First, let’s celebrate this year’s fresh sample of the horror world. 2024 年には、次の新しいタイトルが追加されました。
Fear the Spotlight (Cozy Game Pals)
It’s also worth noting that Fear the Spotlight marks acclaimed horror film maker Blumhouse’s debut as a video game publisher. Fear the Spotlight is the first release in Blumhouse’s lineup, which includes future titles from EYES OUT, Half Mermaid, Perfect Garbage, Playmestudio, and Vermila Studios, and is an excellent exploration of lo-fi teenage drama and fear. is. The horror gaming revolution is here, and Blumhouse is definitely going to grab it.
The least horror-like game on the list above is probably Kunitu-Gami: Path of the Goddess, which also happens to be the only title from a AAA studio. I included this because, as a huge fan of horror games, I think Kunitsugami ticks a lot of boxes. The film features a giant, hideous demon and a deadly plague that envelops an entire town in a skeletal yet strangely juicy organic substance. Its monster design is a colorful display of lewd, carnal horror, and there’s comfort in the tense strategic-action gameplay loop. Kunitsugami isn’t marketed as a horror experience, and it certainly contains many scenes of jaw-dropping beauty as well as grotesque scenes, but I heartily recommend it to horror fans. I think you’ll be surprised.
Still Wakes the Deep (The Chinese Room)
Silent Hill 2 (Blue Bar Team)
But we’re not talking about existing franchises yet. The remake of Silent Hill 2 by Bloober Team, the Polish studio behind Layers of Fear and Blair Witch, has been a resounding success despite the harsh standards held by longtime fans of the series. I got it. The remake looks and feels like the game you remember, just polished and smoothed out, making Silent Hill 2 as scary in 2024 as it was in the original in 2001. It’s still there.もしかしたら、それ以上かもしれません。 Bloober Team had a lot to prove with this one, and they did us millennial horror players proud.
Outlast Trials (Red Barrel)
Two live service indie games, The Outlast Trials and Phasmophobia, have also received significant updates over the past 12 months. Since entering early access in May 2023, The Outlast Trials studio Red Barrels has been working on establishing a steady pace of new content drops, and this year they’ve hit the ground running. Outlast Trials began in earnest in March 2024 and has since undergone multiple updates, introducing new enemies, maps, game modes, and limited-time events for players trapped in Markov Corporation’s secret Shinyara facility. I did. The amount of work Red Barrels put into The Outlast Trials is endlessly impressive, especially considering the studio only has about 65 developers.
It’s a humble ode to horror gaming in 2024. It’s been 12 months of indie innovation and gorgeous gore, with great remakes and massive updates. Some new horror games push the boundaries of the genre and expand ideas about what’s scary and why, while others find fresh ways to dissect classic tropes. This is an example of modern cooking and home cooking, but in my opinion there’s a lot of room for both.
