Crimson Butterface: 5 Scary Games

Everyone loves a good scare. Well, mostly everybody. I know some people that would punch you in the face if you tried to scare them. Regardless, there's nothing like the feeling of a good jump scare. Your heart skips a beat, you take that sharp, short breath and for that split second your brain screams at you that you're in danger. And then, there are scares that stay with you. I remember the first time I read Stephen King's IT. I don't find clowns scary in the slightest, but IT kept me up at night, paranoid that I would hear that raspy, grating voice penetrate the dark silence of my bedroom.

Where will you be diarrhea hits you?

I find that I lean more towards horror games that give a good feeling of paranoia, as jump scares will only take you so far. That's not to say that jump scares are any less effective, but they don't seem to stick with you.

Picture unrelated…OR IS IT?

I've been thinking about this particular post for a while. Horror is my favorite genre and I didn't want to try to narrow down a whole community of games by saying that these are the five best games and there aren't any others out there better than these so I'll just say this: these are five games in the horror genre that I really enjoy. Maybe you've played them, maybe you haven't. If you haven't, I suggest going and picking these up.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Woogity-Boogity!

Starting things off with a doozy, here. Amnesia really rejuvenated the horror genre by stripping it down to the core and bringing back a true feeling of paranoia. You have no weapons, only a lantern that will burn out VERY quickly and some tinderboxes to light candles along the way. Adding to the freakiness, you have a sanity meter that will fill up extremely fast, as in if you're in the dark (which you will be in for 99% of the game), or if you see an enemy you will lose sanity. I have never put so much preparation into a horror game as I have this one.

Silent Hill 2

"I hate it when I misplace my hole…"

A staple for any horror game fan, Silent Hill 2, even with all of the camera problems and shoddy controls is a masterpiece. The series itself has been a go-to for many who love to feel scared well after the game is over and the lights are off. Even now, after almost thirteen years, people have their own theories about the endings of the game and what all of the monsters are supposed to represent. While all of the Silent Hill games have their place in the horror genre, Silent Hill 2 sticks out as the most emotional, hard-hitting and most disturbing of the series.

Outlast

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE'RE OUT OF NUTELLA?!"

Hoo, boy. Outlast is, to say the least, freaking horrifying. I haven't beaten this one yet, simply because I can only play it for a few minutes at a time. Set in an insane asylum, you play as a journalist that has received information from someone known only as "The Whistleblower" about some shady doings going on at Mount Massive Asylum. No weapons (of course), you have only your video camera, which means that you are running and hiding throughout all of the game. Outlast brings a new element to games that I figured we would have seen already and that's the use of night vision. Holy cow, this makes the game ten times more freaky. Having to wade through all the crazy people while running and hiding from the hostile ones, all the while looking through that eerie, green-black screen…yeesh. There's only two words that will describe the atmosphere of the game and if you've played the game you'll understand: "Little Pig."

Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly

"Don't mind me, I'm just hanging out. HA! Get it? Hanging…out…I'll leave you alone now."

I have a love-hate relationship with Asian horror. I love the stories, the cinematography and the direction style both in their movies and their games, but great googly-moogly do some of them scare the crap out of me. That's what first drew me to the Fatal Frame series. For a horror game, Fatal Frame has some beautiful scenery. Aside from a somewhat goofy concept (beat the ghosts with a magic camera!), the second installment Crimson Butterfly offers some real gut-wrenching scares, leaving you reluctant to explore the next room.  If you're a fan of movies like The Ring, The Grudge or Pulse, check this one out. It does not disappoint.

Dead Space

Prom really got out of control this year.

Taking inspirations from movies like Event Horizon and The Abyss, the Dead Space series has brought something to the horror genre that a lot of games have tried to do but just couldn't pull it off: a great weapon system. You're given a plethora of guns in Dead Space, but that is not enough to make you feel confident enough to just blaze your way right through it. With enemies that are extremely quiet, you will be constantly looking behind you just to make sure that nothing is creeping up behind you. A fun little fact about the first game; the first letter of the first word of every level title gives away the ending. I won't spoil it for you, you'll just have to play it yourself to find out.

Honorable Mentions(yeah, yeah I know it's not a ranked list, but come on. Five games? You can't have a list of horror games without these):

Slender: The Eight Pages

"Occupado!"

Based off of a story on the Something Awful forums, Slender is a short, free PC game that has you running through the woods collecting pieces of paper to unlock the secrets of the Slender Man. This one is fun to play with a friend looking over your shoulder, so you can show watch them scream when the Slender Man shows up.

Resident Evil Series

NOPE. NOPENOPENOPE.

Do I really have to go into this? If you haven't played a Resident Evil game…seriously…it would be really hard to consider you a horror game fan if you haven't played these.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

"Do you beeelliieeevvee in life after love?"

A stand out on the GameCube, Eternal Darkness is an innovator for bringing us the sanity meter. No other game has used the meter as fluently or as aggressively as Eternal Darkness. From bugs running all over your screen to making your character explode, Eternal Darkness will make you think that you really are losing your mind.

SCP Containment Breach

"Let me love you." 

I'm only going to say one thing about this free PC game, but I really want you to think about what it means and how it affects the game…you have to make your character blink. You have to make them BLINK. I'll let that sink in.

White Day: A Labyrinth Named School

This is what Glee does to you.

If you have never heard of this game, you are in for a treat! A Korean made horror game, White Day is supposedly so scary that the developers had to make patches for it to tone down the scares because everyone who played it was too scared to finish it. Being a Korean game, you have to have a modified PC to play it or download the English patch version, which is unfortunately filled with a lot of grammatical errors and mistranslations. Regardless, watching videos of gameplay for this one may be enough for me…yeah right. I'm gonna download this and sleep with the lights on for the rest of my life.

