The elements that make the game so uniquely terrifying have more to do with what you hear and feel, and less to do with common gimmicks like monsters jumping out of the shadows (not a bad tactic, but one that grows tiresome over time). It's raw survival that drives the action. You don't fight, you have no guns or explosives. Not one of them comes close, although Penumbra deserves second place and bears some similarities - it was, after all, made by the same team. I've played all the classic horror games, the Silent Hill games, Penumbra, FEAR, Condemned, System Shock, etc. 10/10 *Highly recommended for horror fans* WARNING: This game is NOT AT ALL for the weak-heart, easily scared, easily fainted ones. You'll just have to "run for your life" yourself. The darkness deep within this castle hides great horrors and terrors that are just to good to be spoiled. You're in a castle and you just have to know how you came here.
You start out as an amnesia infected Daniel, who can't remember anything but his name. The 5 genius minds behind Frictional Games are really all it takes to get you to watch your back. The independent Frictional Games (The one behind the awesome Penumbra series) shows the big gaming companies how to do it right. The one that lets you live the character. The one that makes you sweat as if you were there. The one that gets your adrenaline pumping. Nothing really standing out (except maybe a few rare gems which have come out the last few years like Dead Space and Penumbra) This time around, it's different. You get a lot of idealistic "Hollywood story" horror games every year, it's getting annoying. The horror genre is truly one of the underrated genres of gaming, but that's because the gaming industry is running out of ideas for this particular genre.