*Keep up with our ongoing end of the year coverage here*
Surely a year in horror gaming that began with one of the most anticipated remakes of all time couldn’t possibly have anything better to offer for the remaining 11 months? Well, unsurprisingly, it turns out that it could indeed offer plenty more, in all shapes and sizes.
2019 has been a banner year for horror in general (and that’s not even the stuff in real life), and once again, games certainly put in a pretty good shift in the horror department. We had returning greats, exciting new IP, accessible retro survival horror, inventive multiplayer experiences, and an actual banned horror game (though ironically not because of any grisly content).
As ever, horror can come in many different strengths and styles, so this isn’t going to be a list that shuns a game because it isn’t all about spookiness and blood buckets; but it’s also not going to feature Untitled Goose Game, even if that Goose is a truly evil bastard. A great quality title with strong horror elements deserves just as much praise as a pretty decent all out scare-fest, but obviously it helps if it’s the best of both worlds.
Before we get into the Top 10, let’s have a quick shout out for some of the games that came close.
Honorable Mentions
Layers of Fear 2 (Bloober Team)
It was incredibly tough keeping this to just ten games, but we can wield the power of the Honorable Mentions section to at least shine a light on some other Dead Pixels favorites from 2019.
Bloober Team returned with a Blair Witch game (that was sadly, only okay), but also Layers of Fear 2, a very different sequel to its 2016 hit. Is it a better game? In some ways yes, especially in its wide-ranging homage to the history of cinema (including an extensive nod to David Fincher’s S7ven), but those chase sequences were. not. good. Thankfully you can opt-out of them to some degree now after an update.
Hideo Kojima and his band of merry developers returned with Death Stranding, which was typically quite divisive. I personally loved it, but that’s not a shared opinion here. More warmly welcomed was the return of classic Dante in Devil May Cry 5, Capcom working its magic on yet another slumbering franchise (fantastic soundtrack too). Also making a successful comeback was the lanky green plumber brother, Luigi, as he tackled ghosts in a funny and inventive manner during Luigi’s Mansion 3.
Elsewhere, Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night finally arrived, and the spiritual successor to Castlevania turned out to be pretty damned great despite a troubled development. Indie title Blasphemous did 2D Souls-like quite well indeed, while A Plague Tale Innocence made rats utterly terrifying once more by putting you in the shoes of orphaned children on the run from the authorities and The Black Plague.
If Resident Evil 2‘s remake wasn’t enough, then Daymare 1998 was a far more mechanically faithful throwback to the survival horror of old, and finally, Five Nights at Freddy’s gained some fresh relevance with its superb repackaging of the series greatest hits in a terrifying VR package called Help Wanted.
Now, on to the main course.
10. The Sinking City (Multi, Developed By: Frogwares)
The influence of one Howard Phillips Lovecraft really has grown in video games in recent years. You can see why, as the basic components (unspeakable monsters, cults, cosmic horror, forbidden knowledge, fear of the other) are building blocks for much of horror as a medium. Getting it right though? That’s proved a more difficult task.
That’s mainly because there are aspects of Lovecraft’s work that are fuelled by his real-life prejudices, and games utilizing his themes have tended to shy away from that side of it for fear of handling it badly.
Frogwares, the developer of several tonally faithful Sherlock Holmes games, had no such problem when making The Sinking City. This is Lovecraft, warts, tentacles, thinly-veiled racism and all. Mercifully handled in the right way.
You play a Private Eye and War Veteran plagued by horrifying visions, and those visions lead him to the remote fishing village of Oakmont, which is besieged by an unceasing and mysterious flood. Oh, there’s also Occultists and all kinds of fishy things going on. The path to uncovering the mysteries of Oakmont and your own plagued mind will use all your sleuthing skills. By thoroughly investigating situations in Oakmont, the choices and paths available differ greatly.
The Sinking City can be a bit messy on a technical level (not an unusual thing for a Frogwares game), but the world-building done by the developer is really worth investing in.
9. The Blackout Club (Multi, Dev: Question)
It’s criminal that The Blackout Club hasn’t gained a larger following already. It takes co-op survival horror in a new direction. Rather than being on the attack, the keys to The Blackout Club‘s multiplayer focus are distraction, stealth, and sacrifice.
To add some real flavor though, it also fleshes out its world with intriguing lore. Kids in the sleepy suburbs of Virginia blackout for hours at a time, even for days in some cases, and awake to find themselves muddied, bruised, and disorientated. The game revolves around a group of teens who break out of this disturbing phenomenon and begin to uncover the sinister truth behind their blackouts.
