Real world horror brought to life in video games
Games that play with our deepest fears can be the most exhilarating experiences. But what if you learned that there was some truth in these tales?
10. Kholat
Named after the Dyatlov Pass incident, the mysterious disappearance of nine hikers in the Russian Ural Mountains in 1959, Kholat acts like a sub-zero Blair Witch meets Silent Hill. Still to this day, no one quite knows for sure what killed this group of hikers who were mostly university students. Some skeptics maintain an avalanche, while others claim some type of Russian Yeti attacked them. An avalanche makes for an easy “case-closed,” but the fact that one of the hiker’s tongue and eye were missing, as well as another hiker’s fractured skull, makes for a much more unsettling scenario.
9. Fatal Frame
Paranormal horror game Fatal Frame sets investigative sister, Miku Hinasaki, to Himuro Mansion to find her missing brother, who has mysteriously disappeared after visiting an alleged haunted mansion to look for his folklorist mentor. The Himuro Mansion does exist in Japan and is considered to be the location of one of the greatest mass murders in the country’s history, seven people allegedly found dead from eerie occult rituals. One of the rituals purportedly carried out there was known as the “Strangling Ritual,” in which a young girl would have ropes attached to her limbs, only to have them stretched apart and ripped off of her, in order to seal off evil spirits from the house. The game delves into these rituals and is quite the underrated PS2 classic.
8. No. 70: Eye of Basir
No70: Eye of Basir - Trailer
Horror exploration game, No. 70: Eye of Basir, has you investigate your character’s childhood home after your grandmother has passed away. Apparently having witnessed paranormal entities as a child, once your brother goes missing in the house, it is up to you to find out what has transpired. Volkan Demir, director of the game, has stated, “House No. 70 is out there. The game is based on real events that took place in that very house decades ago.” Although he never delves further into the history of said house, the game is a giant spook-fest and worth picking up as long as you’re not afraid of the dark.
7. Stairs
STAIRS - Launch Trailer - #StartTheDescent
Swedish psychological survival horror game, Stairs, has you play as an investigative journalist who, seeking a new story, decides to explore the bizarre and unexplained disappearance of three missing persons in the nearby vicinity. The game is said to have taken inspiration from the Donner Party incident as well as the murders of Ed Gein as you explore an abandoned factory and much more (no spoilers here).
6. Neverending Nightmares
Neverending Nightmares Trailer
Lead game designer Matt Gilgenbach’s personal struggles with intense obsessive-compulsive disorder and depression led to this frightening 2014 horror game in which, as the title suggests, has you stuck in nightmare after nightmare. Gilgenbach has stated that specific imagery, compulsive worries, and strange, oppressing thoughts he had during a serious bout of mental illness in the early 2000’s are vividly etched into this frightening game. From seemingly endless hallways, to the unsettling ticks and tocks of grandfather clocks, to an axe drenched in blood, so many references, no matter how small or grand, are directly inspired from Gilgenbach’s former illness.
5. Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper
Playing as either Sherlock Holmes or Dr. John Watson, you investigate murders in Victorian England, crimes thought to be committed by real-life serial killer, Jack the Ripper. Actual victims of Jack the Ripper appear in the game, such as Annie Chapman, who was found dead, throat slit wide apart. While Sherlock Holmes may be fictional, Jack the Ripper’s real-life DNA holds this game together.
4. The Town of Light
The Town of Light - Trailer
The Ospedale Psichiatrico di Volterra was an Italian psychiatric mental hospital in Tuscany and remains the setting of the first-person exploration game, The Town of Light. Playing as a former patient of the hospital in the 1930’s, you explore this dank and grim mental hospital, attempting to revisit an apparently gruesome past to find “closure.” The hospital in real life was shut down in 1978 after its practices were deemed “too cruel” of its 6,000 patients. To locals, the hospital was known as “the place of no return,” after many patients sent there to be treated for their psychiatric illnesses never returned home.
3. Masochisia
Masochisia - HD Trailer
Atmospheric, point-and-click adventure game, Masochisia has you play as a killer this time – a young Albert Fish to be precise. Known to have killed, molested, and even cannibalized countless children in the early 1900s, Fish was eventually caught by police in New York City and thankfully sent to the electric chair to cook for good in 1936. Masochisia, however, explores childhood psyche and mental illness, rather than focusing just on blood and gore. Seemingly choice-driven gameplay, yet woven into themes of fate, give this game an incredibly unique taste among the sub-genre.
2. Lizzie Borden: The PC Game
New Lizzie Borden PC Game
This upcoming game first-person adventure game draws its influence from Lizzie Borden, who, in 1892, allegedly murdered her father and stepfather with an axe in their family home. Although she was tried and eventually acquitted of the murders, speculation to this day maintains she did indeed commit the crimes. The game is still in early development, but the gameplay footage shows that you do get to play in and around the same family home the horrific crimes were committed in.
1. The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Atari 2600)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Atari 2600
The 1983 Atari release, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, based on the 1974 movie, is rooted in the infamous killing spree of Ed Gein. Although almost comical to play now due to incredibly outdated graphics (like most Atari games), you play as the serial killer Leatherface as you proceed on a murderous rampage yielding a chainsaw that really looks much more like a spinning water pipe attached to your body than a killing device. Although this game was more of a cash in on the film franchise, the real events that inspired Leatherface are quite gruesome. Searching Mr. Gein’s house, local authorities had found such nauseating pieces of evidence highlighting his murders such as bowls made from female skulls, a lampshade made from the skin of a human face, and a pair of lips tied to a window shade drawstring. Perfect inspiration for a video game aimed at 10-year old boys.
While some developers take increased license with the actual stories more than others, you can see that many horror games are simply more than just inspired by true events, with many development teams doing as much research as they can to get the details and ambience just as accurate as possible. Either way, any bit of real-life inspiration from a horrifying incident or series of events, in my opinion, makes the game all the more frightening.
