Fans of horror games are no strangers to the found footage concept. With such an instantly identifiable style, comparing various strong entries in the genre, like the Outlast games and Blair Witch, comes easily. Found footage,whether in films or games, is especially effective because it offers a unique perspective on the story. The fact that this footage is being viewed and was found at all makes it clear that something terrible happened to the camera’s subjects. It’s just a matter of piecing the dreadful events together.
15 Best Survival Horror Games, Ranked
From Resident Evil 2 Remake to The Last Of Us, here are some of the very best survival horror games ever made.
Since the current trend of analog horror games on YouTube often intersects with found footage, with both genres relying on similar scares and visuals, both classics and brand-new games can easily epitomize the best of the genre. The key to such a title is the atmosphere: Once players are fully immersed in the world these games set up, the horror follows shortly after. Here’s a look at some of the best, most atmospheric found footage horror games.
10September 1999
An Atmospheric And All-Too-Realistic Journey, Over In A Flash
What makes it so good?
September 1999 makes use of a very effective atmosphere of dread. The found footage aspect plays well with the evolution and sharp turns taken by the subtle plot, with revelations as to why video recordings displaying certain dates and times are important at all. The main character’s bedroom evolves from being messy to having a wriggling body bag and blood-splattered plastic encasing the walls, setting the grotesque mood and keeping the air of mystery most of the way through. Jarring jumps in the footage and the sudden addition of increasingly horrific set pieces all add to the unnerving short story being told.
The only problem with September 1999 is that the game is just over five minutes long. The ghastly intrigue from the found footage is obvious, but the length will only leave you wanting more.
9Don’t Scream
A Jumpscare-Filled Found Footage Challenge
Don’t Scream
Don’t Scream does not skimp on the found footage aspect. The recording time may serve as a timer for how long it’ll be until the scares end, but the world and decrepit locations shown in the footage still play into thebizarre and monster-filled atmosphere of the woods, a horror staple.
While this game doesn’t necessarily have a story to follow, the setpieces of abandoned buildings, the crashed plane, and bodies hanging from trees only add to the dread and subtly suggested narrative between monster encounters. Every failed attempt to avoid yelling is its own doomed found footage video. Successful runs still work as well, since so much more of the map can be explored, but players may miss out on much of this if they become frustrated by successive losses.
8Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
A Survival Horror Triumph With Short Yet Sickeningly Sweet Found Footage Sections
Resident Evil 7: Biohazard
While not the focus of Resident Evil 7, the found footage segments detail the end of some of the unfortunate victims of the Baker family. The interludes certainly build up the threat Ethan Winters has to face as he searches for his missing wife.
Beyond the underlying dangers of the Mold and Eveline, the results of Lucas Baker’s horrific traps are truly chilling. These setpieces aren’t just awful cutscenes the player must witness, either. In some cases, such as one particularly dreadful birthday party, they’re setpieces that must be played, puzzled out and resolved by the unfortunate subject themselves. Found footage is strictly limited in the game, but it’s used very effectively.
7The Backrooms 1998
A Twisting Story in Twisting Hallways
The Backrooms boasts a theme as compelling as it is popular, and this iteration captures that subtle fear of the unknown almost perfectly. The sudden fall into the potentially endless labyrinth is a great premise to begin with, and it’s built upon in style.
15 Best Psychological Horror Games, Ranked
If you’re a fan of mind-bending horror games, this list is perfect for you!
The fuzzy, static-laden screen of a constantly recording retro camera only adds to the mystery presented by this visually mundane maze, with scares making full use of glitching camera footage. Puzzles add to the surreal nature of the Backrooms and lend more detail to the overarching narrative. The found footage focus contributes to this story further, adding more to the chilling environment than just a visual retro callback. Its samey aesthetic may dissuade repeated plays, though.
