With new horror titles being introduced this year attracting new players, many fans of the genre are celebrating the birthdays of many of their favorite titles. These are by far the best horror games that finally reached the ripe old of age of twenty in the year 2022 while still entertaining their audience.
5 The Psychological Horror Of Dark Fall
Releasing originally in the UK in April 2002, Dark Fall is a first-person psychological horror that leaves the player to unlock the mysterious disappearance of their brother through exploring haunted locations of both a train station and a hotel. Due to the places being haunted the player will need to rely on a ghost hunting device to look into the past and hear the dead in order to get clues on where they need to go next.
Besides using the gadgets available to them, players will also need to avoid the dangers of getting caught as the presences in these buildings are far from friendly. When released Dark Fallreceived mixed reviews from both critics and players though overall in the current year players have been enjoying this classical horror experience, that forces them to think in order to progress in the story. Not to mention the classical jumpscares that even many current games rely on.
4 Gory Vampire Killing In BloodRayne
Players that are looking for a horror game with splatter gore psychics, intense violence and most of all vampires should look no further than the hack and slash action-adventure of BloodRayne. In this title that originally released for North America during October 2002 the players take on the role of Rayne, a Dhampir that is sent out to deal with supernatural disturbances which usually means dealing with vampires.
As the red-headed version of vampire hero Blade, Rayne and the society she works for identifies that two missions separate from one another between the World War are connected. The man that links the two is after artifacts that will help bring his domination of the world, it is down to Rayne to hunt down this person and his generals to bring an end to his reign. BloodRayne has since received a remaster which hoped to relinquish the action horror of any past nostalgic bugs it may have, though many may wish to try the original.
3 The Thing, A Film Turned Game
Banking on the success of the hit horror film of 1982, The Thing, the video game was a hit commercial success when it released to its North American audience during August 2002. Just like the countless Alien themed games, Konami and Black Label Games hoped to bring the horrific wonder of the horror film for players on PC, PlayStation 2 and Xbox. There were plans for it to also makes its debut on the likes of the GameCube and Game Boy Advance, but these were unfortunately canceled.
Players were tasked with exploring the U.S. Antarctica Outpost while helping NPCs and shooting at the monsters in a hope to survive these unknown alien creatures. The Thing also expected to have a sequel though it was also unfortunately canceled in the early stages of development and therefore this classic third-person horror is the only Thing themed horror game available for players to try.
2 Cult Classic Eternal Darkness Sanity’s Requiem
Releasing across the globe in 2002, Eternal Darkness Sanity’s Requiem appeared to be heavily inspired by the successful long-running franchise of Resident Evil. With its combination of intense moments of fighting off monsters and the mind-boggling puzzles players were expected to solve in order to continue onwards, it is of no surprise that many players saw the resemblance.
Although the title itself wasn’t a commercial success, Eternal Darkness won countless rewards as well as the praise of the critics, while also managing to find itself an audience that considered it to be a cult classic. Besides its interesting gameplay features it also manages to win points with its players for its interesting psychological story that has minor differences depending on the players choices. This is decided from the first chapter of the game where the player chooses between multiple paths to determine which of the antagonists will be the main culprit of the plot.
1 Strategic Horror In Resident Evil Zero
Overall, by far one of the best horror games that turned twenty this year is one of the infamous title of the Resident Evil franchise, Resident Evil Zero. Releasing by Capcom in 2002 for the GameCube, Resident Evil Zero was deemed a prequel to the original Resident Evil that released in 1996. In typical Resident Evil fashion, this title made the most of the well-known mechanics that continues to make Resident Evil successful such as the captivating puzzles and defending against monsters.
However, unlike the previous Resident Evil, Resident Evil Zero allowed players to swap between two protagonists as they explored the Arklay Mountains. This meant that many puzzles were approached differently as it relied on the player positioning the two characters properly to complete puzzles as well as making sure they both remain alive and well. Each character had their own skills they excelled at such as being able to move heavy objects or create elixirs to keep them both well though this new feature received mixed responses.
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