Well, summer is now over, and everyone is still relaxed, basking in their fond memories of warmth and sunlight. Happiness abounds in everyone’s minds, butterflies flutter in the breeze, and people smile with joy as they remember riding unicorns on the beach.
I know, it’s disgusting, right?! All these happy vibes, all this sunshine and positivity we’ve had, it makes me want to spew out rainbow-colored puke. It’s at times like this when we need a little darkness and terror to bring us back to sanity. Sorry to burst your bubble, folks, but cruel Winter is fast upon us, and it’s about time we snap out of our mellow summer vibe and face the darkness that is our meaningless existence. And what better way to do it than with some scary, creepy videogames?
The fact is, with some amazing titles coming up in the next year, it’s never been a better time for scary games. So sit back (and bring a change of underwear) as I lead you on a tour through a veritable House of Horrors of upcoming games – here are 5 videogames out recently or coming soon(ish) that will be the perfect antidote to the past few months of horrible summertime bliss.
The Forest – PC, PS4 (PS4 Release date TBD)
In this First-Person survival horror title, now on Steam Early Access, you are the lone survivor of a plane crash. Confused, abandoned, terrified, you must battle to stay alive in the wilderness, as you are pursued by mysterious, naked cannibal mutants. This ain’t Club Med, kids.
The Forest has some of the most creepy, atmospheric graphics of any game we have seen ever. The developer, Endnight Games, has really used darkness as almost another character in the game, as you struggle to make out what is out there in the blackness of the night-time forest. The open-world environment makes for an elevated level of terror, since there are so many places for your enemies to hide.
Making this game even scarier is the fact that it is also a non-linear sandbox, so you must work to figure out how to survive in this forest, Minecraft-style, along with avoiding getting barbequed by the above-mentioned people-eaters. Check out this video, and see how pants-crappingly scary this game is:
Sacred Agony – PC, PS4, Xbox One (Release Date Dec. 2016, depending on Kickstarter Campaign)
In order to fully understand how awesome this indie game is, you have to see video footage (below). The concept is unlike anything you have played before. In this First-Person game, you are a soul who must make his or her way out of Hell itself. Yes, there are visual influences at work here, for sure – Silent Hill, for example. And we have been to Hell before in video games – Doom, or Dante’s Inferno, to name two instances. But rarely have we been transported so realistically, so convincingly as with Sacred Agony. Its hostile Hellscape is so gorgeous, we almost don’t want to leave – never was eternal damnation so damned awesome.
Sacred Agony is actually in the midst of a Kickstarter funding campaign as we speak. Its goal – €544,400 – is a bit steep, and it is probably not going to reach that by its deadline (it had only made €3,052 as of this writing). However, we are hopeful that it was still show up, somewhere, somehow, to haunt us with beautiful gaming nightmares in the near future. Read our Preview here.