So that's it. If you can't tell, I'm very passionate about the horror genre, so this particular entry is pretty long. Now, comes the fun part; I want to hear what you think. What's your favorite horror game? Did it make this list, or do you feel like I missed a good one? Drop me a comment and maybe I'll revise the list. Also, for a huge list of great horror games, take a look at TatsTopVideos on Youtube. Til next time!

Zelda: Wind Breaker

As I'm sure everyone else's holiday was, mine was hectic and I tried to fit too much into too little of a time period. But, amidst all of the chaos, I was able to play through The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds for the 3DS. I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but this is the first Zelda game I have played and beaten in a long time, the last being Twilight Princess. I know, I know, I'm ashamed of myself too, considering I really see myself as a big fan of the franchise. I was really impressed with Link Between Worlds, even thought it did kind of seem like a master quest version of A Link to the Past (not like that would be a bad thing). Playing through, I could only think of one word: legacy.

The trunk of a Subaru Legacy. You're welcome.

The Legend of Zelda series has been around for over 25 years, giving us a lifetime of memorable games that litter most of today's gamers childhoods. It has given us great action, real emotion and a bar to which all action games should be set. I'm also pretty certain that almost everyone in their twenties has the Water Temple from Ocarina of Time memorized. It hasn't always been instant classics for the franchise. Any of the thirteen people that bought a 3DO may have had to sit through The Wand of Gamelon, Faces of Evil, or Zelda's Adventure. Blech. Even though these games weren't exactly award winning or even enjoyable, they didn't even stain the legacy that is the Zelda series.

What…I don't even…WHAT IS THIS?!

The culture of gaming is split into many different points of view. Some see it as something to be done casually. Some see it as an art form. Some see it as an industry strictly for children. And of course, there are many who see it as a way of life. Whatever your reason for playing, a fact that is undeniable is that there are games that will always be remembered throughout the years: Zelda, Mario, Sonic…I could go on for hours listing all of the great games that I grew up with and what they mean to me but that would take too long and would bore pretty much all of you. The point I am trying to make is that there is a reason for their significance; their impact on the gaming industry.

If this was in your childhood, I'm very, very sorry

Of course, it's not all about mascots. Great design and playability make games what they are. Now, I want to say that a great story makes a great game, but consider this: a human princess, who rules over a kingdom of mushroom people, is kidnapped by a dinosaur. Her only hope is an Italian plumber with an unexplained hatred of turtles. Yeah…story may not be so important. Anyways, what I'm saying is that gaming has been around for a long time and will be around for a whole lot longer thanks to games like Zelda. I'm glad I was able to experience another title.

Beyond: Two Solo-flex

If there's one thing that my friends and family all know about me, is that I am a very emotional person. I tend to run the gamut when playing games. I get angry, sad, excited and flabbergasted at all the right and wrong times, but something is bothering me about the state of modern gaming: where are the games that can make us emotional?

"Stupid Aeris death scene…"

                                                   
The current trend in gaming right now is to try to get people that would not normally play games to try them out. We're seeing a lot of shooters and sports games (like we always have) and that's all well and good. My guilty pleasure is popping in Call of Duty: Black Ops and going after people online, but where does that leave those that don't like those types of games? It seems like that gaming companies would be more opted to make games for what we call "true gamers" more than casual gamers.

I don't like to use these types of labels because I feel that everyone is a gamer of sorts. Heck, my parents have had my Wii for years now and use it every day. I mean, everyone has a game or two on their cell phone. Now, some people aren't going to have a huge gamer score. I get that. What I'm trying to say is that if we don't support games that try to tell a story instead of trying to maintain a huge kill record, we might lose them.

I don't…I don't know what she's doing.

Take for example Quantic Dream. This company alone is responsible for three of the most emotionally stressful games I've ever played. For those not familiar, they made Beyond: Two Souls, Heavy Rain, and Indigo Prophecy. For this point, let's look at Beyond: Two Souls. If you haven't played it, you play as Jodie, who has had an entity named Aiden linked to her her entire life. As your progress through the game, you learn more about her life and how the entity has effected it. Finally, with every decision you make you can make or break the ending.

Plus, Willem Dafoe!

This game had me hooked from the start. As soon as I started, I knew that I was gonna play this over and over. In fact, this is the only thing with Ellen Page in it that I have chose to experience multiple times. Let's face it, she's awful. And yes, ok, I get it. The controls weren't that great and there were points that kinda dragged on. I get that. But, to me, it was worth it to find out what happens to Jodie and Aiden. This one had me filled with fear, happiness, joy and despair all throughout.

WHEEE!

Anyways, the point I'm trying to make here is that games are more than just entertainment, they should be an experience. I realize that could mean different things for everyone. Maybe the pinnacle of your gaming experience is Master Chief discovering the Flood. Or maybe it's the Final Fantasy X Home scene. Maybe it's killing your friends on Battlefield. Whatever your experience is, make the most of it. Take the time to really THINK about what you're playing. Put yourself in the shoes of your character. I promise you won't regret it.

Howdy!

What's up everybody! My name is Phil and I decided to use Blogger to…well…blog about whatever is on my mind! This will be mainly used for expressing how I feel about the gaming industry, but who knows? Maybe I'll talk about wrestling. Or comics. Or music. Or…well, that's all I really know anything about.

Since this is the introduction to my new blog, I'll go ahead and give this disclaimer: I do not, nor will I ever claim to know it all about any subject. In fact, I would bet that most of the time, my opinion will differ from most. But, I hope to hear you all on whatever subject I come up with!

And so, I leave you with this: the True Crime series  sucked.

Have a good one!