The following is the first of some of those games that have affected me in some way other the years, and I'll begin with....
ALONE IN THE DARK
When I first played this game, way back in 1992 (I was about 14/15 I think) it blew me away! Up until this point I was only used to C64, Amiga and the 16bit consoles of the time; limited when compared to the PC. Released by Infogrames, it paved the way for the future Survival Horror greats! Now, I should point out here that this game never actually scared me, but the atmosphere was phenomenal. The first thing that hooked me was spotting 'The Call of Cthulhu' on the box, when I knew it was based around H.P. Lovecrafts Cthulhu mythos I loved it all the more! The game was set in the Derceto mansion, the game started with you choosing your character - I forget their names now but it was a male or female, and then proceeding to solve the mystery surrounding the mansion. With a 3rd person view in a '3d' world it was very immersive for its time, multiple cameras angles in all the rooms (I believe) started here. The game consisted of collecting objects, solving puzzles, killing the baddies and slowly piecing together the story. A number of the creatures in the game were also very noticeably mythos based - Deep ones, Cthonians etc. All in all a solid game with an unmatched (at the time) atmosphere. Still recommended to this day!
AMNESIA: THE DARK DESCENT
No article about horror games is ever complete without this absolute classic, this game along with one other has come the closest to actually frightening me! Released by indie devs Frictional games, this is easily one of the most scariest games ever released. Unofficially and loosely based around Lovecraft's works, it tells the tale of your character - Daniel, waking up inside Brennenburg castle; completely unaware of how he got there! The game plays very much like earlier Frictional games, namely Penumbra, but the atmosphere and fear the devs put into this game is unbelievable. Played in a first person perspective using the mouse and keyboard and featuring a very clever use of physics. In this game, in order to open a door you had to actually move the mouse in a door opening fashion! Sounds weird, but having to hold down the mouse button then moving the mouse towards you felt very natural after a few minutes, so opening and closing doors or interacting with the environment was very 'hands on'. And believe me, when you are being chased down a dark corridor by some abomination and can't open the door in the panic of it all - that is where this game shines. Most of the game is played in the dark, if you are lucky you way find some oil for your lantern - otherwise you have a problem. You see, this game has a sanity system. The longer you are in the dark the more it effects your character (hearing strange sounds, seeing things etc) however, due to being unable to fight (there are no weapons in this game) if there is something nasty near you, you need to hide. In the dark. Which makes Daniel sad! It all works really well. There is a lot more to this game which I don't have time to go into here, but if you have never played it I highly, highly, highly recommend it!
SILENT HILL
Much in the same way Amnesia always needs to appear in any horror game list, the same applies to the original Silent Hill. One of the best games to come out of Japan, when the Japanese attempt American horror, this is the abomination that's born - and that's a compliment! Imagine Resident evil meets David Lynch, that's Silent Hill. Played in the now familiar 3rd person perspective, with multiple camera angles (Alone in the dark anyone?!) the game was set in the town of Silent hill with you out looking for your daughter, after a car accident separated you both. The game then proceeds to take you on a very messed up, surreal 'adventure' through hell. At times literally! What made this game stand out for me (weirdness and atmosphere aside) was the focus wasn't on combat, yes it was there but not in the same way as it was in say, Resident evil. Creating a story and world were the priorities here, a world with no other function than to freak the hell out of you! Most of the other characters you met in game had issues, none of them were particularly normal and that also added to it, never really knowing who was friend or foe. As for the creatures you are up against? They really were the stuff of nightmares, from demon ghost babies to strange monkey things that would chase you through the dark. Oh yeah, the game was dark - you needed a flash light! Much like other Survival Horror's of the time, item collection and puzzle solving were the order of the day. But in silent hill you also had some quite devious riddles to solve as well, all of which kept to the mood of the game and never really felt out of place. Silent Hill never scared me as such but it was definitely an unsettling game, whether that still applies these days I don't know. I haven't played it in years, it hasn't aged especially well - but if you can get a copy cheap, check it out.
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