Your favorite paranormal-themed video games

[Fatal 7]

What are some of your favorite paranormal-themed video games?

I like Castlevania. I like the whole unholy Dracula deal. Castlevania II: Simon's Quest has a really creepy feel to it, but I like it.

[UltraThunderMan 6]

The original Silent Hill, before the franchise sank into the depths of mediocrity.

[Rosewin 14]

[Paranormalcy 1,320]

Darkstalkers was okay, there was a monster-type shooter arcade game with replica gun controls, I think I'd put Rampage in the list for having a wolf, lizard and ape (sort of a cross between giant monsters and paranormal), but for direct correlation to paranormal gaming, I have to go with the original Alone in the Dark, with 1920's private detective and paranormal investigator Edward Carnby (or the female character, can't remember her name), finding his way through the bizarre dangers and puzzles of a house, and discovering the ultimate evil buried beneath.

[schizoidwoman 1,407]

Ghosts n Goblins and Cauldron were two early favourites of mine...

[Paraweird 3]

Ghosts n Goblins and Cauldron were two early favourites of mine...

I remember and love those!

I've taken quite a shine to Ghostbusters on my PS3 at the mo .

[Fatal 7]

Ghosts n Goblins and Cauldron were two early favourites of mine...

Ghosts'n Goblins. Isn't that a different variation of Ghosts'n Ghouls?

I have Super Ghosts'n Ghouls (from the SNES) on my Wii console. Just bought it a couple days ago and I like it. Have since I was a kid. But man is it HARD!

Edited December 18, 2009 by ~Shadow~

[StoneColdVampy 1]

what about F.E.A.R.??

[schizoidwoman 1,407]

Ghosts'n Goblins. Isn't that a different variation of Ghosts'n Ghouls?

I have Super Ghosts'n Ghouls (from the SNES) on my Wii console. Just bought it a couple days ago and I like it. Have since I was a kid. But man is it HARD!

I think Ghouls was the sequel to Goblins... both excellent!

I remember and love those!

I've taken quite a shine to Ghostbusters on my PS3 at the mo .

Me too; I have in on 360 and it's a lot of fun!

Edited December 18, 2009 by schizoidwoman

[Rob Awesome 60]

PACMAN!!

Eternally trapped in a labyrinth with Four nearly unstoppable ghosts and nothing to eat but pellets?

It doesn't get more heart-pounding than that!

Edited December 18, 2009 by Rob Awesome

[Drago 0]

There was an arcade shooter years back that really caused a big stir because it was so violent and graphic, and it had all the paranormal anybody could ever need. CarnEvil.

This dope and his girlfriend are, for various reasons, in a cemetery. There's a local legend that if you put a gold coin in the mouth of the jester statue on an old carnival man's grave, his carnival will appear.

Well, as the dope finds out on actually finding a gold coin on the jester statue and sticking it in the jester's mouth, the legend is half-true. There's a carnival alright. A sick, twisted zombie carnival of death, destruction and mayhem. And of course, his girlfriend's trapped in it.

And it had the most "What the Hell, Hero?" moment ever for an ending. XD

Speaking of arcade shooters, no mention for House of the Dead and sequels? C'mon, those are some of the best arcade shooters ever. I don't think anything quite captures that 'in a horror movie' feel like some of these on-rails lightgun shooters.

[drakonwick 736]

Resident Evil 1,2 and 3. I really do not care to much for 4 or 5.

[Drago 0]

Resident Evil 0, too. 0's atmosphere was incredible, very beautifully rendered. Even the nightmare fuel aspects of it. To this day one of my favorite moments in a video game was at the very beginning, making your way through the train, dead corpses sitting in seats or thrown over them, looks of panic and fear still locked on their faces. And as you draw closer one suddenly looks up right at you and lurches to life... All done in-game, no cutscene to interrupt the flow of horror. You actually watch this dead corpse that until then was just part of the background, nothing to indicate it's different from any of the other numerous corpses on-screen, turn its head to track you then lurch to its feet and groan as it shuffles at you.

