While Target & Safeway may have already jumped the gun (and shark?) on Halloween, I like to hold off until the official start of the season of witches before I get my spook on. There’s nothing inherently creepy about September 30th. It feels like the third day of school, the day after the day after Christmas, or some other non-descript, uneventful day of the year. Once the clock ticks over to midnight and the calendar on my taskbar reads 10/01, I can finally get my Horror gland pumping. This month, I will attempt to countdown the days to October 31st by taking a look at some ghosts of gaming past, playing through Silent Hill: Homecoming, and generally trying to scare the hell out of myself.
As a warm-up, if you want to get your own Horror gland(s) pumping, I suggest taking a listen to this old Retronauts podcast about Survival Horror. This is classic Retronauts round-table over-talking at it finest and covers nearly the entirety of the genre. Here a semi-complete list of the games they talk about:
- Haunted House – Atari 2600
- Mountain King – Atari 2600
- Sweet Home
- Shadowgate & The Uninvited
- The Lurking Horror – PC
- Alien – C64
- Innsmouth no Yakata – VirtualBoy
- Alone in the Dark – PC
- Phantasmagoria – PC
- Gabriel Knight 2 – PC
- Resident Evil series
- Overblood (& sequel) – PS1
- Clock Tower – PS1
- Galerians
- Echo Night
- Silent Hill series
- Parasite Eve 2 (part 1 didn’t qualify)
- Koudelka
- Dr. Houser – 3D0
- D & D2
- Deep Fear
- Enemy Zero
- The Thing
- System Shock 2
- Blue Stinger
- Lifeline
- Amber: Journeys Beyond
- Carrier (featuring the main character: Jessifer)
- Illbleed
- DOOM3
- Haunting Ground
- Siren
- Fatal Frame series
- Michigan
- Luigi Mansion
BONUS:
If, like me, you are the kind to eschew regular, genuine emotions, preferring instead to let outside influences guide your psyche, check out the X-Entertainment.com Halloween Jukebox for the spookiest song list that you’ve ever heard.
wizardofvideogames.com 