Bring: pillows, blankets, YOUR SCREAMS...
October 11, 2015 5:13 PM Subscribe
I'm hosting a scary video game night for a group of college students! I have access to a projector, a PC, a PS3, and a Wii U. What spooky games should I feature? (Bonus for appropriate snack suggestions!)
I'm looking for at least a few hours of chilling gameplay. Both single player and multiplayer are welcome. My budget is reasonably flexible, though short, cheap games are preferable to long, expensive ones. Extra credit for games that are easy to learn and quick to scare. (I'm wary of choosing Amnesia, Five Nights at Freddy's, PT, or Slender because of their ubiquity, but I'll go with them if they end up being the best options. The first game of the night will likely be Luigi's Ghost Mansion from Nintendo Land, a gentle romp before the HORROR BEGINS.)
I'm also interested in advice that makes the night run as smoothly as possible. Should I prioritize finishing one game over dipping into a couple of them? The nice thing about games like FNAF is that you can have players rotate upon each Game Over screen.
Your input is valued and appreciated! Help me make this a night...TO DISMEMBER!!
Thanks!
I'm looking for at least a few hours of chilling gameplay. Both single player and multiplayer are welcome. My budget is reasonably flexible, though short, cheap games are preferable to long, expensive ones. Extra credit for games that are easy to learn and quick to scare. (I'm wary of choosing Amnesia, Five Nights at Freddy's, PT, or Slender because of their ubiquity, but I'll go with them if they end up being the best options. The first game of the night will likely be Luigi's Ghost Mansion from Nintendo Land, a gentle romp before the HORROR BEGINS.)
I'm also interested in advice that makes the night run as smoothly as possible. Should I prioritize finishing one game over dipping into a couple of them? The nice thing about games like FNAF is that you can have players rotate upon each Game Over screen.
Your input is valued and appreciated! Help me make this a night...TO DISMEMBER!!
Thanks!
It might be old news now, but the Left For Dead series has great 4-person co-op gameplay.
posted by vrakatar at 5:27 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by vrakatar at 5:27 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Is PT even available anymore? It's a clear winner, one of the spookiest things ever, but I'm not even sure you can access it now.
I've been watching some Until Dawn streams and I can definitely say that would be a blast - have everyone vote on which option to pick when there's time, or shout out what they want to do and see which of a million endings the group winds up getting. It involves everyone, it's got lots of atmosphere and scares, and provokes a lot of opinions.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 5:30 PM on October 11, 2015
I've been watching some Until Dawn streams and I can definitely say that would be a blast - have everyone vote on which option to pick when there's time, or shout out what they want to do and see which of a million endings the group winds up getting. It involves everyone, it's got lots of atmosphere and scares, and provokes a lot of opinions.
posted by gloriouslyincandescent at 5:30 PM on October 11, 2015
What about the new SOMA from the makers of Amnesia?
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:36 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by turbid dahlia at 5:36 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Best answer: Outlast is fun for the jump scares, Dead Space series, Among the Sleep, oh man the Resident Evil and Silent Hills game for the Wii U weren't the *best* but they provide some fun scares. I've heard about The Forest as well for PC, but have never tried it. The trailers looked good!
posted by buttonedup at 6:32 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
posted by buttonedup at 6:32 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]
Puppeteer (PS3) is a really fun sidescroller that is less chilling and more Tim Burton-esque creepy. Great animation and gameplay, and I'm willing to bet very few of the students there will have heard of it. Here's the trailer on YouTube.
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:17 PM on October 11, 2015
posted by Ufez Jones at 7:17 PM on October 11, 2015
BioShock is great, beautiful, scary as hell and has a variety of game plays and moral choices which make it interesting to those not into a straight shoot em up.
posted by chasles at 8:02 PM on October 11, 2015
posted by chasles at 8:02 PM on October 11, 2015
Limbo is a super atmospheric PC game that's easy to pick up and creepy as hell without any of the "jump scare" nonsense. Lots on puzzles, doesn't require twitchy reflexes, and low system requirements. On steam, usually pretty cheap.
posted by cosmicbandito at 8:06 PM on October 11, 2015
posted by cosmicbandito at 8:06 PM on October 11, 2015
Best answer: Layers of Fear is currently early access only, but would provide about 1.5-2 hours of gameplay. Atmospheric horror + some jump scares. A lot of reviewers compared it to PT.
posted by automatic cabinet at 9:26 PM on October 11, 2015
posted by automatic cabinet at 9:26 PM on October 11, 2015
Be a cheerleader zombie hunter in the hack and slash PS3 game Lollipop Chainsaw. Appropriate snack would be lollipops. Maybe lollipops with insects in them?
posted by Rob Rockets at 9:42 PM on October 11, 2015
posted by Rob Rockets at 9:42 PM on October 11, 2015
Best answer: Silent Hill is available for your PS3.
