Throughout the late 2000s and early 2010s, the horror genre in video games dipped in popularity. A lot of franchises moved to a more action-oriented gameplay, or just stopped releasing new games altogether.
But there has been a renewal in interest thanks to horror games like Resident Evil, Outlast, Amnesia, Until Dawn, and Five Nights at Freddy’s. However, some very beloved franchises have been left in the dark, without even a whisper about if they have a future.
With new next-gen consoles just weeks away and the Nintendo Switch breaking sales records, we could see some older franchises coming to light again. Without further adieu, here are some horror franchises we’d love to see resurface.
Silent Hill
Whereas Resident Evil focused on traditional horror like zombies and jump scares, Silent Hill went for more psychological horror. The other difference between them is that Resident Evil is still going strong whereas Silent Hill is all but dead.
The last game to release from the Silent Hill franchise was P.T, a playable teaser demo for a reboot in the franchise called Silent Hills.
What would have been a legendary collaboration between Hideo Kojima, Guillermo Del Toro, and Norman Reedus, ended when all three of them left the Silent Hills project when Kojima left Konami.
When it first released though, the demo was a massive success, with over a million downloads and playthroughs going viral online. The demo was truly terrifying (with a great soundtrack) and gave players no direction on what they were supposed to do. Players to this day still go through great lengths to preserve PS4s with the demo still installed.
We are sorely due for a new Silent Hill game and Konami has been dead silent on if the franchise will continue.
Eternal Darkness
If you haven’t heard of Eternal Darkness then you’re in the same boat as a lot of other people. Released in 2002 for the Gamecube, Eternal Darkness shook up the horror genre with unique ideas.
What made Eternal Darkness so special was the sanity meter mechanic, and the fourth wall breaking effects the game employed if your sanity dropped too much.
This included things like pretending to turn your TV volume up, tricking you into thinking the game was frozen so you’ll reset the console, putting a fly on the screen, or even making you think you’ve been killed by nothing.
It can not be emphasized enough how well this could work with next-gen consoles and how previous concepts could be built upon.
Imagine something like the game tricking you into thinking one of your friends invited you into a party, only for no one to be there and all you can hear is raspy deep breathing.
The game’s creator has tried multiple times to get a sequel going but nothing has ever taken, and the sanity mechanic is under a trademark so no other developers can use it.
There is seemingly no hope for a revitalization of the series, but Nintendo keeps renewing the trademark for the series, so there is always a flicker of light, even in the deep eternal… darkness.
Dead Space
Dead Space is the only game on this list that surfaced during the dark age of horror games. Nevertheless, the series was a massive success for its time both critically and financially.
The series focuses on science-fiction horror survival and usually has you navigating spaceships or space stations while being attacked by the fearsome necromorphs.
The sound and enemy design were one of the highlights of the games and was integrated well into puzzles and enemy encounters.
In 2017 however, Visceral Games, the creators of Dead Space, was closed by their parent company EA. Nothing has since been said about if the series has any kind of future but many consider the first two games absolute classics.
Although there are many survival horror games coming out as of late, Dead Space just filled a different niche of the genre, that being sci-fi survival horror, that worked so well. A next-gen revival would be most welcome.
Clock Tower
Clock Tower was made by Hifumi Kono and the now non-existent developers of Human Entertainment. The fourth game was co-produced by Capcom who still owns the rights to the franchise.
Despite earlier games in the series being point-and-click adventures, Clock Tower 1 & 2 are both very scary games. They’re an example of earlier games that can be described as atmospheric.
The franchise makes players use their environment to get away from enemies and solve puzzles. Although the series has faded into memory, it still had an impact on the industry.
Its hide instead of fighting gameplay is seen in things like Outlast as well as evading the alien in Alien: Isolation. Scissorman, the main antagonist of the series, can be seen as an inspiration for Nemesis from Resident Evil 3 since Scissorman stalks the player throughout the whole game.
Clock Tower has inspired many other games and a comeback could give the franchise a chance to implement its timelessly creepy mechanics in a more modern-feeling game.
Dino Crisis
Despite being absolutely terrifying, not a lot of mainstream horror games, or even movies, use dinosaurs as a device to scare people. Imagine being ferociously stalked by a T-Rex? Can you name many gaming franchises that do this?
Enter Dino Crisis, the series that started out as Resident Evil but with dinosaurs. It had a great run in the early 2000s but has since been left in the early 21st century.
But with the horror genre booming and remasters and remakes being so plentiful, it’s a crime we haven’t, at the very least, gotten a Dino Crisis remaster.
I say at the very least because what it really deserves is a full-on remake. Capcom, the developers behind Dino Crisis, have gone on a remake frenzy this past couple of years with the Resident Evil franchise, and Dino Crisis deserves the same treatment.
Remasters and remakes often serve to gauge interest in a series that has been dormant for a while, so it’s a possible option for the developers instead of a whole new game.
Yes, the series hasn’t been around for a while, but the gameplay could be updated as Capcom did with the remakes of Resident Evil 2 & Resident Evil 3, along with some updates to the game’s mechanics.
Even if it’s not a massive success like Capcom’s other beasts like Monster Hunter or Resident Evil, it could still be another profitable series that they have in the bag.
Despite horror games growing in popularity over the years, these games have been left in the past. They all have great mechanics, interesting worlds, and are just downright scary. Hopefully we see them return in some form.
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