A lot of horror games were in the third-person perspective when things started out.Resident EvilandSilent Hillwere two bigstandouts on the PS1, which blossomed into gigantic franchises. With time, some horror series transitioned into the first-person perspective or at least experimented with the concept.
Some games had combat, while others approached their first-person nightmares with more adventure game-like narratives. For those who like direct combat in their horror-related games, though, these titles will not disappoint. They will be ranked not based on their overall quality but on how fun their gameplay setups actually are, going beyond normal guns or melee weapons.
Condemned: Criminal Originsputs players in the role ofan FBI agentwho is at their wit’s end with a series of gruesome murders. Part detective, part brutal brawler, players will get up close and personal with these paranormal duels.
That visceral melee action is exactly what made the game stand out in the early 2000s, and there are still very few horror games like it. While the melee action is not as fluid as other action games likeDevil May Cry,Condemned: Criminal Originsis still a disorienting and bloody good time.
Resident Evil Villagefollows the events ofResident Evil 7: Biohazard, which was also in first-person, putting players incontrol of Ethan Winterson a quest to find his daughter Rose. It has some of the best gunplay in the entire series with precise aiming, controls, and feedback from the guns.
There is a shop to buy new weapons and a way to upgrade them, too, which makes the gunplay even better. Unfortunately, players are limited by ammo, so they cannot go through this haunted European area like John Wick, but they can at least effectively protect themselves from danger, be it from creepy dolls to literal werewolves.
LikeCondemned: Criminal Origins, players could easily call the combat inDead Island 2visceral, except that it is more experimental and thus more fun to engage with. That’s because players have a vast amount of melee weapons to work with, along with some guns too. It’s fun to discover what ordinary household items can become imbued with fire or electricity, from wrenches to hammers.
These zombies do not stand a chance, plus players can enhance their character further with skill-based cards like the ability to explode foes upon impact, opening up more combat opportunities to keep the blood and EXP flowing.
Darkwatchis a somewhat forgotten shooter from the PS2 era featuringa vampire cowboyfighting the undead and other supernatural beings in the Old West. That’s a brilliant concept on its own, but it gets better as the guns, while typical for a shooter, are more uniquely designed to stand out from other games, from revolvers to shotguns.
Beyond guns, this supernatural cowboy, Jericho, has vampiric powers like the ability to create a shield made out of blood or skills to control lightning bolts erupting from his hand. The powers gained depend on choices made in the story, which makesDarkwatchan easy recommendation to play at least twice to test out all of the powers.
The Darknessfeatures a similarly gifted rogue akin to Jericho inDarkwatch, except that Jackie, this game’s hero, gets possessed by an entity known as the titular Darkness. Jackie dies, comes back to life, and gets these demonic powers thanks to these creeps, including tentacles to restrain enemies and little minions to sneak around.
It’s not strictly a horror game, but the dark entities are as unsettling as they are fun to use during combat, which makes thismob game unlike any otherout there. To note, a more strictly horror-based mob game sounds intriguing.
Ghostwire: Tokyotakes place within a small district of Tokyo, which has been encased in a barrier now haunted by various ghosts and demons. With the power of a masked entity, an ordinary adult, Akito, gets the ability to fight back with spells and magic-infused weapons like bows.
The game is brimming with cool powers to experiment with, from water to whip demons back to heck or wind bullets to rapidly discharge ghouls. Any gametaking place in Japanis a treat, butGhostwire: Tokyostands out above others thanks to its inventive combat magic that is fun to unlock and use. Also, the enemies within are haunting, even though players get a huge repository of powers.
When it comes to ranking thisseries,BioShock 2is usually in last place, which isn’t a bad thing since there are only three games, and they are all well-made. WhatBioShock 2did over its predecessor was add dual-wielding combat to blast enemies with Plasmids and weapons. Plasmids were tonics that players could inject themselves with to get supernatural gifts like the ability to shoot lightning or fire.
The combat improvements madeBioShock 2a better title gameplay-wise, and even thoughBioShock Infiniteimproved combat further, it went back to the more horror elements that made the series stand out originally. That’s another reason whyBioShock 2reigns supreme in this particular instance.
