Imagine It’s 3 a.m. The lights are out; the night is still. Your TV rattles as you pull yourself closer to its glow. It’s a weekend, and you have all the time in the world to play games. What better way to play a horror game?

Resident Evil 2

You boot up your game and put on some headphones. All is quiet. At least at the start. Then, minutes later, your heart rate increases. Your palm sweats, your mouth goes dry. You jump at shadows as a monster lunges at you and almost makes you drop your controller in the process. You take a second to calm yourself. Maybe laugh a little at the ridiculousness of it. You managed to scare yourself silly.

Welcome to the world of horror at its best.

Suffocating Atmosphere, Palpable Dread

These are the types of situations you want out of your horror games. You want them to scare you. For the most part, this genre's most successful can do just that. Many people, even today, fear Alien Isolation’s intelligent Xenomorph or dread the thick, lumbering stride of Mister X in Resident Evil 2. While they can be fended off, they are inevitable and demand a response.

Alien Isolation

This fear can get so strong that even in games where protagonists can fight back, a thick, suffocating atmosphere is all you need to get hearts rumbling and a fight-or-flight feeling to form. When monsters are coming at you from the shadows or tearing through walls to get you, when nowhere is safe, fear can get palpable to the point of being dizzying.

That is what happens when you have an oppressive atmosphere. Indie game Darkwood demonstrated it perfectly with the nightly assaults that batter against your cabin. On some days, nothing happens, and a rare, quiet night passes to the hum of the lamplight. On others, wood is shattered as your doors are broken. Gunfire erupts as you take down the latest horror trudging through to get you. Your body shakes as you tense up and prepare for the next wave of enemies.

Dead Space Remake

Even when you can fight back, that’s the power a good atmosphere can bring.

Fight against your Fears

The same goes for split-second decision-making and surprise. Fear isn’t just the expectation of conflict. It’s the dread of surprise. That’s why classic jumpscares work so well.

Even simple choices can leave you second-guessing which answer is truly right if the situation is framed correctly. Many fans of Classic Resident Evil 3 will fondly remember the stalker enemy Nemesis and the first life-and-death situation you have with it. Against the cooling of your fallen comrade, you must choose to flee in shame or fight to avenge him, all while its huge frame stalks ever closer.

Resident Evil 3 Live Selection

Even action sequences can have scary moments. Many people wouldn’t call Resident Evil 4 or its remake traditionally scary. You have the bullets, the firepower and the attitude needed to take down whatever foe you come across. Even then, many people will still balk in fear at the sound of Doctor Salvador’s chainsaw, or the rumbling footsteps of Big Cheese Mendez.

Resident Evil 4

A horror atmosphere can result from more than just dread. It can result from immediate responses, and like a deer in the headlights, panic sets in.

Helpless Around Harm

Some cases don’t even need action to scare you at all. Much like the slasher movies of olde, games like Outlast and Penumbra thrive off the powerlessness they can instill in you. While other horror games feature foes you can fell, these types focus on stealth and sneaky gameplay to see you through the night. Conventional firepower does nothing against the monsters you face off against. Only your wit, your speed, and your tenacity can save you.

Outlast

It’s an acquired taste that everyone can enjoy, but it certainly does lead to some of the genre’s more memorable moments. Even the more action-focused horror games thrive in this. Dead Space 2’s opening act has you running helplessly from necromorphs. Jack Baker’s invulnerable form stalks you throughout the house in Resident Evil 7, and SCP Containment Breach has you fleeing endless corridors from the unknowable horrors of a wider universe.

An Experience of Taste

Throughout all of this, the one unifying thing these horror games have crafted is a masterclass atmosphere that sucks its players in. Unlike other genres, fear requires its players to be immersed. Without it, horror just wouldn’t work, and its scares, once they start failing, start feeling tedious and boring.

What it comes down to is a matter of taste. Some horror fans don’t like the action settings of Resident Evil and Dead Space. Others dislike the slow and tense atmosphere that games like Alien Isolation bring. And yet even more hate the helplessness that titles like Amnesia offer. It’s all a matter of what you enjoy, and what sort of gameplay resonates best with you.

Amnesia

Here at Mega Cat Studios, we enjoy all types of horror games equally, from the Lovecraftian horror Dark Corners of the Earth to the more grounded Conscript. If you like horror as much as we do, you might want to try Five Nights at Freddy's: Into The Pit.

Five Nights at Freddy's: Into The Pit

Thrust into the shoes of scared little Oswald, this latest Five Nights at Freddy’s title has you avoiding various animatronics, solving various different puzzles, and saving your friends and family from certain doom. Learn the secrets that Into The Pit has to offer, and bask in the lovingly crafted pixel art that makes this FNAF title come to live.

If you’re an avid fan of the genre, you won’t want to miss a game like this! Enjoy its atmosphere, and get it today!