The elevator pitch for The Blackout Club goes ‘What if you had the mechanics of Dishonored in a multiplayer game, and it had the aesthetic of Stranger Things? That’s what you get for the most part with The Blackout Club. The teens discover the neighborhood is in the thrall of a mysterious entity, and that has enslaved the adults in a dreamlike state. They’re one threat, but there’s a far more terrifying one that cannot see without closing your eyes.
Developer, Question, have team members with a rich history of working on immersive sims such as Bioshock, Dishonored, and Thief, and it shows in the way The Blackout Club is structured. That it’s been applied to a multiplayer game so effortlessly is pretty damn remarkable.
8. The Glass Staircase (PC, Dev: Puppet Combo)
Independent game publishing site itch.io has provided a good platform for indie horror with genuinely interesting ideas. Last year saw the likes of the itch.io born Paratopic among the big hitters on Dead Pixel’s list, and 2019 features another indie gem.
Indie developer Puppet Combo has put out quite a few interesting low-fi horror titles on itch.io, but it’s The Glass Staircase that gets the nod on this list because it did some very specific things that pleased me immensely.
A late 90s-inspired survival horror title with nods to Clock Tower and the Lucio Fulci Gates of Hell trilogy, The Glass Staircase manages to feel fresh and nostalgic at the same time. The story concerns young orphan girls trying to survive in a sinister Orphanage run by creepy overseers.
While the heroes in this tale may be kids, they aren’t afraid to use weapons against their attackers, and that only adds to the Italian horror-styled schlock value
The Glass Staircase is proof that low-fi, chunky 90s visuals can maintain a sense of unease when utilized correctly.
7. The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan (Multi, Dev: Supermassive Games)
Until Dawn has been a favorite of the horror community ever since its release four years ago, so when we discovered developer Supermassive Games was returning to choice-based horror with an anthology of games, we were collectively a bit excited.
Man of Medan is the first entry in that anthology, and it’s a pretty strong start. A combination of a ghost ship and home invasion stories is a fun one, and the branching narrative is so much deeper this time around.
The jewel in its crown, however, is the multiplayer mode. There’s local pass the pad multiplayer and two-player online co-op to tuck into, and it makes perfect sense as the next step in this formula. I mean, a game where you and your friends can essentially play the roles of characters in a horror movie? That’s the dream made real.
What makes Man of Medan work is a clear love and knowledge of the horror genre. From the sub-genre fusion, to the clear nods to classic horror anthologies (Supermassive’s Pete Samuels named a few in our interview with him earlier this year), this rejigged formula holds plenty of promise for future entries, the next of which we’ll see next year.
6. Mortal Kombat 11 (Multi, Dev: NetherRealm)
Mortal Kombat 11 has one hell of an entertaining story mode (we even said it’s the best MK movie never made). It’s full of callbacks to the series’ history via its time-travel goofery. How would the more mature, more modern Johhny Cage react to his younger, cockier self? The answer lies within.
It’s kind of odd to think that’s the highlight in a game that showcases some of the most absurdly grisly deaths ever featured in a video game, but there it is. To think all those years ago, Mortal Kombat was the fighting franchise seen to be lacking substance (other than the substance splattering the screen), and now, it inarguably has the most well-developed cast of characters in any fighter.
As with Mortal Kombat X, there are some appropriate ‘celebrity’ appearances via DLC, and this time we’ve had the pleasure of Arnie himself as The Terminator wading into the action, bringing along some iconic moves and lines. Then you have Spawn and The Joker also joining the fight. Not a bad selection!
Oh, it’s also a pretty decent fighting game too.
5. World War Z (Multi, Dev: Saber Interactive)
A third-person Left 4 Dead knockoff based on the middling film version of a good book? World War Z certainly didn’t promise all that much. It’s a throwback in so many ways that you wonder if it could even be relevant in 2019.
Yet World War Z so fully embraces the path it has chosen that it turned out to be one of the most thrilling and enjoyable co-op titles of the year. Seeing towering swarms of flesh-hungry undead pile up just to get to you and your three pals is the prelude to high-intensity chaos that is so satisfying to survive. One wrong move can lead to you being overwhelmed, and you can get really bloody overwhelmed with the sheer number of undead in those swarms.
At launch, it was undeniably threadbare, but the fun factor made it worth returning to. Since then, however, World War Z has grown to become a far more enriching multiplayer experience thanks to added modes, and tweaks to the balance of the game.
There’s not a sniff of Brad Pitt in this by the way, so how you feel about World War Z may or may not be enhanced by this knowledge.
4. Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice (Multi, Dev: From Software)
From Software keeps delivering the goods. Not content with contributing the Dark Souls trilogy, and Bloodborne to the last decade of gaming, it threw in Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice to cap off a hugely successful ten years for the Japanese developer.
