Summary
The2010swere an exceptional decade for gaming. With technological advances and the PS4 and Xbox One released in 2013, the gaming landscape evolved. Out of all the big gaming releases during this time,horrorwould often take center stage. The early decade sawindie gems becoming viral hits, helping the burgeoning streaming platform Twitch grow in popularity.
Meanwhile, the latter end saw the revival of a classic franchise that continues to redefine itself and scare players worldwide. Horror gaming achieved new levels of interactive terror in the 2010s, with many of the decade’s hit games becoming instant classics and starting highly successful franchises.
The start of the decade saw the release of a genre-defining title.Amnesia: Dark Descentis a pure survival horror experience, where the setting is as scary as the monsters who inhabit it. In the game, darkness is an enemy and players have limited resources to survive.
With only a lamp to light their way and a few matches scattered around the map, choosing which candles to light can mean life or death, particularly as the main characters sanity starts to deteriorate in the dark. Players don’t have weapons inAmnesia, it is all about knowing when to run or when to hide.Amnesiawas a breakout success that became a hit on YouTube and Twitch and set the standard for the decade to come.
The originalDead Spacegame was a groundbreaking horror release that blended the blood and guts ofResident Evilwith the claustrophobic atmosphere ofAlien. Its sequel,Dead Space 2,took everything great about the first game and expanded on it. With heart-pounding action sequences and improved mechanics,Dead Space 2cemented the series as a horror heavyweight.
Set three years afterDead Space, the game sees protagonist Isaac Clarke recovering on a large space station on Titan. Pretty quickly, things take a turn for the worse when the same outbreak of Necromorphs starts killing everyone around him. Once again, Isaac must survive the horror and stop it from spreading.Dead Space 2is an immersive and brutal game thatfans of sci-fi horror will love.
2012 saw the release ofTelltale’sThe Walking Dead, an episodic adventure game based on the cult comic book and hit TV series. The story features unique characters who struggle to survive a zombie outbreak around Georgia. Set over 5 episodes, and released between April and December 2012, the game was a breakout hit that appealed to fans of the TV show that had already grown in popularity.
The Walking Deadwas the first in a long series of Telltale games that expanded on the narrative-based adventure game and included major franchises such asBatmanandGuardians of the Galaxy. The company struggled to survive the decade, withThe Walking Deadremaining their standout release, until the company relaunched in 2019.
Considered one of the greatest games ever released, developer Naughty Dog scored a massive hit with their classic survival action gameThe Last of Us. The game follows Joel and Ellie as they travel across the apocalyptic American landscape searching for a cure to the deadly infection that turns people into violent monsters.
The Last of Ushits on all cylinders, with a complex and emotional narrative, high-level performances, stunning landscapes, fluid mechanics, and heart-stopping sequences that are genuinely nerve-racking. A successful sequel would follow in 2020, as well as a hit TV show in 2023.
Of the many games based on theAlienfranchise,Alien: Isolationmay be the truest to the original movie. Taking all the music, sound effects, and lo-fi retro style of the 1979 Ridley Scott film, the game offers a survival horror experience like no other. InAlien: Isolation, an unstoppable xenomorph actively hunts the player through a large and complex space station.
Successfully beating the game requires the use of stealth, patience, and cunning to outwit the creature that reacts to sound and fast movement.Alien: Isolationstands as one of the best survival horror games on the market and still holds up today.
The start of the decade saw the release of Frictional Game’s masterpieceAmnesia. Midway through the decade, it saw another landmark release from the indie developer.SOMAis a psychological survival horror game that takes players to a deep ocean facility where strange mechanical monsters stalk the deserted ruins.
Much likeAmnesia, players can only rely on stealth and evasion to survive the horrors of the game and must solve various puzzles to progress. The game’s narrative is as deep as the setting, dealing with philosophical ideas such as mortality and the nature of self. On top of this,Somahas some of the best horror set pieces in gaming and is a bonafide classic of the genre.
The psychological horror gameLayers of Feartakes players into the crumbling mind of a tortured artist as they attempt to create their next masterpiece. The game falls into the classic haunted house trope, with plenty ofjump scares and creepy hallwaysto explore, taking influence from the horror classicP.T.
Players need to solve various puzzles to progress, as the house changes around them and secrets are uncovered.Layers of Fearmay not have the big horror spectacle of games such asSomaorAlien: Isolation, but it does offer a terrifying and atmospheric experience that will chill players to the core.
The second half of the decade saw the revival of the definitive survival horror franchiseResident Evil, which redefined itself once again with its seventh release.Biohazardchanged the series by turning the traditional third-person game into anFPS experience, bringing players face-to-face with the horrors of the game.
Taking a lot of influence from films likeThe Texas Chainsaw Massacre,Resident Evil 7brought the series back to its survival horror roots, following its new protagonist Ethan Winters. Set in and around a large house in the backwoods of Louisiana, the game stands as one of the bestResident Evilentries in the series’ history.
This underrated horror role-playing game is based on the works of legendary horror writer H.P. Lovecraft. It follows private investigator Edward Pierce as he attempts to undercover the mystery of the Hawkins family, who died in a terrible fire. The game has various puzzles for the player to discover, as well as tense stealth sequences to avoid enemies.
Call of Cthulhuis mainly narrative-driven and falls into the cosmic horror genre, whereunspeakable creatures lurkin other realms. Players will follow the main character as he slowly loses his sanity after uncovering the truth about the events. The game is a little-known gem that fans of Lovecraftian horror will love.
The end of the decade saw the release ofResident Evil 2 Remakeand the further revival of theResident Evilseries as a whole. Capcom didn’t just remaster theirzombie classic, they remade it from the ground up, recreating the classic locations and iconic enemies, such as the Lickers and Mr. X.
Resident Evil 2Remake stands as a benchmark for developers looking to bring back older games. The release improves the original’s gameplay and mechanics while staying faithful to the classic game’s concept. The game became the best-selling entry in the entire franchise and won multiple awards, further proving the series’ longevity and status as a leader in the genre.
