6 Horror Games With The Most Unique Lighting Mechanics

Different parts of horror games, like the lights, are meant to make players feel scared and horrified.

Horror games are made to make the player feel scared and horrified, and they do this by using all the elements of a good game, such as well-timed and well-composed music and sound effects, well-designed maps, scary monsters, and even lighting.

This means that even the scary horror games have some good things about them, but some go even further. The lighting in these games isn’t just a matter of pressing a button to see a few feet farther. Instead, it works in a unique way that makes it more interesting and useful for the player.

Alan Wake

Alan Wake Remastered Cover

The main character of this horror game with Twin Peaks-like themes takes a holiday to the city of Bright Falls to try to get over his two-year writer’s block. Alan walks out in a rage after a fight with his wife Alice. Only to hear her scream as she is dragged into a lake. He wakes up in his car on the side of the road. But he has no idea how he got there. He has to find his lost wife and fight monsters made of shadows.

Alan has a gun, but light will also be his tool against the dark forces. The animals, who are called “Taken,” can be hurt by light. If it hits them, it leaves them open to damage from weapons. Which Wake can use to dispose of them and move on with the game. Players are free to use flashlights, flash bangs, flares, lanterns, searchlights, and any other light source they can find. This makes good use of the game’s setting.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent

A grunt peering around an open door towards the player.

Here comes Amnesia: The Dark Descent, the first game in the well-known genre that made people love scream-inducing indie horror games. People who weren’t brave enough to go through the halls of Castle Brennenburg themselves watched as “let’s players” took on the task for them. They went after Daniel’s buried memories to find out why he had self-induced amnesia and what the mysterious castle owner was up to.

In Amnesia, the player is given a lamp that they can use as a portable light source. There are also scattered candles that players can light if they have extra tinderboxes. The light sources do more than just make the surroundings brighter. They are also important for keeping the main character sane. Since losing your sanity can lead to hallucinations and camera tilts that make it hard to move around. People should not depend on it too much, though, because monsters are drawn to light.

Madison

games-might-have-missed-2022-madison

Madison is a one-of-a-kind game where the camera is central to both the gameplay and the story. Lucas, the 16-year-old main character, gets the camera for his birthday. But this isn’t just any store-bought camera. It belonged to an assailant who died 30 years ago and is now the key to stopping a scary routine.

There are parts of the game that depend on the camera’s flash feature. But most of the game is played by taking pictures with the camera to solve puzzles and move forward. People can take a picture in places that are too dark to see and quickly flood their immediate surroundings with light to find out where they are and where they need to go. As is common in horror games, players will sometimes see something they wish they hadn’t while using this feature.

Tormented Souls

Tormented Souls - Going downstairs

To make its horror even scarier, Tormented Souls brought back fixed camera angles from old games like Resident Evil and Silent Hill. The main character, Caroline Walker, visits the scary hospital that used to be a mansion after waking up in it.

Players already have a lot on their plates with puzzles that require careful thought to solve, scary monsters that can eliminate them. And the general difficulty of moving around such a large area with fixed cameras. But there is one more thing they should be aware of: darkness is deadly. People who want to stay alive better hope they can carry a light source with them or find enough light around them before the darkness eliminates them.

Lights Off

Screenshot gameplay of Lights Off

Most horror games have players running to turn on lights to stay safe and sane. Lights Off, on the other hand, is an experimental, one-of-a-kind free-to-play game that plays on a familiar childhood fear of what might be waiting for darkness to fall.

In order to get to sleep, players will have to turn off all the lights. This is done to make players feel scared that monsters might be hiding when they do this. Since this is pretty much the only game play in Backrooms Game, it stands out as a unique and interesting way to show how important light is and how scary it is to not have any to keep you safe.

Flicker Of Hope

The little candle standing amidst debris of the cathedral in Flicker of Hope

You can play another free horror game called Flicker of Hope. It’s a cute little indie horror game where you play as a lit candle living in a church that has been destroyed by a plague. The dark hallways are full of the bodies of people who have died from the illness. But the small brave candle is not the only one who is still living.

Jean Wick wants to carry out the now-dead monk’s plan to fill the monastery with light to bring hope to the world. To do this, he has to stumble through the landscapes, avoid the obstacles in his way, and turn off his light so that Mara, a nun who has lost all hope after failing to heal her patients, doesn’t find him. In a way that is different from most other games. The use of a douter to hide Jean Wick’s presence is special.

Add a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *