When Hakuoki: Demon of the Fleeting Blossom was announced for North America by Aksys Games, I was ecstatic because it’s very rare that we get localized otome games. I’d heard from a few friends that it was very good. I’m not a fan of Idea Factory’s stuff in general, so I was a little wary, but I was eager to take the game out for a test drive.

A bit of background: I’ve played quite a few otome games (RPGs, VNs, etc) in the past few years; some good, some bad. I haven’t found the perfect otome game, and in my opinion, there aren’t a lot of games that do romance very well—even down to the otome games or certain visual novels. To be honest, half the time I burst out laughing at a line, shaking my head, and wondering if the writers were really serious when they wrote that particular line.

The meat of the game lies in its story, given that it’s an otome visual novel. Rather than being centred completely on romance, surprisingly, it’s centred on political intrigue, history, various factions, and battlesbattlesbattles. I love this kind of stuff! Even if you have no desire to woo a certain character in this game, you are adequately supplied with a very well-told narrative focusing on various points of the Edo jidai/Bakumatsu.

Throughout the visual novel, the game prompts the player to make various choices. They aren’t readily apparent the first time through the game, but most choices can enhance the attachment gauge for certain characters. Some choices will also unlock art in the media option on the title screen (which, if selected, will allow the player to revisit that particular scene again). Your save file will reflect which character is in the lead, and when the player hits Chapter 4, they will be on a fixed path for the character they have in the lead.

Nearly every character deals with the supernatural content in the game (there is one path that brushes the supernatural content aside in favour of a more natural path). The Shinsengumi are in possession of a drug which acts as a stat enhancer, but it comes at a terrible price. The user will slowly lose his or her sanity if he/she does not take certain medication, try to endure it, or drink blood. There is a dedicated meter to this called the “Corruption Meter”. This meter actually seems to matter somewhat. If the Shinsengumi member decides to drink blood, the meter is lowered. If the Shinsengumi member decides to endure it, the meter continues to increase throughout the chapters. This is obviously not a good thing, and if you’re not following a FAQ, it’s a nice way to gauge whether or not you’ll meet the good ending or the bad ending.

Narrative

As for the narrative itself, as I kept playing through the routes, I ended up playing the game with less of a fixation on romance, and more with a fixation on getting to know the Shinsengumi better, and following the war through their eyes. Sure, the romance bit was icing on the cake, but I was more intrigued by the historical aspects of the war. I generally like games that play around with real-life historical events like Shadow Hearts, so Hakuoki doing the same while injecting a similar flavour of the supernatural is quite a treat for me. As you go on different routes, the war unfolds a little differently (ie: the character takes part in different battles a little later on). Thus, if you’re not really interested in the romantic aspects at all, the rest of the narrative from a historical/wartime standpoint is there for the player to immerse themselves in.

My favourite route continues to be the Souji Okita route. Historically-speaking, Souji Okita contracted tuberculosis and succumbed to his illness in Edo. It was interesting to see how that bit of history unfolded in Hakuoki, and how it was handled when the player decides to undertake his route. In fact, as I finished off the route, I ended up looking up health studies papers documenting the disease during that period in Japan. If anything, the route reflects that I got a kick out of the historical bits of the game more than the romance bit.

There is one thing that I’m a little wary of in Hakuoki, and that is unfortunately the main character Chizuru herself. Depending on your actions, Chizuru will be utterly helpless, or she’ll try to help out (and end up being utterly helpless in the future sometime). There was one instance when a pair of characters were discussing politics and she said something which implied that the discussion was too complicated for her (I cannot recall the exact line, but the fact that I remember the situation…), and I just put my head in my hands, thinking to myself, “Oh, Chizuru…” It’s the 1800s, but come on.

But with that said, I have to champion and defend how the localization crew handled Chizuru based on her Japanese counterpart. Chizuru was moreso of a doormat than she is in the US version, where she repeated dialogue (not unconventional for Japanese speakers, but rather jarring in English), described her romantic encounters as assaults, and was generally even more of a blank slate. English Chizuru by contrast at least seems to have a brain and reacts more to situations than her Japanese counterpart. She’s still written a bit like a blank slate, but I like using her as a method to get to know the Shinsengumi better.

