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Autumn sales and the rush of the Christmas period means horror fans often miss out during the depths of winter and the flowers of spring– so here is a list of three games for those wanting to spend more frightened than festive. Whether it’s eerie action, well-crafted stories, or survival, there’s a wide spread of games for fans looking for shadows beneath the winter sun!
Maid of Sker (2020)
A gothic first-person horror, Maid of Sker follows Thomas Williams as he goes to save his wife imprisoned in a hotel plagued by supernatural horrors from Welsh folklore. This game is impressive not only with its stunning graphics that creates a dim environment of moving shadows, but it is the soundtrack that elevates the tension a hundredfold. Maid of Sker revolves around stealth mechanics, hiding from hulking dark creatures that stalk you through the hotel. Your only defence? Holding your breath and letting them pass. Every creak of a floorboard, squeak of a rat, and the tiniest movement will have you on edge trying to slowly make your way through to your dear Elisabeth Williams. With puzzle-solving and key-finding the game has a feel of the old Amensia series, or the earlier Resident Evil games in both atmosphere and feel, but also a bit of the jankiness – the AI doesn’t always path in an intelligent way which detracts from the tension and threat of an area, and sometimes the cutscenes and animatics can be a little bit buggy and out of sync with the soundtrack. Overall though, the game is definitely solid enough to definitely be worth a look.
The Walking Dead Collection (2012 – 2017)
Telltale’s masterpiece of a game series, The Walking Dead Collection contains all seasons of the main series, as well as the smaller spin-offs of The Walking Dead: 400 Days and The Walking Dead: Michonne. For those familiar with AMC’s TV show of the same name, the Walking Dead will expand on the central themes of the show and comic books – that humans are just as monstrous as the “walker” zombies that have ended civilisation. It is a character-driven game. If you’re anything like me, you’ll look past the often times comically cartoonish expressions within the unique lineart style, and grow deeply attached to several characters. Regardless of alternative paths, the decisions you make will stick with you throughout the seasons, not because they’re especially subtle but because they dramatically impact the characters you care about and lead to some excruciating moral decisions. To this day, I am still regretful of one character I really liked died because I did not save them as I ruthlessly prioritised another character who I didn’t like as much but could wield a firearm. To conclude, the Walking Dead Collection is some of Telltale’s best works and a great way into the apocalyptic horror genre for new and old fans.
Evil Dead: The Game (2022)
A more action-based game than the other two articles in this list, Evil Dead The Game is a multiplayer asymmetric game which sees a plethora of characters from every film and TV show fight against the fearsome Kandarian Demon. If you’re a lover of the films like I was, then you’ll really appreciate the attention to detail ensuring there are constant references to the films and
TV shows throughout. Despite the age of the multiplayer, it took me only 11 seconds to get into a match showcasing a community that’s alive and well – and very helpful to new players on the local voice chat! I think the reason they have stuck around in this deadite vs survivors game is because of how engaging and smooth the core gameplay is. The Kandarian Demon is summoning, possessing (and yes, you can even possess certain trees on the map to attack survivors), and generally messing with the players whilst they fight enemies with whatever weapons they can grab. The combat is smooth, the executions of enemies are fittingly brutal against the deadite hordes, and the dark maps make for a nerve-racking first-time experience as you learn the game.
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