive viral success, the game was basically a first-person adaptation of hide-and-seek, with the player attempting to find the titular pages while being stalked by the infamous Slender Man. While the game doesn’t overtly advertise itself as a Found-Footage endeavor, the static interference onscreen when in the presence of the antagonist suggests that we may be viewing the action from a camcorder. This is more-or-less confirmed in the game’s sequel, Slender: The Arrival, which fully dives into the Found-Footage genre with a visible camera HUD and playable “tapes” (this makes sense, given that the game was co-written by the same team that originally produced Marble Hornets).

By 2013, we would also get one of the most brutal Found-Footage experiences in gaming with Red Barrels’ Outlast (a title almost certainly inspired by the Vicious Brothers’ 2011 film, Grave Encounters). In this game, players take on the role of Miles Upshur, a journalist investigating increasingly suspicious activity going on at Mount Massive Asylum. Naturally, he becomes trapped in the hospital after breaking in with a camcorder and must attempt to escape (and document) the horrors within in a truly nightmarish ordeal.

While you’re not limited to the camera’s viewfinder for the entirety of the game (you’re actually separated from it in at least one instance), the narrative and aesthetics here are clearly based on traditional Found-Footage tropes. The camera isn’t just there for show, though, as it also boasts a night-vision feature if you can spare the battery power. The camera’s functions would also get expanded on in the game’s 2017 sequel, but I still think it’s a shame that the full experience isn’t presented as a series of diagetic recordings.

Regardless, Outlast was influential enough that it even had an impact on Capcom’s flagship survival horror franchise, Resident Evil. While 2017’s RE7 isn’t as obvious with its Found-Footage roots, there are several instances within the game where players must analyze footage left behind by other characters, as well as record some of their own in clear homages to the sub-genre. This may not be a consistent addition to the gameplay, but it’s nice to see these elements being played around with in order to heighten the game’s realism and, consequently, scare-factor.

Despite Found-Footage clearly being a great tool in the manipulation of fear, I think one of the best (and purest) examples of the sub-genre successfully transitioning to gaming isn’t even a horror title. In Sam Barlow’s 2015 investigative thriller Her Story, players are tasked with piecing together a murder mystery as they analyze police interviews regarding a certain Hannah Smith and her deceased husband. The gameplay itself is relegated to navigating 90s-inspired computer menus and interacting with a collection of FMVs and other digital “evidence” in order to find out what’s really going on. While Her Story may not be for everyone, I think it’s one of the most underrated releases of the 2010s, and it also boasts a format that I’d love to see revisited by future games (especially spooky ones).

Of course, we’d be remiss if we didn’t take a moment to discuss Bloober Team’s hot new take on the Blair Witch. Taking place in 1996, players must wander the Black Hills Forest as Ellis Lynch, a retired police officer and military veteran searching for a missing child as he deals with severe PTSD. Luckily, Ellis is accompanied by a faithful canine companion (Bullet, my favorite part of the game) and, eventually, a mysterious camcorder that can be used to review reality-altering tapes. While this 2019 title has a lot in common with Layers of Fear, the studio’s previous foray into the horror genre, interactions with both the dog and camera actually make this a unique experience, with players relying on elements outside of their immediate control in order to survive.

Like many of the previously mentioned titles, Blair Witch has some frustrating quirks and could have used a bit more time to iron out the bugs and unfocused storyline. Nevertheless, the final hour or so of the experience serves as a sincere love-letter not just to the original Blair Witch Project but to Found-Footage as a whole, becoming a perfect example of how the use of shifting POVs and messy, realistic aesthetics can be used to create a genuinely terrifying experience.

Of course, these aren’t the only Found-Footage-inspired games out there (I could go on for hours about the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise and its extremely effective use of diagetic security cam footage), but I think these titles help paint a picture of a gaming industry slowly experimenting with the gritty aesthetics of this sub-genre and contemplating what it can do for gameplay and story alike. In a time where gamers are craving new experiences, it’s nice to see developers taking risks by incorporating new ideas into their games, even if they’re not always successful.

As we speak, indie developers like Puppet Combo are hard at work attempting to revive the 90s VHS aesthetic in horror games, complete with several Found-Footage-inspired titles. Funnily enough, we’ve also come full circle with games managing to influence films like Livescream, a Found-Footage production about an ill-fated internet personality livestreaming a cursed videogame. Even the Paranormal Activity franchise’s latest entry was actually a VR title instead of a movie (though it technically forgoes the Found-Footage elements in favor of more traditional first-person horror mechanics).

While I think the definitive Found-Footage game has yet to be developed, we’re getting closer to it everyday, and I can’t wait to see what the future brings for this little sub-genre that could.

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The Outlast Trials is a co-op experience set during the Cold War, where up to four players will help each other through some presumably horrifying experiments.

There’s not a lot of information beyond that at this time, and the game is in the early stages of production, but David Chateauneuf, Red Barrels co-founder, mentions that it isn’t a proper sequel to the previous titles, just set in that universe. Chateauneuf is also keen to let Outlast fans know the team ”is hard at work creating a new experience that will bring fear and anxiety to millions of players, whether they go through the experiments alone or with friends”.

The first promotional art has been unveiled too.

Outlast as a series is one of the biggest new horror game franchises of the past ten years. It shot to fame as YouTubers embraced reaction-based Let’s Play videos on horror games, and Outlast found itself thrust into the limelight.

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Hell, while we’re at it, let’s toss in references to Red Barrels’ Outlast and The Walking Dead! This is pretty much a continuation of the awesome mash-ups we’ve seen in the past from the group. I don’t know how they do it, but big props to them for giving us this fun.

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So, until we get confirmation as to just what this is, start your speculations. But there’s at least a good chance horror is involved.

Outlast and Outlast 2 are currently available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the Nintendo Switch.

Announcement coming soon. pic.twitter.com/oZIKMCFHLp

— Red BOO-rrels (@TheRedBarrels) October 31, 2019

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The trailers were gripping, most memorable for one character’s now famous and often parodied snot-nosed and crying plea for help as she was lost alone in the woods after a few days of hell. Until then, nothing else was quite like The Blair Witch Project. Being only ten years old at the time it hit theaters, I remember when my mom came home from seeing it without me, telling me how unnerving it was, and how it was all real. As a budding fan of cryptids and urban legends, my mind was blitzed with thoughts. What did she see? What kind of evidence was presented in the theater that night? Was it really all true?

As we all now know, of course, it wasn’t true, but the campaign to present it as the real thing was so effective and so exhilarating, it revitalized the horror genre. The movie slyly cast unknown actors, built up a ton of interesting lore, and even sold it all with a tie-in special on the Sci-Fi network which, like the movie, operated on a don’t ask, don’t tell policy regarding the story’s validity in a pre-Snopes world. After slashers dominated horror in the 80s and into the 90s with Wes Craven’s Scream, The Blair Witch Project arrived at the turn of the millennium to change horror forever.

In the 20 years since The Blair Witch Project stunned audiences, we’ve seen other torchbearers arrive on the scene. Blockbuster franchises like Paranormal Activity spawned more sequels than many could keep up with, while indie anthologies like V/H/S gave multiple up and coming horror auteurs the freedom to tell one-off stories they were passionate about. Today, the success of found footage horror movies is all over the place, but the importance of The Blair Witch Project lives on. Found footage horror had arrived, and its influence today stretches beyond just cinema.

There are so many excellent found footage horror movies we wouldn’t have without The Blair Witch Project, but without this crucial genre progenitor, we may still be sailing adrift in the world of horror gaming. Some terrifying games like Outlast take the found footage element seriously and behave just like the 1999 film. You’re alone on an investigation into some nauseatingly scary locale and every horror you encounter is captured on camera. I personally find Outlast 2 to be the scariest game of the generation, and its roots leading to Blair Witch are obvious, but the inspiration doesn’t end there. While few other horrors have taken the found footage element so literally, modern horror games are defined in large part by their defenseless protagonists, much like the trio in the woods of Burkittsville.

All-time great genre entries like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and SOMA don’t have you carrying a camera, but they helped popularize the idea of immersive horror games where you didn’t just have few resources like you did in the previous era of horror games in Resident Evil or Dead Space. Now you had no resources whatsoever — other than your legs. The new era of horror had arrived. Run, hide, and hope the entity chasing you through labyrinthine woods, dark hallways, or foreboding underground bunkers didn’t spot you. Today these defenseless immersive horror games outnumber more traditional survival horror games at a pace of about two to one. Upgrade-able plasma cutters and gut-busting shotguns are out. Running for your life is in, and it all started in 1999.

That’s what makes this week’s E3 announcement of a new Blair Witch video game so exciting. Bloober Team, the horror-focused studio behind recent hits like Observer and Layers of Fear, has revealed a found footage Blair Witch game is coming this August. The trailer looks awesome, and excitingly, the game promises to build on the lore of the Blair Witch. There surely exists an entire generation of younger horror fans that don’t even know about The Blair Witch Project and for them, this could be the entry point to a new beloved franchise.

For those who have longed for more from the series for years, this seems like the best possible outcome too. Two movie sequels failed to really capture the magic of the original, while Outlast has shown us no found footage experience is scarier than the one in which you’re holding the camera. In 1999, The Blair Witch Project catalyzed the most prominent trend in modern horror cinema and inspired a new kind of horror video game. With Bloober Team’s Blair Witch, the last two decades of horror come full circle.

The post [Editorial] The New ‘Blair Witch’ Game Keeps the Torch Burning For a True Horror Trendsetter appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

His influence, which continues to cast an imposing shadow across modern culture, has not only stalked the screens of filmgoers for many years, but can also be found lurking throughout the short yet fascinating history of horror gaming. Perhaps the most obvious example of Argento’s work influencing the creation of a video game, also happens to be one of the most interesting.