Localization

Regarding the localization, I think it’s quite good. I’m very pleased that there seem to be some liberties with the translation. I’m a fan of Working Designs’ old translations, and I have a very soft spot for Woolseyisms, so I really appreciate that kind of stuff. The addition of the Japanese dialogue is an absolute treat, so having to listen to the voicework and then read the localized text afterwards was fun for me. There are a few spelling and punctuation errors here and there (and admittedly, I’m a stickler for that sort of thing, so they jump out at me immediately), but they’re rather subtle, and I don’t think a lot of players would fixate on them since they’re few and far between (though there was one instance where the same stylistic error was made 2-3 times in sequence, but again—stickler). The lack of honorifics in the text (they are still obviously in the Japanese voiceovers) was an interesting move, but in the end, I thought it was a good idea in order to make the text less wordy and more accessible since there are a ton of loanwords and foreign terms being used already.

There is one little detail that I had a few gripes with in the dialogue, and that’s the majority of Hijikata’s route. I don’t mind profanity at all, and I think I get the reasoning behind making English Hijikata the way he is, but listening to the Japanese dialogue and then reading the script underneath was a little jarring at times. English speakers will not notice how jarring it is, but if you pay attention to the Japanese dialogue and then read the different dialogue underneath, it’s a bit strange. Hijikata struck me as someone who strove to be more elegant given his status in the Shinsengumi, so giving him exceedingly crass English dialogue was a tad jarring. Other than Hijikata, I have little problems with the localized dialogue in general. I’ve seen people complain about the changes to the dialogue and not translating the script word-for-word, but this is a localization for the western market, not a translation for a limited audience. Be reasonable.

I’d read criticisms regarding chosen lexical items for the script and storytelling being rather… complex and consisting of underutilized English vocabulary? I’m not seeing it here at all, and it seems like natural conversational vocabulary to me. Perhaps some thought that the Japanese loanwords were too much? This situation, especially considering the game revolves around Japanese history and involves Japanese voicework, is absolutely unavoidable.

Presentation

The music is rather average. Kenji Kaneko has composed a score that isn’t bad, but it doesn’t stand out. With that said, I haven’t played a lot of visual novels with fantastic scores. The music in visual novels generally act as background noise to the voice acting and the sound effects. Unfortunately, the music is rather repetitive (there are 17 tracks in all on the official 新選組奇譚 soundtrack), and the lack of looping is… well, it’s unacceptable in this day and age. It’s something I would have expected many years ago in Sonic CD with inadequate looping, but the lack of looping can sometimes take away from certain scenes. It’s quite unfortunate.

The sound effects, however, are very good. There are certain games where sound effects stand out to me, like Chrono Trigger. Here, they’re very good, or rather, true to life-like sound. Swords meeting each other in combat and ricocheting off each other, the wind blowing, and steps taken in a forest are rather nice to hear. It’s a bit refreshing after hearing footsteps sound like horses' hooves meeting pavement in other games. Really like the sound effect direction here.

The voice acting is also rather superb. They got some really good people to do the VA here like Shotaro Morikubo, Kousuke Toriumi, and Koji Yusa, so it was nice hearing their voices in this game. Even Hiroyuki Yoshino (Heisuke Toudou) grew on me after a while (my only experience with him was from Baccano). All of the VA sounded natural and well-directed. All of it fit the characters, is what I’m trying to say. Retaining the Japanese VA was a good idea, and I don’t think the characters would have the same effect had they been revoiced in English.

However, with that said, I have an issue with this game’s sound mixing. Sometimes the voices are quiet (for good reasons, but Saito is the biggest culprit here), and sometimes the voices are boisterous and loud (ex: Okita, Heisuke, Shinpachi). I ended up having to turn the music waaaaay down and the voices and SFX way up so I could hear the voices clearly. It’s really too bad, but if you’re going to play the game and you want to hear the voices, turn the music down to a rather low point to hear the voices.

The art is satisfactory, and Kazuki Yone did a good job with the character design. It’s better than some other Idea Factory art I’ve seen. The character designs and their different outfits throughout the game are nice, but the art itself is just okay. The Shinsengumi have really nice design and art (ex: Okita, Saito, Harada, Heisuke after Chapter 4, etc)… enough to encourage me to purchase the official art book (though the art book that comes with the LE is very nice and comprehensive too). The environments aren’t anything to write home about sometimes (but I generally expect this out of VNs), but it’s too bad that they don’t change depending on the season or scenario so you get a lot of repetition here.

