Plenty of gamers are looking for horror games to play this October. With many of the physical haunted houses common to the season being closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, even non-gamers are turning to video games for seasonal scares.
While many horror games require some strategy, skill, and quick thinking in stressful scenarios, others simply take players through a their own scary stories. For players that are just looking to get scared, these are some of the best to check out.
Layers of Fear
Layers of Fear is a 2016 horror game developed by Bloober Team. This studio has recently been known for its upcoming Xbox Series X exclusive horror game, the Medium. However, Layers of Fear is a great example of the studio's experience with horror.
This game has players control a painter who is attempting to search his house in order to find materials to complete his masterpiece. His home, however, is filled with angry spirits and remains of his sins that he must confront. There are multiple paths that players can take as well as a few different ways the player can die, but death isn't much of a punishment with checkpoints being very frequent.
As players explore the mansion in Layers of Fear, the world will begin to change around them with the game's story up for the players to discern. There is additionally a VR edition of the title for players that want a more in-depth horror experience.
Fatal Frame: Deep Crimson Butterfly
Fatal Frame: Deep Crimson Butterfly is a remake of Fatal Frame 2, released on the Nintendo Wii. Alongside the original story mode of Fatal Frame 2, Fatal Frame: Deep Crimson Butterfly has an extra mode titled Haunted House Mode. The main goal of this game is for the player or players to control their fear as they go through the various locations from a first person perspective.
There are three separate sub-modes to Haunted House mode. These modes are:
- Don't Get Scared - Make it to the end goal before the player's fear meter reaches level three
- Search for the Doll - Go through the house and find the five hidden dolls without being caught by the ghost slowly chasing the player
- Spiritual Photography - Find the specific vanishing ghost located within the house and photograph it five times
In order to measure the player's fear, the game feels how the player's hand shakes via their Wii remote. Additionally, up to two players can play in Haunted House Mode at once, allowing players to explore the scares with their friends.
Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion
Spooky's Jumpscare Mansion is a free to play game available on Steam with a remaster additionally available for $9.99 USD. In it, players explore a mansion filled with cardboard cut-outs that pop out of the walls accompanied by loud noises in order to jump scare the player. While this comes off as very comical and not too scary, the game quickly brings out real horrors that accompany the various jokes set up throughout the game. Throughout the mansion are large varieties of horrors that will definitely catch unwitting players off guard.
Those who want to enjoy a unique horror experience with comedic lining are highly recommended to give this title a try this season.