Clock Tower is an adventure horror game released for the Super Famicom in 1995. It is a somewhat obscure 16-bit title, having never made it outside of the Japanese market (despite seeing several releases for newer consoles), but it is also considered one of the very first examples of survival horror in gaming. Its director, Hifumi Kono, felt so inspired by Argento’s unique approach to stylised horror, that he wanted to create a game that would not only pay homage to Argento’s films, but would make players actually feel like they were in one.     

Considering the limitations of the hardware at the time, and how very few horror games had been made up to that point, the task of translating Argento’s films into such an experimental format was no mean feat for Kono and his studio, Human Entertainment. Nevertheless, what they did manage to achieve was so impressive, that it continues to inspire developers to this day.

Typically intended for the use of a mouse and keyboard, point-and-click games had, up to the time of Clock Tower’s development, been created almost entirely by western studios such as the likes of Sierra and Lucas-Arts. Not only was Clock Tower a point-and-click game created with a controller layout in mind, but it was also developed by a tiny Japanese studio most well-known for making platformers and sports titles. Borrowing heavily from two of Argento’s most beloved films, the previously mentioned Suspiria and 1985’s Phenomena, Clock Tower was undeniably unique from the get-go.

The most obvious elements of mimicry can be seen in the game’s protagonist: Jennifer. Bearing a striking resemblance to Phenomena’s very own Jennifer Corvino (who was in turn, played by Jennifer Connelly), the young orphan also finds herself living in an extravagant mansion in the forests of Northern Europe, after being adopted by a mysterious benefactor, Mr. Barrows. What follows is a surprisingly detailed plot (for a game made in the mid 90’s at least) that happens to include many key elements found in both Phenomena and Suspiria, such as; a murderous deformed child stabbing young girls with scissors, the use of satanic magic and sacrifices, and men driven insane by being locked in hidden dungeons, but to name a few.

But Clock Tower’s story doesn’t just include characters and events from Argento’s work like a piece of second-rate fanfiction, it translates his vision into an entirely different medium in an entirely unique way. Most notably, is how Clock Tower uses its low-res graphical style to portray Argento’s iconic use of color, lighting, and set design. Regardless of how unrealistic the game’s characters and environments may appear, Clock Tower looks undeniably striking, with a bold application of contrasting red and blue color palettes and clever use of shadows and lighting. Arguably, it’s far more fitting for a game inspired by Argento’s films to veer away from realism, in favor of a more exaggerated and indulgently colorful version of reality. However, the game’s characters are still made recognizable by the use of a-then popular technique, whereby photographs of people were digitized into a 16-bit format (a rudimentary form of motion capture).

Why Argento’s Deep Red is a Masterpiece

This technique was used to create character portraits that appear whenever Jennifer is in conversation with someone, as well as displaying Jennifer’s intense reactions to a shocking revelation or horrific event. This is how Kono and his team attempted to translate the direction of Argento’s female leads, and considering how little subtlety is involved in those performances, it seems that having exaggerated portraits of characters’ expressions was a logical step to take.

This technique also served an additional purpose of displaying the player-character’s health-bar, whereby both the portrait’s color and Jennifer’s expression indicate her general well-being. Much like in Suspiria, color is used as a visual language to communicate mental distress, with Jennifer’s condition gradually worsening with every new horror she encounters (red being a particularly strong indication of incoming peril). If Jennifer finds herself in a moment of extreme danger, then much like Argento’s victims, it’s physically harder for her to survive if she’s afraid. Being scared means that Jennifer is more likely to fail a ‘panic mode’ check (when the player must button-mash to struggle free), and is more likely to trip over her own feet when running. Jennifer’s health-bar is yet another example of Clock Tower applying Argento’s methods of color saturation, but in a way that only video games can achieve.  

And there’s plenty for both Jennifer and the player to be scared about in Clock Tower. Any horror aficionado knows that tension is essential to appreciating a good scare, and thankfully, Clock Tower is a masterclass in building anticipation for fear. The game’s animations may appear laborious for the sake of being pretty, but they successfully keep players wondering during the quieter moments, and clinging to their seats when things start getting dicey. Much like the scene in Suspiria, in which Sara desperately tries to stack boxes to reach an upper window, these lengthy animations evoke an intense feeling of panic whenever danger approaches.

Audio is also used to great effect in Clock Tower, with minimal sound playing out during the bulk of the game’s action, except for Jennifer’s echoing footsteps and a solitary phone which can be occasionally heard ringing (despite having had its line cut). When music is playing it usually indicates the presence of something malevolent, with one particular track only sounding when Jennifer is being directly pursued by someone. It’s a piece of music that will inevitably loop several times during a single encounter, but much like Argento’s iconic use of musical cues during Suspiria (and to a lesser extent, Phenomena), it still manages to effectively imbue the player with a feeling of panic.

Escaping from pursuit is a running theme throughout Argento’s entire filmography, with viewers made to fear for victims’ lives thanks to the effective use of cinematography and framing. Clock Tower earns its credentials as being one of the very first examples of survival horror, through its emphasis of flight-over-fight gameplay. Scenarios wherein Jennifer can strike back at her pursuers are few and far between, with players needing to pay attention to the location of hiding spots, so that they may be used during future chase-sequences.

However, much like many of Argento’s victims, not every hiding spot will guarantee safety for Jennifer. Case in point, during my most recent playthrough I attempted to hide Jennifer on an upper platform by climbing a ladder and pushing it down. Believing she was safe, I finally relaxed, just to have the killer burst through the ceiling next to her, prompting me to yell in fear and urge Jennifer to flee in the other direction. Taking control of such a vulnerable character during such a dangerous situation is an incredibly stressful experience for the player, and in many ways, it’s what makes playing Clock Tower far more frightening than watching any of Argento’s films. In this fashion, Kono and his team took the vulnerability of Suspiria and Phenomena’s protagonists and elevated its effectiveness by translating it into a gaming mechanic.

This hiding mechanic has subsequently defined part of the survival horror genre, particularly its more modern contemporaries, with recent-ish releases such as Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Outlast 1 & 2, and Alien: Isolation all favoring a flight-over-fight approach to gameplay. For several years after Clock Tower’s creation, Japan successfully cemented itself as the birthplace of survival horror gaming, with pioneering titles such as such as the Fatal Frame series and Haunting Ground continuing to carry the torch that Hifumi Kono and his team had first ignited all those years ago.

In essence, Argento’s filmography generated a spark of inspiration that would lead to an entire chain-reaction of horror creation; with Clock Tower’s revolutionary approach to survival horror inspiring its very own clutch of creators, who would then in-turn inspire other creators, and so on, so forth. When an Italian horror flick can cause such ripples across the most unexpected of lakes, it’s undeniably worth being remembered in today’s cultural zeitgeist.

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Well, to be honest, they do a lot of heavy-lifting when used appropriately: enrichening the atmosphere; deepening the immersion; and even providing useful tips to help us solve puzzles and defeat enemies. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at some of the underappreciated virtues of collectible documents, with a few case-studies thrown in for good measure.  

Sprinkling in Details: Silent Hill

One of the most distinctive things about collectible documents is that they allow you to flesh out little details in the world, without interrupting the flow of the main story. The Silent Hill franchise exploits this to great effect, by littering the streets of its eponymous town with insightful, non-compulsory extras, like brochures and advertisements for local events.

From these, we get a lot of worthwhile context about the location and those who once populated its schools, seedy apartments and eerie amusement parks. Being able to immerse yourself in all this history makes for a much more absorbing experience, as the town feels like a real, lived-in place, as opposed to a bunch of pixels on the screen. Team Silent are evidently proud of this aspect, as they give you a pop-quiz on the subject in the second game!

With collectible documents, developers are given license to include details like these, without having to worry about bogging down their products with too much backstory or superfluous information. Such an opportunity is not afforded to a medium like film, where storytelling needs to be more concise and creators are regularly forced to trim anything that is deemed inessential to the plot.

Building Tension- Outlast: ‘’The Groom’’

In-game documents are common in horror because they are an incredibly valuable tool for generating suspense.

A masterful example of this can be found in Outlast’s ‘’Whistleblower’’ expansion, with the introduction of Eddie Gluskin, A.K.A ‘’The Groom’’. Obsessed with old-fashioned notions of chivalry and courtship, this secondary antagonist yearns for a girl with whom he can tie the knot and settle down. The only problem is that he is confined to the male ward of an insane asylum and so there aren’t many viable candidates for him to choose from. Given that, he decides to make do with anyone who is unfortunate enough to stumble upon his lair. Once he catches these poor suckers, he resorts to crude DIY surgery methods to transform them into his ideal partner.

The section of the DLC wherein you are pursued by this frenzied madman is one of the most unnerving in recent memory, a quality that is accentuated perfectly by the exquisite build-up. Particularly ominous is the little rhyme that you come across immediately before the encounter:

You’ll be hard-pressed to find a more disquieting verse than that, as it chillingly sets the stage for the nightmare to come, alluding to Gluskin’s M.O in a taunting, yet characteristically playful manner. This poem is single-mindedly designed to creep you out, what with its portentous wordplay, obscene imagery, and grisly implications. In that sense, it’s a supremely effective bit of foreshadowing, one that instils extreme dread as you push on towards Eddie’s workshop.

Explaining Mechanics- Dead Space: Cut off Their Limbs

Near the beginning of Dead Space, you happen across a demented warning from beyond the grave. Arriving in the form of an audio-log, the message implores you to ‘’Cut off their limbs! It’s the only way they go down!!’’. This is obviously in reference to the game’s signature Necromorph enemies: grotesque beasties that can only be permanently killed via ‘’strategic dismemberment’’.