Replayability & Conclusion

Regarding replayability, this game has a wonderful feature: the auto-scrolling. You can automatically skip the prologue, and automatically skip text which you have already read during other playthroughs, or even text you’ve read after making a decision and then opening the menu, opening up the history and then rewinding to the decision point again. It’s a little too bad the game is rather repetitive until you hit Chapter 4 (where the story unfolds differently depending on the person whom you have the highest attachment to). You may also replay certain characters’ chapters using the Record of Service option from the title screen. It’s a rather convenient way to relive chapters you enjoyed.

A special note about Idea Factory: they should really stick to this kind of thing. I’m very surprised by how much I enjoyed it given that I don’t care much for a lot of Idea Factory’s content. The artstyle employed in this game is much better than their standard artwork as well. Do more of this, IF, not… that other stuff.

Overall, Hakuoki is one of the better otome visual novels I’ve played. The presentation in terms of voicework, script, and overall narrative is quite engrossing. It’s clear that this game is not exclusively for a female audience, since it clearly did not gain its M-rating for romantic aspects. There is a lot of action, references to blood and gore, historical aspects, and references to war scattered around this game, which makes the game transcend gender. To be honest, I was a little surprised by how little romantic content I ran into with this game, but I ended up not seeing that as a bad thing since there were other narrative aspects within the VN that I could embrace. I had a lot of fun with this game. I’m glad that Aksys took a chance with Hakuoki and brought it over here. Whether or not their experiment was a success, I’m very happy that I had an opportunity to experience the rare English localized otome game… and it was a great one at that.

Verdict: Recommended

Summary

Pros:

• A tale for all genders, emphasizing different aspects to appeal to a broad audience as opposed to a single gender
• Well-written dialogue, with different characters demonstrating different speech registers (sociolinguistically-speaking); some formal, others not so formal
• High replayability, with several routes to choose from in order to fill out the Media and Record of Service sections
• Easy to go back to a decision point if you notice you’re not getting the dialogue you want by selecting the “History” option and rewinding back to it
• Chizuru isn’t exactly a doormat, and at least seems to think of the war and her relationships forged during it, and the repercussions of her--and the Shinsengumi's--actions
• Romance doesn’t necessarily feel forced in most cases; some routes end up making it feel rather natural
• Oh look, an Idea Factory game that I genuinely like
• Sound effects are awesome, as is the voice acting. Character design is nice.
• Different paths reward the player with different and well-told scenarios, sometimes focusing more on the supernatural aspect, others focusing more on the wartime aspect, and other focusing on both
• Different paths will not take the same amount of time to clear. Some routes are longer than others
• Some of the character designs are enticing

Neutral:

• Music is okay, and does its job
• While multiple endings are nice, it’s unfortunate that there aren’t more
• The art here does its job, and it’s better than a lot of the IF art I’ve seen
• Not a lot of emphasis on romance, but your-mileage-may-vary on this

Cons:

• While Chizuru is improved from her Japanese counterpart, she still strikes me a bit of a lacklustre character
• Music doesn’t loop properly, which is unacceptable in this day and age
• The disconnect between one character’s Japanese dialogue and the English text can sometimes be jarring
• Reuse of environments even through different seasons. Repetitive.
• Sound mixing is rather poor. It’s hard to hear some voices sometimes, but at least the player can tinker with the mixing. It’s very unfortunate, though.

I know people have a tradition of watching horror films or Halloween-themed episodes of TV shows as a tradition for Halloween, but what about video games? What are the video games that evoke the same feelings as horror films do? Which video game levels evoke the same whimsical feelings that Halloween-themed TV episodes do? Well, these are the games that I think answer those questions. These aren’t ranked, so have fun with it.

1: Amnesia: The Dark Descent

Platform: PC 
Developer: Frictional Games 
Publisher: Frictional Games 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: Mikko Tarmia 
Shadow Hunting Sequence Theme:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=64TCstMEb6s    
Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjUd6_XTkOI

The game casts the player in the role of Daniel, an amnesiac who awakens in Brennenburg Castle. The only thing he can remember is what is hunting him down. 
 
If you’ve ever played Prenumbra, you know what you’re getting into here… except you are not armed. You do not have any means of defending yourself against what lurks in the shadows. This is the type of survival horror I like. Instead, you need to use your head and try to find a way to escape or hide from the monsters pursuing you. 
 