It's not the most outright frightening moment in a video game ever, but it shows a sense of attention to detail that made it one of my favorite moments.

And as for 4 and 5... They changed it now it sucks. I don't want the same old run-and-gun garbage I could get out of any third-person shooter on the marker. I want survival horror, not action horror, out of my REs. And yes folks, there's a difference.

Survival horror: You stand in front of a door, asking yourself if you're prepared to open it and see what new Hell the room beyond could potentially contain. You take out whatever gun you might possibly have a few shots left in. You steel yourself, open the door, edge your way into the room... Empty. The next room is the same. The third room is equally lifeless. You sigh in relief. You turn to leave the room and suddenly the music changes into a sinister crescendo, and some horrible perversion of humanity and life smashes through the closet door and lets out a guttural scream as it scuttles toward you. Do you run like Hell, or do you think you have enough shots left to end this mockery of life?

Action horror: You run past a door, unable to stop to consider what might lie behind it, because a horde of foaming-at-the-mouth screaming-their-heads-off humanlike... Things... Are chasing you at top speed. You run past door after door, take a header off the balcony and think in relief as you climb to your feet and dust yourself off that you lost them for perhaps thirty seconds. Then you hear a chainsaw and look only to see something sprinting at you like a cheetah waving a bloody chainsaw. You EFFING SHOOT IT. You shoot it until it stops moving. You shoot it some more just to damn well MAKE SURE. But by now, the crowd has managed to get out of the house and once again you're running through the streets at top speed, because if you ever once stop to think for a single split second about any of the horror you've seen since you started, you die. You have no time, no chance, no opportunity to take in any of the horror elements of the game, because you're too busy runnin'-and-gunnin'.

That's the difference. >_>

[Fatal 7]

The atmosphere of the Resident Evil Remake was also incredible. And the crimson head zombies...talk about surprise!

[_Only 3,078]

I agree with Rosewin. Really good scary game those Fatal Frames are. Even watching someone play it is just as fun as playing it.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Jerry Only

[_Only 3,078]

The original Silent Hill, before the franchise sank into the depths of mediocrity.

That hurts. Silent Hill 2's story far surpassed 1 in being a truly paranormal disturbing game. In 1 you had this jumbled story where your daughter disappears, you search for her in this twisting place that apparently is caused by weird religious practices/drugs (white lotus or something), and it never really fleshes out to leave you satisfied (except the "bad" ending was kind of an interesting little twist).

But Silent Hill 2 has to be the most interesting, well thought, and disturbing psychological/paranormal story of any game ever by far...

You start out in a constantly mist filled city of Silent Hill trying to find your wife who called you there. You know she's dead but still feel drawn to come meet her. You start out so confused, yet continue wandering to find her. And you soon meet another woman who also happens to be searching for her mother and seems very confused. You also soon find other inhabitants of this place, who are twisted demonic creatures who are aimlessly wandering, but once notice you are intent on attacking you. And after a bit, you meet another man who seems to have gone completely crazy who is near a twisted mangled corpse, insisting he didn't mean to do it. Soon after you also come across "Pyramid Head" who seems to be a sort of alpha-demonic creature (the 1st time you see him he seems to be molesting a few lower demonics).

You progress through the game in constant blurry confusion, while constantly being attacked by demonics. And periodically run into Pyramid Head, who you aren't able to kill, but only make leave you alone for a time. But once you get near the end, amazing things happen. Once you reach the last section in Silent Hill Hotel, you come to the realization that your wife is dead and that you killed her. It's at this very time when the world of Silent Hill suddenly goes from a foggy mist to a twisted psychotic world where there is no sense of direction, but keeps getting more disturbing. You come across the girl you met in the beginning in this state, and she also has come to the realization that she killed her mother. Right after this, the twisted world turns into a fire filled one. This is where you soon fight your final "battle" and are able to meet with your wife. The game ends with her forgiving you for what you did, and telling you to move on and live. That is the end. You never see where your character goes or does after this.