Thankfully, the game doesn’t thrust you into a ham-fisted tutorial section in order to communicate this rule, as that would surely undermine the lovingly crafted atmosphere. Instead, it finds a more elegant means of preparing us, by way of the aforementioned recording. A similar thing is achieved in Resident Evil 4, when an instructional document explains how to defeat the seemingly invulnerable Regenerators, by using a thermal scope to identify their weak-points.

Both cases fantastically illustrate how in-game documents can introduce new mechanics in a way that doesn’t break immersion.

Developing Characters- The Last of Us: Marlene’s Recordings  

The climax of The Last of Us is one of the toughest in modern gaming and not because it pits you against a demanding boss battle or an exacting combat scenario. In fact, the grueling nature of this conclusion has precisely nothing to do with gameplay. Rather, it ‘’challenges’’ you in much the same way that a controversial book or provocative film might do, by complicating the morality of the story and leaving you conflicted over who to root for.

This feeling of uncertainty is emphasized by an assortment of Dictaphone recordings, that force you to contemplate your deeds, as you kill multiple innocents in order to rescue your surrogate-daughter, Ellie. The collectibles do this by humanizing and generating sympathy for each of your victims, especially Marlene.  

Through a series of confessional recordings, we get a glimpse at the Firefly leader’s inner turmoil, as she struggles to come to terms with the decision to sentence Ellie to death. She admits that, by following this course of action, she is betraying her own principles and breaking a promise she made to Ellie’s mother. Yet at the same time, she knows that she’s making a necessary sacrifice for the greater good, (the operation will be fatal for Ellie, but will produce a vaccine for the global infection). Not that this realization makes it any easier for her.

In short, by listening to these recordings, we discover that Marlene is not the simplistic villain we first assumed, but a tragic figure burdened by guilt. Without those documents, much of this nuance would be lost and we’d miss out on the full impact of the game’s devastating ending.

Indulging in Easter Eggs – Resident Evil 7: Renovation Contract

Despite numerous reinventions over the years, there are certain things that remain consistent across the Resident Evil series. Surely one of the most notorious staples is the use of overly-elaborate architecture, as almost every game features a setting that is inexplicably riddled with secret passageways and labyrinthine corridors.

These puzzle-box environments are fun to explore, but they can also whittle down your suspension of disbelief. After all, you can’t help but wonder how impractical it must have been for the original owners to navigate these intricate properties. Not to mention how expensive all those convoluted locking mechanisms and theatrical death traps must have been.

Clearly aware of this foible, Resident Evil 7 contains a hidden gag that humorously parodies the trope. You see, buried within an obscure crevice of the Baker Plantation, there is an invoice detailing all the construction work that is required to install a ‘’shadow-activated doorway’’. It’s a funny in-joke, playing on the idea that every contractor in the RE universe is unquestioningly naïve and works for surprisingly cheap rates. Anyway, it might not be as important as some of the other documents on this list, but it works as a cute, throwaway reference that is sure to amuse long-time fans.

Avoiding Clunky Exposition- Bloodborne: Pungent Blood Cocktail

As storytellers, FromSoftware has always been remarkably cagey about supplying answers. However, rather than deterring people away from their output, this has had the curious effect of whetting everyone’s appetites and making us more determined to piece things together for ourselves. Indeed, ‘’Soulsborne’’ fans are renowned for exhaustively mining every nook and cranny to fuel their speculative theories.  

Some of the more substantial nuggets of intel can actually be gleaned from item descriptions, as the developer uses these paragraphs to economically provide context about the surrounding world. For example, in Bloodborne, there is a projectile known as the Pungent Blood Cocktail, which is essentially a form of bait used to lure enemies.

The description naturally informs you of this utility, but also clarifies why the concoctions are in such abundance, as the locals of Yrarnham ‘’produce more blood than alcohol’’. On the surface, this is a meager factoid, but it does convey a lot about the city and its deranged inhabitants, who have become thoroughly addicted to ‘’Blood Ministration’ and lost their minds as a result.

Where other titles might deliver this exposition via an intrusive cutscene, Bloodborne cleverly allows you to decipher the lore at your own pace. It’s a fresh approach to storytelling and one that cannot be replicated in any other medium.

Painting a Bigger Picture: Resident Evil- The Keeper’s Diary

Another benefit of in-game documents is that they can be used to tell spooky, campfire tales of their very own. Perhaps the most iconic version of this is the ‘’Keeper’s Diary’’ from Resident Evil, which chronicles the body-horror transformation of a disgruntled Umbrella employee, who was unknowingly exposed to the T-Virus.

After regaling us with stories of poker night and his workday, the writer is awoken one morning by a medical specialist, whereupon he is instructed to wear a contamination suit. Despite being irritated by how “itchy” the outfit is, the narrator begrudgingly complies. Not that it does him much good mind you, as he soon experiences blisters, burning sensations, and a loss of sanity. On that note, his mental faculties visibly deteriorate visibly on the page, as his journal becomes increasingly inarticulate and disjointed.

Substantiating the threat of the T-Virus, this self-contained narrative brilliantly shows that other people have already tried-and-failed to combat the outbreak. It’s a smart move, one that can be traced back to literary classics like Dracula, which features similar accounts from ill-fainted secondary characters, like the crew of the Demeter.  

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The Party: Spelunky (Multi)

So you’re having a Halloween party, and you fancy some local co-op gaming. Something that’s got monsters and ghosts in, but is somewhat accessible to even those who aren’t traditionally horror fans. Enter the rip-roaring, addictive absurdity of Spelunky. Four people at a time can huddle around the screen and race (carefully now!) to collect treasure, defeat monsters, and move deeper into the cave network. As with any co-op or competitive multiplayer game, there’s the risk of arguments over individual decision making, but I’m sure you’ll forgive Brian for accidentally (so he says!) causing you to be impaled on a spike pit.

For The Kids: Bendy and the Ink Machine (PC)

Kids are bound to get excited around any event that involves candy, and perhaps you need to occupy them for a bit before or after the Trick Or Treating with a seasonal dose of kid-friendly horror and what better than the latest popular game for that, Bendy and the Ink Machine. In this five-part adventure, a retired animator named Henry finds his former studio’s creations have been brought to nightmarish life by the aforementioned machine. What follows is a survival horror where Henry explores and solves puzzles.

Quick Fix: SEPTEMBER 1999 (PC)

It’s a busy day and you’re gloomily anticipating not getting to mark the Halloween occasion with anything horror related. Time is precious, but you want to have something quick, so how about 98DEMAKE’s SEPTEMBER 1999? This found-footage style adventure lasts just over five minutes and gives you perfectly compact creeps.

 For Murder Mystery Fans: Condemned Criminal Origins (Multi)

While the storyline isn’t as good as it could be, Monolith and Sega’s Condemned made up for it with its then-unique way of investigating crime scenes, as well as its creepy atmosphere. Losing your gun almost from the beginning of the game forces you to get up close and personal with the psychopathic vagrants that appear out of the shadows. And yeah, the “scan objects and call your buddies at the lab” routine gets repetitive, but for the time, it was a novel idea.

90s Nostalgia: Blood (PC)

Hot on the heels of Duke Nukem 3D‘s success, Monolith took Duke‘s Build Engine, filled it with occult themes and gore, gave the protagonist a bunch of one-liners straight from Army of Darkness and The Shining, and came out with a pretty fun and underrated shooter. Find me a game where you can use a flare gun to set zombies on fire (that in turn run around screaming), or shoot off their heads and then proceed to kick the heads around like a soccer ball? Blood never sold well, but lives on with GOG.com and Steam.

Road Rage (without the road): Carmageddon (Multi)

To be fair, it’s not quite horror, but if you’re fed up with Trick or Treaters knocking at your door, or if driving your kids around the neighbourhood has you more than annoyed, you can always jump into the Red Eagle and mow down businessmen and old ladies for points. Of course, you could play Carmageddon “normally” by completing the race, but where’s the fun in that? Rack up combos and other bonuses by running over pedestrians, instead!

Home Alone: Alien: Isolation (Multi)

After the bomb in Aliens: Colonial Marines, Sega went back and gave us something that was as close to the terror and isolation of the original film as you could probably get in Isolation. Putting you on the deck of the seemingly deserted Sevastopol, and then forcing you to hide from the Xenomorph lurking around the ship is definitely nerve-wracking. True, you’ll probably not going to get Xenomorph’s lurking around your house, but the atmosphere and terror of the game will certainly have you thinking twice before turning off that bathroom light.

Fighting Spirit: Mortal Kombat X (Multi)

Really, if you haven’t played any of the Mortal Kombat games by now, I can’t help you. It’s again not horror in the traditional sense, but any time you have ninjas who will slice off your face, gut-munching, head-smashing and more deviously ingenious ways to finish off your opponent, that’s good enough for me. The latest edition of the long-running franchise brings Jason Voorhees, The Predator and Leatherface into the fold for some ultimate horror fun. If you and your buddies are up for ripping each other apart (yet don’t want to pay for the hospital visit), you can’t do much better on Halloween with MKX.

Traveling: Outlast (Switch)

Having to travel back from work on Halloween? Whisk yourself away from the commute (provided you’re not packed into a train like a tin of sardines) and investigate an asylum full of naked monstrosities by tucking into Outlast on the Nintendo Switch. Just make sure you wear headphones so you don’t get any questioning looks about the things being muttered by the patients. Though if you’re looking for a bit of space, maybe dont.

Online Party: Friday the 13th: The Game (Multi)

What could be a more comforting way to spend time online with your friends this Halloween than reenacting your very own slasher movie. Better still, it can star one of you as Jason Voorhees! A few drinks, the lights turned out, and a trip to Camp Crystal Lake sounds like a good time to us.

What’s your go-to horror game for Halloween? Let us know!

