10 Creepiest Video Games to Play This Halloween

6. Extermination

This 2001 Sony title is a little-known example of the first survival-horror game to grace the Playstation 2. Following a US Marine mission into the Antarctic wastes uncovers a deadly bacterium that not only seeks to kill you, but to infect you so thoroughly that you can actually watch yourself mutate into a flailing, gargling creature before you die. Lovely. From the first discovery of strange, hissing worm-like creatures to the more serious threats offered deeper into the game, something about Extermination simply feels… wrong. Reminiscent of the legendary Resident Evil series in both control scheme and camera angles, Extermination isn’t exactly terrifying, but it’s pretty unsettling to say the least.

 

7. Silent Hill 2

Let’s face it, most gamers are more or less desensitised to extreme and bloody violence by now. It’s everywhere in gaming, and it doesn’t shock us quite in the way that it used to. Where some horror titles are content to throw monsters and murderers at you in an attempt to present the goriest experience they can, some games hit the trembling nail right on it’s terrified head. Silent Hill 2 is one of those games.

Lauded as one of the greatest horror games in history, it is simply an uncomfortable game to play. The town’s impenetrable fog, the twisted and nightmarish apparitions and it’s dark and psychologically testing story hits you right in the creeper, and crafts the perfect sense of dread.

 

8. Bioshock

Abandoned cities are spooky enough as they are, but what if that city is actually sitting upon the ocean floor? Bioshock introduced players to Rapture, the gloomy dystopian city inhabited by insane mutated splicers, strange ‘little sisters’ and the iconic ‘Big Daddies’, human beings biomechanically grafted into hulking metal monstrosities. Drawing from art deco styles twisted by the collapse of what was supposed to be the perfect utopia, the dark and weird Bioshock is not only considered mega-creepy, but is arguably one of the best examples of artistic direction in video game history.

 

9. Resident Evil

There can be little said about the horror genre in gaming without making reference to Resident Evil. My generation might recall having to leave the room while a parent or sibling played the game, out of concern for our fragile little dispositions. Others will remember the awkward controls, the fixed camera angles and the awful voice acting which made for a horror classic. A denizen of a time where you’d have to reach a designated room to save your game, Resident Evil conjures unease and anxiety about what may be waiting, lumbering and moaning around the corner for you.

 

10. Abe’s Odyssee

A game made all the more unnerving by childhood. Many of the current gaming generation will have first encountered Oddworld on the Playstation as youngsters. I know that the pulsating theme music, complemented by the alien croaks and whistles of strange wildlife lingered in my own immature nightmares, and still triggers goosebumps to this very day. Squawking, hideous creatures intent on eating you, the grim and macabre meat packing plant, and the grisly fate of Abe and his species should he fail are all so horribly unsettling, that this game feels frightening; despite not being a horror title. Weird environments, strange sounds and not forgetting of course, the awful ‘bad’ ending the player receives should Abe fail to rescue enough of his enslaved brethren. With a more comedic HD remake available today that just doesn’t feel the same, there is little to compare to this old and classic farting, chanting creep-fest.