“They want to destroy me. But I’m not the one to be afraid of.”
I could start this process by jumping into the latest horror or post-apocalyptic release but, like many gamers, I have a back-catalogue of games on Steam that have sat – mostly – unplayed, collecting digital dust for years. Some of these I bought with every intention of playing, others were added due to an annual Humble Bundle subscription.
Rather than drain my wallet on more titles I might never get around to, I decided it’s time to face the reality: I already have an embarrassing number of games yet to be played. Why add to the backlog when I can start with the games I already own? I went to Steam and started looking through my library and made a list. It’s some list!
Alan Wake
Alan Wake’s American Nightmare
Aliens vs. Predator
BEAST: False Prophet
Breach & Clear: Deadline Rebirth
Dead by Daylight
Dead Island
Dead Space
Dead Space 2
Endzone – A World Apart
Fallout 3
Fallout 4
F.E.A.R.
F.E.A.R.: Extraction Point
F.E.A.R.:Perseus Mandate
F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin
F.E.A.R. 3
F.E.A.R. Online
Frostpunk
Generation Zero
Goetia
Hellblade: Senua’s Sacrifice
Hellpoint
Left 4 Dead
Left 4 Dead 2
Metro 2033
Metro Exodus Enhanced Edition
Resident Evil
Resident Evil 0
REVEIL
Stygian: Reign of the Old Ones
SUNLESS SEA
Sunless Skies: Sovereign Edition
Terminator: Resistance
Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines
Vampire: The Masquerade – Coteries of New York
Vampire: The Masquerade – Shadows of New York
Vampyr
The Walking Dead
The Walking Dead: Season Two
And from the Epic Game Store:
Bioshock: Remastered, Bioshock 2: Remastered, Bioshock Infinite – The Complete Edition, Ghostwire: Tokyo, Metro: Last Light Redux, Outliver: Tribulation, Surviving the Aftermath, The Callisto Protocol, The Evil Within 2, The Last Stand: Aftermath, The Vanishing of Ethan Carter.
These are all games which fit the survival horror, psychological horror, post-apocalyptic theme of DREADPIXELS, with a couple of close matches thrown in (I’m looking at you, Aliens vs. Predator!) and some wasteland colony sims too.
I’m a PC gamer first and foremost. I do own an Xbox Series S but I’ve used it only once. This is going to be a majority PC experience. I’ll play them exactly as they are intended to be played:
In the dark.
With the lights out.
Headphones on.
Volume LOUD.
But not tonight. I need to build up to this slowly. I have to mentally prepare myself for the impending sleepless nights. Starting this journey into the darkest corners of gaming isn’t something to be rushed. Each of these games holds its own brand of terror, and I intend to savour the experiences to come. The jump scares, the creeping dread, the gut-wrenching tension. After all, part of the thrill is knowing what’s coming and still being absolutely terrified when it happens.
So, where to begin? That’s the question. Do I dive straight into something which is going to cause me to regret paying $10 for DREADPIXELS.com or ease myself in with something a little easier on the nerves? Perhaps a little bit of Dead Space, or REVEIL looks interesting. I already played F.E.A.R. so perhaps the familiarity would be an easy in. Decisions, decisions.
But one thing’s for sure — I’m about to face these games head-on, no excuses this time. It’s time to take control of my back-catalogue, game by game, fear by fear. I hope you’ll stick around and join me for the ride. Together, we’ll brave the horrors lurking in the shadows and the apocalyptic wastelands—and who knows, maybe by the end, I’ll have a stronger stomach for the scares. Or maybe I’ll be turning the lights back on after all.
Either way, it’s going to be a hell of a journey. Let’s begin…