What is interesting about this game is that in addition to the player’s health, there is a sanity indicator (similar to Shadow Hearts’s Sanity Points). A good way to avoid the monsters pursuing you is to hide in the darkness, but there is a problem with that. If Daniel stays in the darkness too long, stares at the monsters too long, and witnesses terrifying events, his Sanity Level decreases. Once the Sanity Level decreases, the game throws visual (the image begins to “blend”) and audio (you hear things that aren’t there) hallucinations at you. In addition to this, the player, because Daniel is freaking out, is noticed more easily by enemies. To reduce the Sanity Level, the player is forced to use tinderboxes (which are limited in number throughout the game), and a lantern (which can’t be used once oil runs out, similar to Twilight Princess). 
 

2: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem 
Platform: Nintendo GameCube 
Developer: Silicon Knights 
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: Steve Henifin 
Black Rose: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6vAjT7qDGJQ   
Bathtub Scene: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxkzCre3XJY  
(^ DO NOT watch that with the lights out at 3 AM like I did, okay?)

I myself have not had the pleasure of owning this game (hint, hint). I’d love to own it. It’s probably one of the most underrated gems of the last generation. 
 
The player is not in control of just one person throughout the game, but they start with controlling Alexandra in the year 2000 AD (yes, as this might indicate, this game has time travel… sort of, not really). The mansion that the player starts in houses the Tome of Eternal Darkness. Upon finding it, the player finds him/herself in control of Pious Augustus in 26 BC. Alexandra serves as the person who finds additional chapters of the Tome throughout the mansion, and when she finds these chapters, the player finds him/herself in the shoes of many different people in the past. The game has combat and magick which is used to solve puzzles, heal and fight. 

But again, like Amnesia: The Dark Descent and Shadow Hearts, this game has an onscreen Sanity Meter. It’s depleted when the character witnesses something unsettling like an enemy. Once the bar decreases, the game begins to screw with you, the player. When the bar is empty, the health gauge begins to deplete.

 
The game begins to screw with the player him/herself, constantly breaking the fourth wall once the sanity meter begins to deplete. It skews the camera angle, begins making the player hear women and children screaming or sounds of someone sharpening a knife. Sometimes the player begins walking on the ceiling, the walls and ceilings begin to bleed (this is similar to something that happens in F.E.A.R.). The game can lower the volume, and even has a fake volume meter on the screen. 
 
Even attempting to save your game while low on Sanity causes the game to ask the player, “Are you sure you want to delete this file?” No matter what your answer is, the game informs you that your file has been deleted. (This is a lie and you can save afterwards, but it really throws you, as the player for a loop). 
 
This game is on the list because it’s not about freaking out the character in the game, but it constantly breaks the fourth wall gives the player a frightening experience.

3: Siren: Blood Curse (New Translation) 
Platform: PlayStation Network (Has a disc version in Europe) 
Developer: Japan Studio 
Publisher: SCEA 
Genre: Stealth Survival Horror 
Composer: Hitomi Shimizu 
Unsettled: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFsucSDtQPQ

Siren: Blood Curse was a game from the Sixth Console Generation, appearing on the PS2 and developed by Sony’s Japan Studio. But this new version, for the PS3 (downloadable from the PlayStation Network) is a re-imagining of the original title. Instead of controlling ten survivors of a demon-summoning ritual taking place in a xenophobic Japanese village called Hanuda, the player controls an American TV crew that went to Japan to find Hanuda and document the human sacrifices that supposedly had taken place there 30 years ago. 
 
The game is divided into 12 episodes (you can probably buy the whole thing now in one package on PSN, but the European version has the whole thing on a disc). These episodes are parallel to each other and can sometimes intersect depending on who you’re controlling in them. 
 
In the original game, there was a Sightjack Gameplay Mechanic, where the player could see/hear from the perspectives of nearby demons and humans. Using this mechanic, the player can detect the demon’s presence, location, patrol route, and items of interest. However, during the use of Sightjack, the player is more vulnerable as they cannot move. 
 
However, in the new version, the Sightjack mechanic is now split screen, so the player has access to what the other creatures in the vicinity observe while still being able to move, a definite improvement on the original. Level design also includes objects that can be accidentally knocked over, indicating to the demons---Shibito—of your location. You may also use weapons and brace doors to prevent Shibito from coming in. A character’s interactions in one episode can affect what happens in another episode (think of this like the Trinity Sight System in Suikoden III). 
 
This isn’t a bad game, and my summary isn’t really giving it justice. There are a lot of “jump” events in this game, especially if you’re playing this at night in the dark.

