Summary
While being constantly watched might not bring to mindhorrorthe way that slashers, ghosts, and monsters do, it encapsulates its own kind of madness. Imagine no longer having privacy, never being able to relax, and at all times being held accountable for every action, no matter how small. Imagine knowing that someone is out there, who may or may not be able to see you right now, and at any time, and whose intentions you don’t know.
If this is appealing to you, then you might like to try some games that set out to capture the feeling. From stalkers to faceless corporations, these games are centered around being watched. If you want to feel like hiding isn’t going to save you, if it’s even an option, here are some games to scratch that itch.
9[SUBJECT]
In this indie horror game,you find yourself waking up in a dark room, sure you’re not alone. How do you know you’re being watched? There’s a robotic voice speaking to you, and, if the atmosphere wasn’t enough to clue you in, it doesn’t seem friendly. From there, the only thing left to do is to try and figure out how (andif) you can get out.
The whole game is very short, which is a good thing considering it doesn’t give you the chance to save your progress. It’s good for a quick scare.
Taking after a very long history of haunted house games, Visage has you exploring a house overflowing with horrible stories. There’s no combat in the game. You’re, instead, piecing together the mystery of why this location has become so bad using the things left behind. So where does the watching come from?
The ghosts of all of these previous inhabitants are watching your every move. The moment you set foot inside, you’re at the mercy of these ghosts as you progress, and they are capable of killing you depending on how you play.
In Silent Hill 4: The Room, you play the withdrawn Henry Townshed, who finds himself locked in his apartment. Unable to get out, but also not getting hungry, Henry’s feeling that something supernatural is happening is confirmed when strange things start happening in the room that draws him into a terrifying secondary world.
Throughout the whole game, there is someone who knows what’s happening to you, and who’s watching you struggle. The Otherworld you’re forced to explore is created by this serial killer antagonist, and he can often be seen peering into the apartment from the hallway. This presence is inescapable.
6Welcome To The Game
Since most of us are now at least somewhat online, we’ve gotten used to having our data used, traded, and sold. Welcome To The Game reminds us just how easily that can be used against us. In this game, observation of your online activity translates to real world danger as the Dark Web sites you explore alert people who want to hurt you to your location.
As you flip between both the digital and real world, defending yourself in both, the feeling of being watched is doubled. This game captures the fear inherent in what it might mean for our digital footprint to have immediate consequences, for people on the other side of a screen to see through it and seeyou.
As Psycho taught us, not every hotel is what it seems. In At Dead of Night, you play as Maya, who’s trying to free her friends from the hotel’s malicious owner, Jimmy Hall. As you do so, navigating the hotel and talking to the ghosts of past victims, it feels like Jimmy is just around every corner. Especially when you’re on his terf.
What makes this game unique from others like it is the blend of both live action and graphics that tell the story. If you like games where you’re being hunted while solving mysteries, this is a good choice to keep you on the edge of your seat.
A survival horror gamethat involves fighting off mutant cannibals while also building your own base, The Forest captures the unease of never knowing when you’re in danger because there’s probably someone watching, waiting to hurt you. While there isn’t always an enemy nearby, therecouldat any moment be an enemy nearby, and this tension keeps you vigilant for any unwelcome voyeurs.
There’s nothing that captures this feeling better than the reveal of the cannibals watching you, which comes right when you’ve started to feel like you’re getting the hang of surviving out in the forest.
3No One Lives Under The Lighthouse
An interesting indie game with retro graphics, you play as a lighthouse keeper who takes over the lighthouse. The previous lighthouse keeper, you’re told, has vanished. At first, you complete tedious and mundane tasks, and you start getting comfortable with the work routine of the lighthouse.
As you might have guessed from the title of the game, things are not this simple. What makes this game so effective is that it takes place at the extreme edges of human society, in an extremely lonely place, where you would expect to be fully alone. But you arenotalone.
2The Closing Shift
If you’re into short,retro horror games,you’re probably familiar with the Japanese creator Chilla’s Art. This is one of their games, where you play as a woman working the closing shift at her job as a barista. At first lulled into a sense of security by routine, she soon realizes that one of her customers is far more interested in her than he should be.
It’s this presence that fills this horror walking/working simulator with so much dread. Now aware of the stalker, you realize how vulnerable you are at all times. And you’re aware of everywhere that he might be, everything he might be watchingyoudo.
After ‘recruiting’ (kidnapping) volunteers who thought they’d be working, the Murkoff Corporation uses them instead as human guinea pigs in a series of trails designed to push them to, and past, the edge of sanity. As one of these test subjects, you play through these trials, a helpless participant in endless terror.
But the helplessness doesn’t come from the horrors you’re experiencing, it comes from knowing you can’t escape the ever-present cooperationforcingyou to do so.Coercionthat requires your constant observation. After all, every reward you get (or don’t get) is determined by this observation.
