Granny is a first-person POV game where you are to solve a series of puzzles and use stealth in order to escape the house Granny has locked you in with not much more known other than that.
She hears every noise you make so you must be careful not to drop anything or even step on a squeaky floorboard. Once she hears you she’ll run to where you are, sneak up behind you, and kill you with a baseball bat.
There are items around the house that you can fight back with but are only allowed to carry one given item at a time be it a weapon, key, or even piece of paper.
Much like “Granny” these following 10 games are about problem-solving and escaping but might be better in their own ways.
Most of these rely more on stealth and evasion than they do puzzles, but just as many jump scares as well as more detailed storylines.
10) Pacify
“Pacify” gameplay (skip to 2:25 to get inside the house immediately)
You can play this game either by yourself or with at most 3 other people. Called into a funeral parlor to check out the paranormal activity you must survive the night racing around the corridors and rooms running away from the little girl who changes back and forth between good and evil. As the game goes on she only gets smarter and faster so it’s best to try and beat the game quick. The objective to win the game is to find all 9 of the “marked” dolls around the house and destroy them. While searching for the dolls she is chasing you and when she turns evil you must find a way to calm her.
Emilia beginning to turn into her evil self. If you’re not in the same room as her you’ll hear a demonic scream/moan so you’re aware of the change and can act accordingly.
You must find and destroy the marked dolls running around the mansion in order for Emilia to be released from her evil self.
9) Infliction
"Infliction" gameplay
You arrive at a regular, happy looking suburban home and begin to look around the place exploring and unlocking memories. After finding a disturbing video everything changes and the house takes on a dark, tortured look with a spirit full of anger stalking you. You must atone for your past sins and find out what went wrong. The deeper the game goes the more traumatizing and disturbing it is.
Rituals play a part in this psychological horror game. You need to find out what lead to this point.
The spirit of a woman is full of hate and rage and holds you accountable for the horrors that happened within the house. She is constantly on the prowl to kill you.
8) The Night Ripper
"The Night Ripper" gameplay
Rachel is leaving a diner late one night to go home. She is conscious since there has been a serial killer on the streets. As Rachel, you must find change to call your roommate from a payphone and get home without drawing attention from the Night Ripper, the killer who drives around in his car and chases after Rachel when he sees her. How will you manage to escape him before he’s able to kill you?
Rachel is the girl you play and must first find a pay phone then get home alive. The graphics are clearly stylized as something from the ‘80s.
When you play there are stats that show her heart rate, adrenaline, and panic levels. How high or low each of these are will determine how far you can get and what you can do.
7) Babysitter Bloodbath
"Babysitter Bloodbath" gameplay
The objective of the game is to survive the night while babysitting Billy. A crazed serial killer has escaped from the psychiatric hospital and is out to kill anyone he comes across. When you send your boyfriend outside to investigate a noise the crazed killer gets him and soon comes for you as well. Figure out a way to not only ensure you live but Billy as well.
Inspired by Michael Meyers from “Halloween”. Another game with the ‘80s feel, but this one has a horror villain from the era.
There are no audible voices when talking to each other just the captions at the bottom of the page so you’ll need to remember to read as the game is happening. It’s interesting to see what Sarah is thinking to herself as well. Her thoughts are in parenthesis.
6) Alien Isolation
Amanda Ripley goes on board the space station Sevastopol to retrieve her mother’s flight recording to get closure of what happened to her. While on Sevastopol you discover there is an alien roaming the station that must be evaded. It’s already taken out most of the crew that live there and is now out for you. With limited choice in weapons and ammo, you must use your stealth and evasion techniques more than anything else to ensure your survival.
Set 15 years after the 1979 film “Alien”.
You must outsmart a single alien on the ship. Seeing that it’s already killed most living onboard you can search their bodies for anything they might’ve had that can help you finish the mission and survive.
5) Emily Wants To Play
"Emily Wants to Play" gameplay
You are let into a house to drop off pizza and look around to see that the house is mostly empty except for sporadic boxes. It looks as if someone was either moving or leaving in a hurry. As you walk around the house you come across three dolls. Beginning at 12:00 am these dolls will come alive at different times and “play” with you and have to figure out how to play with them to survive the hour. Sometimes some or all the dolls will come alive at the same time. You must play with and evade the dolls and live from 11:00 pm to 6:00 am when you’ll be let out of the house.
Kiki (top left) is a porcelain doll whose game is “peek-a-boo”; Chester (bottom left) is a ventriloquist dummy whose game is “tag”; Mr. Tatters (bottom right) plays the game “Red light, Green Light”; Emily (center) a young girl who died unexpectedly and owns the dolls. Her game is “Hide and Seek”.
Emily runs around on all fours like an animal which only adds to the creepiness of the game. Even when it isn’t her time to play she can sometimes pop up and kill you if a mistake is made.
4) Home Sweet Home
“Home Sweet Home” gameplay
Tim’s wife disappeared without a trace before the start of the game. After a night of sorrow, Tim wakes up in an unidentifiable place and comes across a spirit that is now trying to kill him. When he strangely appears back in his apartment he begins looking around and we learn more about his wife and the spiral she was going down. When he hears her he unknowingly goes into the strange place once more and seeks her out. Is he really in his own home, another dimension, or is this all in his head and he’s trapped in his state of grief?
The game is based on Thai myths and beliefs. You find information throughout the game which helps you understand why some of the spirits act the way they do.
Vengeful spirits of all sorts are coming out to get you with only some of them you’re able to soothe and run freely around without them trying to attack you.
3) Hello Neighbor
“Hello Neighbor” gameplay
You’re trying to see what your neighbor is hiding in his basement. Sneaking around becomes increasingly difficult as the game goes on. As a learning AI, your neighbor is becoming increasingly aware of the moves that you make. Because of this, the game gets harder the longer you play. Go in, figure out the mystery, get out. Unless you want to be trapped in the basement as well with whatever or whoever else is down there.
Despite the happy Pixar look the game has to it the game clearly tells otherwise.
Since your neighbor is learning about you and your playing habits he’ll begin to place traps in areas that you frequent.
2) Monstrum
“Monstrum” gameplay
Locked inside of a cargo ship you’re trapped with one of three AI learning monsters. Your goal is to escape but permadeath is a part of this game so there is no starting over in the area you’re at. Just starting over with a new monster. The environment itself is out to kill you as well so being aware of your surroundings beside just being wary of a monster is a must.
There is not a lot of weapons or materials to choose from to help you so it’s important that you use your wits and other methods besides combat to escape the monsters.
Each monster has its own set of skills to attack you with. They are all different so what you may do to take down/escape one may not work with another.
1) Project Nightmares Case 36: Henrietta Kedward
“Project Nightmares Case 36” gameplay
When a group of scientists creates a machine that induces sleep in those with psychic abilities, but in order to do so, they have to link the mind to an evil object. As part of Project Nightmares, it’s up to you to find and destroy the object. But by going into the dreamlike state you’re thrown into a malicious older woman’s nightmare named Henrietta who you must outsmart and find the object connecting her to the dream and destroy it.
Being a game with a procedural structure it’s different every time you play. You never know what to expect which amps up the horror and problem-solving part of it.
An evil object links us to Henrietta’s past that we must destroy.
With these different choices, it might be difficult to choose which one to start with. Hopefully, you’re able to figure out how to evade the antagonists and successfully complete the games.
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