- 13 minutes ago
These are the scariest games which trap you in one location, the perfect picks to play alone this Halloween...
Category
📺
TVTranscript
00:00Now, there are a lot of key factors that go into a horror game to make it as effectively scary
00:04as
00:04possible. Alongside crafting a gripping plot and fine-tuning the gameplay to make things feel as
00:09stressful as possible while still being fair, everything from how the enemies look to the
00:14sound design must be carefully considered. But out of all of these components, though,
00:18none are as important as the setting. And the following games only have one,
00:23and let me tell you friends, it's bloody awesome. So let's have a chat about them,
00:27as I'm Jules, this is WhatGulture.com, and these are 10 awesome horror games set in one location.
00:32Want to stay safe online and save big? Well, now you can. Right now, you can get up to 76
00:37%
00:38off NordVPN with three months free, and all you've got to do is click the link in the description or
00:44scan the QR code that's on screen right now to get yourself signed up.
00:49Number 10, Yondu High School, White Day, A Labyrinth Named School. Whether it's the creepy
00:54elementary school in Silent Hill 2 or the nightmarish flashback sequences from Outlast 2,
00:59schools never fail to make for chilling horror game locations. By taking this recognizable
01:04environment and lacing it with some nefarious happenings, these familiar institutions of
01:08education are transformed into dangerous places that pose a threat to whoever's unfortunate enough
01:13to enter. And this is the case of cult South Korean survival horror, White Day, A Labyrinth Named
01:18School, when transfer student Li Huimin sneaks into his new school at night to put gifts into
01:24the locker of his crush. However, events take a supernatural turn for the worst when he and
01:28other students become trapped in the building. Pursued by possessed janitors armed with baseball
01:33bats and encountering the many ghosts which haunt the halls, players must carefully explore the school
01:37while solving a collection of challenging puzzles in order to find a way of escaping. The darkened school
01:42makes for an eerie location as players avoid being detected by the murderous custodians,
01:47but it's the roster of ghostly inhabitants that make this school one of the scariest in video
01:51games. With a re-release of this cult classic recently arriving on the PS5, there is no better
01:56time to try this game. 9. The Moor – Little Nightmares
02:00Before the sequel took players to a variety of equally creepy locations throughout the pale city,
02:04the original Little Nightmares kept the action contained within The Moor. An impossibly huge facility
02:09floating in the middle of the ocean, this setting is designed to look like a child's nightmare come to
02:13life. As the player guides a mute, raincoat-wearing protagonist known as Six through each section of
02:18this strange place, the imposing size of, well, everything around them makes the player feel small
02:23and vulnerable everywhere they go, and that's before they're forced to play hide-and-seek with
02:26The Moor's grotesque denizens. Even more interesting than the striking art design, though, is how the
02:31developers utilized visual storytelling to give players an idea of what kind of unpleasant things
02:36have been going on. From the petrified bodies of others who tried to escape, or sausage meat of ominous
02:41origins, each detail helps to communicate what kind of place this is, with each new discovery
02:46painting an even more disturbing picture. With its unique visual style and brilliant environmental
02:51storytelling, The Moor is one of the most memorably unique horror locations that players have had the
02:55pleasure of entering in recent years. 8. The House – Layers of Fear
03:00From the same studio behind underrated gems Observer and Blair Witch, Layers of Fear was the game that put
03:05Polish developers Bluebird team on horror fans' radar. A small but hugely creative title,
03:11Layers of Fear put players in the shoes of an unnamed artist who is struggling to complete their
03:15masterpiece, which has driven them to their psychological breaking point. As players make
03:19their way through the artist's dilapidated Victorian house, searching for the materials that they need to
03:23complete their work, players will uncover the painter's sinister past alongside the nefarious methods
03:28that they've used to create this rather disturbing painting. Although the gameplay and puzzle solving are as basic as it
03:33gets,
03:33the main draw of this indie favourite is the uneasy gothic atmosphere that oozes from every corner of its
03:38domestic setting. However, it was Bluebird team's ingenious game design which made walking through this home
03:44truly terrifying. As the protagonist's sanity continues to unravel, the house begins to change around them
03:50to create an impossible labyrinth of never-ending hallways and rooms that would be completely different
03:54whenever players turned around. It was impossible to tell what the hell was going to happen next, and that made
03:58for an engrossing horror experience. With Layers of Fear, Bluebird team showed how scary walking simulator-style
04:04games could actually be.
