Video Games

[scrypt]

As a writer who was made aware in the '90s that certain video games were closer to stochastic horror novels than films could ever be, I followed this thread hoping to see a few specific titles. I quite agree with the inclusion of Eternal Darkness and Silent Hill 2 (and the original four SH games generally for their fatalistic tone), really enjoyed Demon's Souls and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne, and would love to play Dear Esther at some point. However I was surprised not to see two games in particular from the PS2/Gamecube era: The Fatal Frame series (particularly FFII) and Rule of Rose.

The latter -- Rule of Rose -- tends to be despised for its frustrating combat mechanics but is in my opinion the most aesthetically correct game in a gothic/modernist fatalistic mode so far. The tone is relentlessly negative, the artwork looks like a splice between Remedios Varo, Dorothea Tanning and Edward Gorey, and the soundtrack is a pastiche of Bartokian chamber music. The game owes as much to Lord of the Flies as to Christina Rosetti's Speaking Likenesses:

YouTube (Short URL)

Completists also might want to play the Clock Tower games. Clock Tower -- The First Fear manages to make explicit reference to films by Dario Argento musically, thematically and visually despite being an early SNES/WonderSwan game dating from 1995 (you can still play it on your laptop with an SNES simulator). You'll also notice the protagonist looks exactly like the young Jennifer Connelly featured in Argento's Phenomena.

[Druidic]

Clive Barker’s Undying is one of the finest horror-based games ever released. The graphics are still amazingly decent after a decade (which shows you don’t need bleeding edge technology if a game is stylish and smart enough and just drips with atmosphere); just put aside that high rez fetish for a bit. The story feels like a (good) mash up of Barker, Campbell and Lovecraft. It’s still available on Amazon, dirt cheap, and will run with a little tweaking on Windows 7.
It’s a wonderful game, critics hailed it but the fans didn’t come.

Clive Barkers Wish - YouTube

[Cnev]

Although I haven't played it yet, The Swapper has really caught my interest. It was created entirely with clay and although it doesn't contain a conventional horror plot, I have read it has a very lonely feel to it with various disturbing subtleties popping up throughout the game. The only "weapon" you have is a gun that can create multiple clones of the character you play which you then use to solve puzzles what whatnot.

The Swapper Mind-Sci Trailer - [The Swapper Trailer] - YouTube

The Swapper - Gameplay Trailer HD PC - YouTube

It also has an absolutely beautiful original soundtrack by Carlo Castellano.

[scrypt]

I forgot to mention the PS2 game Kuon, which is based on the Kwaidon form and doesn't follow the standard survival horror script even though, technically, it's in that genre. I happen to be listening to the soundtrack right now (and I never listen to game soundtracks unless we're talking about Rule of Rose or Fahrenheit).

[yellowish haze]

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter is a 2014 indie horror game inspired by the works of Lovecraft, Blackwood and Grabiński. It features some outstanding graphics - composed from real-world photographs ( a method called "photogrammetry").

I usually don't care about computer games, but I played this one out of sheer curiosity and enjoyed it quite a bit. It makes a splendid visual experience.

[miguel1984]

The Vanishing of Ethan Carter looks amazing!

[ToALonelyPeace]

Wow, "The Vanishing of Ethan Carter" is pretty amazing. I'll see if my comp can handle it.

I heard good things about Bioshock Infinite, Clock Tower, and Yume Nikki too, but haven't gotten the chance to play them.

For me, I would recommend Sanitarium, if no one has mentioned it. The atmosphere, story, music are great.



Here's an article discussing the game Hardcore Gaming 101: Sanitarium

[Draugen]

Bloodborne would be my game of the year so far (if you are lucky enough to own a PS4).

The gameworld is incredible. A dark horror fantasy setting, blending 19th century stylings and gothic vibes with genuine menace and surreal, dreamlike quality. Plus it seems to be winning converts to HP Lovecraft, although not directly related to his works. Players on message boards who have never read HPL are beginning to ask books recommendations.

[scrypt]

Quote Originally Posted by Draugen

Bloodborne would be my game of the year so far (if you are lucky enough to own a PS4).

I was just squinting at that game. My fiancee (since I'm buying for two) likes the horror genre but finds most games to be too literal. The only PS4 entry she's loved so far is the Silent Hill teaser P.T., which I loved as well. It's sufficiently evocative and elliptical; scares aren't bolded and underlined; everything in it seems faceless, vacant and charged.

The Evil Within seemed depressingly obvious to her -- it makes the Manhunt series look subtle -- and although she likes the world in Alien Isolation, it doesn't scare her at all. The last games she really loved were for the PS2: Fatal Frame 2 and Rule of Rose (which, despite its glitchy game mechanics, is still my favorite survival horror / Remedios Varo hybrid).

I watched the trailer for Bloodborne but thought it took place in another hyperreal environment in which every suppurating pore of every ghoul and behemoth had been rendered by a photorealist.

You can't judge a game by its trailer, but I wanted to see non sequiturs, nigh-unrecognizable silhouettes and banal objects that resonated with disquiet.

The chipped chartreuse paint on the shingles of a house that looked horribly lived in, for example, as if merely to open the furrowed screen door and violate the threshold would involve being enslaved by the banality of its inhabitants, so that all you could do would be to sit on a tottering ladderback chair, slice off your own arm and chew on the elbow wrinkles while watching reruns of yellow-tinged cartoons.

Bloodborne seemed insufficiently ambiguous to me, Draugen, but convince me otherwise and I'll gladly watch for a sale and snatch it.

[Robert Adam Gilmour]

It's not really supposed to be a horror game in that way. There's lots of mystery and spooky stuff but first and foremost its a brutally unforgiving dark fantasy adventure.
Your physical vulnerability is distressing but dying constantly might frustrate some people too much to be enjoyable.

Personally, I lost interest in actually playing videogames because I lost interest in challenges. So I'll definitely never play this.