At first the game's story totally confused me, but playing it more times I understood a bit more and more. It seemed to be a Jacob's Ladder like story where you seem to have been dead, and your distressed spirit in unrest haunted the town where you murdered your wife. You seem to be a ghost stuck haunting Silent Hill because you were drawn to it as killing your wife was unfinished business you never were able to deal with. And the other people you meet along the way seem to be like you in searching preoccupied in their own situation with deep issues of killing people. This fact, plus the constant demonic creatures attacking you make me realize this seems to be a type of Hell, with you and the others drifting around in confusion, only able to think obsessively about the person you killed. But as the story goes on, the more you are able to remember and learn about what happened with your wife, the more "alert" you become to the world around you, as it morphs from a misty blurry world to a disturbing dark one, and ultimately, a place filled with fire. But as you watch the fellow people you meet eventually break down and succumb to their past demons (figuratively, then literally) you are able to push forward and learn more. It is you being able to constantly push through the madness and fight your demons which allows you to meet again with your wife's spirit, and she seems to set you and herself free from this Hell, and lets you "live" again.

Now tell me that's not the best paranormal/psychological plot to ever be created in video game form. I'm sure if I played it again I would find more depth in the story I hadn't noticed. Best story in a game ever. I really wished the Silent Hill movie followed the story of Silent Hill 2, instead of creating its own script.

The opening (and at 5:00, the part where you meet the woman, and it seems to cryptically show that she is the same as you searching in this odd purgatory for her loved ones):

The ending (the way you hear a car driving off into something and see the water in the ending letter is just another weird Jacob's Ladder layer to the story, which makes you question where this dream world, and the real world began and ended in the story. Still has me guessing).

Edited December 19, 2009 by Jerry Only

[Rhungobains 0]

The atmosphere of the Resident Evil Remake was also incredible. And the crimson head zombies...talk about surprise!

Scariest. Game. Evah.

[Drago 0]

Now tell me that's not the best paranormal/psychological plot to ever be created in video game form.

I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream on the PC. As a very, very short plot synopsis: For the last hundred and nine years, your life has been nothing but pain and torture. You and four others have been the playthings of a twisted, psychotic artificial intelligence that calls itself AM. Then one day AM says "We're going to play a different game this time..."

And proceeds to make each of you find your way through their own, personal little Hell. Playing on each individual's fears, biases and most twisted thoughts, each has this one opportunity to prove that they aren't the toys AM thought they were, this one mind-numbing chance to show that they are a good person and not the little monsters AM thinks all humans are.

I haven't played it yet, but the white chamber, a free PC game has been said by everyone I've talked with to be an incredibly frightening psychological horror game. Your character wakes up in a coffin, in a dark room. On opening the curtains she realizes she's in space. She has no memory of how she got there, who she is, or what the Hell is going on, and she has to piece it all together as she goes.

The 7th Guest, on the PC. 'nuff said. >.> This one's old enough and famous enough I doubt I have to describe it.

Also, Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem, while not as heavy on the Psychological as Silent Hill 2, did have a very frightening system.

You actually have a Sanity Bar. The more frightening, horrifying, impossible things you see, the lower your Sanity Bar slips. At first, the camera angle becomes strange. Then you start hearing odd, whispering voices that you can't understand. Soon screams and cries for help join them. But wait, it gets worse! Eventually you'll start seeing things, monsters or people or things that aren't really there. You can't tell the difference between hallucination or reality. And then, if you get too low, YOU will start 'hallucinating'. The TV screen will flicker and go fuzzy, the volume of the game will decrease - and a fake 'volume bar' will show someone turning it down, it might start flashing bits of frightening images at you too quickly to make out, the TV screen might go dark like it just went off, and eventually you'll start getting fake 'errors' from your Gamecube.

