Once upon a time I strived to work with in the gaming industry, before I wrote horror reviews and such I was even in the process of obtaining some freelance gigs doing game reviews on a few sites, my main goal was to break into the industry and create truly authentic feeling horror games, but ultimately my love of horror over powered the gaming aspect and I made the choice to dive head first into my long time home of horror, which leads to the following list I would like to share with you as both a huge horror fan and also a long time gamer, my personal top 5 favorite horror inspired games.
1. Snatcher (Sega CD)
I remember the day I first slipped the disc into my Sega CD, within moments I was hooked, sleep became something that wasn't needed, and I would forever remember the experience I had with the best Cyberpunk/horror inspired games ever created. With rumors of a new one being made, I must admit I'm excited but at the same time I highly doubt it would even see a USA release. Growing up this and the Kings field franchise were my go to games whenever I needed a familiar, comfort game to escape the world around me. When Bladerunner was later made into a PC game I ran to the store in hopes of rekindling the Snatcher experience but it just wasn't the same.
2. Maniac Mansion (NES/PC)
As far as point and click adventures go there isn't one that can hold a candle to Maniac Mansion, this is the most perfect example of point and click to ever be produced. The story was fun and campy, and it was hard as all fuck, I spent such insane amounts of my childhood figuring this title out, until the day came where I could finish it. Back before we had the internet to guide us whenever we would get stuck on a puzzle in a game. So many fond memories of this game, I had a notebook dedicated to solutions to progress the game at one point; I miss games that really made you work for the ending.
3. Zombies Ate My Neighbors (SNES/Sega Genesis)
Multiplayer heaven, this game was a horror gamers dream when it came out, you mean I get to slay hordes of zombies and monsters? And with a friend!?! The graphics were fun; the monsters were awesome and spanned many different sub-genres of sci-fi and horror. I can't count the amount of time that I have spent over the years playing this game with various friends. Chainsaw wielding madmen, giant 50 foot babies, and zombies, what more could you ask for in a game?
4. Haunting (Sega Genesis)
I found this game by accident in the age of psychical rental stores; we had a pharmacy called Phar-Mor, a name I always found humorous cause it made it sound like you were being overcharged. None the less this was the spot for NES, SNES, and Genesis games growing up as they always have not only the newest big titles but a lot of lesser known and obscure ones. The Haunting is packed full of gore and laughs, I have beat this game so many times I'm pretty sure I still know what each item in the game produces as far as haunts go, a truly unique game where you're a ghost of a teenager haunting and scaring a family out of their homes.
This game had a lot of hype behind it when I was a kid, it was in every major horror magazine and was known for the fact it had a sex scene that did in fact have nudity, something that back then was unheard of in any sort of gaming experience outside of the adult triple xxx games. It was packed full of gore and violence and given a bad name which any kid can tell you is the best type of advertisement for a game when you're young, I'm not suppose to play this? My parents hate it, well then sign me up. Both the original and Puzzle of The Flesh hold spots in my twisted gamer heart.
As an added bonus here are the Top 5 horror games I wish were real.
1. Brainscan - Are you serious? How did this never get some sort of licensed movie game? It would of been so awesome, although back when it came out would of been severely limited due to technology, but imagine a next gen "Brainscan" with shiny, crimson splattered graphics, as you commit the perfect murders and try and unravel the mystery of The Trickster.
2. Supernatural - Ok I'm new to this show, Shawn recently turned me on to it and I have become absolutely obsessed, but picture GTA type of travel with instanced levels that turn into a 3rd person survival co-op horror game. The span of cases would be never ending which could mean a lot of downloadable content, thanks to all the various myths and legends covered by the series.
3. A next gen Nightmare on Elm Street, the NES game was horrid, but with all the tools and tricks Freddy has under his sleeves it would make for one hell of a 3D based game. I would prefer an original non movie based story, around perhaps a teen who just moved to the town and stumbles onto the legend of Freddy thus bringing him into everyone's thoughts once again or whatever just as long as they didn't limit themselves to any certain film in the series.
4. Next gen Maniac Mansion, with the huge cult following this game has, I'm really surprised it has not been resurrected, with today's graphics a point and click adventure game like this would be mind blowing, I'd really like to see the old fashion puzzle driven mystery solving sub genre get some love on the next gen consoles or even return to its home on PC. I for one as a PC gamer am sick of the endless stream of unimaginative shooters that flood its market these days.
5. I know it would never get accepted or sold in any store due to people being way to uptight, but I would love a simulation game where you are a serial killer in a highly populated city, the goal would to be rack up as big of a body count as possible without leaving evidence behind. The entire time the cities best of the best would be hot on your trail, waiting for you to make even the smallest mistake that would lead them to your identity. You would have to stalk your victims, learn their routines, and plan the best time and place to do your deed without being detected. It may sound sick but what can I say, I would love a game this dark and gritty.
- Ted "Ritualistic" Brown
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