Sometimes, the best video games go relatively unnoticed, especially in the horror genre. Big-name titles like Resident Evil and Silent Hill tend to overshadow lesser-known horror games struggling to find mainstream appeal. With Halloween just around the corner and many gamers searching for spooky games to get them in the mood for the haunting holiday, now is a good time to turn to some of these overlooked titles.
While some aren't as polished as big-name titles, there are plenty of amazing games worth revisiting during the Halloween season. Here are just four great options out of many that have flown under the radar.
Cold Fear
Cold Fear is a criminally underrated third-person horror title that had the misfortune of launching a few months after Resident Evil 4. It was Ubisoft's first attempt at horror and only the second game Darkworks ever developed. The game follows a young Coast Guard officer named Tom Hansen, who is called to investigate a strange Russian whaler after it becomes stranded in the Bering Strait. Shortly after boarding, Hansen discovers hundreds of malignant parasites infecting the ship's crew, morphing them into bloodthirsty abominations. Hansen must find the source of these parasitic organisms and destroy it before the outbreak reaches land.
Despite being a phenomenal horror title, Cold Fear flopped upon release. The game never could escape Resident Evil 4's shadow, causing it to be unfairly judged by critics and gamers alike. Now, many gamers view Cold Fear as a hidden gem that never got the respect it deserved. It is an underrated treasure that is sure to get you into the Halloween spirit.
Condemned: Criminal Origins
The Condemned series did first-person horror way before Amnesia, Resident Evil 7 and Outlast. These unique games set the standard for first-person horror during the mid-2000s (at least on home consoles). In Condemned: Criminal Origins, players take the role of Ethan Thomas, an investigator working for a branch of the FBI called the Serial Crimes Unit that specializes in crimes committed by serial killers. After a deranged madman sets Ethan up for murdering two police officers, he sets out to prove his innocence by apprehending the killer himself.
Criminal Origins does a great job blending investigative-style gameplay with traditional survival-horror, giving players an unconventional gaming experience. Most first-person horror games at the time played like conventional first-person shooters with a few horror elements thrown in. However, the Condemned series does the exact opposite.
Criminal Origins and its sequel, Bloodshot, play like traditional survival-horror games that happened to be in the first-person perspective. There are some guns, but ammo is extremely limited, meaning playing mostly have to resort to hand-to-hand combat. Both Condemned games are worth checking out, but the original is a bit better than its successor.
Obscure
Obscure is, well, obscure. It is a survival-horror game heavily influenced by the late '90s film The Faculty. It follows a group of teenagers who discover a strange lab where students are being injected with a mysterious serum that turns them into horrifying creatures. The teens must figure out why these experiments are happening and put an end to them before they get out of control.
What makes Obscure so unique, besides its angsty teenage plotline, is how it incorporates two-player co-op into its gameplay. This was pretty innovative, since most horror games were strictly single-player experiences at that time. It also lets gamers play as a wide variety of characters, each with their own special abilities. One may specialize in lockpicking, while another thrives in combat. More characters are unlocked as players progress through the game and can be swapped out regularly. Obscure is a complete blast from the past that's as frightening as it is nostalgic.
Koudelka
Kouldelka might be the strangest game on this list. The game is more of an RPG than a horror title, but its disturbing imagery and dark story make it one of the scariest RPGs to ever grace the original PlayStation. After a slew of strange occurrences take place at a Welch Monastery, three unlikely characters try to uncover the Monastery's troubling secrets. The plot is intricate, so explaining the game without spoiling its story is difficult.
Even though Kouldelka doesn't follow the traditional horror format, it still gives manages to scare the ever-living hell out of players. Kouldelka has some of the most frightening enemies ever seen in any turn-based RPG. Many are mutilated anthropoids that look like something straight out of Jon Carpenter's 1982 film The Thing. Its deranged plotline just adds to the game's uneasy nature, as if somebody turned Silent Hill into an RPG. Koudelka is an extremely underrated game that's just now getting the attention it deserves. Just note that a complete physical copy costs around $150, so you're better off getting a digital version.