Summary
Horror games put a lot of emphasis on the setting. Location is important, as it can help set the tone for the game, and instill whatever atmosphere developers are aiming for. Abandoned towns, dilapidated hospitals, and eerie mansions are all great but heavily used settings, as they are the easiest for creating suspension and dread.
One of the most underestimated and underutilized horror locations are residences such as ordinary houses, or even hotels. One would not expect to find any terror within such mundane walls, but some particularly creative and ambitious studios managed to pull it off, resulting in truly memorable hotels in their horror titles.
Rather Than a Place for Vacationers, This Hotel is Home to Lost Souls
Gregory Horror Show
Have you noticed that nothing is quite what it seems? That’s because this house is serlously haunted and the only way out is by collecting every lost soul that litter the many hallways. Unfortunately this isnt as easy as itsounds and youll be doing well just to stay alive and check out. Oh, and be warned:keep your eyes open for the evil Nurse Katherine. She is very scary and will do anything to extend your stay..Based on the new hit Japanese cartoon showMore than a dozen of the strangest characters youve ever encounteredA dazzling mix of action and puzzle solving in this remarkable new game from Capcom
Hotels are normally a place for the living to get some needed R&R, but that is not the case in theGregory Horror Show. In the Gregory House, lost souls often find their way there and remain trapped, and even Death has managed to get himself stuck here. He promises to help the player escape if they capture and give 12 souls to him, leading the player into a game of chase with the ghosts, in an unusual inversion of what normally happens when the living cross paths with the restless dead.
However, enemies will chase the player if they take their soul, intent on reclaiming it from them. The dark and dilapidated hallways of the Gregory House provide the perfect spooky backdrop for aghost-hunting game, and the Gregory House will remain as one of the most unique hotels in the horror game genre.
Despite the title beingLuigi’s Mansion 3, there is no mansion involved in this game as it instead takes place in the luxurious hotel named The Last Resort, where Luigi, Princess Peach, Mario, and Toad are all invited to stay. It sounds too good to be true–and it is. This hotel is haunted, so Luigi must once more bust out his trust vacuum and get to work.
The Last Resort may be the largest hotel in gaming history, consisting of 17 floors in total for players to explore. Each floor has its own disparate theme, with a unique boss ghost players must defeat. The amount of work and creativity that went into creating this hotel is nothing short of impressive, and it is the shining star in thiskid-friendly horror game.
Ran by a Serial Killer and Haunted by Ghosts, Sea View Offers a Stay Like No Other
At Dead of Night
At Dead Of Night is part horror film, part horror game and part ghost hunt. It seamlessly blends live-action and graphics to create a unique immersive horror experience like no other.Maya is a student trapped in a remote hotel run by a psychopath called Jimmy Hall. Jimmy has tied up Maya’s friends and locked them in their rooms, with evil intentions. Maya has managed to escape, but Jimmy is on the prowl looking for her. However, to get him to release her friends, Maya must uncover Jimmy’s dark secret. Using an ancient ghost voice receiver she finds, Maya must communicate with the ghosts of Jimmy’s past, who materialise around the hotel and gradually reveal their story.BETA optionsRight click on the game in your library, then go to Properties > Betas, where you’ll find two alternative versions of the game, one specifically for Steam Deck and one updated for 2024 - use this if you have any issues with the default download.AUDIO LATENCYBecause of the way sound is synced to the video in this game, some users may notice some audio latency, affecting lip-sync. This can be improved a lot in Windows 10/11 - not just in this game but lots of games - in Windows 11 by navigating to System > Sound > More sound settings > Speakers or headphones (on the Playback tab) > Properties > Advanced tab, then unticking the ‘Give exclusive mode applications priority' option.
The developers describe the content like this:
There are some scenes featuring blood and some references to weapons and prescription drugs, though not overt.
After a group of teens checks into a hotel while on their way to a music festival, main character Maya wakes up to see the proprietor, Jimmy Hall, has snapped into a psychotic rage and has taken all her friends prisoner. Maya explores the hotel to find out more about his murderous past by communicating with the ghosts that remain trapped there in the afterlife. But she must avoid Jimmy at all costs as she has no way to defend herself.
The four-storey Sea View Hotel is a foreboding and eerie place to explore, as the hallways are vacant and quiet except for Jimmy. He can hide around corners and enter the rooms Maya may use to hide in, ensuring nowhere is safe from his reach. The fact that it isall shot in FMVonly makes it all the scarier, as the graphics cannot get any more realistic.
Not Even Vampires are Safe from Hauntings
Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines
Vampire®: The Masquerade-Bloodlines™ delivers a new type of RPG experience-one that blends all the core elements of a traditional RPG with the graphical richness, immediacy and brutal combat of a first-person action game. The game plunges players into the dark and gritty vampire underworld of modern-day L.A. as a creature of the night. Players will develop their character’s powers, interact with other characters and embark on story-driven quests as they battle mortals and other vampires with an incredible array of vampire powers and weapons. Powered by Valve’s Source Technology, the game is based on White Wolf’s popular Vampire: The Masquerade pen-and-paper RPG series and its official clans.