Sekiro isn’t as obvious with its horror elements as Dark Souls or Bloodborne, but it’s definitely there. The 16th century setting of Sengoku Japan provides a backdrop of endless war, and a touchstone in reality, but From Software added more than a touch of the supernatural and the fantastical to the historical time period, with mythical creatures from old Japanese folk tales brought to life. As with any From game, the stories bubbling under the surface are nearly always worth investigating, and every new path offers a fresh surprise (that usually results in an instant death).
This is a faster, more fluid action RPG than its older siblings, with a grappling hook providing more verticality. That hasn’t made the challenge any easier though. In fact, Sekiro is often dangerously tough going, with sword fights turning into a ‘who blinks first’ rally of parries, but driving your sword through a tough boss for a finishing blow, and seeing the geyser of blood that spurts forth as they slump to their knees? The feeling of satisfaction that brings is unbeatable.
3. Resident Evil 2 (Multi, Dev: Capcom)
How could Resident Evil 2 not be mentioned here? Remaking a beloved horror classic 21 years later was always going to be a tough task, and while the results aren’t entirely satisfying (the endgame is a bit disappointing), this is the best possible reimagining of Resident Evil 2 we could have hoped for.
So many great and terrifying things to be rediscovered here. Mr. X’s no-nonsense and relentless stalking, a disgusting modernization of William Birkin’s monstrous forms, the flop sweat-inducing tip-toeing past screeching Lickers, and of course, plenty of decaying, nasty undead.
It’s a masterclass in sound design too. Every creak, hiss, groan, and squeal sounds unnervingly good, and there’s not much that compares to the dread feeling of hearing the clumping footfalls of Mr. X.
There are enough callbacks to the original to please fans, but there are a few twists on what’s expected too. Things could so easily have gone wrong here, and yet Capcom has, in fact, strengthened the Resident Evil name further with the remake. Next year’s remake of Resident Evil 3 should keep that momentum going, and hopefully, give Capcom more room to experiment with the eventual Resident Evil 8.
2. Devotion (PC, Dev: Red Candle)
Devotion is likely the best game you didn’t play this year, and that’s not your fault. Red Candle’s follow-up to its cult hit 2D horror Detention was left on the shelf after some controversial references to China’s leader gained attention, and the game has not reemerged since.
Controversy aside, Devotion is a fascinating slice of family-based horror, taking inspiration from titles like Layers of Fear and Silent Hill: The Room, but it also brought Red Candle’s signature mix of real-life Taiwanese history and the supernatural.
The game, set in the 1980s, centers around a Taiwanese father, a screenwriter named Du Feng Yu. Together with his wife Li Fang, a prominent actor, they have a daughter named Mei Shin who is subjugated to an illness. Playing as Du Feng Yu, players traverse a small yet densely detailed house over numerous years that explores the family’s various struggles.
Devotion plays with those different time periods, and adjusts the home and the puzzles within accordingly, always keeping them within the context of the story. It helps keep the game focused and you held in its grasp.
Of course, there are some horrors to face including life-size wood block figures that appear to move when your back is turned, and then there’s the demonic presence. The struggles of the family are upsetting and relatable, and they ensure you feel that bit more on edge when things go bump in the night.
It’s a shame so few were able to play Devotion before it was pulled, but it doesn’t stop it being a great horror title that deserves to be remembered. Hopefully, 2020 sees a brighter future for Red Candle, and gives more people the opportunity to play this gem.
1.Control (Multi, Dev: Remedy)
For a while, I didn’t think Control could be a contender for game of the year.
Framerate issues plagued Control early on, and it made some later parts of the game a frustrating and unfair slog. Despite that, the sheer quality of the world created by Alan Wake developer Remedy compelled me beyond those issues. Now the vast majority of those problems (which didn’t affect everyone to begin with) have been scrubbed out, and the full unhindered glory of Control is there to see.
This is a stylish and inventive action-adventure. The swagger and confidence of Control’s presentation grabs you by the hair and holds you in place, it demands to be marveled. Every moment spent in the Federal Bureau of Control’s reality-warping office building should be treasured.
It’s also delightfully, brilliantly weird and more than a little disturbing. A seemingly impossibly-structured building, an enemy from another dimension, and battles against possessed inanimate objects that have some fucked up backstories (there’s a fridge that demands you look at it constantly or face being pulled into another dimension, and that’s like the tenth oddest thing I can remember at this moment) make for a relentlessly batshit tour de force.
Key to that is Courtney Hope‘s performance as protagonist Jesse Faden. She enters the Bureau with almost as little knowledge as the player, and through that, it feels like you’re along for the ride rather than just watching on as a bystander to someone else’s story.
Control collects all that knowledge built up over the years when Remedy worked on Max Payne, Alan Wake, and Quantum Break and blends it into a satisfying new cocktail. Those initial hiccups aside, this is undoubtedly Remedy at the peak of its powers in terms of storytelling and game design.
