Boo! Happy Halloween! Hope everyone is playing and or watching their favorite pieces of spooky media. Lots of awesome horror games came out this year and I’m gonna use this blog to highlight them in a kind of lighting round. I haven’t played all of these myself yet (though I really am trying to!) but will just give a little insight to how I feel about them and what I may be looking forward to experiencing with these games.
Right off the bat we gotta talk about Resident Evil Requiem. As a long time RE fan that game hit every itch I could have possibly had. First person? Yep. Third person? Oh yeah. Both whenever you want? Yes please! Some of the most fluid gunplay in the series with fantastic settings such as the Care Center (which may be my favorite RE area right up there with RE2’s Police Station) and even taking us back to Raccoon City. Requiem also introduced one of my absolute favorite Resident Evil characters in Grace Ashcroft. RE Requiem really took over the Orbit Storefront when it came out. It felt like all of us were in it together and really gave a sense of community to the whole experience. I know Requiem may be some of our staff's GOTY picks for this year as well (Not me though, Pragmata has my heart <3) and it utterly deserves all the praise it's getting.
Now this next game I am only going to briefly touch on because there is already a more in depth blog post about it written by Shelby! As someone who hasn’t played Silent Hill Townfall yet there isn’t too much I can say but from the outside looking in, the ambiance looks stellar. Setting the game in Scotland in the 90s was such a brilliant move to make Townfall feel unique in the SH catalogue. The way the game uses fog in such an oppressive way while also forcing the player to rely on audio cues and limited combat seems so well done. It warms my heart to see Silent Hill on what seems to be a generational tear recently. Silent Hill Townfall is a game I am foaming at the mouth to play when my schedule clears up a bit.
Hellraiser: Revival! This game from a graphics standpoint, looks gorgeous in every image or video I see of it. Well-done gripping visuals that seem to really amplify the atmosphere. Speaking of videos, from what I can tell, multiple channels across the web have gotten demonetized as a result of showing Hellraiser gameplay and while the fact that these channels are having to fight this demonetization sucks hard…I am so incredibly intrigued by what this game could offer. I have coworkers that work on the movie side (hi Ava) who don’t even like video games and want to see me play it. Hellraiser: Revival looks weird, it looks freaky, and damn, it looks right up my alley.
The last game I’m going to talk about is… Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly Remake. Funny enough the only Fatal Frame game I’ve actually played has been the original Fatal Frame II on PlayStation 2. At the time I thought the game was a bit clunky even for its era and that too many of the scares were relegated to jump scares. As far as the remake is concerned however, gameplay is vastly improved and from my (admittedly very short time with it in a demo) although there are still many jump scares, the atmosphere is doing significantly better at making the player feel terrified and on edge. Better lighting and more complex shadows do so much heavy lifting to games in the horror genre and it seems like Fatal Frame II Remake is no exception. I am so stoked to grab my Camera Obscura and take pictures of restless spirits!
While I tried to highlight some of the bigger horror games that came out this year, there are still so many I didn’t get a chance to mention. As a big fan of the genre it’s inspiring that horror games are not only popular again but thriving and as we get into 2027 it seems like another stacked year for the genre.
So take some time and play some games that’ll scare your pants off. Really appreciate what makes horror games so enticing and engorge yourselves with candy. From all of us here at Orbit DVD Games….HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
