Please suggest a horror game

Elel

Devout Priestess of RPGs
Joined
January 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Hello! I really want to play a good horror game, but…

Without zombies! It can be anything else, just not zombies, please. And not anything else that resembles them, i.e. inanimate human-like objects that come "alive" for horror effect. That's way too scary, I've always had a kind of phobia when it came to dolls, for example, fearing them to come alive. So this is not for me, it's a phobia trigger. But it can be about anything else: demons, ghosts, serial killers, just not zombies.

Preferably with plot that makes sense. Not a totally "psychodelic" game about nothing.

Preferably without fighting (you can totally shoot down a demon or ghost, yeah right!). Or with fighting in an unusual manner, no guns or pipes.

Platforms: PC, PS2.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Actually the 'nothing that resembles zombies' requirement limits the list considerably. And when that category is so broad as to include inanimate objects that come to life, things get very tricky. Here are my recomendations though there are humanoid monsters in most of them that may or may not qualify as zombie-like.

Everything by Frictional Games and especially Amnesia: The Dark Descent. (I have to mention those, being for a lot of people, including me, some of the effective horror games ever made, though there are a lot of monsters that one might say resemble zombies in them. The first Penumbra has some fighting, the rest don't)

Everything by Jonathan Boakes - The Lost Crown being my favourite. (ghost stories, no zombies, no fighting, no dying, pure good old point-and-click adventuring but as scary as those can get)

I also liked Scratches a lot (point-and-click that tries to be scary by building atmosphere without actually showing you a monster - it works for some people -it did for me- doesn't work at all for others. Then again that's pretty much the case with every horror story.)
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
693
Thanks. Point-and-click games with horror elements don't scare me, though, but I certainly took note of Amnesia and Penumbra.

Humanoid monsters are ok, provided that they're alive.

In my own search, I found something more or less fitting in descriptions of Fatal Frame (ghosts) and Clock Tower 3 (serial killer and…?). It's a little hard to say who the monsters are in most horror games, going by their descriptions only. Manhunt seemingly has no zombies, even though it's about (stealth-based?) fighting.

P.S. And it's good that the list is limited, no time to play too many games ;)
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Point-and-click games with horror elements don't scare me
That's exactly what I used to say... until I played The Lost Crown. ;)
If you do like point-and-click games and/or you fancy doing some ghost hunting you absolutely have to play that game regardless!
 
Joined
Sep 18, 2009
Messages
693
My problem also lies with the so called "obscure puzzles" in point-and-click adventures. Call me dumb, but for me puzzles in most games of that kind make very little to no sense. They feel random, I have to resort to online walkthroughs, I feel stupid, and that makes for a frustrating experience.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
According to the wiki description, you fight zombies in that game.

The power of the curse, however, has reanimated his fallen brothers and sister as monsters of pure evil
Patrick must face off against the four undead Covenant siblings
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
According to the wiki description, you fight zombies in that game.
Undead aren't only zombies (and none of the siblings can be considered zombies, I guess they're more akin to creatures like vampires and liches) and the majority of enemies in this game aren't undead, save some skeletons in a area near the beginning. And the game has a history, isn't only a mindless shooter.
 
Joined
Apr 23, 2013
Messages
409
Location
Brazil
You convinced me, gandalf, I'll look at some LPs of that game and maybe even play it myself! It seems to be quite old, hopefully it can run on modern systems.

Is Outlast only about psychos? What about Dead Space?
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Dead Space is sci-fi survival horror. One of the best imo. It has a great background story too... well at least the first two games do. There's quite a bit of shooting involved though, so it might not be for you.

Outlast is fairly new. There's no fighting involved - only running and hiding. Very tension-filled, and it has some great atmosphere.
 
Joined
Oct 21, 2006
Messages
39,130
Location
Florida, US
Dead Space seems to have zombies, unfortunately. Aliens who take dead bodies as hosts is yet another variation of the theme.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
You could check out this pc gamer's list of 90 horror games. It is divided in categories too. http://www.pcgamer.com/2013/11/26/best-pc-horror-games/

I was personally going to suggest Alan Wake, but since you're dead against zombies, I doubt its whats you're after. Still I must say that Alan wake is not a traditional zombie game. It doesn't really belong to splatter genre at all. The game reminded me of Stephen king or Twin peaks type horror. You get to shoot monsters with guns though, but the key element in Alan wake is light vs. darkness…When lights go out, you better run…

Also if we're thinking outside the box, what about Alien vs predator 2? The game is action no question, but there are quite many horror elements in that game in particular when you play as a marine and see a dot flashing in your motion sensor, but you can't be quite sure if its just a cat or something more dangerous…:)
 
Joined
Oct 19, 2006
Messages
2,468
JDR13 It's not like it's up to my taste. I explained in the first post that I have a of phobia about animated dead things. Won't be able to play, no matter how interesting!

Dez, I played Aliens vs Predator games. But didn't realize they were horrors! I must say playing as an alien was a bit more interesting.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
Joined
Apr 12, 2009
Messages
23,459
PS2 is an option? Stop reading and get Fatal Frame 1, 2 and 3 (I actually only played FF2, but supposedly the other 2 are also really good). If you had a PS3 you could get them online at the Playstation Store ($3.99 each), if not, you'll have to check something like Gamestop or Gamefly.
 
Last edited:
Joined
Sep 23, 2008
Messages
5,645
Location
Tardis
Thanks! I had it in mind and will try to get it first. According to various sites, Fatal Frame 2 is one of the best horror games ever made. And it has no zombies.
 
Joined
Jan 2, 2013
Messages
574
Location
Russia
If you are into lovecraft stuff, I would recommend Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth. The 3D is a bit old and it can be a have some bugs(I never had problems with it, when I played it on PC, but I have read that some people have had problems). The game got a very slow start where you are just investigating, but ones the action starts, it's rock on and hard as hell. The background you learned though the investigation works great to create a scary setting, as you try to get out of town with your life and sanity intact.
 
Joined
Aug 13, 2011
Messages
119
Back
Top Bottom