Summary
Survival games wouldn’t be worth their weight in gold if they couldn’t produce an unsettling atmosphere. Fear triggers survival instincts, so without the eerie atmosphere to amp up the scare factor, survival games can feel less like a near-death experience and more like a casual Sunday drive. Some of the best games ever made, no matter the genre, thrive on their immersive gameplay and breathtaking scenery, and survival games — for all their visual majesty — benefit from environments that instill a sense of dread in players.
Many survival and survival horror titles advise players to dive in with headphones, a pitch-black room, and no distractions, but some survival games are so realistic and jarring that they trigger a panic even in the light of day. Here are some examples of survival games that don’t fool around when it comes to their unnerving ambiance.
Set in the cold depths of Canada,The Long Darkfollows Will Mackenzie, a pilot who crash-lands in the middle of a torrential storm. With a slice of realism,The Long Darkforces players to manage their body temperature and other core health concerns, such as hunger and exhaustion. The game also simulates a full-day cycle, which emulates real-world conditions such as colder nights, harsher winds, and even blizzards. It’s the kind of chilly atmosphere that makes someone want to pour a mug of hot cocoa and settle in by the fireplace even on a humid, mid-July evening.
Some parts ofThe Long Darkfeel so immersivethat they might even give players phantom shivers. If nothing else, it will at least make them thankful for their central heating. In the wintry wilderness, there is also the very real threat of aggressive wildlife, which only adds to the suspense as they can attack unprovoked at any time. There’s nothing quite so horrifying as hearing a bear’s roar and having no idea where it’s coming from until it’s already on top of you.
There are few horror game aficionados who haven’t at least heard ofOutlast, but it’s also one of the more tense survival-stealth games due to its foreboding atmosphere. Players control Miles, a journalist who ventures to a remote psychiatric hospital to conduct some research on the inhumane procedures being performed there. Miles is unable to attack enemies, so his defense tactics involve evasive stealth and running/hiding to avoid detection.Since the player is unarmed, theOutlastexperience becomes scarier than ever, and the environment inside Mount Massive Asylum does a sensational job of making Miles feel powerless.
SinceOutlastis filmed through a video camera and acts as Miles' source of light, the surroundings can be plunged into darkness if the camera runs out of batteries, leaving Miles exposed and vulnerable. Night vision mode on the camcorder highlights enemies lurking in the darkness who otherwise make no sound and cannot be easily spotted. It’s already scary enough to navigate the dark alone, but trying to evade bloodthirsty killers with minimal health and lightning makes it all the more intimidating.
There is an ever-present sense of dread inThe Forest,which is precisely what made the game so popular. Players start with no guns, no GPS, and they are thrown onto a remote island with aggressive Cannibals to figure out where that leaves them. Nothing could ever prepare someone for an impromptu exploration of an island where Cannibals roam freely and stare straight into the souls of their prey from cliffsides in the distance (not at all speaking from personal experience).
The Forestdoes have some odd quirks that ruin the immersion at times, but overall, the ambiance is unmistakably captivating and — at the time of release — raised the bar for games in the same vein going forward. Realism and atmosphere don’t go hand-in-hand in this case, asThe Forestnails the unsettling feeling of being watched at all times, but Cannibals lash out with simple hits (basically slaps) to kill the player.
The atmosphere ofAlien: Isolationcaptures the movie franchise perfectly. The game itself feels like an unmade sequel that got lost in the writer’s room, begging to be made after all this time. The attention to detail inAlien: Isolationis one of its main selling points, as well as the audiovisual feast it offers. Amanda’s survival depends on outsmarting the enemies mostly, which involves crouching through vents and breaking line of sight. The main enemy, the Alien (Xenomorph) cannot be defeated, and Amanda must use stealth tactics to bypass it.
The Xenomorph’s dynamic behavior only enhances the sense of dread, leaving players on edge at all times, since the exact same scenario can unfold in completely different ways with every attempt. Moreover, Amanda has limited access to ammunition, so even when she does acquire weapons later in the game,Alien: Isolationstill deters the player away from direct combat, instead forcing them into scenarios that get their heart rate pounding. Navigating the run-down, dimly lit, and abandoned halls of the Sevastapol space station is an eerie exercise from the start, making the whole ordeal more tense and immersive as the environments continue to grow more and more unnerving as the game winds on.
It isn’t hard to tell, very early on, thatSOMAwas made by the same developers asAmnesia, since many of the studio’s trademark atmospheric elements are present. It builds on many conventions that were established inThe Dark Descent, such as stealthily evading threats and solving puzzles. But rather than Brennenburg Castle,SOMAis set in an underwater research labwith narrow corridors that truly play on the common fear of claustrophobia. The story explores an engaging, philosophical topic, which only adds to the player’s unease as they confront the frightening possibility that all they see and hear is an illusion, and their mind may be part of a machine.
SOMAdoesn’t just explore the depths of existentialism; it also weaves in some moral dilemmas and plays on the sense of unease and paranoia derived from being trapped hundreds of feet below the surface. Frictional Games also introduced a version ofSOMAcalled “Safe Mode,” which prevents the player from dying. The game’s various enemies still roam around as they usually would, but they won’t harm the player at all. The ingenious part of Safe Mode is that it doesn’t act as a cheat code forSOMA, but rather enhances the experience to allow players to enjoy the game thoroughly without constant threats breathing down their necks. Without the stress of combat, it’s easy to appreciateSOMA’s visual and audio cues within the particular environment.
One of the scariest parts ofDying Light’s atmosphere is being chased by zombies at night. Especially early on, while players are still adapting to the gameplay mechanics,Dying Light’s world can not only feel overwhelming but also oppressive. Certain species of zombie, namely Volatiles, have a tendency to jumpscare the player randomly, especially in the dark. It isn’t a conventionally “creepy” atmosphere as many other survival games tend to have, butDying Light’s day/night cycleamps up the eeriness of the open world. At night, stronger variants of enemies will spawn, and they are much harder to spot, similar toThe Last of Usand its Stalker species.
Since players have very minimal resources early on, and it’s much harder to survive without the means to, it’s best to just avoid venturing out at night altogether unless absolutely necessary.Dying Light’s eerie atmosphere is only heightened by its perfect blend of hack ‘n’ slash silliness and the impending terror of nightfall. In the daytime, it’s almost comical to go around murdering zombies like it’s a hobby, but once the sun sets, the stakes are higher than ever, and the game transitions from humor bordering on slapstick to a very real, very terrifying free-for-all against hordes of the undead.
Resident Evil 7follows everyman Ethan Winters, who ventures to the Baker estate in Louisiana to find his missing wife, Mia. When he encounters Jack, Marguerite, Lucas, and Zoe Baker, he discovers that they are being controlled by “the Mold” — an extension of a little girl named Eveline who happens to be the vessel for a dangerous bioweapon. After the action-packed sequel that wasResident Evil 6, Capcom chose to return the franchise to its horror roots by having the Baker family actively pursue Ethan throughout the game.Resident Evil 7takes place mostly on the Baker’s derelict plantation, but later moves to the scene of a shipwreck.
All throughout, Ethan must avoid B.O.W.s (bioweapons) that Eveline creates from masses of Mold, as well as the Baker family themselves, who are under Eveline’s control. Jack acts as the game’s “pursuer” enemy — like Mr. X and Nemesis inResident Evil 2and3, respectively. Since the Baker’s house is dimly lit and there is the constant fear of the Baker family looming, it creates a sense of anxiety that persists throughout the entire playthrough.The environment is dark and labyrinthine, which only adds to the suspense when Ethan’s running for his life.
