Horror Games That Shaped Modern Gaming More Than Players Realized

Art will always inspire more art, that's just the cycle of creativity. Video games are no exception to this, with countless games being inspired by so many other games, incorporating in various features and story beats that ended up being popularized with iconic titles — which will then to go on to inspire more games, and the cycle continues.

There are many games that players will point to for being a major influence on modern gaming, stretching across all kinds of genres, but many don't realize how influential horror games can be in the mix.

Some horror games ended up serving as new stepping stones for modern gaming as a whole, shaping various mechanics, storytelling devices, and other aspects into video game creation overall. You wouldn't think of these titles as forming a foundation for the games we're playing now, but they're just as important now as when they first came out.

Simply put, modern gaming wouldn't be the same without these examples.

10 F.E.A.R.

This is How You Do Genre Hybrids

When you think about survival horror games with incredibly intelligent A.I., two games are always mentioned: S.T.A.L.K.E.R., and its predecessor, F.E.A.R. — with F.E.A.R. coming out first, it really set the standard of how intelligent the A.I. in a game can truly be, as well as demonstrating how to effectively combine FPS and horror into a genre hybrid.

Seriously, the A.I. is insane, with hundreds of different voice lines that are designed specifically to call out your exact location if you try to take cover. For a simple example, if you duck behind a table, someone will shout: "He's behind the table!" and they'll continue to pursue you. This isn't even including how these military groups actually act like a tactical squad, all the way down to how they circle you.

Plus, there's a solid balance of fun FPS action and horror elements (thanks to Alma), one that other FPS IPs ended up replicating on their own (just look at BioShock). It's a neat way to invoke tension in players while still giving them the power to do something about their situation — you can save yourself, but you'll still be scared while you're doing it.

While it's starting to lean more into obscurity now, horror fans can't deny the influence F.E.A.R. has had on both the FPS and horror genres with one simple marriage.

9 Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem

Breaking the 4th Wall is Spooky

While most games wouldn't reference Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem for popularizing breaking the 4th wall, there was a clear uptick in it after the game's release on the GameCube.

The thing is, the 4th wall breaks in this game aren't like the ones we see in Metal Gear Solid (where Psycho Mantis reads your save files, for example) — the 4th wall breaks in Eternal Darkness are targeted, directly meant to scare you and not be able to trust your own reality. The game will tinker with your TV volume, mess with your game settings, and even just pretend to crash to freak you out.

Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem doesn't see a 4th wall as a barrier between media and players, but rather as pure, untapped potential for fear. There are so many games (much less horror games) that replicate this, by scanning your system and coming up with a way to freak you out with a 4th wall break, and Eternal Darkness is the one that really got that trend rolling.

So if you were freaked out by the end of Doki Doki Literature Club, you can thank Eternal Darkness for likely inspiring that idea.

8 Dead Space

The Pinnacle of Sci-fi Horror Games

Sci-fi and horror have consistently gone hand-in-hand; just look at games like Alien: Isolation (inspired by the movies) and 2001: A Space Odyssey (now imagine a horror game that takes place on that ship). However, in the gaming sphere, it took a little longer for sci-fi to make its way to the horror genre, but its arrival is thanks to Dead Space.

To this day, many horror fans will point to Dead Space (or Dead Space 2, the highly revered sequel) as one of the greatest of all time, especially with how these games masterfully balanced horror in a sci-fi setting.

Dead Space also brought in its own unique mechanics into horror gaming, with abilities like Stasis and by making players cut off the limbs of Necromorphs rather than shoot to kill. You have to shoot to immobilize, which will buy you the proper time that you need to either run, or take down the enemies sneaking up on you (and yes, they genuinely sneak up on you).

Funnily enough, this game was inspired by another horror title in this list, and from there, Dead Space went on to inspire countless others in the sci-fi horror genre, with games such as SOMA and Signalis. The cycle of creativity, it seems, shows no signs of stopping.

7 Until Dawn

Make Your Choice

Supermassive Games are known for making story-driven horror experiences where your choices carry significant weight throughout the entire game. Their first and most iconic title, Until Dawn, is what started the trend, especially when it comes to how your relationship with others around you changes depending on what you do.

Admittedly, I don't really like Until Dawn (I think it's not well-acted and just outright corny), but I would be a fool to deny the influence that it's had on the horror genre — and not even in gaming, anymore, especially since it's now gotten a movie adaptation (that was decently divisive among fans). Of course, it influenced its own development team to keep making more of essentially the same game.

Seriously, as much as I enjoy The Dark Pictures Anthology and The Quarry, they're all different flavors of a choose-your-own-horror-game ... but that doesn't mean that those flavors aren't absolutely scrumptious.

6 Layers of Fear

Helped Popularize the Walking Simulator

Walking simulators are nice for players who don't want to deal with overly complicated gameplay, but would rather just take in the game's story and happenings. You can thank Bloober Team's breakout hit Layers of Fear for being part of the reason why walking simulators are so popular in the first place.

Layers of Fear was pretty divisive when it first came out for this exact reason, with players either loving the focus on story or hating the lack of legitimate gameplay other than movement and the occasional interaction, and no in-between on the matter. Even now, players tend to either love or hate walking simulators.

