Psychological Horror

I have weird feelings towards horror games, they are really unnerving yet thrilling to play. I feel that a good horror game is better than a good horror movie because it puts YOU in the limelight of the horrors that lie within. I have watched a couple horror movies in the past, most notably 'Salem's Lot, Pet Sematary franchise, A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise, Christine, that one movie with the vampire in the cabin somewhere and it kills everyone and it is locked in the basement and then there is maple syrup everywhere & ultimately, the entire Saw franchise which is my favorite horror movie franchise of them all. They were all great movies, there was no particular one that kept me on the edge but they were all pretty scary, maybe Christine being the least scary. A Nightmare on Elm Street was pretty scary, but I don't think it tops the fear I experienced playing the following game.

Why I think horror games are the superior form of horror media than just watching a horror movie filled with repetitive jumpscares and the Wilhelm scream is because there exists such a thing as Psychological Horror games. I recently finished Iron Lung, a horror game by David Szymanski and the creator of many other very cool games. I read the reviews before & after playing the game and honestly, it truly left me thinking. Most reviews said the game wasn't scary enough and that it wasn't worth the money and all that stuff, but the thing is, I was shaking so much after playing it I had to actually take a rest because my heart was pumping so fast. What I realized, is that people didn't find it scary because there was nothing to be scared of in the first place (depends how scary you think a giant fish in a blood ocean is), I was scared throughout the entire game when the radar started beeping every time and I was anxiously checking the camera every 30 seconds to make sure I wasn't being followed. For the short time I was playing the game, it was very intense. There is no music in the game, just ambience and noises to lay the pavement for what's to come. My mind started making noises up in my head, little clings and clangs on the metal walls and ultimately I started hearing beeping even though the radar wasn't beeping, I was so emotionally moved by this game it made me want to write this paragraph.

Currently the list of horror games I've played is small, because I can only ever try 1 or 2 horror games in a certain time period until I recover mentally from the endeavor because they are just that horrifying. I have yet to tackle Amnesia: The Bunker which is quite the step up from something like Iron Lung, or so I've heard. The courage I need to play it is ungodly. The only horror game I come back to is Lethal Company, it is scary but also extremely hilarious (if I am playing with friends that is). What I believe makes Lethal Company so fun yet traumatizing is the unpredictability, every round you play is different one way or another because the rooms are all randomly generated and monsters appear at random, sometimes there are multiple of them, sometimes none. Lethal Company has a very cooperative playstyle in mind, but it doesn't enforce it. That's what makes the game great. It's very important to communicate with your teammates and not get lost, because the last thing you want is to get lost and find yourself with a 7 foot tall black figure staring at your across the hall, just, don't stare back. The absence of control over your situation while playing this horror game is a very unusual feeling, even with the tools to rid most moons of horror and terror and yet I feel small and lonely. What makes the game especially great is that there are a lot of ambient noises, which do absolutely nothing than fuel the fire that is your fear. I have been absolutely frozen in fear sometimes listening to all the different sounds and noises the game presents at me, although I know they probably don't mean anything, key word probably. I love this game because although it is a horror game, we end up laughing our asses off in the end.

I'd be happy if any of you would like to share some horror game experiences of your own and what left you scarred the most. I am quite new to this horror stuff and I'd love to know a few suggestions regarding some "fun" horror games. I love the thrill, it's not as good as something like racing games or shooters but it is a different kind of thrill and only horror games can satisfy it, have a good one ya creeps.

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