My first pick comes from the ever shrinking survival horror genre. This year as a whole was not good for being scared, with only a few indie titles carrying the torch. With that said my #10 pick is a game that understood the meaning behind the phrase “survival horror.”
#10: Lone Survivor
Lone Survivor from Superflat games managed to take suspense and horror and distilled it down into a 2d game. As a nameless character, you mission was to escape a city that has been taken over by humans transformed into monsters. Throughout the game the player was met by hallucinations and visions’ questioning what is real and what wasn’t.
When it comes to most survival horror games, the survival aspect is just fighting against monsters. Lone Survivor on the other hand took that to new heights and tested the player. The game would alert the player to being hungry or tired, which would affect their mental state. Food came in all forms with the best ones requiring the player to scour around for ingredients.
One area that Lone Survivor worked at was teasing the player with risky options. It was entirely possible to get through the entire game without killing an enemy (with exception to the final boss). The two more important resources for exploring were bullets and flares, with the former used to kill and the latter used to distract.
If the player was running out of any of them, they had the option to take pills that would give the player more items when they awakened, but would affect their mental state. Each night the player took a pill, they would have a crazy dream with the player talking to mysterious characters.
I really enjoyed how the survival aspect of the game went beyond just going through the game, but about the player’s mental health. This culminated with one of the most detailed post game breakdowns ever.
After the ending the player would receive a grade based on their mental health that determined the ending. After that, they got a line by line breakdown of all the actions the player took to get that grade. From how many mornings the player had coffee, to the # of enemies killed, conversations and more.
Horror itself is always about the unknown and that holds true regardless of the medium in question. Lone Survivor’s unique tale is all about questioning what is actually happening and how much the little joys in life can impact us.
While it may lack the graphical bang of Dead Space, or the chilling atmosphere of Amnesia, Lone Survivor proves that horror can exist anywhere, even in a pixilated game.
Up Next: A Blast From the Past
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