Gothic horror RPGVampire: the Masquerade - Bloodlinesshows the dark underbelly of the city of angels that is filled with fanged monsters with a thirst for blood. They blend in with human society by upholding the masquerade, a set of rules that help keep their existence a secret from those who would destroy them.
This is the new existence the player will quickly need to get to grips with, as they begin the game asa freshly turned vampire, and need to accomplish a series of tasks to prove they belong in vampiric society. One of these tasks sees them going to the Ocean View Hotel to retrieve a pendant, only the mission won’t be so simple, as it is haunted by hostile ghosts. Hallucinations and old newspaper clippings illuminate the hotel’s grizzly past, as one man became obsessed with the thought of his wife having an affair. He murdered his entire family, and they have since never left the premises.
Sker Hotel Hides Secrets and Occult Dealings
Maid of Sker
Brave the nightmares of the Quiet Ones. Do not panic…don’t even breathe!Maid of Sker is a first-person survival horror, set in a remote hotel with a gory and macabre history from Welsh folklore. Armed with only a defensive sound device, you’ll utilise stealth tactics to avoid death amongst a cult of sound-based AI enemies.Set in 1898 and inspired by the haunting Welsh tale of Elisabeth Williams, this is a story of a family empire driven by torture, slavery, piracy and a supernatural mystery that suffocates the grounds of the hotel.Created and developed by Wales Interactive with a plot crafted by the writing talent and designers behind the likes of SOMA, Don’t Knock Twice and Battlefield 13D sound-based AI system as the core survival mechanic.Realistic visuals featuring 4k uncapped on PC (1080p 60fps minimum).A chilling story inspired by Welsh folklore fusing psychological, gothic and British horror.Re-imagining of famous Welsh hymns Calon Lân (A Pure Heart), Suo-Gân (Welsh Lullaby) and Ar Hyd Y Nos (All Through the Night) from the spine-chilling voice of Tia Kalmaru.
Ahorror game set in the Victorian era,Maid of Skertakes players on a journey through folkloric horror as the old Sker Hotel has become overrun by a cult calling themselves The Quiet Ones, who have taken a siren prisoner, intending to control its powers for their own gain.
The hotel itself has fallen into a state of disrepair, with many walls crumbling, and certainly no room that is fit for any guests, not to mention the dangerous cultists that have free rein over the place. But this is all that makes it such a great setting, as it feeds into the dark and oppressive atmosphere while providing plenty of places for the player to hide from enemies, as they are quite defenseless against the hostiles.
H.H. Holmes was one of the most prolific serial killers in American history, his aptly named Murder Castle is thought to be instrumental in the murders he committed. The building, and the killer, both feature inThe Devil in Me, which opens in 1893. Newlyweds stay in the World’s Fair Hotel for their honeymoon but are quickly killed by Holmes.
The hotel itself seems like a rather grand affair with tasteful furnishings and a collection of jewelry and toiletries available to buy at reception. What people don’t know is that the jewelry is taken from the unfortunate guests in his hotel, as no one could guess the sinister secrets that lay beneath the mahogany wood and fine chandelier light fixtures. The hotel also appears in the modern-day storyline as a perfect replica of a remote island, with even moredeadly trapsand dark secrets.
James and Mary’s Special Place Holds Many Memories, and Not All Are Good
Silent Hill 2
THE SILENCE IS BROKEN…James Sunderland’s life is shattered when his young wife Mary suffers a tragic death. Three years later, a mysterious letter arrives from Mary, beckoning him to return to their sanctuary of memories, the dark realm of Silent Hill.Now James must go back to that special place to uncover the truth, unaware that the answers he seeks require the ultimate sacrifice.• Return to Silent Hill in an entirely new adventure with all-new characters and monsters.• Battle horrifying creatures with a new arsenal of weapons and items.• Riveting storyline, stunning graphics and true-to-life CG movies leave you on the edge of your seat.• Atmospheric lighting and ambient 3D surround sound shift and change at each terrifying turn.• Dynamic camera angles, beautifully rendered environments, and real-time weather effects deliver a cinematic horror experience.
Silent Hill 2has become one of the most lauded games in history, as it popularized the psychological horror genre and presented one of the most shockingtwist endings in gaming history. Several games have tried to mimic this twist, but none could ever be as successful as the original.
Lakeview Hotel is exactly where players learn of this twist, as James finds a tape that shows him smothering his ailing wife with a pillow, forcing him to confront his guilt. This is one of the reasons why Lakeview Hotel is such an excellent location in the game, as it imparts the most impactful part of the story, and closes off the game with one final thrilling boss fight. It was teased throughout the game as James and Mary’s ‘special place’, and when players reach there, it’s clear to see why.
