Nowhere Is Safe
Everyone knows that the key to a great horror game is conjuring an atmosphere of absolute dread, ensuring that players are constantly checking over their shoulder and shuddering at every passing shadow. There are a lot of ways this can be accomplished, but one of the most fundamental aspects is without a doubt the setting. Regardless of graphics, if the game’s environment is presented as a truly threatening place, than half the battle is won. Unfortunately, sometimes it works a little too well…
With so many games reimagining everyday locations into living nightmares, it’s got to the point where they’ve managed to leave such an impression that we’re now a little wary when we encounter similar locations in real-life. Without a doubt, these three are the biggest offenders!
#3: Woods
Granted, wandering through the woods at night by itself is already an unsettling experience. The fear of strangers is already a painfully real one, but you want to know what makes it worse? Worrying about a pale humanoid glitching into reality and snuffing you out of existence. Forests and woods have been used by a multitude of horror games, but one of the most influential pioneers is Slender: The Eight Pages. Don’t be surprised if you jump our of your skin if you happen to hear static while on a camping trip!
#2: Mansions
Whether its a large household, a castle or an uber-posh hotel, estates with seemingly never ending rooms all hold a similarly haunting sway over players. With so much space around them, who knows what could be lurking around every corridor? The original Resident Evil certainly touched on it with Spencer Mansion, and with the likes of Amnesia’s Brennenburg Castle providing a horrifying fresh coat of paint to the setting, most of us are now content to stick to small apartments from now on.
#1: Asylums
Welcome to the madhouse. While we’re sure that most psychiatric hospitals are pleasant enough places that make massive breakthroughs with their patients, video games have highlighted them as the ideal locations for chaos and carnage. Outlast famously took its sanitarium setting and gave us some of the most gruesome and petrifying scenes in all of gaming. Now we can’t help but look at such a facility and fret about about the likes of Dr Trager…
Be sure to check out the video below to see our picks for the Top 10 Jump Scares in Video Games!
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