6Maple County
Otherworldly Nightmares Crossing into Reality
Maple County makes use of both analog horror and found footage in its seemingly simple gameplay. The muffled narration and grainy graphics immediately create an unsettling and uncomfortable air, all while the information presented is treated like its everyday knowledge.
The police training setup blends the concepts of found footage video and taped 911 calls, with the player instantly understanding just how dangerous and insidious the threats presented are. Everything in Maple County, much like the source material of The Mandela Catalogue, feels almost real, and combining that atmosphere with the altered reality of found footage is perfect.
5Blair Witch
An Effective Translation Of A Found Footage Movie Classic
Being adapted from one of the most iconic found footage films of all time, Blair Witch maintains mystery and dangerous intrigue while telling its own story through the format it was instrumental in popularizing. The setting of the forest is used perfectly, asthe trees in Blair Witch almost feel like their own menacing character.
Like other entries on this list, the game isn’t strictly presented through the lens of found footage, but rather, the genre adds to the main story, providing hints of the ghastly monsters that may be in the woods. The only real shortcoming is that the build-up can outweigh the payoff at times, a common horror misstep.
4The Complex: Expedition
A Scarily Realistic Endless Maze
Another powerful entry with a basis in The Backrooms, The Complex: Expedition perfectly uses shockingly realistic graphics to even further push the unnerving nature of both found footage and existential horror. The dread of what hides around each corner, and the question of the potential sources of the strange phenomena, make this an engrossing ride.
Everything within The Backrooms feels too mundane and familiar in real life, but The Complex: Expedition tries something rather different. It teases the existence ofscares better left in the infinite recesses of a bizarrely familiar alternate dimension.
3Outlast 2
An Atmospheric Follow-Up To A Found Footage Classic
Outlast 2 almost instantly establishes a hostile and uncontrollable environment, with unfamiliar threats lurking in the shadows. Set in a distant, quiet part of Arizona, and beginning with a grisly murder, unease is at an all-time high from the very start. It doesn’t let up throughout.
13 Best PlayStation 3 Horror Games, Ranked
Still rocking with the PS3? Then you’ll want to make sure you’ve checked out these horror games.
The shocking nature of the opening events only add tothe disturbing atmosphere, with unnerving violencemagnified by the sheer scale of the horror: The helicopter seemingly being pulled straight out of the sky suggests that this is an experience on a grander scale than the Outlast titles had delivered so far. At the same time, the green-tinged darkness of a camcorder easily envelopes anyone playing Outlast 2 in the experience. It may not be as iconic as the original, but it keeps the player invested in the found footage scares in true Outlast fashion.
2Outlast: Whistleblower
Survival Of The Fittest Against Dangers in the Dark
The setup for Outlast: Whistleblower’s environment easily establishes just how grim the atmosphere for the game will be. Science fiction is at the core of the horror, and the plot follows the titular whistleblower being punished and left to die in an overrun establishment that will be instantly familiar to Outlast fans.
Whistleblower also highlights the strengths of using a found footage format, beyond just the visual elements of a glitching or night vision camcorder. Between the bleak challenge at the story’s core and the variety of dangerous denizens hidden away throughout, the entire world of the underground lab is nothing short of harrowing.
An Oppressive, Deadly, and Bleak Descent
The original Outlast remains perhaps the most iconic found footage horror game, over a decade after its release. With the settings of Mount Massive Asylum and a vast underground laboratory, a lesser game would only emphasize the tropes shown. Outlast instead captures the unstable atmosphere of the buildings and their inhabitants in a haunting and dangerous way. No room feels truly safe, and anything could appear in the night vision camera.
The importance of the footage being captured is also clear, which is a plus beyond aesthetics. The horrors that lie ahead in Mount Massive Asylum feel unknowable, unimaginable, and will probably be the last thing you’ll see before the video cuts to black. As is Outlast’s wont, the only thing the player really knows is they’ll have essentially no way to combat them other than hiding.
10 Best Horror RPG Games
Whether it’s spooky season or not, these horror RPG games are worth the stress.