4: Shadow Hearts 
Platform: PlayStation 2 
Developer: Sacnoth 
Publisher: Midway 
Genre: Turn-Based (modified) RPG 
Composers: Yoshitaka Hirota, Yasunori Mitsuda, Masaharu Iwata, Ryo Fukuda 
Murderer’s Mansion~Ripper Ripper: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhAT-SdwalE

Graveyard~Graveyard Moon: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ8GZY74nMM

Terror~Angel Heart: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e7GbNtCge1c

Uneasiness~Someone’s Table: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=66QK57NGYQQ

There is a reason why I listed the first Shadow Hearts rather than the entire series. While Shadow Hearts: Covenant and Shadow Hearts: From the New World are very light-hearted and focuses more on character interaction rather than level design, the original Shadow Hearts focuses heavily on the horror elements and the level design. The soundtrack is also a perfect indicator of this: the original Shadow Hearts has more horror-themed pieces out of the entire series in comparison to the other two games. 
 
The level design and enemy selection is also more horror-themed. I think I have a huge attachment to this title in particular because I hadn’t played anything like this before—going into a village with cannibalistic cat people who littered the ground with bodies and blood at night was completely different from any RPG I had ever played. You don’t often see demons fighting your allies making fleshy sounds as they move, or you don’t often see level design like this:

…in a lot of RPGs. I felt like Alice being a priestess/nun-like character seemed to matter in these contexts. And although Yuri started out as comic relief at the beginning of the game, he really matures and takes his demonic personality seriously. If you put down the game because you didn’t really like his personality at the beginning, I think you should take another shot at it.

 
I personally thought that the soundtrack made the game’s atmosphere. Newcomer Yoshitaka Hirota brought horror to RPGs soundtracks and did an excellent job with it, while being helped with veteran Yasunori Mitsuda (who composed one of my favourite horror tracks on the soundtrack: “Terror~Angel Heart”). Although the Orphanage area wasn’t creepy in design, the music made it creepy. The same goes for Kowloon Palace and even the Graveyard in Yuri’s mind).

 
This game also employs the use of Sanity Points, but that part of it isn’t very scary and depleting points to zero is sometimes necessary. Like I said, the soundtrack, level design and enemy design is what makes this game’s atmosphere.

5: Silent Hill 2 
Platform: PlayStation 2 
Developer: Konami 
Publisher: Konami 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: Akira Yamaoka

The Darkness That Lurks In Our Mind: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YGUi6spQ9M0

Silent Hill 2 is probably one of the candidates for gaming’s Citizen Kane. The game focuses on the character James Sunderland who goes to Silent Hill after getting a letter from his wife that says that she’s waiting for him at their “Special Place” (the Lakeview Hotel). If you’ve played the first Silent Hill, you know that going to this place is bad news. Basically the place is the creepier equivalent to Persona 4’s TV World: you come here to confront your inner darkness (and desires). 
 
As he enters Silent Hill, he encounters a woman named Maria, who bears a striking resemblance to his wife Mary, except she wears more provocative clothing. I think people know that Pyramid Head originated in this game and I think most of us know what Pyramid Head does (rape and pillage monsters and women). Somehow Maria knows things about Mary and James’s marriage that she shouldn’t. James also encounters a teenager named Angela, who was sexually abused by her father. When I said “you come to Silent Hill to confront your inner darkness”, what exactly do you think would happen to these people? 
 
The gameplay is typical Silent Hill. Rather than focusing on killing monsters, you—as James—focus on finding keys, maps, and solving puzzles. You acquire a radio that tells you how far away an enemy is depending on whether the static is loud or soft. 
 
But what makes this game is the level design and atmosphere (and the story). Some items progressively disappear throughout the duration of the game, indicating whether they are figments of James’s imagination or not. The monsters are modeled based on James’s subconscious, reflecting his sexual desires and deprivation throughout his wife’s illness. The story is truly a gut-wrenching tale, especially as the player, in horror, begins to realize who or what they are truly controlling.

6: Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly 
Platform: PlayStation 2 
Developer: Tecmo 
Publisher: Tecmo 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: ???? 
Sunken Fireplace: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtRXwFs_aJ0

Fatal Frame 2 is probably one of the creepiest games out there. It’s not really for the story, but more for the gameplay mechanics.

 
For a little context, the player is in control of two twin sisters, Mio and Mayu. The player controls Mio for the majority of the game, but in some cases controls Mayu (who has fallen under the Crimson Butterfly spell). When controlling Mayu, the game is viewed through a grey filter as she guides the player (as Mio) to the next area.