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In addition, we’ve also got a new trailer to refresh your memory, as well as show off more of what graphically looks like a sweet-looking game. Yeah, it sounds like it’s aping Outlast and Amnesia (or the upcoming Silver Chains), but hey, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

The story has you sent to the Atkinson house to investigate unusual happenings surrounding the death of the owner. Once inside, you discover that you’re not able to leave, your team is gone, and you’re hunted/haunted by a ghostly demonic woman. In order to dispel the demon and escape, you must destroy a series of occult artifacts located throughout the house. You must also avoid the woman and the other creatures that stalk the house.

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In some games they are a mere illusion, serving a purpose of decoration or design with an unsurprising “blocked from the other side” message. But in the horror genre they take a starring role and depending on the studio’s vision over what they want to accomplish in the game towards the player’s feeling, they’ve made different use of them throughout history.

Back when Resident Evil was trapped under console limitations, doors were used as a mask for loading screens whenever you entered a room. But if like me, you were lucky enough to go through it without this in mind, they were a mystery. In a matter of seconds, you would start thinking what could be expecting you on the other side of the door, firmly holding your gamepad and trying to remember how many bullets you had left.

They served a purpose, technically speaking, but the developers were well aware of their potential almost to the point of worshipping each one of them. There are 167 door load screens in the first Resident Evil, including some ladder and gate screens as well.

Games like Amnesia and Outlast started to treat them differently. Instead of a slow, meticulous pace, these both modern takes on the horror genre had you constantly escaping from danger, including a key difference: you can’t fight back using weapons. In each, doors became both a way to defend yourself from your own sanity or terrifying, surprisingly fast patients. But they were also an obstacle in certain situations, and it didn’t take long for you to regret closing every door behind you when you’re forced to turn back in order to escape.

Under these two visions, Resident Evil 7 managed to find a balance. During my first minutes into the game, everything was going fine while I was roaming through Baker’s house perimeters. Yet an eerie, familiar sensation came to me once I opened the door on the back, finding myself against a pitch dark room. I immediately paused the game and started streaming it, so a friend could later join me on the distance to keep me company.

While the influence had a leading role in the first part of the game, it didn’t take long for Resident Evil 7 to remind me that I actually had an inventory with weapons on my disposal. But doors were no longer in a leading role with a loading screen, and I’ve had several tools to defend myself now.

And yet, while a new standard was starting to finally settle down, Paratopic showed up with three completely unique ways of using them within. This lo-fi surreal experience does a lot in under an hour, but doors carry some of the most memorable moments of the story.

Stranded in the forest, taking photos of birds and enjoying that is perhaps too calm, we find a cabin. There doesn’t seem to be anything inusual at first: a mattress and a pair of empty food cans showcase a mundane picture. But there’s a closed door beneath it, and the sole response we get are a few knocks from inside if we’re insistent enough. It remains a mystery that can be completely skipped if you choose to ignore it, but ever since I did nothing but wonder what’s behind that door. This moment became such a huge collective question that the developers decided to answer it in the Definitive Cut edition.

The second door in Paratopic has a completely different momentum, being opened abruptly by kicking it and immediately followed by a fleeting glimpse of violence, surrounded by the dark synth sounds of the marvelous soundtrack. The third, however, involves an elevator along with probably the slowest sequence in the game. The player is set to wait in a room, watching how it slowly descends to the floor. It might seem like a moment of respite, but you start feeling anxious, scared. If there’s something in that elevator, you have no way of escaping. And, when you least suspect it, the door opens… 

Even after witnessing dozens of different mechanics and moments surrounding doors, there are still new ways to experiment with them. The importance of them to horror, even if it’s just a sound or a transition, shouldn’t be taken for granted. It’s in the attention to detail that doors proved to be much more intimidating than they actually should be, forcing you to think twice about investigating a room or making you jump once you hear one being slammed on your back. But every time, it’s about now knowing what’s on the other side, and it’s one of the most valuable elements that horror games can offer.

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It’s these ideas that have paved the way for the fascinating history of horror video games. With classics such as Clock Tower, Resident Evil, and Silent Hill, horror games came to life through survival mechanics and stories. These games are amazing examples of keeping players on the edge of their seat, leaving them little to defend themselves with against enemies. Action-horror games have also become a prominent subgenre; titles such as F.E.A.R. and The Evil Within provide the adrenaline of epic action but also cause one to hesitate when coming around each new corner.

In the past decade horror video games have immensely grown; not only have we seen a slew of interesting game mechanics to amplify tension, but we’ve also gotten darker, more mature stories that bring raw emotion. With that in mind, I want to take a look at games that have made the genre proud, combining the innovation of gaming mechanics with the power of horror.

Dead Space – Truly gripping and grotesque body horror

As of this October, Dead Space will be celebrating its 10 year anniversary. You take on the role of Isaac, who has been sent with a rescue team to answer a distress call. Upon arriving at the space station, you come into contact with the alien lifeforce known as the necromorphs; from there you are trapped on the station, left to survive as long as you can while finding an escape.

Dead Space is a brilliant cross between something David Cronenberg would make and the film Event Horizon. The necromorphs are as cool looking as they are horrific; their mutated limbs, gaping mouths, and contorted bodies are that of nightmare fuel. The gore is also outstanding, providing some gut-churning reactions.

There are a number of reasons why Dead Space is such an incredible game, but most notably would be the environment and pacing. For an action-oriented horror game, there are periods of slow burns as you walk down corridors. With chilling atmospheric sounds and your own heavy breathing, you never know what may appear. And the game isn’t just all jump scares — it also includes numerous moments of psyching the player out. As you progress, you’ll question each sound and shadow that comes your way, just to learn that nothing is there to get you in the moment.

There’s a superb balance to these sequences; the game flows naturally, providing swarms of enemies, to leaving you alone in the darkness. While many action-horror games can make the player feel too overpowered, Dead Space makes you feel human. Isaac isn’t a super soldier, he’s just a normal guy. This is a major component that appears in other popular horror titles: establishing a sense of weakness while progressing through games.

Outlast (1 & 2) – Invading Your Safety

In both Outlast games, you play a journalist. In the first, you’re investigating an asylum, with the second starting out with the investigation of a murdered pregnant woman. Things escalate rapidly in both stories, the player finding themselves against violent inmates and cult members (respectively in regard to both entries).

Both games do not allow the player to fight back in any way; your only option against enemies is to run and hide. While this is not a revolutionary mechanic in video games, Outlast uses it to present urgency upon the character and within the player. In a fight or flight circumstance, you’re ripped of your chance to fight. Outlast makes it so that a potential wrong turn could very well be your end.

The player has access to a camcorder, which in dark places allows night vision. This gives both games a Blair Witch Project vibe but also does a great job of tapping into the immersion of the games. While in no way does the camcorder protect you, it may provide some sort of emotional comfort from the random, gruesome horrors that await you. But on the flipside, this small mechanic may actually have the ability to amplify the shock, bringing you closer to the threats that await.

While on paper these mechanics may appear straightforward, they end up coming together to provide a nightmarish experience. Outlast is one of the few titles in video games that keeps you on the edge of your seat, reminding you that you are not safe.

Slender: The Eight Pages – Minimalist Horror

The Slender video game back in 2012 is a gem of indie gaming. As a free-to-play title, the game opens with you appearing in the middle of a dark forest. You wander for some time until you discover a piece of paper on a nearby tree. Picking up the paper brings up a prompt stating you’ve collected the first page of eight. At that moment the music shifts, the air becomes thicker, and eventually, you notice a man in a suit with a white face.

Based off the internet folktale, Slender is a great example of minimalism in gaming; by scaling back on photorealistic details and concentrating on the sounds, shadows, and lighting, the presence of the Slenderman becomes terrifying. His random appearances spike as you collect more pages, building upon the tension and momentum of the game.

It goes to show how so little can be used to present so much; the flow of the game (while at times nerve-racking), maintains a dark meditative nature. You lose yourself in the darkness and sounds, keeping an eye out for the Slenderman. The minimalism and detail at work force the player to keep in mind the entire environment, apprehensive to look over their shoulder.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – A Fresh Spin On Classic Mechanics

The Resident Evil franchise was on a rocky road for some years. When it came to Resident Evil 5 and 6, besides the trademark characters from the series, these games were shells of the franchise’s former glory. Gone was the chilling atmospheres, the sense of isolation, and the fear of what might spring upon you.

But then that all came back with 2017’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard (RE7). You are Ethan, a man in search of his wife after receiving a cryptic message stating to not look for her. Arriving at her last known location, Ethan comes into contact with the Bakers, a family that resembles the Sawyers from Texas Chainsaw Massacre (with an added sci-fi twist).

RE7 is a throwback to the older days of Resident Evil, all while incorporating a fresh look. This time around you are not some badass soldier, but just a normal person. You’re clueless to your surroundings with no prior knowledge of self-defense. The player can feel this in Ethan’s movements; when you do eventually pick up bigger weapons, there’s a clumsiness to the action. Of course, there’s what the player has control of with the controller in hand, but the game balances this out with restrictions (such as a lack of ammo at times). When you’re in a tight squeeze and find a gang of enemies upon you, your anxiety intensifies upon realizing you only have a few bullets left. Wasting your ammo comes with dangerous consequences and makes for intense action sequences. RE7 comes with that terrific balance of slow burn and adrenaline, keeping players on their toes.

The atmosphere is also worth applause; channeling Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Evil Dead influences, the Baker plantation reeks of rot and dread. From mold to old furniture, the place becomes its own character rife with tension and mystery. And as the game’s main antagonists, the Baker family is especially chilling. Their erratic nature allows them to come off as unpredictable. In the early stages of the game, the patriarch of the family, Jack, stalks you throughout the main house. He’s a violent, ominous force that requires skill and patience to evade.

