Grim's Countdown: Most Important Horror Games of All Time

[Bobby Barrows]

Grim's Countdown

The Most Important
Horror Games
of All Time

Welcome one and all to an all-new project I like to call "Grim's Countdown". In this series, we will journey through genre defining titles and items in an effort to give a clear line of succession in the world of gaming, movies, literature, and much more. This first Countdown will be on the subject of Horror Games, which compared to all other things, is a relatively new genre as far as video games are concerned, the genre itself beginning in approximately 1989-1992 with genre defining titles that made horror extremely realistic for the time. The origins of horror games however date as far back as the early 80s. With this Countdown, we will highlight a long list of the most important games in the history of horror. Let's take a long long ride down this terrifying road to see what sights we will come upon.

The List:

Spoiler

1. Mystery House (1981)
2. Haunted House (1982)

 

[Bobby Barrows]

1.
Mystery House
(1981)

Our first entry on our Countdown is an extremely early adventure game known as Mystery House. Mystery House released on the Apple II computer in 1980 by On-Line Systems. It is a text based adventure with limited visual capabilities. The plot itself revolves around a murder mystery within an abandoned Victorian manor on the hillside. Having found themselves locked in with seven other unwilling participants, the player must uncover the mystery murders while finding gems to escape the mansion.

Though it is primitive in its execution, it was very influential for bringing the horror movie tropes to video games for the first time. A mansion in the wilderness, mystery murders, and spooky atmosphere which for the most part have never quite left the horror genre in gaming even to this day. It's utilization of a closed space set the standard from which all proceeding games would follow.

Mystery House's influence can still be felt today as it's tropes are hard to escape today. Horror games rely on closed spaces with some sense of need for the player to escape from the situation. Not only that, there needs to be a sense of danger or fear. All of these key elements were present at their earliest in Mystery House. It is truly the game from which all other horror games originate.​

 

[Marty McFourth]

I think @Heel Looch called it

 

[Death By Looch]

I did call it earlier

Great first entry and any Horror game fan, who isn't immediately bored by looking at an early PC adventure game with text commands should take a look at pretty much where it began. I could be wrong, but just from the feels, it kinda feels like a spiritual predecessor of Alone in the Dark.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

2.
Haunted House
(1982)

Our next entry comes to us from the titans of early console gaming itself: Atari Inc. Haunted House was developed by James Andreason in late 1981 and released in February of 1982 and became a smash hit seemingly overnight. While a somewhat simplistic game, it was among the earliest console games to truly utilize a "creepy" atmosphere for the sake of gameplay. The story is still simple: you, the player, have entered the Graves Manor in search of the urn of the Graves, but have now found yourselves locked in. With little time, it is up to the player to escape with the urn while avoiding the terrifying bats and spiders that roam the place, while also keeping away from the ghost of Mr. Graves himself.

Haunted House paved the way for console horror with its simplicity in execution. With a sliding difficulty scale for the player, the game allows for different versions of itself; on higher difficulties, if a player lights up a match, they will be able to see the walls of the house (which otherwise would go invisible). The matches themselves are limited time usage, and there are only so many that come with you. This idea of strategic use of certain items has led to some theorization that Atari's Haunted House paved the way for survival horror. I personally believe that this is somewhat true for the genre, as Haunted House's gameplay was much akin to later games that became known as Survival Horror. As it were, this would be what is known as "Proto-Survival Horror", or perhaps in the early 80s, this would moreover be a "Horror-Adventure Game".

Its importance, however, definitely stems from what it ended up meaning on the grander scale. Though not nearly as influential as say Mystery House, from which all horror games are originated, Haunted House's gameplay mechanics became far more commonplace as the 90s hit, with true Survival Horror games utilizing and expounding upon the ideas that were first brought up in this simple little 1982 Atari game. It is for that reason that Haunted House is included in our countdown.

 

[Marty McFourth]

Atari was so influential when it comes to video games, have a lot of respect for them

 

[Bobby Barrows]

Atari was so influential when it comes to video games, have a lot of respect for them

Also, that box-art for Haunted House is downright fucking awesome tbh. That's the kind of artwork I'd hang on my wall as a movie poster.

 

[Marty McFourth]

Retro posters are the fuckin' best tbh, they were always so creative. They've got quite lazy with video game box arts these days. A lot of them feel the same.

 

[Death By Looch]

BOO! HAUNTED HOUSE!

Atari usually had this special kind of atmosphere, when you sat in the light of the TV screen in the middle of the night, having no music but only Atari sound effects.

 

[Bobby Barrows]

3.
3D Monster Maze
(1982)

If you were a player who owned a Sinclair ZX81 in the early 80s, you possibly have heard of this creepy little title. 3D Monster Maze was released in February 1982, the same month as Atari's Haunted House. Developed by Malcolm Evans in late 1981, this was among the first game of its kind. It was the first true early survival horror game to be released to the general public, and its legacy can still be fully felt today.

You are placed inside a maze from which there stalks a living tyrannosaurus rex. The graphics are simple in execution and the game gives you a score based entirely on how long you manage to evade Rex before it finds you. There is no escape, only the inevitable jaws of death. It is through this game that the concept of the "active stalker" is born. The enemy will hunt down the player no matter what, and with that, there is both suspense and terror combined within the game, as you never know whether Rex is lurking around the corner or not.

The importance of 3D Monster Maze cannot be understated for what it brought to the table in regards to advancing the horror genre for video games. In my opinion, it helped serve as the ancestral inspiration for some of gaming's most famous stalkers: Scissorman, NEMESIS, and Pyramid Head. Furthermore, it brought a piece of nightmare fuel in the form of Rex itself; observing its sprite, it is truly the stuff of unease and vague creepiness. Perhaps it is the entirely black silhouette with dead white eyes, perhaps it is the 6 FPS movement, slowly creeping its way towards the player, mouth agape, ready to devour... I suppose it's a combination of everything that truly makes Rex the stuff of nightmares.