10 Exceptional Horror Video Games That Deserve A Comeback
Out of the shadows and back into our lives.
With the survival horror genre looking more bloated than ever thanks to the unending surge of fresh IP's and indie dev titles flooding the market, now might seem to be the worst time to start suggesting yet more horror titles for you to play. Yet hold on friend, before you slip back into the familiar jump scares and thin winding corridors that seem to make up ninety percent of these experiences, why not consider some of these titles that actually tried really hard to offer fresh and exciting mechanics yet for some reason never found their mark when it came to sales or public traction?
Plus from a publisher standpoint it's alway so strange to see great ideas just sitting in the shadows and constantly being passed over when they could just be polished up and repackaged into something that might make their owners a tonne of cash AND tickle that lovely nostalgia gland that they so love to milk.
So gather round the campfire kids as I tell you tales of haunted schools, or multiplayer zombie games, and of one experience so utterly off the wall it really has to be seen to be believed.
10. Blue Stinger
Blue Stinger is a survival horror game that doesn't play by any of your rules, it's a rude crude dude with an attitude and dropped on the Dreamcast way back in 1999. The standout feature of Blue Stinger was that instead of forcing the player to run from enemies at every given opportunity, here you were punching them in the face!
Take that evil! get back in my nightmares where you belong! It was kind of like if Nightmare Creatures went on a tropical holiday, featuring a blistering color pallette, cheesy dialogue, and MMM MM MM exceptional...ly terrible character designs.
Arguably there are two versions of this game in existence, the Japanese original, and the North American port, the latter of which removed the fixed camera angles that Resident Evil had popularised and gave things a traditional behind the character viewpoint. For many this completely changed the tone of the game, from a classic survival horror into something more resembling an action game. To be honest, the change is not something I like as the idea of running headlong into an enemy offscreen is always a nice little jumpscare, but considering the game's approach to combat, it arguably plays better in the port.
Either way for how unique it was to be able to batter mutated creatures, the ability to swap characters at any point, and for its over-the-top tone, this is a title that could make waves given the right care and attention.