Returning to the franchise’s survival horror roots made RE7 a successful release. The game’s atmosphere teeters the line of dreary and chaotic, throwing you and Ethan for a loop with each segment of the journey. And regardless of your situation you always feel alone — there’s no backup, there’s no one who can come and comfort you. Each hall and room reminds you how isolated you are from the world and from safety, forcing you to embrace every survival mechanic and instinct you know.

PT  – An Innovative Nightmare

The cancellation of PT could very well be considered one of the most controversial moves of gaming in recent years. As a “Playable Teaser”, you wake up in a room, open the door in front of you, and walk down a hall. You take a turn, you see another door in front of you and open it … and you’re back at the beginning of the first hall. The game repeats itself in this fashion for the entire playtime. From that description alone you’d more than likely view PT as far too straightforward of an experience (but would you be wrong).

With each new trip down the halls, things begin to change; one experience may have the lights out, with another coating the halls in a deep red. There’s the sound of a baby crying, a voice on the radio telling you about a grisly murder, and the woman who stalks you. You find her peeking behind the bathroom door, appearing behind you in mirrors, watching you from above. The direct path that PT forces you into begins to take a new meaning with every trip; your senses may begin to adjust to your surroundings, to then being completely thrown off by drastic changes. The score takes on a new presence as the environment shifts, becoming more disturbing with each passing.

It would be revealed by the end of the game that PT was actually teasing a new Silent Hill entry: Silent Hills. The game was going to be directed by none other than Metal Gear director Hideo Kojima, who would also be accompanied by film director Guillermo del Toro and actor Norman Reedus. The hype was beyond immense for Silent Hills given all the years the franchise had slipped away from its horror roots. But hope would be lost upon Konami parting ways with Kojima, thus ending the project. Truly a devastating loss for Kojima and co., as well as for gamers.

PT has been one of the most fascinating games to have been created. Its mechanics were so forward that they slowly immersed players into the tension and horror of the environment. The absence of a concrete narrative created this enigma in regard to your surroundings, leaving you clueless as to what to expect. PT was so full of mystery that it required completing the game via community help; gamers took to the internet, scouring through forums to learn of its secrets. Not only was this exciting as part of the game, but a fascinating look at how involved one could become with a game.

PT took minimalism with high-end technology to present an unsettling atmosphere and anxiety-provoking gameplay. Given this glimpse into potential greatness, Silent Hills could have been an astounding achievement in gaming.

What Comes Next For Horror Video Games?

Technology is advancing at a remarkable rate; with all different kinds of virtual reality products and the expansion of alternate reality software, the potential for gaming is unlimited. This technology opens the door for creating new horror experiences in gaming. While every video game genre has its ups and downs, there’s something special happening in horror; the games we’ve gone over are just a small example of the reimaginings and innovations taking place within the genre. All these games in one way or another have already influenced other titles.

A significant element of horror within video games is the survival component; if you give the player too much power, what do they have to actually fear? Each of these games, whether they’re slow burns or all-out action, make you realize how much control you actually lack. You and your character are limited, trapped, even hopeless at times.

We have a lot of new games coming out to look forward to in horror. From Moons of Madness to Scorn and Call of Cthulhu, the nightmares are only continuing. That intimate connection, allowing ourselves to become vulnerable against dark forces, opening ourselves up to fear and shock, is only going to become stronger and more terrifying as this craft grows.

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This form of storytelling is also limitless in creativity and can employ so many varying tactics to elicit chills. From familiar genre trappings, jump scares, to downright depraved psychological terror, horror video games can scare like nothing else.

Here are the 10 scariest moments in video games.

Clock Tower – Scissorman chase

This 1995 point-and-click survival horror game followed an orphan, Jennifer, recently adopted by a wealthy recluse. Upon arriving at her new adoptive parent’s mansion, her fellow adoptees and their ward go missing. While Jennifer investigates the mansion, she’s stalked and hunted by a deformed boy wielding a gigantic pair of scissors. It’s the first encounter that proves particularly startling; he appears unexpectedly when Jennifer discovers the body of one of her friends. What adds to the fear is that Jennifer can’t fight; she can only run away, which reduces her stamina and allows the Scissorman to catch up. Throw in a “panic mode,” and you’ll likely panic too.

Resident Evil – Dogs through window

The game that launched one of the most popular video game series of all time, and forever changed survival horror, has a ton of terrifying moments to offer. The encounter with the Iron Maiden in Resident Evil 4, or the first glimpse of a Licker in Resident Evil 2 immediately come to mind. But ultimately this jump scare, which sees a dog or two burst through a window to attack either Jill or Chris (depending on which one you choose to play as), won out for being such an unexpected moment of terror. While the mansion setting brought a lot of treacherous enemies to contend with, hallways were usually harmless, just small bridges between rooms. They felt so safe that the unexpected attack through the window provided one of the biggest jump scares in the game. Well played.

BioShock – Dentist’s office

A first-person shooter set in the underwater city of Rapture, in 1960, BioShock is a sort of surreal, horror steampunk hybrid with dystopian elements. Weird characters and a weird story meant for an unpredictable, atmospheric horror series with a lot of jump scares. The series’ trademark scare was a sort of bait and switch “It’s behind you!” type of jump scare, made most memorable by the very first one, which took place in the dentist office. While exploring the quiet, empty dentist office (never mind the weird body in the dentist chair), you find items in the far corner at the desk. The moment you do, fog fills the room. When you turn around, the dentist attacks. Simple and effective, this series would employ this same scare many times over.

Silent Hill 2 – Pyramid Head

The first Silent Hill made a huge splash in the world of horror gaming for its atmospheric, twisted tale of an ominous cult seeking to unleash the demonic deity it worships on the world. The quaint, foggy town of Silent Hill switches back and forth between haunting and downright hellish, making for a setting that offers both debauched and psychological terror. And the rule of sequels means going bigger and better than its predecessor. Enter the Pyramid Head. Very few villains in video games have quite as memorable introductions as this twisted character. The first real brush with Pyramid Head is when the player, protagonist James, walks in on Pyramid Head sexually assaulting, then killing, two Mannequin creatures. That this monster is representative of James’ guilt and desire for punishment adds a new layer of twisted.

F.E.A.R. – Alma

Aka First Encounter Assault Recon, this first-person shooter blends the action with the spooky supernatural, with a terrifying little girl in a red dress at the center of it. Borrowing heavily from J-horror, Alma is a long-haired creepy little girl that haunts the player. She tends to prefer the most unexpected moments to scare, often waiting until the player is so submersed in the action that they forget they’re playing a horror game. Her favorite places to appear? Confined spaces like vents or ladders.

Dead Space 2 – Needle in the Eye

This survival horror series is this gory combination of Resident Evil, Event Horizon, and even a little bit of The Thing. It’s gruesome, tense, and freaking terrifying, which made picking the scariest moment a tough call. The alien virus that ravages the space colony and turns its inhabitants into mutated, reanimated corpses (Necromorphs) brings a wide variety of scares; from playing dead jump scares to turning babies into bombs, Dead Space is one warped series. But the most cringe-worthy, uncomfortably scary moments is when the player, protagonist Isaac Clarke, climbs into the NoonTech Diagnostic Machine to access the part of the brain where information is stored. How does it do that? By sticking a needle in your eye. That’s bad enough, but if you don’t line up the laser to Isaac’s pupil or his heart rate gets too high, prepare for one gnarly death.

Fatal Frame III: The Tormented – Rei’s House

This Japanese ghost series is perhaps the most terrifying series of all time, making it difficult to narrow down the most chilling moment. The very first encounter with a ghost in the first game made me throw my controller, and it only got scarier as the story progressed. However, nothing unnerved me quite like Rei’s house in Fatal Frame III. Most of the story, and scares, play out in the nightmares of protagonist Rei Kurosawa. When she wakes, her home is a comforting haven away from the terrifying and deadly dreams. Until it’s not. Slowly, her nightmares seep into her waking reality. When your safe place becomes invaded by ghosts, nothing is more petrifying.

Outlast – The Twins

This survival horror game is set in an insane asylum, emphasis on insane. In a stroke of brilliance, you play as an investigative journalist. This means that you can’t fight your attackers, and there are many. Stealth is the game here, sneaking around and evading mental patients with homicidal tendencies and scrambling to keep your flashlight’s battery level full so you’re not left in the dark. The roaming patients are sometimes harmless, but always unhinged. Pretty much all encounters with the inhabitants of this asylum are unnerving, but none as much as the Twins. They stalk you, completely naked, and calmly discuss eating your body parts. That they’re among the few that speak with intelligence makes them all the more frightening.

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard – Staircase nightmare

There’s a reason the Resident Evil series has such longevity, and its ability to reinvent itself is a major factor. Take last year’s release, which saw the series make its first foray into first person perspective and majorly shake up its gameplay. The setup is simple and intriguing; protagonist Ethan Winters gets a message from his wife Mia, who has been missing and presumed dead for three years, prompting him to search for her in a Louisiana plantation. He finds her almost right away, locked in the basement. Ethan’s priority then becomes getting the two of them out of there before whoever locked her in comes back. But Mia isn’t quite herself anymore, and the reveal leads to a massive scare before segueing into one creepy Evil Dead-like battle. This scary moment set the tone of Ethan’s fear-inducing journey.

P.T. – Talking Fetus

Truthfully, the scariest moment in horror video game history is likely that the installment of Silent Hill that this Playable Teaser was intended for was canceled. Along with it, the removal of P.T. from the PlayStation Store, making the most terrifying experience in video game history inaccessible. P.T. had the player walk through a creepy hallway that continuously looped and altered itself each time. In terms of actual scary moments within the game, Lisa is a whole other level of scary. Even still, nothing quite prepares you for walking into the bathroom and finding a fetus. The second time you encounter it, the fetus talks. Leave it to P.T. to match its scares with deranged visuals that make you question your sanity.