But still, regardless of how you feel about walking simulators, they've taken gaming by storm, with major titles like Death Stranding falling into the sub-genre. All kinds of players are now able to soak in and enjoy incredible stories, and that's thanks to games like Layers of Fear for pushing that envelope a little further.

Personally, so long as the story and acting are good, I don't care if the game is just an interactive cutscene.

5 Amnesia: The Dark Descent

You Can Only Run and Hide

Survival horror is all about just that: surviving the horror that you're facing, with whatever weapons you have at your disposal. However, some horror games decide to make your survival a much more distant prospect, making you helpless and weaponless, with your only option being a game of hide-and-seek with your pursuer.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is what really popularized hide-and-seek horror games, with games like Outlast coming out almost immediately after just further cementing its role in horror gaming. Even if you're just watching someone else play, you can still feel an incredible amount of anxiety while they're running and frantically trying to find some place to hide.

If you were to look at the iconic horror games of today, you'll quickly realize that many of them are also hide-and-seek horror games, taking direct inspiration from Amnesia, or from Outlast (which took direct inspiration from Amnesia ... the cycle!).

Even Resident Evil Requiem, the most recent AAA horror game to date, has segments where your only options are run and hide, which wouldn't have even been considered over a decade ago. Seriously, if Amnesia's hide-and-seek gameplay managed to influence a behemoth like Resident Evil, you can't deny the shift in the genre since this game's release.

4 Five Nights at Freddy's

The Catalyst of Mascot Horror

When Five Nights at Freddy's first came out, I cannot even begin to tell you the insane hype train that left the station. The gameplay is relatively simple: keeping you confined to a security office where you have to manage cameras, power, and your own safety, with a jumpscare simulator to follow suit.

It was something new, refreshing, and bold in a time when Action Horror was the norm, and of course, it spawned a lot of copycats. It started simple, spawning other Five Nights at [fill in the blank] titles with almost the exact same gameplay loop... that is, until it started to spawn a new genre in and of itself: Mascot Horror.

Unfortunately, Mascot Horror games can often feel like lazy cash grabs, but FNAF was the one that pioneered it all. Thanks to Freddy Fazbear, Mascot Horror became a subject that's quickly become overexposed, run into the ground, and serves little purpose other than to make kids beg their parents for merch they shouldn't have.

To help drive this point home, players are still debating on if FNAF ruined horror gaming by introducing Mascot Horror into the mix, and that should tell you everything you need to know.

3 Silent Hill 2

Completely Revolutionized Psychological Horror

Silent Hill is one of those series that's known for its atmosphere and incredible symbolism — and Silent Hill 2 is not only the series' most iconic entry for redefining psychological horror, it defined horror as a whole. The Silent Hill 2 Remake ended up perfectly encapsulating this magic, allowing for newcomers to see the origins of so many of their favorite titles up until this point.

You don't see Silent Hill 2 being an inspiration for non-horror games, but you will see so, so many other horror titles directly point to Silent Hill 2 as its main inspiration. The concept of playing as the abuser was something new and terrifyingly organic, one that we end up seeing replicated in other titles like Mouthwashing and Cry of Fear.

Of course, there's also the sound design, monster design, world design, and all other factors that have room for symbolism and metaphor. Literally every single component of the game is masterclass, one that defined the horror genre for decades to come.

And now that the remake is out and just as incredible (if not better) than the original, I can't wait to see the new wave of games that continue to take inspiration from this horror icon.

2 The Last of Us

Can't be Scared if You're Crying

Nobody knew what they were getting themselves into when they booted up The Last of Us for the first time. We expected surviving in a post-apocalyptic world, which was undoubtedly popular in the 2010s, but we didn't expect to cry our eyes out within the first half hour of the game.

The Last of Us painted a beautiful picture for gaming, one that showed the strength of a rich narrative and genuinely human characters. This was a game that got non-gamers to take video games more seriously, captivating audiences with a drama unlike anything you'd see in any other medium.

The game's whole heart and soul was laid bare for players to see, and immediately, it became a beloved favorite, one that pushed for more developers to take on a cinematic approach to their games. The Last of Us shows that not only would it work beautifully, but the drama would actually be well-received, with players and non-players alike taking it completely seriously.

The Last of Us showed the world that games, including horror games, can be just as emotional and beautiful as any other work of art, and finally, society began to shift its mindset in that direction.

1 Resident Evil 4

The Blueprint of Modern Gaming

If you've ever played a video game where your perspective is over-the-shoulder, you've got Resident Evil 4 to thank for that. Not to mention, this game went on to first-hand inspire countless others, the previously-mentioned Dead Space being one of them.

Seriously, you can't find a single modern game, much less modern horror game, that doesn't tie back to Resident Evil 4 in some way or another. It's not even with just over-the-shoulder cameras either, but with how the game tackles inventory management, popularized escort missions and QTEs, and of course, how it balances action horror (and proceeded to set the standard for the Resident Evil franchise and even the next decade in horror gaming).

The Resident Evil 4 Remake ended up being significantly better than the original in how its presented and played, but the remake doesn't hold a candle to the influence its original counterpart had.

Resident Evil 4 is perhaps one of the most important horror games — honestly, one of the most important games period — of all time, with an influence on modern gaming that we continue to feel to this day.