9 Underrated Horror Games You Must Play Before You Die

2. Anatomy

Layers Of Fear
Kitty Horrorshow

What it is: Spooky house? Check. Exploration revolving around the collection of expositional cassette tapes? Check. Unarmed and vulnerable? Check. At face value, Anatomy describes itself as little more than another solidly scary walking simulator packed with jump scares and the like, but in reality? Derivative is the last word you'd use to describe developer Kitty Horrorshow's bite-sized psychological horror.

Why it's scary: There are no monsters in Anatomy. No Jump scares or chase sequences. It's just you, the unnamed and unassuming 'protagonist', exploring a house that, in the simplest sense, is alive. Aforementioned tapes scattered throughout the house make the metaphor of houses mimicking the human body clear as day, but it's a connection not meant to be revelatory.

With progress comes the realization that you're not welcome within in this sentient home, its walls and vein-like hallways steadily becoming increasingly distorted and surreal, all the while threatening that 'something' is going to happen. Nothing ever does, but you don't know that. The anxiety of not knowing is a cliff edge that Anatomy keeps you teetering on from start to finish.

Contributor
Contributor

Joe is a freelance games journalist who, while not spending every waking minute selling himself to websites around the world, spends his free time writing. Most of it makes no sense, but when it does, he treats each article as if it were his Magnum Opus - with varying results.