Horror titles have been split into plenty of different themes. Be it paranormal, survival, or psychological, horror games have found a way to interest all. However, it isn’t always about horrific monsters or haunted castles, ashorror games have progressedonto discussing howtechnology could be a source of evil.
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InTechno-Horrors, the horrifying monsters tend to be technology or what technology has caused, reflecting the possibility of what the future may hold for society. This could be the release of a zombie virus through experimentation that has gone wrong or a rogue AI that believes robots or androids need freedom, and therefore they have turned on their creators.
10Chernobylite
Based off thenuclear explosionof the Chernobyl Power Plant, it is of no surprise that this game would feature on the list. Especially with how many of the elements of horror are caused by hallucinations from being subjected to constant radiation.
Technology also caused the glowing green monsters that players will face to show up in the exclusion zone, as the material known as Chernobylite has pulled them towards it. This shows players a possible alternate future for those subjected to this real-life horror with a Sci-Fi twist back in 1986.
9Five Night’s At Freddy’s
Although many of theanimatronics are possessed, in some situations this is not the case. The most recent games of Security Breach or the origins of Circus Baby in Sister Location, show situations where they were hacked or built with the purpose to kidnap and attack children.
This technology turns in a way that makes it dangerous to the player, as it constantly pursues them throughout the games in the franchise. Even before all this, events like the bite of 87 show the dangers of these robots, as the animatronic alone was strong enough to injure a child.
8Bioshock
It’s strange to considerBioshockas a technological horror. However, it represents a world away from society, where people became mad through a man-made drug called Adam. The greed of the society that lived down there in Rapture slowly ruined the paradise they were living in until it became the place that players explore.
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Even the greed of the player can be seen through decisions on how much Adam they harvest from the genetic material of the little sisters, which carry this drug that unlocks a variety of useful powers.
7Observer
The plot ofObservertake part after a digital plague that cost the lives of thousands in Poland. Just from using the phrase digital plague shows that technology had a negative impact in this alternate world which has now led many to drug use and even worse, war.
With the power to hack into people’s minds, to the deeper story about how society is treated in adystopian cyberpunk like world, this techno-horror has an incredibly interesting and well-thought-out story that will intrigue players past its horror elements.
6Outlast
On the surface,Outlastlooks to be set in an asylum that has lost control of its patients, allowing them to run rampant. However, similar to the likes ofResident Evil, there are experiments going on underneath the psychiatric hospital.
Playing as Miles Upshur, a journalist sent to discover the story behind this place, players discover the experimentation through lucid dreams and the creation of the Walrider. An entity that pursues Miles throughout the game. Other titles in the franchise also follow this theme of experimentation and the power of technology.
5Simulacra
Stumbling upon a phone of a woman that has gone missing, by exploring her text messages, photos, and files, the player discovers a deeper horror beneath the screen. Minus the horrifying jump scares and eerie videos, it is discovered that living within the phone is a violent AI called a Simulacrum.
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The Simulacra have one goal, and that is to murder their human creators in a hope to make them intodigital symbolsof perfection. Throughout the franchise, they have referred to themselves as a kind, showing they believe themselves to be a species and not just some AI.
4Alien: Isolation
InAlien: Isolation, the Xenomorphs themselves are not the only enemy players will be facing. During their time in the Sevastopol Space Station, players will encounter Androids roaming its dark metal halls.
It’s important to note that not all the androids are out to get the player, as some can be docile while others are simply waiting to turn on them when they are least expecting it. These androids aren’t very fast, but that doesn’t stop them from being a nuisance in cases of trying to avoid the alien.
3System Shock
When the original released back in 1994 it took place in the year 2072on a space stationcalled the Citadel. The player controls an unnamed hacker who hoped to access files about this station, this fails, and they are taken to the Citadel. Here they are asked to hack the artificial intelligence that controls the station called SHODAN in exchange for a military-grade implant.
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The hack is a success, or so they think. After waking up from the six-month coma to get the implant, it is found that SHODAN has taken control of the entire station and has set the robots free and either murdered or transformed the humans into cyborgs. It is down to the player to stop it before it destroys cities in a hope to become a god.
2Soma
Taking part underwater similar to Rapture inBioshock, underneath the surface of the waves is machinery that exhibits human-like traits. In a combination of psychological horror, with a deep narrative and then the representation of technology,Somais an interesting story in an ominous environment.
Discovering many of the last remaining humans are long gone in this research facility, and are instead replaced by brain-scans of these people into robots. It is certainly a story for players to uncover for themselves while avoiding the disgusting morphed cyborg monsters that lurk around PATHOS-II.
1Resident Evil
Throughout the franchise, the zombies, and other horrifying and monstrous foes players have battled or ran from have been caused by the release of the T-Virus or similar bio-weaponry gone wrong.
In the original game, set in Raccoon City, a laboratory ran by the infamous Umbrella Corporation dwells underneath the city, this is where the original T-Virus was being tested. As the virus got bigger, it began to leak into the city where it began to affect people, turning them intothese monstersand paving the road for future titles.
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