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Outlast: Bundle Of Terror is the first game and its Whistleblower DLC in one package, and is priced at $19.99 USD. You can also pre-order Outlast 2, but that still doesn’t have a release date. Maybe Red Barrels will suddenly spring it on us like they did with Outlast? All you need to know is that the original game, jump scares and all, is now available for you, on the go.

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In a lengthy Facebook post, the team talks about how fans have been requesting DLC for Outlast 2. Unfortunately, that’s not in the cards, despite The Murkoff Account postings. “While the first Outlast was made with the idea of a DLC in mind, that was not the case for Outlast 2. We’ve considered many options, but none of them felt appropriate for a DLC. Outlast 2 was created to make you feel like a rat in a maze, without any knowledge of what’s outside the maze.”

The big news, however, comes right after that, with the devs stating that they intend to make Outlast 3 “at some point”, and that “answers will be given”. In the meamtime, however, those who haven’t can still read The Murkoff Account’s epilogue.

The other big news comes in the form of a something the team is working on that “won’t be a sequel to Outlast or Outlast 2, but it will be a distinct experience set in the Outlast universe.” What that is, the team won’t say until they’re sure that they can “make it work”.

Lastly, since everyone and their grandma are coming to the Nintendo Swith, the post concludes with news that both Outlast games are headed to the console in the first quarter of 2018. They even have a handy photo for those who need the visual confirmation. With all of these ports coming down the pipe (not to mention the first-party games), it’s making me really want to get a Switch…

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That’s right, if you still haven’t played the game that scared the crap out of so many people, that they made the sequel (released this year!) even more terrifying, now’s your chance. It’s only for Steam, but hey, at a price of FREE, what do you have to complain about? Get over there now, and grab the game before noon tomorrow. While you’re there, be sure to check out the other deals, such as the entire season of The Walking Dead: A New Frontier, Darkest Dungeon or Grim Dawn.

This story was originally posted on Plenty Dreadful. Head there for more horror video game goodness!

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Red Barrels’ highly-anticipated Outlast 2 hits tomorrow, and to get folks excited, Red Barrels have released the final trailer for the game. Blood-soaked visuals, dreary atmosphere and creepy little girl singing? Why not!? Our own Jimmy Champane is stoked for it, and so should you! After all the controversy surrounding the rating in Australia, we’ll be able to see just what the scene in question looks like in its final form. Well, hopefully.

Outlast 2 hits PC, XBox One, and Playstation 4 tomorrow (April 25th).

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For example, you can snag the Resident Evil: Deluxe Origins Bundle, which includes the HD remasters of Resident Evil 0 and Resident Evil 1 for $20 instead of the usual $39.99. There’s also Wolfenstein: The Old Blood, which dropped from $19.99 to $10. Personally, I love me some Wolfenstein, so I’d be all over that deal if I were you.

Additional titles that have gotten a significant drop in price are Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition, Resident Evil 4, 5 and 6, Goosebumps: The Game, Slender: The Arrival, Mortal Kombat XL, The Evil Within Digital Bundle, and a lot more. For a full list, head on over to Major Nelson.

There’s also a list of Xbox 360 games underneath the Xbox One list, so those who haven’t gotten a newer gen console can also find some solid deals for games like Left 4 Dead 2, Dead Space, Red Dead Redemption Undead Nightmare Pack, and Resident Evil, among others.

Go forth and game on!

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This fall has lost one of its more high profile releases, but don’t fret, there’s still plenty more promising horror games to look forward to later this year.

We had to make a difficult decision recently. After weighing our options we’ve decided to postpone Outlast 2’s release until Q1 of 2017.

We want you to know that we listen to your feedback, we see your excitement and we know you care about our work. Our mission as an indie studio is to deliver to you the best, most terrifying, most fulfilling experiences possible. That’s why we’re taking just a little bit more time to make sure our vision for Outlast 2 is in no way compromised and is the experience you deserve.

This is not the type of news we ever want to deliver, but we are so fully committed to the world we’ve built and to our awesome community that we could not, in good conscience, release a game who’s limits haven’t been tested to the extreme.

Thank you for understanding. We promise Outlast 2 will scare the crap out of you.

Outlast 2 releases early next year for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

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Among these faceless international conglomerates run by morally bankrupt people-shaped monsters is the mischievous Murkoff Corporation and its obviously evil, teeth-shaped logo. It’s the reason why Outlast plays like a found footage reimagining of Condemned when it could’ve easily been a somewhat spooky Stanley Parable.

Murkoff is responsible for the atrocities this series exposes us to — except, maybe, for that one inmate we meet in the original game as he shamelessly, uh, displays his affection for corpses. I have a feeling that guy was broken long before he ended up at Mount Massive Asylum.

Now, Murkoff isn’t the worst name you’d find listed on the Spectrum of Evil, but it is pretty bad. Disguised as a charity organization, the company secretly experimented on patients, empowering some while killing others, and effectively treated its employees like prisoners. It’s no Umbrella Corporation or Horzine Biotech, but Murkoff’s sinister deeds are comparable to Armacham from the F.E.A.R. series, which also covertly experimented on scores of people, albeit for different reasons.

Still, where series like Resident Evil, Dead Rising and F.E.A.R. have had at least a decade to show us the inner workings of the organization behind much of the bad stuff that happens in the games, Outlast debuted in 2013. We know the Murkoff Corporation is wicked, because we’ve seen what they’re willing to do, the lives they’re willing — eager, even — to sacrifice, and the ultimate result of their vile acts.

Other than that, the company is largely a mystery.

That’s where the new five issue comic Outlast: The Murkoff Account comes in, to finally acquaint us with the real, and surprisingly vicious, Murkoff Corporation. It accomplishes this, in addition to bridging the gap between the first game and the upcoming sequel, by focusing on Paul Marion and Pauline Glick, aka “The Pauls.” What makes this duo special is their shared occupation as two agents of the Murkoff Insurance Mitigation Department (MIMD).

What that department does is fairly self-explanatory, but its role is to respond to incidents before they’re made public with the goal of minimizing the economic fallout. As Pauline explains to a frightened psychotherapist in the first issue, “We’re not here to save anybody.”

It makes perfect sense that Outlast would approach the issue of needing to expand upon the world they introduced us to three years ago with a “bridge episode” comic that doesn’t only star two corporate-trained sociopaths, but pairs their startling coldness with an art style by The Black Frog that employs a very minimal use of color.

Each monochromatic page has a dreary, washed out look to it, like the story was sketched on old newspaper. It’s conservative with its use of color, but the result is effective, as it forces the few colors — a bright yellow tie, crimson pools of blood — it does use to immediately stand out.

Much like the game it’s based on, in which bouts of exploration are broken up by frantic chases through the labyrinthine, blood-smattered corridors of Mount Massive, The Murkoff Account is paced in such a way that it goes from zero to sixty quickly and often with very little warning. It’s unsurprising, since Red Barrels enlisted Outlast writer J.T. Petty to handle the comic adaptation.

The comic never reaches the level of intensity as its source material — how could it? — but its first issue has more than enough meat to it to maintain interest as Petty and Co. gradually immerse you in a brand new story that promises to be just as creepy and unnerving as the games that inspired it. Fans of Outlast absolutely need to check this out. If that includes you, then you can sign up here to learn more about it.

In related news, I recently spent some time with the demo for Outlast 2, the playthrough of which you can find below for your viewing pleasure. It hits PC, PS4 and Xbox One this fall.

The post ‘Outlast’ Comic Issue 1 Review: Meet the Pauls appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s easy to look at these talented cosplayers and the scene they recreated and see a deadly game of cat and mouse between an eager Gluskin and his unwilling soulmate, Waylon Park. There’s little humanity in those hungry, bloodshot eyes. They’re animalistic. That’s what I love about this. The cosplay itself isn’t too complicated, but cosplayer Dmitry Mishin makes up for that with some unnerving facial expressions.

In related news, I recently spent some time with the crazy intense Outlast 2 demo, the playthrough of which you can find right here:

The post The Groom Finds Love in Freaky ‘Outlast’ Cosplay appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

It’s too early to say for sure, but my time with the Outlast 2 demo has left me eager to see what Red Barrels will do with the sequel when it releases this fall. Eager, and maybe a little anxious.

This series has mastered the art of the jump scare, which it continues to use to spectacular effect, without sacrificing the frightening atmosphere or the dread it slowly builds during the quieter moments. And much like its predecessors, Outlast 2 keeps you permanently on edge, always cautious of what’s lurking around the next corner, waiting for the inevitable moment to come where you’ll need to run for your life.

It plays almost identically to the others, the intuitive cameraman controls becoming a familiar comfort. The variety that’s on display in this small slice of the much larger game is one very welcome departure from the claustrophobic cells and blood-smeared corridors of Mount Massive.

I ventured from a rural freakshow and into a catholic school before being dropped into a corn maze where flashlight-wielding villagers babbled incoherently and chased me around until I had my balls mutilated by a very mean lady — they’re fragile innocence dashed upon the soil by a hellish pickaxe seemingly conjured from thin air.

You bested me this time, lady. But next time, you won’t be so lucky.

The post I Spent 20 Terrifying Minutes With ‘Outlast 2’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

And if you’re in the mood to watch a terrible movie this weekend, they’re offering Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension for one dollar. It’s probably worth that.

The post Horror Games Discounted in PlayStation Flash Sale appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Red Barrels puts the expected horror movie twist on this familiarly effective chase scene by dropping the player in a setting that seems intent on using every tool in the scary storytelling arsenal — the first video starts inside a house of gore nestled inside a creepy cornfield — to string a sequence of horrific events so they play out like an anarchic haunted attraction where your chances of escape seem frighteningly slim.

