Summary
A key element of any successfulhorror gameis their ability to make players feel trapped and alone in their horrific circumstances, with the idea of escape being a far-off notion. One horror setting that is able to establish such a sense of hopelessness faster than others is an island.
Broken away from the freedom of the mainland anddotted in an endless ocean, islands feel, by their very nature, isolating. Below are some of thebest horror games with islandsthat, whether they start out as idyllic getaways or secluded facilities, eventually succumb to chaos and tragedy.
Total Chaos (Honorable Mention)
Starting out life asa conversion mod forDoom 2,Total Chaosis set to get its own release as a full game in July later this year. The game sees players stranded on the mining island of Fort Oasis after getting caught in a storm while responding to a radio transmission.
Currently, there isa playable demo up on Steamthat already shows off the game’s excellence. Fort Oasis as a setting is bleak, purposefully muted with a gray color palette and filled with all sorts of dark imagery. Navigating the island is truly, in the funnest way possible, a depressing experience.
Inspired by theJurassic Parkfranchise,Dino Crisisis a survival horror (or “panic horror,” as creator Shinji Mikami preferred to call it)dinosaur game set on the Ibis island research facility.
Though featuring dinosaurs ripped straight from the past rather than being genetically manufactured in a lab,Dino Crisis,like its influences, is essentially another cautionary tale as to why the giant lizards shouldn’t be messed with. Playing as Regina, a member of a special forces team sent to investigate the facility, gamers will find themselves trapped on the island and battling a variety of dinos with the traditional survival horror mechanics they’ve come to expect.
The Sufferingis a horror game that intensifies the hopelessness of an island setting by alsoplacing players within a prison, trapping them with metal bars as well as water.
The game sees players assuming the role of Torque, an inmate on death row for murdering his family, though, due to a case of video game amnesia, he can’t remember performing such a crime. Before he’s put to death, the prison is attacked by a horde of monsters, each resembling various forms of execution, leaving players to fight through them while uncovering the secrets of Torque’s past.
Resident Evil: Revelations 2sees Claire Redfield and Moira Burton being kidnapped by an unknown force of armed individuals. Waking up in a dilapidated prison, located on an island of course, with strange bracelets attached to their wrists, the two must figure out why they’re there and how to escape.
Thanks toRevelations 2’s unique episodic structure, players will also switch to Barry Burton and Natalia, a mysterious girl with supernatural powers, as they explore the island in search of Claire and Moira. With players being hounded by a mysterious voice in Claire’s episodes, the game plays like an island-sized saw trap, as the aforementioned voice will often antagonize the duo while subjecting them to various dangerous situations.
A tropical getaway turned nightmare,Dead Island, for obvious reasons, is often the first game players think of when it comes to island settings in video games. After a zombie outbreak occurs on the fictional island of Banoi, players assume the role of one of four characters as they fight through hordes of monsters in fun first-person combat.
The game’s emotional trailer and the very juxtaposition of sunny beaches with flesh-eating zombies is part of what has madeDead Islandso iconic in video games, despite its flaws. For those looking to really feel isolated in the world of a video game, the setting ofDead Islandis likely to impress.
Fans of Robert Eggers’The Lighthouseshould absolutely check outNo One Lives Under the Lighthouse. Set on a small island off the coast of the United States, players assume the role of keeper sent to a lighthouse after the previous one mysteriously disappeared.
Mysterious, haunting, and rendered in brilliant retro visuals,No One Lives Under the Lighthouseexpertly captures the atmosphere of old-England folk-horror and dashes it with a hint of cosmic dread. Supposedly being the only inhabitant of the island, the game truly feels isolating.
Sons of the Forestand its predecessor,The Forest,are two of the best horror survival games out there. The former sees players assuming the role of a rescue team searching for a CEO and his daughter. Though set on a different and larger island,Sons of the Forest’s setting is just as dangerous as the first game’s.
Familiar tribes of cannibalsand horrific mutants inhabit the island, stalking and attacking the player while they attempt to survive. The island, being home to a number of dark and claustrophobic caves, increases its environmental horror, as players will be forced to explore these locations in order to gather new tools and progress the game’s story.
Abducted, again, by a group of armed forces,Resident Evil - CODE: Veronicasees Claire Redfield trapped on the prison island of Rockfurt after raiding an Umbrella facility in search of her brother, Chris Redfield.
Though the game’s real-time 3D environments haven’t aged as well as the pre-rendered backgrounds of the GameCube version ofResident Evilthat was released a couple of years later,CODE: Veronica’s setting still feels delightfully dreary. The dark corridors of the prison lend the game a feeling of oppression that, paired with the isolation of its island location, creates one ofthe franchise’s best atmospheres.