Now come on, does this not sound like the most immersing horror element ever? It even starts playing with YOUR 'reality' when your character totally loses their minds by faking technical stuff like the TV screen and the Gamecube errors.

Edited December 19, 2009 by Drago

[ploppy 72]

F.E.A.R series is one of my favourites! Looking forward to the 3rd game that they're making!

[Drago 0]

F.E.A.R. does sound like a really scary concept. I just myself have problems getting properly scared when the character I'm playing is a death machine. If my character is the type who can recite "Yea though I walk through the Valley of the Shadow of Death, I will fear no evil, for I am the baddest mother-!@#$er in it!" and MEAN IT, there's... Not really any fright there. I mean sure the game can scare me, but I'm looking for horror, not scares.

Surprisingly enough, the original DOOM was very good at scaling things. Yes, you were the Baddest of the Bad, the ultimate ass-kicker, THE Space Marine. But you were up against the real Baddest of the Bad, the most twisted and evil creatures Hell itself had to offer, and it never let you forget it. When I first played DOOM, I knew nothing about it. I didn't know the Cyberdemon. So when I got to that level, and I heard that heavy thumping outside, I was SCARED. And when I stepped outside and saw that monster for the first time I just went wide-eyed and couldn't move. I did NOT expect THAT.

I died, naturally.

I'm looking forward to Aliens: Colonial Marines on the PS3. It's not quite paranormal, I think, but there's a lot of psychological horror wrapped up in those monsters and this new game is supposed to be more about the horror of the situation, the slow and steady creeping certainty that it's been too quiet too long, that they're about to try something new. You get nervous. Twitchy. Paranoid. You ask yourself "Come on, where are they gonna come from?!"

And when you're just past that edge, coming down off that paranoid adrenaline rush, when you're most psychologically vulnerable, they hit you from every direction you never knew existed.

GOD I WANT IT. @_@

[_Only 3,078]

Resident Evil isn't a paranormal game, just a zombie horror game. The best games ever of their type, but not paranormal.

[Rosewin 14]

Resident Evil isn't a paranormal game, just a zombie horror game. The best games ever of their type, but not paranormal.

[Drago 0]

Zombies aren't paranormal? I mean sure, they're science zombies - does that mean if science ever finds proof of anything paranormal, it stops being paranormal? I don't think ghost/haunting books will ever be taken out of the paranormal section even should science somehow find proof of them and find out how they work.

And RE is just survival horror, up to 4/5. There are all kinds of other monstrosities in them too that aren't reanimated human corpses. Hunters... *Shudders*

[thisisthepainkiller 0]

The silent hill series, 1,2,3 and 4. Siren and Siren 2, Haunting ground.

[Pauly Dangerously 223]

Penn and Tellers Smoke and Mirrors. The minigame Desert Bus.

Desert Bus is the best known minigame in the package, and was a featured part of Electronic Gaming Monthly's preview. The objective of the game is to drive a bus from Tucson, Arizona to Las Vegas, Nevada in real time at a maximum speed of 45mph. The feat requires 8 hours of continuous play to complete, since the game cannot be paused.

The bus contains no passengers, and there is no scenery or other traffic on the road. The bus veers to the right slightly; as a result, it is impossible to tape down a button to go do something else and have the game end properly. If the bus veers off the road it will stall and be towed back to Tucson, also in real time. If the player makes it to Las Vegas, they will score exactly one point. The player then gets the option to make the return trip to Tucsonfor another point (a decision they must make in a few seconds or the game ends). Players may continue to make trips and score points as long as their endurance holds out. Some players who have completed the trip have also noted that, although the scenery never changes, a bug splats on the windscreen about five hours through the first trip, and on the return trip the light does fade, with differences at dusk, and later a pitch black road where the player is guided only with headlights.

Edited December 21, 2009 by Paul Noise