Looking at these two videos, it’s clear this game will be more of the Outlast we know and love, complete with intense chase sequence that get the blood pumping, or flowing, depending on whether or not you make it.

Outlast 2 releases this fall for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

Here’s a look at the game’s eerie walk-in demo from PAX East this weekend.

The post ‘Outlast 2’ Footage Goes On a Cornfield Chase appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Outlast 2 releases this fall for PC, PS4 and Xbox One.

The post Doctor Trager’s Ready to See You Now appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Strong-willed types such as yourself should definitely set aside some time over the next two weeks to have a look at the latest Humble Indie Bundle, where you’ll find a handful of fantastic indies that can be purchased on the cheap. Outlast, Retro City Rampage DX and Never Alone are available now at the nebulous “pay what you want” price, and they even come with a voucher for 80% off the spectacular Outlast: Whistleblower expansion.

Pay more than the average — as I write this it’s sitting at $6.07 — and you’ll unlock Trine 3 and Door Kickers, and for an additional $2.00 you’ll also get Else Heart.Break() and a second dose of spooky scary with the Lovecraftian roguelike Sunless Sea.

In related news, Outlast 2 is coming this fall. Here’s the reveal trailer, in case you missed it.

The post Pay What You Want for ‘Outlast’ in Latest Humble Bundle appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

He was misunderstood. Gluskin wasn’t a murder-giddy psychopath, he was a romantic. The only thing he was truly guilty of was being willing — eager, even — to do whatever it took so that he could find a silky smooth darling to call his own. And when that didn’t work, he got resourceful.

Red Barrels knows this, so they cut him loose from the ceiling he was probably still hanging so he could deliver a very special Valentine’s Day message while we wait for Outlast 2.

The post A Valentine’s Day Message from ‘Outlast 2’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

With all of the big stories and news, we thought it would be fun to look back and see what the most popular posts were from the past year. Read on to see what you might have missed and relive some of the biggest posts from 2015! NOTE: These are the most viewed posts by readers from 2015, and are in order of how many times they were read.

The post The Biggest Horror Stories of 2015 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

That promising quote comes from Red Barrels co-founder David Chateauneuf. I found it on a press release and figured you might like to read that first, since that is absolutely the kind of thing I’d expect — and hope — to hear from the someone who’s partly responsible for bringing the just-announced Outlast 2 to PC, PS4 and Xbox One next year. If its brand of punishment is in line with what the series has done before, I’ll take it with a smile on my face.

Outlast 2 promises to take us on “a twisted new journey into the depths of the human mind and its dark secrets,” that Red Barrels co-founder Philippe Morin promises “will test your faith, pushing players to a place where going mad is the only sane thing to do.”

What little we know about this game has already remedied a few of the things that have bothered me about the series’ setting and cast of characters. I had a good time in Mount Massive, but these games are too good to employ such an overused and stereotypically scary locale as an asylum. As for the cast, well, it isn’t so much a cast as it is a legitimate freakshow of dead-eyed men wearing soiled adult diapers. In Outlast 2, they’re joined by ladies.

And yes, the night vision camera is returning. Obvs.

The post ‘Outlast 2’ Catches Fire in First Trailer appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

The timing couldn’t be any better, and I know most of you are hungry to see more of this legitimately terrifying series. In 2013, Outlast ravaged the competition in our reader-picked FEAR Awards, taking home the awards for Best Gore, Best Indie Horror, Scariest Game and our Game of the Year. It set a high bar that its standalone expansion Outlast Whistleblower raised the following year, when it claimed the award for Best DLC.

If this is Outlast 2, fingers crossed they’ll have some actual footage for us. As fun as CGI trailers can be to look at, they’re not exactly accurate representations of what the game will look and play like. The recent Friday the 13th: The Game reveal is a fine example of how to get it right.

The post Rumor: ‘Outlast 2’ Reveal Coming Tomorrow appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I’ve picked out some of the stand-outs for this week, and as good as some of these deals are, they’re even better if you’re a proud subscriber to PS Plus. Make sure you return on Monday, Oct 26, when Sony updates the line-up with new deals.

PS4
Alien: Isolation for $35.99 (Review)
Alien: Isolation + Season Pass Bundle for $53.99
Daylight for $6 (Review)
Dead Nation: Apocalypse Edition for $8.99
Outlast for $11.99 (Review)
Outlast: Bundle of Terror for $17.39
Outlast: Whistleblower for $5.39 (Review)

PS3
Alien: Isolation for $29.99
BloodRayne 2 for $3
BloodRayne: Betrayal for $4
BloodRayne for $3
Castlevania: Harmony of Despair for $6
Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – Mirror of Fate HD for $8.99
Catherine for $6.80
Dead Island: Game of the Year Edition for $8
Dead Island Riptide for $7
Dead Nation for $4.79
Dead Rising 2: Off the Record for $8
Siren: Blood Curse Episodes 1-12 for $8
Siren: Blood Curse Episodes 9-12 for $4.50
Siren for $3

VITA
Castlevania: The Dracula X Chronicles for $4.50
Dead Nation for $4.79
Murasaki Baby for $10.49

PSP
Manhunt 2 for $4.50

The post Guard Your Wallets, PSN’s Sale of the Dead is Here appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

If you don’t have this problem, you should definitely take a gander at the titles that have been discounted in Steam’s Stealth Sale before it vanishes in a plume of smoke on October 16th.

To make things easier, I’ve gathered some of the spookier titles for you below.

Lucius — $1.99 (reg. $9.99)
Eldritch — $1.49 (reg. $14.99)
Betrayer — $2.49 (reg. $9.99)
Solarix — $9.99 (reg. $19.99)
Thief: Deadly Shadows — $2.24 (reg. $8.99)
Outlast — $4.99 (reg. $19.99)
Outlast: Whistleblower — $2.24 (reg. $8.99)

Also worth mentioning is the 23% discount Steam is offering to those who pre-purchase Funcom’s upcoming narrative-driven game The Park. You can grab it right now for $10 (reg. $12.99), and you can peruse our coverage to learn more about it.

The post Steam’s Stealth Sale Sneakily Serves Some Spooky Savings appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

As terrifying as the first game was, there’s always room for improvement. If you have any specific issues with it that you’d rather not see get repeated in the future, or if you feel like there are missed opportunities worth pursuing in the sequel, this is the time to speak up.

In a recent post on Red Barrels’ Facebook page, the developer asked their fans what they would like to see from the next game. After skimming through the feedback offered up by the community so far, the general consensus is the sequel will need to be bigger, scarier, have better AI and some female characters. Even if the lack of ladies in the series up to this point was a strange oversight, it did inspire some disturbing questions that I wouldn’t mind seeing answered in Outlast 2.

What would you definitely want to see in Outlast 2:
A) Bigger areas to explore
B) Smarter enemies
C) More lore
D) Chris Walker
E) Something else?

The post What Do You Want from ‘Outlast 2’? appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Assuming the role of Gluskin is Russian cosplayer Paul. There’s some solid cosplaying at work here, and this duo gets bonus points for tackling a series that isn’t often represented in the world of cosplay. Here’s to hoping Outlast 2 gives us an equally memorable baddie to run away from.

For more of Paul’s work, check out his gallery.

The post It’s About Time We Get Some Quality ‘Outlast’ Cosplay appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Since a purely horror-themed fighting game isn’t something we’re likely to get outside of indie efforts like Terrordrome, the Mortal Kombat series will almost definitely be the only way we can scratch that particular itch.

So far, the crossovers have been limited to scary movie cameos from the likes of Freddy Krueger, who made his big debut in MK9. More stuff like that would be great, as would the occasional horror game crossover. To make things easier, I’ve come up with a list of 20 characters that I’d like to see in really any Mortal Kombat, starting with…

The post 20 Horror Game Crossovers I Want in ‘Mortal Kombat’, Part 1 appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

You may want to get on this, if only to make sure you’re adequately prepared for the arrival of Outlast 2. Sure, they’re terrifying, but as the montage video I have waiting for you below clearly demonstrates, they can also be incredibly entertaining.

The post ‘Outlast’ and its Expansion Are Out Today On Mac, Linux appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Horror fans might know their music from Saw VI, which saw their song “Forgive And Forget” appear on the soundtrack.

The band is currently on tour with August Burns Red and Northlane and we caught up with drummer Jerod Boyd to discuss the future plans for MMI, including details on their upcoming fifth album, as well as his love of gaming.

Bloody-Disgusting: How are you doing?

I’m good man! How are you?

BD: I’m doing really well! I hear tonight is gonna be a blast. A lot of people have been telling me that the shows and the setlist for each band has been spot on.

Yeah, we’re having a blast! The shows have been really awesome, better than expected. We’ve been doing a lot of these radio festivals and nu-metal sorta tours lately, which I guess would be the best way to describe it. You know, like Five Finger Death Punch and we did Mayhem Festival.

Now that we’re doing this tour, we’re back to the fanbase that we had in the very beginning. Not younger fans, I guess, but now that we’ve done all those other tours we have these older fans that come out rather than the typical, and I hate to say it this way, the “scene crowd”, you know what I mean? We wanted to touch based with them and tell them, “We’re still here. We’re not going anywhere.” We were out there picking up new fans and doing things like that rather than sticking in the same place and staying there forever. We needed to break out and become part of the actual metal community.

BD: You said that it was like coming back to the fans at the beginning. What were their reactions after that period?

It was mainly just last year because we did a lot of overseas stuff as well, doing those other festivals like Download Festival, Graspop, Rock Am Ring, all over. So, it was a bunch of out of the country stuff and that obviously required us to not be touring in the States. Now that we’re back here again, I can’t really remember our fist tour State tour, besides Mayhem, which is silly.