 
 This sounds a little normal, right? The gameplay mechanics (and I feel like I’m repeating myself here) makes this game. The only weapon Mio has in her arsenal is a camera. The problem with the gameplay is that you need to lure the ghosts and make them come very close to Mio (before they hit you) and then take a picture of them to kill them. It makes for a frightening “jump” experience. In one chapter, Mio loses her camera, so you must run and dodge them.  There is also no way restore your stronger film ammunition as there is a limited amount in the game, so you must use your film sparingly.

7: Rule of Rose 
Platform: PlayStation 2 
Developer: Punchline 
Publisher: Atlus USA 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: Yutaka Minobe 
Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4DjAsANBp4

Some may find this game to be mediocre, and really, it kind of is. It’s like a poor-man’s Haunting Ground, but you have the ability to fight back (but it’s more advisable to evade enemies than fight them because Jennifer sucks at fighting).

 
The player finds him/herself in control of Jennifer, an amnesiac. The villains in this game are children, and we all know that children in video games can either be a) creepy as hell or b) annoying as hell (the only exception being Nanako Dojima from Persona 4). The game focuses on the darkness that resides in children and how cruel they can be. It also gained some controversy in Europe because of the violence against children and the sexualisation of female characters. I think the child aspect and the helplessness that the player feels as an adult (controlling and adult character) when being bullied by children is what increases the fear aspect of the game.

8: Resident Evil (REmake) 
Platform: Nintendo GameCube / Nintendo Wii 
Developer: Capcom 
Publisher: Capcom 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composers: Makoto Tomozawa, Masami Ueda, Akari Kaida 
Wandering About: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGC_i1mdjos

Do I seriously have to explain this one? Everyone’s played Resident Evil by now, right? 
 

9: Costume Quest 
Platform: PlayStation Network / Xbox Live Arcade 
Developer: Double Fine 
Publisher: THQ 
Genre: Turn-Based QTE RPG 
Composer: Peter McConnell 
Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9FqWreHmg6E

This game isn’t creepy. But it’s so wholesome, cute and fun.  The player is in control of either a boy or a girl trying to find his/her sister or brother who has been kidnapped by monsters because s/he was dressed as a (ewwww) candy corn for Halloween. The game is short, 5-6 hour Halloween RPG. The characters’ costumes come alive during battle. When the character dresses up in a certain costume, they become that costume. It’s like a kid’s dream.

10: Haunting Ground 
Platform: PlayStation 2 
Developer: Capcom Production Studio 1 
Publisher: Capcom 
Genre: Survival-Horror 
Composer: Hideaki Utsumi 
Daniella Cutscene (bitch is craaaaazy): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5xhr1T46so

The player controls 18-year-old Fiona who becomes trapped in castle by two creepy rapists, a crazy homunculus and a crazy gardener who wants to play with her like a doll. Seriously. This game is basically the ultimate stalker nightmare. 
 
Fiona can’t fight, and only has her dog companion to help her out, so you—as the player—must evade the crazy people in this mansion and find a way out while solving puzzles. It’s like the SFC Clock Tower in this regard (ie: you have no idea when these people will show up). They will attack and chase Fiona and after a set time period they’ll leave you alone for a certain period of time. On top of those enemies, Fiona must dodge other enemies that alert the pursuers to her location.

 
You must also keep your dog companion happy. If he is mistreated, he may start ignoring orders or even attacking Fiona herself.

 
Fiona is also prone to being panicked. These panic attacks occur during certain scripted events or prolonged enemy attacks and chases. If continues to be fearful, she panics and runs. This is called ‘Panic Mode”. The screen becomes blurry, the colours become saturated and the controller vibrates in time with Fiona’s heartbeat. The problem is that you can’t stop Fiona from running and you have to stop her from running into walls. If she does run into something, damage from the pursuer will kill her. The true horror of the game lies here (and the final enemy reveal towards the end of the game).

11: Dead Space 
Platform: PlayStation 3 / Xbox 360 
Developer: EA Redwood Shores 
Publisher: EA 
Genre: Survival-Horror/Action 
Composer: Jason Graves 
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hMlUsGSALyY

To be honest, the thing that freaked me out the most about Dead Space was the audio. Some of the gameplay elements detract from the horror settings, but the atmosphere and audio makes it. The game is pretty visceral and gruesome, so if you have a weak stomach, I would advise against playing it. It was also interesting to note that headshots don’t really count in this game.

