There are some great scary games that are a lot like old-school killer movies.
Fans of horror movies have long loved slasher movies. Recently, there has been a huge increase in horror games that look like VHS video-nasties from the 1980s. Fans of campy, low-budget slasher movies are sure to love these games. These games will be fun for people who like old PlayStation scary games or games with stories like the Telltale series.
There is a wide range of horror games with different playtimes and budgets, but they are all based on the slasher horror genre, in which a scary character hunts down one (or more) victims in a usually solitary place.
Meat Saw
At the time of writing, this horror movie that plays like a VHS is totally free on Steam. Its story is about a camping trip in the woods, where things are not what they seem to be. You’ll be Amy Chambers, and you’ll go to the Black Ridge Mountains to meet up with your friends. But things quickly get creepy there.
Some players might find the extreme visual effects that try to make the game look like an old VHS horror movie too much, especially since there are no ways to turn them off. But for those who like the style, this game is fun and engaging.
Lights Camera Slaughter (Prologue)
Lights Camera Slaughter isn’t fully released yet, but it does have a Steam page. Its introduction, which you can find on itch.io, is a beautiful and atmospheric homage to PS1 horror games from the 1990s that you should check out even though it’s still in its early stages.
In Lights Camera Slaughter, players take control of both a 911 operator and Police Officer M. Andrews as he examines a disturbance at the Miller & Son Slaughterhouse. Players must try to stay alive while trying to figure out what went wrong. Moviegoers who liked Texas Chainsaw Massacre and other scary movies will feel right at home in this one.
Camp Sunshine
Camp Sunshine is a 16-bit pixel art 2D game, which is different from most of the other games on this list. Even so, the game is still scary because of the creepy bad guy in a bear suit who chases the player around like Mr. X from the Resident Evil series.
The main scary thing about Camp Sunshine is that the camp’s killer bear mascot could be anywhere at any time. The story is about a summer camp trip that goes horribly wrong. Besides that, the story and puzzles are what the game is really about; it’s more about scares than fighting or other survival horror elements.The mood at Camp Sunshine is a lot like the summer camp horror movies from the 1980s, like Friday the 13th.
The Night Of The Scissors
Like most of the other games on this list, this survival horror game is based on VHS killer movies from the 1980s. It looks like a VHS tape, with glitchy camera effects. Doodle Cricket is controlled by tanks and has third-person “cinematic cameras” like the first Resident Evil. It was inspired by horror games from the PSX era.
You play as Adam in The Night Of The Scissors, who is running away from a serial killer known as the “snipper” through an empty post office. The game is based on stealth, and players can hide in different pieces of furniture to avoid being seen.
Cannibal Abduction
Fans of the first Resident Evil should check out Cannibal Abduction. It’s another slasher horror game that works like a VHS, but the gameplay and mood are a lot like the first Resident Evil.
Cannibal Abduction was made by the same people who made The Night of the Scissors. Players are being chased by a serial killer in his own home while they solve puzzles, hide in closets, manage their limited inventory space, and collect tapes that hold saves, which are similar to Resident Evil’s “ink ribbons.” Similar to the first Resident Evil, the game also has cinematic camera views. There are two ends in Cannibal Abduction, which makes the experience replayable even though it is normally linear.
Bloodwash
The player takes control of Sara, a girl who goes to a wash on the edge of town to do some late-night laundry that her boyfriend forgot to do. At first, the plot seems pretty normal, but the creepy laundry works really well as a setting for this scary story.
Self-described “crusty PS1-style graphics” are in Bloodwash. These may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but the stylized old look is meant to be scary and works well with the game’s atmosphere. Additionally, Bloodwash does try to look like a VHS movie, but there is a way to disable this effect.
Stay Out Of The House
Players in this “escape sim” try to get out of a serial killer’s house after being captured and taken hostage. Players must search the cannibal butcher serial killer’s house for things and, if they choose, save other victims while avoiding the killer, who stalks the house and sends players back to their cage if they are caught.
Stay Out Of The House is different because it has immersive simulation elements that let players choose how they play. They can sneak out of the house quietly or try to use the butcher’s traps against him. There are also a lot of tools and things for the player to use. The game also has AI that responds dynamically to what players do, which keeps players on their toes and the environment tense at all times.
Murder House
As the news crew breaks into the house of a serial killer who is thought to be dead, the “Easter Ripper” in a bunny suit kills each one. The player handles their character with “cinematic camera angles” and old-school tank controls. The game is best played with a controller, and the save system is hardcore, like Resident Evil. There are no autosaves, and players have to use limited-use things to save their progress.
Low-poly graphics like in PlayStation 1, a retro music, and a B-movie slasher story that sounds like horror movies from the 1980s are what Murder House is known for, and fans are sure to love it. The voice acting is also complete, and there are several camera modes that make the game easier for more people to play.
Dead By Daylight
In this higher-budget multiplayer game, one player is in charge of killing four Survivors controlled by other players. The Survivors are trying to escape while dodging the killer throughout the match. When you play as the Survivors, Dead By Daylight does a great job of recreating how groups work in killer movies. Other games on this list can’t do this because they don’t have multiplayer.
The game lets players work together or on their own, and each level is created by a computer program, which makes the game much more replayable and last longer. The Killer is also fun to play because you can choose from different Killers, each with their own special abilities. There is also a progression system for both the Killer and Survivor parts in the game, which lets you make changes.
Until Dawn
Due to its high price, this PlayStation-only game came out in 2015 and is very different from most of the other games on this list. It is an interactive story game with puzzles, quick-time events, and story choices that are similar to what you might find in a Telltale game.
In Until Dawn, eight young people are being slowly hunted in and around the camp where they are staying on Blackwood Mountain. The story is mainly an interactive slasher movie. In the game, players control different characters, and depending on the choices they make, any of them can die at any point in the story. The game’s unique “butterfly effect” system means that the choices a player makes can have positive and negative outcomes that can be shocking and satisfying.
