Four Survival Horror Games I Want Under My Christmas Tree
By: Isaiah Mccall
Tags: Gaming, Horror, Features, Survival Horror, Videogames

Four Survival Horror Games I Want Under My Christmas Tree

You should only play these with the lights on

Survival horror games are the best way to experience true fear. Unlike movies, television, or music, survival horror puts you in the shoes of the hero, aka the victim. Need to run away? Nobody else is going to grab that controller. Are you afraid to open the door? Either uninstall or open that door.

Horror games cut both ways. Once you pick one up during a sale it may sit in your library for years to come. Every now and then, however, you get brave enough to turn off the lights, put on a good pair of headphones, and get ready to rock.

Let’s talk about four horror games you should only play with the lights on (unless you’re braver than me).

1. Darkwood

If you like your horror games leaning more on the atmospheric side and less on the jump scares, then look no further than Darkwood. It’s a top-down horror survival game that immerses you in a surreal uncanny environment that’s reminiscent of Silent Hill.

What separates Darkwood from other contemporary survival horror games is its difficulty. Once you make out an enemy through the low-lying noxious fog, you’re already done for.

If you’re a true psychopath you’ll turn the game onto its hardest difficulty where you’ll then encounter a brutal permadeath system.

2. The Evil Within Series

I was hesitant to jump into the Evil Within Series. It comes from the mind behind Resident Evil, Shinji Mikami. Yet it looked pretty samey compared to other survival horrors.

I’m so happy that I was wrong.

The first Evil Within is terrifying. It puts you in a flow state where if you don’t make the right moves you die. Furthermore, it has the ugliest, most sickening creatures ever designed in a game. The Keeper alone (while a clear Pyramid Head homage) is horrendous — in a good way.

Also, the story is a severe mind-meld. It was written by a psychopath for sure. And the second game is just as good if not better.

3. Visage

Modern horror games have all been influenced by one legendary demo: Kojima’s Silent Hills (widely known as P.T.). It’s the best horror game that never was. Yet it still managed to push the boundaries of the genre with its ultra-realistic psychological horror.

SadSquare Studio’s Visage is built on the foundation of Silent Hills, but it does enough to distinguish itself as a terrifying horror game. It feels like the spiritual successor to Silent Hills and is another game that will make you turn on the night-light before you go to bed.

4. Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the most terrifying game ever created. And like the revolutionary Silent Hills, this game influenced everything. From building the YouTube careers of Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as PewDiePie, to impacting the genre of survival horror forever.

But back to what really matters: The piss-your-pants horror.

Amnesia is unique, or at least it was at the time before inviting legions of copy-cats, as it’s built on running away and hiding. The monster is so disturbing that your character cannot even look at it for too long or you die.

Plus it has a water mission that still makes me panic as if someone is about to grab me through the screen. Frictional Games had some success before Amnesia, but this game put them on the map for good.

These are four of my favorite survival horror games. Each goes for an incredibly low price around holiday sales (some under $5), so you should keep them all on your radar.

Even if they sit in your library for years to come, you’ll always have some fantastic options for a horror-packed weekend.