Since it's All Hallow's Eve, I wanted to talk about my favorite horror game of all time. It didn't like to decide what that was, since I've pretty much only played one horror game, but it's a doozie: Lone Survivor by Jasper Byrne. While his previous game, Soundless Mountain 2, was a direct homage to the Silent Hill series, Lone Survivor nails its atmosphere and mood while providing its own twist on the gameplay: you have your apartment as your central base, where you rest every night and try to live normally for a bit to retain your sanity.

The apartment is the defining trait of the game, your oasis of calm in a nightmarish world. Since you have to return to it nightly to rest, Lone Survivor alternates between harrowing exploration sequences and breathers to prepare for the next day. While it is inspired by Silent Hill 4: The Room, it is never invaded by the darkness permeating everything else; it reminds your safehold for the whole game. As you progress, you can hunt down various items (or foods) to stock your apartment with, each of which returns your life a bit more to normal, albeit briefly. While obtaining a gas canister for your stove so you can actually cook food is kind of clever, my favorite choice was deciding whether to spend a precious flashlight battery to play Game Boy for a bit.

The rest of the game feels like an average sidescrolling Silent Hill, with the usual stealth and combat against abominations of nature. Your various actions throughout the game (and how well you take care of yourself) determines which ending you get. Luckily it doesn't take long to finish: on my first playthrough, I was done in 4 hours, which I felt was a perfect length for the game.

Despite only lasting 4 hours and rudimentary combat/stealth mechanics, it has stuck with me to this day. While I don't think it's one of the best games released this decade, I think it's one of the most memorable games released this decade (alongside Asura's Wrath, another its-not-great-but-I-love-it game). Between how short it is & how cheap it is, I heartily recommend this to anyone who thinks they might be even remotely interested in it.

If you want to know more, Patrick & Brad did a QL about it years ago:

And yours truly wrote a review about it years ago, where I was elated how well it did the "survival" in survival horror. (Note this game was released back before survival games glutted the Steam market.) Finally, if you don't mind spoilers and need an extra "kick" to look at this game, I also made a thread years ago discussing my theories about the ending (massive spoilers).

Lone Survivor is normally $15 on Steam (still worth it), but for Halloween it's discounted to just $5. If you have any interest in horror games or just want a taste of it, go pick it up.