It seems like the fans are totally okay with it because it’s been a year and they still remembered us and enjoyed the new stuff. The set brings new songs, and old songs, and we’ve got songs from every album. Yesterday, we were finally just like, “Cool, this is the set we need to keep doing.” We’d been changing the set every day, testing things to see which would work best and the original idea seems to be the good one [laughs].

BD: You spoke about a lot of festivals you were on, both foreign and domestic. Do you see that happening again this year in the summer?

It really just depends on what we get offered for this summer. I can say that we have things planned but I can’t exactly say anything right now. But we are definitely staying busy. I can say that it will be something within the States, although that’s not saying that we can’t go to Europe or something like that. We just have to see what’s offered.

BD: Do you see a difference in the audiences in Europe versus the ones in the States?

Well, a regular show and a festival show have almost a completely different feel. I mean, when you’re at a festival it seems like almost everyone is there just to have a blast. Sometimes when you play a venue show, let’s say you’re headlining, maybe half the crowd might know who you are and half the crowd might now. That’s when you think, “Aw, darnit!” But when you go play a festival, everyone just seems to want to see music and experience it and have a blast. Most of the time, they’re drunk anyways [laughs], which is fun! Why not go to an outdoor festival with your buddies, get drunk, and then slam around and crowdsurf!

BD: You stated that there are plans that you can’t go into detail about yet. What future plans can you state openly?

Well, we’re going to be going in to record our fifth album and I can’t say who with or anything like that. However, we’re really excited, we have probably over 20 songs written for this album. We may not put all 20 on there but we always like to create more music all the time. Let’s say we write a song that we all think is really good and then next month write a song that we all think is even better. Then we go back to the other one and think, “Man, it’s not as good as this one here.” This way we have options and can say we wrote a ton and we get to pick out the best of the best stuff.
Those are our plans coming up. We’re still writing every single day and throwing out ideas. But how we are is that we like to work together as a team, so a lot of our writing gets done when we’re not on tour. A hint of that is after Mayhem we took a three month break. We did play Knotfest in California and Japan and then we did a little run and that’s all we’ve done besides write write write write write. So people might have thought, “What happened to Miss May I?” But it’s us trying to prepare for the next album, the next chapter of Miss May I.

BD: What do you think that next chapter is going to sound like? What should fans expect?

We’re definitely going back a little more to the heavier sound like from our first album. But on top of that we’re going to try and incorporate larger choruses, like “Dawn” off of our new album and also “Refuse To Believe”. And maybe “Hey Mister”, off of At Heart. We’re really just trying to get the real “raw” and “brutal” feel back into it, maybe some breakdowns that people will be able to pit and dance to. We’ll definitely have some nice some circle pit style riffs. We want people to be having fun the whole time.

BD: So it’s writing for the whole audience? The entire Miss May I crowd?

Exactly! And always how Miss May I have written is that we like to pretend that we’re playing live on the CD. Sometimes we don’t like to overproduce things. Sometimes we like to just go in there and say, “This would be sweet live! Whatever’s coming next is going to be super fun!”

BD: I’ve heard a rumor that you are a fan of horror video games! Is there any merit to this?

Of course! I’m a huge fan of horror games! I’m a fan of games in general but I do really enjoy some horror games.

BD: Tell me some of the ones that stand out to you.

If we wanna really go back, the first one that I played was Resident Evil for Playstation 1. It was amazing and it got me hooked. I was super scared of it, actually. My dad bought it and I was so scared because of the opening cinematic. I was maybe 7 or 8 when he was playing it. I wanted to see more, even though I was scared. Always been a fan of those games.
Now, with the new generation, I have a Playstation 4, I’ve been playing this game called Outlast. I thought I’ll try it out and it’s one of the most terrifying games I’ve ever played. That game is really fun just because they took a whole new spin on it. Your guy doesn’t have any weapons. All you have is a camera, which has a light, but that light will run your battery and you’ll be stuck in pitch black. So you’re in this insane asylum with all these monsters and you have to find things and run and hide under beds and in closets and lockers and stuff like that until these guys leave, so that you don’t alert them. All this while trying to find out how to get out of this insane asylum, because all these doors are somehow locked up.
I remember playing it in pitch black because I wanted the full experience. I remember, right at the beginning, there’s a guy in a wheelchair and he’s all messed up. So I slid against the wall thinking, “Okay, I’ve played enough horror games. This guy’s gonna hop out.” I walked by and I was thinking that it’s coming, it’s coming, any second now, and there was nothing. I walked into the next room and there’s a TV with static and a bunch of crazy guys sitting watching it. I saw a button that I had to push, or something like that, and I thought, “Duh! I’m going to push this and they’re going to freak out. Classic scenario!”
So I push the button and hide in the back. I start to come out and they’re all still watching the TV. So I keep hugging the back wall and go out the door, thinking to myself, “Okay! I guess I’m fine!” Totally forgot about the guy in the wheelchair. Tried to run past him and he suddenly jumped on me, screaming “Help me!”. That was the only time while playing a horror game that I actually screamed. I was just so scared! [laughs] Then there’s The Evil Within, which is a great game. I haven’t beaten it yet, but I’ve been really enjoying playing it here and there.
Then, I don’t know if you can count it or not but Diablo III has been one of my favorite games. I always played Diablo when I was younger and then when III was coming out I was counting the days until its release. I love it. I don’t know if you can count it as a full horror game. I know that it takes place, at times, in a sort of hell environment but it’s a little gruesome persay but it’s not like The Evil Within or Outlast, where anything could pop out at any second and I’ll scream.

BD: I remember when Diablo II came out and my friends came over with their computers and we had a LAN party. By the end, there were pizza boxes stacked to the ceiling!

[laughs] We did the same thing! My neighbor got me into it. He brought his computer over with his buddy and we’d all play around. I played a Paladin and it was awesome. Until everyone started hacking.

BD: Jerod, thanks so much for talking!

It was a pleasure! You be safe and have a good one!

The post Jerod Boyd Of Miss May I (Interview) appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Better late than never, right?

Between Until Dawn, Last Year, Summer Camp, Splatter Camp, the Friday the 13th game, and the possibility of a third Condemned game, 2015 is shaping up to be a bloody good year.

In celebration of all this slasher gaming goodness, I’ve come up with a list of my personal favorite video game serial killers, starting with…

The post Top 6 Serial Killers in Video Games! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I’m sure most of you have skipped this opener and are already half-way through the winners, so I’m going to shut my face right up and let you look over this year’s winners.

That’s it. I have no more polls for you to click on, you’re free to relax. The FEAR Awards will return to its year-long slumber, I may sleep until noon just for the hell of it, and we’ll continue our journey into a mysterious new year. If you have any thoughts on this year’s batch of winners, feel free to share them with us in the comments!

The post Your Picks for the Best & Worst Horror Games of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This has worked so far, but it isn’t perfect. The problem is you have lives, and sometimes life stuff can keep you from embracing Democracy’s pillowy bosom. To keep that from happening to you, vote below before I announce the winners on Friday, January 16.

The post Vote Here for the Best & Worst Horror Games of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I think it’s safe to say the nominees in this category are all evenly matched. That will probably only make voting for the best even more difficult, but I believe in you.

You have until Thursday, January 15th to get your votes in. Come Friday, I’ll reveal the best and worst horror games of 2014, as chosen by you.

The post [FEAR Awards] Vote for 2014’s Horror Game of the Year! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

I’ve gathered five horror game antagonists that were especially memorable — help us decide which one did it best by voting below!

For the unfamiliar, The FEAR Awards is your chance to pick the best and worst horror games of the year. I’ll reveal a new category and its respective nominees every day until Jan 10. From there, voting will remain open until Jan 15, followed by a reveal of all of the winners on Jan 16.

The post [FEAR Awards] The Most Horrific Monsters of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Below you’ll find our nominees for the most shit-out-your-spine scary games that arrived last year. Now go and vote for the one that scared you the most!

For the unfamiliar, The FEAR Awards is your chance to pick the best and worst horror games of the year. I’ll reveal a new category and its respective nominees every day until Jan 10. From there, voting will remain open until Jan 15, followed by a reveal of all of the winners on Jan 16.

The post [FEAR Awards] The Scariest Games of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

If that sounds like a good time to you, too, enjoy this new episode of Teens React to Outlast, courtesy of the Fine Bros.

In related news, Outlast: Whistleblower is currently battling it out in our sixth annual FEAR Awards, which kicked off today. If you’d like to see it win, I suggest you give it your vote!

The post Grab the Popcorn, It’s Another Teens React to ‘Outlast’ appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

This year’s FEAR Awards will play out in the usual way — I’ll reveal a new category and its respective nominees every day until Jan 10. From there, voting will remain open until Jan 15, followed by a reveal of all of the winners on Jan 16.

We’re going to kick things off with a vote on all things red and squishy. If you have an opinion, feel free to share it by voting below for the game you think made the best use of its gore!

The post [FEAR Awards] The Greatest Gore of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.

Before we continue our plunge into 2015 and the virtual worlds it has waiting for us, let’s take a moment to look back at some of my favorite horror games of 2014, starting with what I consider to be the scariest of them all…

Outlast: Whistleblower

The first Outlast was new and terrifying enough to hide some of its imperfections when it released last year. Outlast: Whistleblower didn’t need to do much to be successful, but rather than rest on its laurels, developer Red Barrels used the expansion as an opportunity to tweak the original game’s winning formula, starting with some trimming of the fat.

Whistleblower is a leaner, scarier and more focused gaming experience that benefits from improved pacing and a selection of enemies and environments that never remain on-screen long enough to grow repetitive. It also manages to be even more twisted, with a final act that ranks among the craziest WTF Did I Just See? moments in gaming, horror or otherwise.

The post [Best & Worst ’14] Adam’s 5 Favorite Horror Games of 2014! appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.