Where many movie-based games are lackluster, these horror games bring both the quality and the scares while honoring the movies that inspired them.
Horror movies lend themselves to video game adaptations surprisingly well, as shown with the upcoming Texas Chainsaw Massacre game. Over many years, multiple developers have dabbled into the world of licensed games to various resulting qualities.
For every lackluster licensed game, there is at least one gem that stands out from the rest that fans appreciate. They range from genuine survivor horror games to asymmetrical multiplayer games, each taking the content from popular horror films and emulating it to enthrall gamers.
Made exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, Ju-On: The Grudge is less of a straightforward survival horror game and more of a series of interactive vignettes based on The Grudge. It's essentially an anthology of haunted house attractions where the player goes through different locations encountering the spirits of Kayako and Toshio.
As simplistic as it might be, Ju-On: The Grudge is faithful to both American and Japanese films, nailing that eeriness that comes with knowing that the ghosts could appear at any second. It's a bit of a jump scare fest, but it's solid for playing with a group of friends and/or family members.
This is technically cheating since Dead By Daylight is not actually based on a movie. However, Dead By Daylight has become famous for its long list of licensed killers and survivors taken from horror movies. Those who mainly play as the killer can enjoy Freddy Krueger, Michael Myers, and even the Hell Priest AKA Pinhead as playable characters.
On the other hand, survivor players can enjoy Laurie Strode, Ash Williams, Steve Harrington from Stranger Things, and even Detective Tapp from the Saw franchise. There are also iconic locations from the films in Dead By Daylight as maps, making it as much of a licensed game as others, and it's one that still has a massive player count years later.
Likely to follow in the footsteps of Dead By Daylight, Friday The 13th: The Game is another multiplayer game where one player controls the famous slasher Jason Voorhees against a plethora of players as counselors. There is a lot of love shown for the Friday The 13th movies in this game, from the kills to the many details in the maps.
Friday The 13th: The Game quickly became a cult classic, despite it suffering from a lack of polish due to legal issues causing support for the game to shut down. However, that didn't stop the game from having dedicated fans that still play the game today, even spawning memes on social media.
This is a rare situation where the game can be considered superior to the movie that it's based on. Two years after the release of Alien Resurrection (which is often deemed one of the worst Alien movies), the tie-in video game for the PS1 dials back on the stranger elements of the film.
As a result, Alien Resurrection is more of a straightforward horror first-person shooter that the Alien game franchise would become known for. It provides a creepy atmosphere with Xenomorphs that are genuinely hard to defeat. It may not be flawless, but fans of the Alien franchise should give this diamond in the rough a chance.
There have been a lot of games based on The Evil Dead; some are solid pieces of entertainment while others definitely suffer from being cash grabs. One that fans tend to appreciate the most is Evil Dead: Regeneration which balanced out being a new story in this franchise while still maintaining what fans love about it.
With Bruce Campbell still voicing the character of Ash, Evil Dead: Regeneration mixes humor and horror together for a decent third-person action game. It's simple hack-and-slash gameplay but executed well with a fun possession mechanic of a character named Sam to add a bit of ridiculousness.
As an adaptation of The Blair Witch Project, the 2019 Blair Witch game has a lot to be desired since it has little to no connection to the two films other than a few key elements including a camera mechanic to invoke a feeling of a found footage movie. However, where Blair Witch shines is delivering a psychological horror experience with the player lost in the woods.
The game constantly pulls the rug out from under the player with looping or shifting areas to disorient and frighten. There are puzzle elements featuring the camera that are quite clever and even some twists and turns that players may not expect.
There are multiple Alien Vs. Predator games and each delivers a well-crafted dive into the shared universe. For the scariest experience, Alien Vs. Predator 2 is the best choice, especially in the Colonial Marine campaign where every single level is completely dark and filled with dread.
The Xenomorph threats appear from all directions and are extremely fast. The only way to see them properly is through night vision and even that can be just as scary as the darkness. The biggest drawback is that all the campaigns are far too short but still enjoyable.
The idea of making a game based on John Carpenter's The Thing seems like a bold one, but it paid off. It retains the isolation, claustrophobia, and paranoia that the 1982 movie is known for by having the player maintain trust with their team, or they could fall apart.
From the bitter cold of the Antarctic base setting to the mystery of who could be the next imitation to try and kill everyone, The Thing shows love for the original film in every regard. It may lack a cast of iconic characters like the original film, but fans of the film should be happy.
This will depend on if someone is even a fan of the Saw franchise in general. If someone does not care for the Saw movies, the video game adaptation is likely not going to change their mind. However, fans of the movies will appreciate how much Konami respected the films.
It maintains the visceral gory Saw traps, the puzzle elements that Jigsaw is known for, the frantic editing style, and even features Tobin Bell's voice as Jigsaw. Though he is not played by Danny Glover, Detective Tapp is the main character going through Jigsaw's gauntlet, allowing it to feel properly connected to the movies.
Typically, the Alien video games try to emulate the look and feel of James Cameron's Aliens whereas Alien: Isolation went back to the style of Ridley Scott's Alien. The scenery of Savastapol Station is straight out of that original film as are the music, costumes, and sound design.
Where it truly shines is with the Xenomorph itself, which adapts to the player's actions thanks to what was revolutionary A.I. at the time. Every encounter with the alien, the Working Joe androids, and humans never loses tension because it's constantly throwing something different at the player.
Melody MacReady is a writer and transwoman (she/her), passionate about all things pop culture-related. From movies to shows to games to comic books, there is not much that she does not enjoy or appreciate. Melody is also an aspiring film writer and director as well as a voice actor as a hobby. This spark for content creation came from her childhood, growing up with media of all kinds which inspired her to write short stories, write comics, and begin writing about them on the internet. Melody’s biggest inspiration came from first seeing Zack Snyder’s Watchmen in 2009; the film combined with her knowledge of how scenes were done via behind-the-scenes featurettes prior to the film’s release made her fall in love with filmmaking. Not only does she write for ScreenRant, The Gamer, Comic Book Resources, and GameRant but she runs her own personal blog, discussing many things pop culture-related.
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