So, there are lot's of horror games out there, but which ones have actually spooked you? For me, Silent Hill 3, and Fatal Frame 3, hmmm 3 must be a special number or something. The atmosphere and sound design in those games is downright insane, It doesn't matter how many times I beat them, they still get me spooked!
I'm overall not a horror fan, but there are two horror games I've actually played. First of all Phantasmagoria. This game may not be really famous anymore, however it was designed by Robertta Williams who also brought us the King's Quest series, and the game was developed by Sierra On-Line. The game was notorious for the need of SEVEN(!) CD-ROMs in order to play it. In the game you assume the role of a young woman who just moved with her husband to a mansion. While her husband is trying to get several things done to make the house suitable for living, you explore the house and eventually discover it was once owned by an evil guy whose spirit still lingers in the place and eventually takes possession of tadaa... your husband, who as a result goes mad and becomes more and more dangerous. You will also get some horror illusions among the game. The game does not work in jumpscares, but rather in a mood that gets creepier the more of the game you have solved.
The other horror game is Alice: Madness Returns, and I need to note that this is a psychological horror. You assume the role of Alice Liddell, the heroine of the Alice and Wonderland story. Traumatized by the fire that destroyed her house, and killed her parents and sister she is getting therapy by Dr. Bumby in order to forget all about that fire. This makes sense given the fact that Alice in Wonderland takes place during the Victorian era of the U.K. and back in this years it was a general consensus that whenever something bad happens you have to forget about it and move on (having traumas myself I know that this ain't gonna work, but today that is acknowledged, but this idea is pretty new). Alice however gets madder and madder, and seeks refuge in Wonderland, the world of her own imagination. However as the game progresses, Alice will actually get crazier and crazier until the moment the culprit of the murder and fire pops back in her memory (whose identity I will not reveal to prevent spoilers). The crazier she becomes the more horrible Wonderland looks, since it's nothing more but a reflection of her own mind. Once again, no jumpscares, and maybe not even that you sit on the tip of your chair out of fear, but yet a creepy mood that gets creepier all the way as Alice nearly "drowns" in her own madness. Especially when you see her memories of being in the madhouse (which is enough to get anyone crazy, and some of the "treatments" (read well-intended maiming) are actually historically correct, to make matters worse) you know you can better not play this game when little kids are around (the game does in the EU have an 18+ rating).
I do not know well Phantasmagoria runs on modern computers, since it uses the newest version for the SCI engine Sierra ever made, and so far that SCI version has always been buggy on me in other games written in it. The game uses real actors, so that girl that is you is portrayed by a real actress, however the graphics hardware of the time wasn't fully ready for that, and thus they had to convert that to 256 graphics, and they used the highest resolution they could back in the day, hence the need of seven CDs. Although gameplay wise the game is a bit flawed, the horror mood was definitely kept well, and the finale is quite heavy, and I must say the ending when you finished the game is quite realistic.
One thing I gotta warn you about in Phantasmagoria. During the finale you have very little time and a lot to do an one mistake and you will die and your savegame will get deleted (only happens i f you die during the finale. If you die earlier you can still reload a savegame). I don't really know what Sierra was thinking there. When it comes to the story Phantasmagoria is actually a recommendation if you love horror.
Now it's hard to imagine given the sweet looks of the King's Quest series, but Roberta Williams is said to be a horror fan.
And yeah, I agree that with Alice the art direction and voice acting was indeed spot on. Now Alice herself was already portrayed wonderfully by her voice actor, but the guy who voiced the cat nailed it completely. ;)
Yo, Silent Hill 4 is so underrated! I think the ideas and concepts were insane at the time for the game, sure it was jank at times, but I thought that added charm. Fatal Frame 2 , and Silent Hill 2 still get played from me at least once a year! I'll have to check out that Power Drill Massacre, very catchy name lol
