Halloween is fast approaching and at Enemy Slime we have decided to join in the festivities by having some of our editors recommend their favorite horror (or close to horror) games to play.
As with Jared, I’m a huge sack of sniveling babies. So let’s do this.
Amnesia: The Dark Descent
I heavily debated (with myself) between Amnesia or Penumbra taking this spot. Both scared me to the point where I quit long before completing the game as I’m afflicted with a case of scaredy-cat-ness almost as severe as Jared, but Amnesia not even letting me fight back against the beasties in the dark was enough to tip the decision in its favor. It’s also fortuitous that I choose this particular game as my first spooky pick, because it’s a game that’s so well-known that I almost need not explain why it’s creepy. It’s a generally accepted scientific fact (or something like that).
What I will say is that although invisible monsters tromping through the water didn’t quite do me in, being chased into a room with only one way out was enough for me to quit for good. What was I going to do? Open the door I came through, that probably had some sort of giant slime-dripping werewolf thing on the other side, or… hide in the closet, save, and exit the game forever? My imagination got the better of me and rather than face the horror, that’s just what I did. My save still exists to this day should I become brave enough to come out of the closet… you know what I mean.
System Shock 2
Science fiction doesn’t always get a front seat in the horror genre. Most games play to what we know, or what we used to know, by taking place either in modern day or in the past; locales we know or at least understand. There’s definitely something to be said though for futuristic science fiction horror which takes place in a world where you don’t really know anything for sure.
Not only is System Shock 2 the best of the “shock” games by far (yes, Bioshock included) but even today with the dated graphics it can make me feel very uneasy. Sure, it has its fair share of screaming gruesome monsters, but what really shines about System Shock 2 is its ability to make you scared of things you didn’t think were scary.
Perhaps my fondest memory of System Shock 2 was playing co-op with a friend. We were lost somewhere in the labyrinthine underbelly of the Von Braun, hiding from a friendly robot who declared he only wanted to assist us… then burst out of the darkness and violently self destructed in our faces. It was really clear that you’re fucked and you need to be afraid of everything in this game, and when you’ve got nothing but a pipe, a jammed pistol, and 2 bullets, the baddies become even more scary.
Grim Fandango
What?! This isn’t a horror game! True, but it’s a game that takes place in the afterlife during the Mexican Day of the Dead and is host to a cast of skeletal characters. Nothing says Halloween (and spooky) like skeletons, right? It does have that air of Halloween about it, and heck, maybe it’s because it’s my favorite game of all time, but I think it’s a great game to play during this particular holiday.
There are some moments that were particularly unnerving. The demon beavers gave me the creeps when I was just a lad, and I think every single one of us jumped or at least went “WHAT THE FFF-” when we were stormed by the giant crocodile in the dark outside the florist’s shop. At least we had Glottis’s loving embrace to keep us feeling warm and fuzzy.
Let’s face it, you don’t play Grim Fandango to feel scared, you play it to experience one of the best adventure games ever crafted; it’s filled with love, rivalry, murder, deception, and giant tie-dye kitties that poop in really big litter boxes. The fact that it’s so well suited to Halloween is just a bonus. If you’ve got a copy, dig it up and give it another playthrough. Manny is ready to take you now.
Thanks for keeping up with the staff’s Halloween picks, have a good holiday!