12: Castlevania I, II, III and IV & Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo 
Platforms: NES, SNES, Turbografix-16 
Developer: Konami 
Publisher: Konami 
Genre: Platformer 
Composer: 
Castlevania: Kinuyo Yamashita, S. Terashima 
Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest & Castlevania III: Dracula’s Curse: Kenichi Matsubara 
Super Castlevania IV: Masanori Adachi, Taro Kudo 
Akumajo Dracula X: Chi no Rondo: akiropito, Jigokuguruma Nakamura, Sanoppi, and Mikio Saito 
Dracula Battle (Castlevania IV): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mTr3o1sa6k

I can’t help but to lump all of these in one number. Castlevania isn’t scary, unless you’re dying a lot. But the earlier Castlevanias—the ones that didn’t entirely take place in Dracula’s Castle—employ many different references to Halloween and horror. The Belmonts fight Death, Medusa heads, Mummies, Vampires, Dracula, Zombies… you name it, these games have it.

 
The diversity of stage design is really why these games are here, too. The Belmonts fight in creepy castles, creepy graveyards, towns that are swarming with zombies at night, haunted lakes… it’s like Konami took every environment in any horror film and inserted it into the Castlevania games. Castlevania IV, in my opinion, takes the cake though. It’s probably one of the best horror-themed platformers out there. The baroque and jazzy soundtrack (which, IMO, is among the best Castlevania soundtracks), coupled with the gameplay mechanics like whipping in eight directions and the excellent level design makes Super Castlevania IV one of the best atmospheres for a horror platformer.

13: Clock Tower ~The First Fear~ / クロックタワー ～ザ･ファースト･フィアー～, 
Platform: Super Famicom 
Developer: Human Entertainment 
Publisher: Human Entertainment 
Genre: Survival Horror 
Composer: ???? 
Gameplay 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=anYuJgbS3B8

This is a 2D point-and-click game, and some may cite this as the game that started the survival horror genre (or the one that brought it to the mainstream). The player controls the Jessica Simpson character. This is the first game that featured a stalker that pursues Jessica and this delays the player’s puzzle-solving when Bobby Scissorhands comes close to the room. You must find somewhere to hide in order to evade getting cut.

 
When confronted by Bobby, you enter Panic Mode. You must continuously hit the panic button to avoid him or fend him off. It’s still one of the creepier Super Famicom games around, and contains many different endings. If you want to check out where survival horror started, I’d urge you to check this game out.

Silly Halloween Levels with Heart in Games:

1: Super Mario World’s Ghost House 
Platform: SNES 
Developer: Nintendo EAD 
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Platformer 
Composer: Koji Kondo 
Ghost House: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PDW_FU1LrI 
Level Playthrough: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeVu_7jeq4Q

At the time, this was not like anything that had been done in gaming before. It’s interesting that someone came up with finishing Ghost Houses just to save your game. “You wanna save? Get past this!”

2: Kingdom Hearts’ Halloween Town 
Platform: PS2 
Developer: Squaresoft 
Publisher: Squaresoft 
Genre: ARPG 
Composer: Yoko Shimomura 
Halloween Town: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nc1YgQXuP0E

Halloween Town gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXWvtldZTgI

I should give this level the same description as Costume Quest, really. Sora and pals dress up in costumes and fight Oogie Boogie. It’s a cute take on the Halloween Town.

3: The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask’s Ikana Valley

Platform: Nintendo 64 
Developer: Nintendo EAD 
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Action/Adventure 
Composer: Koji Kondo; Toru Minegishi 
Ikana Valley: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXIigPKJehk

Ikana Valley Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vV7VLPbyD_w

Ikana Valley is home to ReDeads, Gibdos (they have their own kingdom), and Poes. It’s crawling with zombies and ghosts. It’s home to three humans, one of which has turned into a Gibdo (who, when you play the Song of Healing, gives you the Gibdo Mask Link needs to sneak into the Gibdo Castle to enter the Stone Tower Temple), and another who is a gravedigger (who the player may recognize as Dampe). It isn’t particularly scary by any means, but it’s a nice Zelda take on the Halloween or horror concept.

4: Earthbound’s Threed 
Platform: SNES 
Developer: APE, HAL Laboratory 
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Turn-Based RPG 
Composer: Hirokazu Tanaka 
Haunted Threed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgwIHTeifE4

Haunted Threed Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbpBM7FYIMI&t=1m35s

I… I don’t even know how to explain this. There are zombies everywhere, they lure you into their fake hotel and trap you in some hole. You fight a big giant tent filled with zombies. Literally, you fight the tent, and put down sticky paper to prevent the zombies from leaving. It’s easier to watch the gameplay, really.

