THE MORNING LIST
Video games are an El Dorado for lovers of monsters or the supernatural: Silent Hill, Alone in the Dark, Five Nights at Freddy’s, Resident Evil… So many horror-inspired cult titles and series that have joined the pantheon of pop culture and who continue to do so in abundance produce offspring. To help you navigate the many current horror title releases, here is a selection of ten video games that have left their mark on us recently.
Paranormal and supernatural
“World of Horror”: Bloody investigation in retro style
Japanese teenagers face bloody crimes and gruesomely deformed creatures… Fans of Junji Ito won’t miss the powerful homage to the master of horror manga. But World of Horror is a multifaceted black diamond: a bloody RPG, it’s also a unique investigation and an inspired reimagining of titles from the 1980s. A little difficult to learn due to the retro interface (that’s a bias), but devilishly fascinating.
Available for PC, Switch and PlayStation (4 and 5) for 20 euros.
“Alan Wake 2”: in the twists and turns of a foggy scenario
It’s been thirteen years since we last heard from author Alan Wake, who finds himself trapped in an evil parallel dimension at the end of the first game of the same name. Remedy Entertainment decided to take him away from there to reconnect with his misty universe on the northwest coast of the United States. This sequel is still full of its main influences – Stephen King and Twin Peaks – and becomes a new reference for horror fans. As long as you’re not afraid of a scenario so complicated that you’ll need a board riddled with pins and threads to navigate.
Available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series for 60 euros.
Also read: We tested “Alan Wake 2”, the terrifying adventure in all its glory
“Paranormasight: The Seven Mysteries of Honjo”: real thrills for an interactive novel
If you plan to spend the Halloween season reading scary short stories by Edgar Allan Poe under a blanket, take the time to consider the alternative Paranormasight: this very imaginative visual novel (interactive novel) is guaranteed to bring you joy and make you sweat. It is set in the 1980s and puts the player in the shoes of teenagers searching for a resurrection stone. To get it, they have to kill each other using supernatural powers. This manga-style game hides perfectly oiled, entertaining mechanics, rich in dilemmas, twists and thoughtful dialogues.
Available for PC and Switch for 20 euros, for iOS and Android for 16 euros.
The legacy of “Resident Evil”
“Signalis”: in the shoes of a robot
Back to basics. Dark corridors, ambush monsters, limited ammo, an inventory to manage, a fixed camera and doors to unlock. Signalis carries the DNA of Resident Evil, the first name. In this nostalgic formula, our character is an artificial creature, the robot LSTR (“Magpie”), who takes us on a mysterious journey whose destination is slowly revealed as we explore.
Available for PC, Switch, PlayStation (4 and 5) for 20 euros and free with the GamePass subscription on Xbox (One and Series).
“Resident Evil 4 Remake”: zombies and men
Make way for the gentleman who needs no introduction as he revolutionized the genre when it released on GameCube in 2005. True to its work of restoring the rich (and memorable) legacy of the Resident Evil series, publisher Capcom has recreated this episode from the ground up, one of the benchmarks of horror gaming for almost two decades. This modern version does not disappoint and received unanimous acclaim upon its release in the spring.
Available for PC, PlayStation (4 and 5) and Xbox (One and Series) for 60 euros.
“Dead Space Remake”: apocalyptic camera
The hero’s heavy step is one of the unforgettable elements of Dead Space, released in 2008. In his imposing suit, whose lights indicate the health meter, every step brings him as close to hell as a hypothetical exit door, as he is trapped in a ship whose crew is undergoing gruesome mutations. Just like its model Resident Evil 4 (see above), the game from Visceral Games also benefited from a high-end remake this year at the beginning of the year.
Available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series for 60 euros.
The unclassifiable strangeness
“How Fish is Made”: Discover the sardine in you
You’re a sardine. You move by jumping onto the metal floor of a labyrinthine environment that resembles a sewer. Where are you going ? Secret. What do these cryptic phrases spoken by the other creatures you encounter mean? Hard to know. The meaning of this viscous and surreal game constantly escapes you, and that’s normal: How Fish is Made is actually a thirty-minute video game reverie for everyone to decipher.
Available for free on PC.
“Contempt”: Parasite migration in organic soils
To describe Scorn in a completely conventional way, it’s enough to describe it as a first-person puzzle game à la Myst. But Scorn is not a trivial game. It is a journey to the end of suffering, where the horror caused by changing the body becomes existentialist. As a parasite gradually takes possession of the main character, we move through organic settings inspired by the artists HR Giger and Zdzislaw Beksinski. Even though we are tested by disturbing puzzles and inaccurate action sequences, the work shines with its radical decisions and its toxic beauty.
Available for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series for 40 euros.
Read also: Article reserved for our subscribers From “Resident Evil” to “The Callisto Protocol”: Anatomy of “visceral horror” in video games
“Sons of the Forest”: Friday and the Nightmare Life
The character Kelvin is a great discovery in this sequel to the survival game The Forest (2018). After our helicopter crashes in a hostile region, this unlucky comrade with a brain damaged by the accident will be our faithful ally: despite his blank stare and bleeding ears, he responds to our every command, presented in a white notebook. Kelvin sets off in search of wood, stone or food as we set up camp and explore the threatening surroundings… He is our ray of sunshine in this nightmarish version of Robinsonade called Sons of the Forest.
Available on PC for 29 euros.
“Iron lung”: oppression underwater
Despite everything, this game was brought into the spotlight by the tragic accident of the Titan submarine in June. The pilot we play is trapped in a submersible at the bottom of an ocean of blood on an alien planet, stripped of his observation devices and left to fend for himself. Our only option for survival is to move blindly, transmitting the coordinates of a schematic map to the device’s controls, to reach various interesting places where bizarre shows await us. In this minimalist game there are neither sophisticated graphics to scare us nor elements of surprise to scare us. It is enough for him to confront us with our powerlessness to create a feeling of oppression.
Available on PC for 4 euros.