Higurashi would have been perfect, but I can't find a version you can buy.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:44 PM on October 11, 2015
Higurashi would have been perfect, but I can't find a version you can buy.
posted by Chocolate Pickle at 10:44 PM on October 11, 2015
Best answer: Survival mode on Alien Isolation will let everyone hold their breath for about two minutes at a time before everyone jumps in the air screaming. We played like this for ages in the dark.
posted by Iteki at 1:05 AM on October 12, 2015
posted by Iteki at 1:05 AM on October 12, 2015
Deadly Premonition: The Director's Cut (NSFW) or Amy, both laughably bad yet kinda good games. You could turn the game into a snack game - take a bite out of a twizzlers whenever something happens. The red licorice candy shares the same color palette featured in these games.
posted by plokent at 6:04 AM on October 12, 2015
posted by plokent at 6:04 AM on October 12, 2015
Best answer: On the very off chance that you know someone who can bring a Gamecube (I know, I know), I would highly recommend Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem. Really great psychological horror game with a lovecraftian bent. As your character gets more insane, the game gets creepier and creepier, and if you go far enough into insanity the game actually starts messing with the player directly, breaking the fourth wall to do things like make it seem like someone is in the room messing with your TV controls.
A lot of fun, and also scared the crap out of me playing it at like 2am back in the day.
posted by tocts at 6:24 AM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
A lot of fun, and also scared the crap out of me playing it at like 2am back in the day.
posted by tocts at 6:24 AM on October 12, 2015 [1 favorite]
for PC Slender: The Arrival and Home (nice scary 8 bit game...that actually could probably be completely played start to finish during the course of a party)
With an emulator anything in the Castlevania series would be fun
posted by AnneShirley at 9:40 AM on October 12, 2015
With an emulator anything in the Castlevania series would be fun
posted by AnneShirley at 9:40 AM on October 12, 2015
A bit older and sillier but still Halloween weird is the south park game on n64. Giant frankenturkey
posted by jander03 at 1:00 AM on October 13, 2015
posted by jander03 at 1:00 AM on October 13, 2015
Response by poster: Thank you so much for your answers, everyone! I went ahead and marked the answers that are most feasible for this particular gaming session, but I'm definitely keeping all of them in mind for future activities.
posted by brieche at 11:24 AM on October 13, 2015
posted by brieche at 11:24 AM on October 13, 2015
Dark Souls? It's scary in that if they've not played it before everyone will find it challengingly scary. Plus it's the truest roguelike dungeon crawler of this generation.
I was going to suggest Bloodborne, made by the same people, but actually "scary" (think Victorian / gothic horror morphing into cosmic horror) -- but it's only on the PS4.
posted by mysticreferee at 11:37 AM on October 14, 2015
I was going to suggest Bloodborne, made by the same people, but actually "scary" (think Victorian / gothic horror morphing into cosmic horror) -- but it's only on the PS4.
posted by mysticreferee at 11:37 AM on October 14, 2015
Response by poster: My event happened Sunday, and it was a BIG SUCCESS!!
Around thirty people showed up, and I ended up going with a slate of three PC games for three hours of gameplay:
- a PC port of PT (very short but a good mood-setter)
- Outlast
- Layers of Fear
The braver souls took turns playing while everyone else watched/heckled/screamed/laughed. It was a terrific time, and I have you all to thank for your brilliant suggestions!
Some Stats from the Evening:
2 hours of Outlast
1 hour of Layers of Fear
6 brave gamers
82 mini corn dogs consumed
70 fruit snack packs devoured
100% FUN AND 100% FRIENDS
posted by brieche at 12:45 AM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
Around thirty people showed up, and I ended up going with a slate of three PC games for three hours of gameplay:
- a PC port of PT (very short but a good mood-setter)
- Outlast
- Layers of Fear
The braver souls took turns playing while everyone else watched/heckled/screamed/laughed. It was a terrific time, and I have you all to thank for your brilliant suggestions!
Some Stats from the Evening:
2 hours of Outlast
1 hour of Layers of Fear
6 brave gamers
82 mini corn dogs consumed
70 fruit snack packs devoured
100% FUN AND 100% FRIENDS
posted by brieche at 12:45 AM on October 29, 2015 [2 favorites]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by fiercekitten at 5:26 PM on October 11, 2015 [1 favorite]