5: Mega Man 7‘s Shade Man Stage 
Platform: SNES 
Developer: Capcom 
Publisher: Capcom 
Genre: Platformer 
Composer: Yuko Takehara / 竹原裕子, Toshihiko Horiyama / 堀山俊彦, Makoto Tomozawa / 友澤眞 
Shade Man: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSxzq6FWG-Y

Shade Man Stage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KX2ffb4pYUY

Now here’s a level designed with heart. I really like how the level starts out, where you come into the level at night and then it slowly brightens up. The theme is Ghouls ‘N Goblins, and I personally think the level is very … cute, with robo-crows, robo-zombies and Shade Man himself.

6: Mother 3’s Osohe Castle 
Platform: Game Boy Advance 
Developer: Brownie Brown, HAL Laboratory, Nintendo SPD Production Group 3 
Publisher: Nintendo of Japan 
Genre: Turn-Based (modified) RPG 
Composer: Shogo Sakai 
Osohe Castle: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZAldaggW-M

Osohe Castle Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOZhQeDdzH4

I thought this was a cute level. Annoying at first, but cute. Some of the enemies are a little tough, and you may run low on health at the beginning, but the ghosts are so friendly. Not Casper the Friendly Ghost friendly, but they’re very quirky and have a fun personality. They give you free stuff and they don’t fight you. The only things you have to fear are the Strawberry Jam enemies. It isn’t until the Pig Army crashes the ghosts’ party and holds all of the ghosts hostage that you realize the real horror is not the creatures in the castle, but the Pig Army and their message of capitalism and individualism instead.

7: The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time’s Bottom of the Well 
Platform: Nintendo 64 
Developer: Nintendo EAD 
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Action / Adventure 
Composer: Koji Kondo 
Shadow Temple: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8yQZev2P9g

Bottom of the Well Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5suiSLsJSQ

I personally thought the Bottom of the Well was more frightening than the Shadow Temple. When Link is in the Shadow Temple, he is Adult Link. He is as big as or bigger than most of the enemies in the Shadow Temple. He has a whole arsenal of weapons, from the Longshot to a huge hammer, to bombs. However, when Link is in the Bottom of the Well, he is Child Link. 
 
Child Link is more susceptible to ReDeads, from what I’ve seen (I could be mistaken and he’s probably slower than Adult Link when trying to get away from them). Child Link is also much smaller than the enemies in the Bottom of the Well, making the enemies seem more frightening and threatening than they really are. Child Link is also limited to Din’s Fire, a Slingshot, Deku Nuts, Bombs and a Boomerang at this point, so it feels like you’re a child using children’s instruments to combat the shadows in the night, so to speak.
 
I thought the Lens of Truth segments were handled better in this dungeon than the Shadow Temple, primarily because Link does not have the Lens of Truth yet, and is scouring this dungeon to find it. In fact, depending on how you go through this dungeon, the Lens of Truth could either be the first thing or the last thing Link finds. The smarter thing to do is to go back to the beginning, crawl in the tunnel and defeat the boss to obtain it and the dungeon would be much easier. However, if you would like to challenge yourself, hug walls to find chests, discover pits and discover hidden walkways, it’s more likely to give you a bit of a scare than using the Lens of Truth.

8: Pokémon Red/Blue/Green/Yellow’s Pokémon Tower 
Platform: Game Boy (Colour) 
Developer: Game Freak  
Publisher: Nintendo of America 
Genre: Turn-Based Monster RPG 
Composer: Junichi Masuda 
Pokémon Tower: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u8NktOkmRvM

Pokémon Tower Gameplay: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQHDDryreis

I can’t imagine anyone being freaked out by the Pokémon Tower. But I thought the atmosphere was well-done (in comparison to some other RPGs), complete with spirit channelers. I don’t know if anyone noticed the stark difference between America and Japan with regards to that when they were young though. 
 
The reason why I included it is because of the gameplay mechanics executed in this game. When confronted with ghost Pokémon for the first time prior to getting the Silph Scope, you cannot make visual sense of the ghost Pokémon. They can attack you, but you can’t do anything to them. If you send out your Pokémon and make them attack, your Pokémon are afraid to do so! Trying to climb Pokémon Tower prior to getting the Silph Scope is harrowing experience, indeed. 
 
(I also cannot believe I remember that because I haven’t played Pokemon Blue/Red since I was 10.) 
 
So that's about it! If anyone has any suggestions or comments, let me know in the comments section!