The horror genre is filled with great games that dive into all kinds of genres. From Resident Evil to Silent Hill to Alien: Isolation, there are tons of excellent horror games for fans to dive into. Of course, some games fall through the cracks or drop out of favor as gamers move on to new games. These cult classics aren’t any less scary, and sometimes, they outscare the games everyone thinks of as the best in the genre. Even if you’re not a fan of playing old games, these cult classics are worth going back to, if only to see how scary developers could be without modern graphics.
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Here are four great cult classic horror games that you need to play.
4) Sanitarium
Sanitarium represents the onslaught of point-and-click horror games in the ’90s, following the success of Phantasmagoria and The 7th Guest. The former game was the latest in the long line of successful games from pioneer Roberta Williams, but it doesn’t hold up as well. Meanwhile, The 7th Guest is probably too popular for this list.
Enter Sanitarium. DreamForge Intertainment delivered one of the wildest point-and-click games you’ll ever play. Players hop into the shoes of Max after he wakes up from a coma in a sanitarium. He has no memory of how he got there, and you need to go through several different worlds to figure out exactly what happened.
It’s a mind-bending journey through Max’s psyche that ends with a satisfyingly horrific twist ending. DotEmu ported Sanitarium to iOS and Android in 2015, making it very easy to play on modern platforms, if you want to jump in.
3) Condemned: Criminal Origins
The first of two Monolith Productions games on this list, Condemned: Criminal Origins, was a launch game for the Xbox 360. It was originally going to be the first game in a multi-media franchise, with a reported three planned sequels. Most of that didn’t happen, but it didn’t stop the first game from being one of the finest horror games of all time.
On top of the top-end scares, Condemned also masters first-person melee. That’s something that hadn’t been done well to that point, so it’s definitely worth giving Monolith credit for giving something that still feels great.
That said, the real star of the show is the unsettling atmosphere, gorgeously spooky visuals, and impeccable sound design. Most of these games will scare the pants off you, but there’s something special about how Condemned uses sound to absolutely terrify players.
2) F.E.A.R.
It’s wild that Monolith was able to drop two of the best horror games of all time within a few months of each other. Both Condemned and F.E.A.R. are absolute show-stealers. Technically, F.E.A.R. didn’t launch on consoles until a year after Condemned, but the PC release hit about a month before Condemned launched alongside the 360.
Similar to Condemned, F.E.A.R. isn’t just about giving players spine-chilling scares. It also just plays incredibly. Sure, it’s a horror game, but F.E.A.R. is easily one of the best shooters of the year, and probably the era. The AI is surprisingly smart, forcing players to really think about each encounter, and the slow motion is one of the best implementations in the business.
Simply put, if you’re looking for a horror game with a little something more, F.E.A.R. is the game to play.
1) Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem
Eternal Darkness is one of the more inventive horror games you’ll ever play. If you’re a Metal Gear Solid fan, take the Psycho Mantis fight and how it plays with your mind by reading your memory card, and turn that into a full game.
The sanity effect meter does so much to mess with the player. From minor effects like a skewed camera angle to major problems like a fourth-wall-breaking segment showing a fake sequel, the sanity effects in Eternal Darkness are among the best things a developer has ever done with a horror game in terms of understanding it’s a video game.
Unfortunately, developer Silicon Knights was never able to actually make the much-discussed sequel, and we haven’t seen many games try something as ambitious since. Hopefully, someone takes the sanity effects and finds a way to adapt it to modern consoles, because it doesn’t look like we’re ever getting a follow-up to this all-time classic.
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