It's packed with winks to the slasher genre, and you'll still love the ridiculous twists even if you see them coming from a mile away. While many games on this list are here because of their fear-factor alone, Until Dawn earns a spot for more meta reasons, too - it's wilfully, soulfully entrenched in horror tradition, and uses those tropes brilliantly. But it's not all fun and games: the characters will die gruesome deaths if you can't navigate Until Dawn's horror movie logic, and it takes every opportunity to scare the bejaysus out of you. Or rather, Until Dawn (zing), a 2015 survival-horror game about a pack of randy teens going on vacation to an isolated mountain cabin, only to find that some heinous entity is set on killing them off. Teen slashers have been around for nearly four decades now, but aside from the abysmal Friday the 13th on NES, games haven't really been brave enough to venture into that territory. Taking on a group of enemies is challenging for all the right reasons: the encounters are well crafted, and the pistol-plus-flashlight combat combo is fun to use without making you feel invincible. Developer, Remedy is as famous for action as storytelling, and that comes to bear here, as simple, fluid controls do away with the stilted awkwardness that's characteristic of this genre. Maybe that sounds a bit mean, but you'd be hard-pressed to find a more enjoyable horror game than Alan Wake from a pure gameplay perspective. Its story unfolds like a thrilling TV miniseries, right down to the episodic structure that bookends each plot twist and revelation.Īlan Wake further distinguishes itself by, well, being a lot of fun to play. The dulcet tones of the night DJ rambling across the airwaves - mixed with the little vignettes you can catch on TV - make this town feel alive, like a character unto itself. That place is Bright Falls, a Twin Peaks-inspired mountain community with a terrible secret. But its sense of place and character is second to none. It doesn't trade in excessive gore or jump scares - in fact, it's not that scary on the whole. Platforms: PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, PCĪlan Wake isn't like most horror games.

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