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The best horror or with elements of it to enjoy this Halloween. Zombies, vampires, monsters ... Or costumes make up a list of games to play in this age of terror.
Officially, on October 31, Halloween is celebrated. Thanks to the influence of American culture we have one more celebration, this time focused on being scared, in theory. Children dress up as monsters, their characters or with Fortnite skins to ask for treats from door to door in their neighborhood. Luckily for them, the next day is the holiday of All Saints' Day and there is no school or institute.
For their part, teenagers and older people take the opportunity to watch horror movies. And it is precisely this genre that has inspired video games the most. Not only because of the horror genre itself, but because its iconography has given rise to many games and sagas that are very important in the world today.
Next, taking advantage of the fact that Halloween is approaching, we will list ten of the games that we think best use and take advantage of the Halloween theme. Ten titles of which we ensure their quality, and they show us the great variety of ways to use terror in video games.
10 - Hollywood Monsters
A somewhat strange entry but with meaning. This classic of Spanish adventure games uses the Hollywood monsters of the Universal studio from the 20s to the 60s, with what this would be the best equivalent for those who like classic horror films. Almost no monster or important character is missing: Dracula, the Werewolf, Frankenstein's monster, The Mummy, the Hunchback of Notre Dame (not Disney's), the invisible man ...
It is one of the best letters of love and respect to the classic monsters. The most surprising thing is that it has really aged little with an animation that keeps and a puzzle solution that really makes you explore and experiment with everything to see what crazy results it gives you. A gem of the genre that is ideal to play on Halloween.
9-Dead Space
We could easily describe this title as the last great horror game that the sector has given. The story of Dead Space is a bit sad because the horror genre had very good games for years but at the time of PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 the costs were skyrocketing and suddenly a game that consists of scaring the viewer was very risky. It was safer to do a shooter.
Those at Visceral Games had such enormous pressure working for Electronic Arts, that they could only allow the game to be a smash hit, not just by having acceptable sales. Outside of this very scary story on its own, is Dead Space really a terrifying game? Well of course! With the sound, the atmosphere and the care to make the immersion total and despite having weapons you feel that you are never sure the perfect cocktail is kept. It is the ideal horror game for those who do not like to have a bad time. The jumpscares are not criminals as in other titles that are based on making you run away so that they do not scare you and that is appreciated.
8 - Costume Quest
What is the Halloween party really about and why is it celebrated? It is about children going out to ask for candy in disguise and we celebrate it because they are excited to see it in series and movies. That's what Costume Quest is based on in a game that is literally Halloween, but in RPG.
With certain influences from the Paper Mario or Mario & Luigi Superstar Saga, the combats are not only turns, but they put us many minigames. We must also know what costumes to combine in the team to optimize. A mix of JRPGs with Halloween costumes. It may not be the game you were expecting for tonight, but something a little casual and ideal for children can be a good alternative.
7 - The Typing of the Dead
Does The House of the Dead, Sega's zombie arcades that rivaled Time Crisis, sound familiar to you? Ok, great ... But we don't have an arcade at home! And playing them on PC with a mouse is not fun at all ... And we don't feel like dusting off the Wii or the PlayStation Move ...
We have the solution! Typing of the dead translates the House of the Dead formula to that of educational games that taught you to type when in the end we only used three of the five fingers they showed us. Writing sentences at full speed to defeat zombies is just what it sounds like. And we have them in several versions: adapting The House of the Dead 2 and The House of the Dead: Overkill, one of the best installments of the franchise.
6 - Until Dawn
This one is for the audience who has just turned 17 and likes slasher movies like You're Next, Scream, Halloween. A slightly more modern take on the classic works with the added "David Cage" twist of implementing small choices and decisions that affect the future of our protagonists.
We control several young men who go to a cabin in the mountains on a snowy night like in any other stereotype of a slasher movie. Suddenly a serial killer appears and the protagonists must flee and survive all the difficulties that lie ahead, fighting for their lives. A remarkable replayability and possibility of experimentation by letting us decide the future of our protagonists. None of them are required to survive, but that's part of the fun.
5 - Castlevania
If our Hollywood Monsters entry made it clear that Halloween is part of the classic monsters but we put a comedy game on, now we put a more serious and traditional one. The Castlevania franchise takes a lot of those classic monsters, with a lot of gore and a gothic art section.
But ... What delivery? Symphony of The Night seems like a good choice but it is very long and at times cryptic. So if it is to play something taking advantage of Halloween, the first installment of the NES remains as pristine as the first day. A good thought control and a level design that, except that previously made it difficult to post and somewhat unfair, is still a joy to play thanks to the control, music and graphics.
4 - Silent Hill 2
A small portion of Silent Hill could not be missing ... Although the fear really gives us knowing that Konami is going to take a long time to release a title that is really worth it and is neither an arcade nor a pachinko ... Now, what delivery? The second is the ideal for many reasons. The first is the best known for being the one that many played with the first PlayStation, but the second part is the most personal and psychological. The smell of Team Silent was to make horror games that are not very ambitious but that delve deep into the human mind and use what scares the most, along with various camera tricks, music and atmosphere to be able to scare us with as little as possible , and that even today they look great.
Of course, doing it on modern platforms is difficult since it is impossible to find the PC version to put mods into it, and on consoles at most we have for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 the version of the HD Collection based on unfinished code and the remains had to be joined by a team with little experience in projects of that size. A pity that we have lost a franchise that today would be really groundbreaking and not just a funny comment that we put on social networks when it is foggy.
3 - Your favorite Resident Evil installment
One quality that Resident Evil has is that although its deliveries are different, they tend to respond to film trends. The original trilogy was a B-movie, the fourth was about being a blockbuster, the fifth was based on the craze for gritty movies, Resident Evil 6 was heavily inspired by the exaggerated cutrism fever with Sharknado, and the seventh was on the found foootage after the success of Paranormal Activity and REC.
So ... What is the ideal for this Halloween? The delivery you want, they all have something to offer. Some with more problems than others such as the forced inclusion of an AI-controlled companion from Resident Evil 5, or that Resident Evil 6 is not scary and tried to go after the Call of Duty audience.
2 - Detention
Are you a fan of Asian horror type The Ring? The original version, of course. Well, this possibly this game is for you, quite a surprise for this Halloween. Don't be put off by its 2D indie look, because that gives it a special touch. A full-fledged graphic adventure puts us in the shoes of Taiwan students who are trapped in high school during a typhoon. In case empty institutes were not scary enough, supernatural concepts are added to them.
Monsters from Taiwanese mythology will appear for what at first seems to be a Silent Hill in 2D but then it will change to demonstrate the true monster and terror: the martial law in which Taiwan was ravaged. In this way they turn a horror game into one with a strong political message but no less terrifying with how they present the story of the protagonist.
1 - Dead Rising
Easily the best zombie game ever, one of the best Xbox 360 exclusives, one of the best games Capcom has ever made…Dead Rising is, short of being officially licensed, the official game of Night of the Dead. the walking dead of George A. Romero, the film director who revolutionized the concept of the modern zombie. And we're not just saying it, because Dead Rising drinks from all the influences of zombie movies, and in a game of great quality.
Those movies became popular thanks to the zombie apocalypse being a backdrop to draw scenes from the human survival instinct when the law of the fittest is established. The so-called psychopaths roaming freely with bosses such as a proud and corrupt police officer, a butcher who uses human flesh or a clown fed up with being laughed at are just one more ingredient in a work full of details, a lot of strategy to survive planning by where to go to go safer or get weapons with what you can. Many people have complained about the real-time missions, but it is a way to add pressure to a shopping center where you have to survive, not take a walk.