04:067. The Submarine
04:07Iron Lung
04:08Developed and published by David Zmanski, Iron Lung is an intensely claustrophobic short horror game that places players in the
04:15bowels of a
04:15small rickety submarine, as they're tasked with exploring the depths of a mysterious blood ocean on a distant moon.
04:21With the submarine's front window and hatch sealed shut, players are completely trapped within the makeshift
04:26vessel and are forced to navigate their surroundings using only map coordinates to make their way to
04:31points of interest and then use a camera to take grainy photos of what they find. If being surrounded
04:36by an unknowable alien abyss while confined to a tiny submarine wasn't enough of an unsettling concept,
04:41the ominous sounds of something moving outside keeps players in constant suspense, never knowing how safe
04:47they are at any given moment. With the camera being the only means of seeing what's happening outside,
04:52players will be tempted to take pictures to find out what could be setting off the motion detectors.
04:56But when the grainy image of a large creature appears on screen, you'll wish you never looked.
05:006. Spencer Mansion
05:02Resident Evil
05:03The Spencer Mansion from the first Resident Evil game has since become one of the most famous video
05:08game locations ever. When a series of strange events are reported to have occurred on the outskirts
05:12of Raccoon City, an Elite Starz Alpha team is sent to investigate. However,
05:16after they're chased into the nearby abandoned mansion by a pack of vicious dogs, they discover
05:21that the place is full of flesh-eating zombies. Despite taking place in one location, there's more
05:26than enough variety within the mansion and the grounds to hold players' interest. From the lavish
05:31entrance hall to the underground lab, each area is as interesting as what came before. The fixed
05:36camera angles only heightened the tension as players made their way down narrower hallways,
05:40unable to see what lay just off screen. Even backtracking through previously explored areas
05:44wasn't safe, with the fear of crimson heads in the remake being one of the most tense feelings
05:49that this series has ever conjured. Without the Spencer Mansion, survival horror games,
05:53well, they just wouldn't have been the same.
05:545. The Oil Rig
05:56Still Wakes the Deep
05:57Whether it's a cabin in the middle of the woods, or a spaceship adrift in another galaxy,
06:01isolation is what makes a lot of horror locations scary. With nobody around for miles,
06:05the characters are forced to deal with whatever terror faces them on their own. Completely cut off from
06:10civilization and surrounded by the freezing North Sea, the oil rig from Still Wakes the Deep makes
06:15for a pretty ideal horror setting. While the industrial walkways and aggressive boss already
06:20make this rig an oppressive place to be, things get exponentially worse when the crew drill into an
06:25otherworldly substance in the sea's depths. An unknowable cosmic terror is then unleashed and begins
06:30taking over the vessel, turning the crew into grotesque monstrosities. Playing as rig worker Kaz,
06:35players must make their way through the gradually sinking rig to find a way to escape this cosmic
06:40horror nightmare. Although players will spend a lot of time traversing through the same areas,
06:44it's the phenomenal sense of place that developers The Chinese Room created that makes this such a
06:49compelling location. From the worsening storm outside, the detailed environments, and the
06:53fantastically Scottish dialogue, it's all too easy to become swept up in this character-driven horror.
06:584. Mount Massive
07:00Outlast
07:01As soon as players set foot inside Outlast's Mount Massive Asylum, it's evident that there is
07:05something deeply wrong with this place. From the dishevelled interiors, walls that are smeared with
07:10blood, at least I bloody hope that's blood, and the grisly remnants of corpses littered throughout,
07:14developers Red Barrels didn't waste any time in letting players know just how depraved this
07:18location was going to be. Knowing that there could be something unpleasant around each corner ensured that
07:23players felt unsafe with every step they took. Heightening this sense of unease was the suffocating
07:27darkness that engulfed the asylum. Not only did it make it harder to see where the horrible things were,
07:31but the night vision mode needed to navigate the pitch black hallways gave the setting a sickly
07:36green tinge that made the Institute appear even less welcoming. Just as grotesque as the setting
07:40were the deranged and sadistic inmates who mercilessly torment protagonist Miles throughout
07:45the game. Players spend much of their time in Mount Massive frantically running from an
07:48assortment of disturbed individuals, with the gloomy and claustrophobic corridors becoming a
07:53nightmarish maze of horrors where one wrong turn can result in your death. While the sequel upped the
07:57ante by taking the player to a larger and much more gross setting, Mount Massive nevertheless
08:01proved to be the more effective location. Number 3. The Bunker. Amnesia. The Bunker.
08:07Although the menacing Brennenberg Castle from Amnesia The Dark Descent was instrumental in
08:12establishing that game as one of the most frightening experiences ever, that imposing structure was a walk
08:16in the park compared to the titular bunker from 2023's Amnesia The Bunker. Set during the First World
08:21War, the bunker sees players take on the role of French soldier Henri as he wakes up in an eerily
08:26deserted bunker. With its claustrophobic and darkened hallways alongside the frequent rumbles of the
08:31ongoing shelling overhead, frictional games have created a tremendously unsettling atmosphere that
08:36captures players' terror from the outset. Even scarier, though, is the monstrous creature that
08:40stalks Henri through their time in the subterranean tunnels. Responding to noise and preferring to emerge
08:45from its hiding place when the lights go out, players must move as quietly as possible. Moreover,
08:49making the most out of every resource they find is also vital, especially that precious fuel that is
08:54needed to keep the lights on. Even though memorising the layout of each section doesn't take long,
08:59the randomised placement of items and the unpredictable behaviour of the beast ensures
09:02that no two stays in this underground nightmare are the same.
09:062. The Hallway
09:07P.T. One thing that horror is exceptionally good at is taking locations that feel familiar and
09:12twisting them into something far more malicious. This is why family homes are the perfect setting for
09:17all things horror, with the characters becoming vulnerable in the place where they're supposed to
09:20feel the safest. Whether it's a home invasion or a supernatural happening, it's usually the entire
09:25house that is used as the location. However, all that the iconic Silent Hills teaser P.T. needed to
09:30terrify horror fans out there was a single hallway that repeated on a loop. Setting the scene with a
09:35disturbing radio broadcast about a man who violently murdered their family, there's already a disquieting
09:40atmosphere about this domestic environment before things get truly unsettling, and it doesn't take
09:45that long for it to happen. After walking through the loop a handful of times,
09:48the hallway starts to change, the door that's usually open becomes locked, a crying baby can
09:52be heard in the bathroom, and scariest of all, the ghost of a woman frequently appears in some
09:56of this game's most heart-pounding moments. Although Silent Hills' cancellation is still
10:00seen as a tragedy, the terror of P.T. lingers on for all of those who actually experienced it.
10:051. The Riverfield Mortary
10:07The Mortary Assistant
10:09Out of all the possible horror settings, there's no place that is creepier than a mortary. Although death
10:14is a prominent part of the genre, the clinical approach to handling corpses there manages to
10:18make the concept of death even more unsettling. However, it's not the bodies that the player needs
10:23to worry about in The Mortary Assistant, it's the vicious demon that is lurking within the building
10:27that makes Riverfield's mortary the undesirable place it is. Playing as a newly hired assistant,
10:32Rebecca, this title sees them arrive at their new place of work to start their first night shift.
10:36With the storm blowing outside establishing the oppressive atmosphere, events then take a sinister turn when
10:41their boss arrives to tell them that they've been possessed by a demon. To sever the entity's
10:45connection, players need to discover its name and determine which of the bodies in the morgue
10:49that it's latched onto, all while completing their work duties. By gradually tightening the suspense
10:54with disturbing happenings and impeccable sound design, it doesn't take long for this game to
10:58get under the player's skin. Trapping horror fans within the confines of a demonic mortary? Well,
11:03that makes The Mortary Assistant nothing less than downright petrifying.
11:06And there we go my friends, those were 10 awesome horror games set in one location.
11:10Hope you enjoyed that and let me know what you thought about it down in the comments section
11:13below. As always I've been Jules, you can go follow me over on Instagram and AX where it's
11:17at RetroJ but the O is a zero. Hope to see you over there. Hope you're treating yourself well
11:20and I'll speak to you soon. Bye!
Comments