Horror is typically, and somewhat ironically, one of the most beautiful genres as far as artistic traversals of unique visual styles and abstract storytelling. From Giallo films of the ’70s and ’80s to modern surrealist horror like that of Panos Cosmatos, colorful imagery and intense gore always seem to match perfectly.
In the realm of games, this is also true with games like Silent Hill taking their own original turns into the abstract corners of horror, and recent titles continuing to challenge their hardware in ways that gamers would have never expected. The more-or-less recent adaptation of ray tracing
10 Alien Isolation
Like it or not, Alien Isolation is an undeniably gorgeous game, almost as much so as its film inspiration. Endless hours were put into the recreation of the classic film’s sets and art direction, down to the titular alien’s animalistic movements and behaviors.
Isolation is a near-perfect sequel piece, and its immersive world design would only be amplified through an RTX makeover, as proven by YouTube user Himura.
9 Soma
From the developers of the classic survival horror Amnesia: The Dark Descent, Soma is one of the best PC horror games of all time, with a lot more to say than most games of its era. Aside from its poignant and intriguing narrative, Soma is also a horribly well-directed game on a visual front.
As is true for its visual siblings in the BioShock series, the underwater environment does quite a bit as far as making the setting as ecologically vivid as possible. Paired with the electrical clatter of exposed wires and the horrid glow of parasitic corpse tech, and the stunning final scenes, ray-tracing would really make this a standout visual hit.
8 Pathologic 2
The Pathologic games are all-time greats, with dreary atmospheres that even Kafka would blush at. While their current graphics are serviceable to the gameplay and can’t be complained about in terms of immersion, it’s always interesting to think “why not more?”
With a few graphical tweaks (as highlighted by a couple of modders on Nexus), the game’s surrealist moments shine even brighter, though at risk of losing some of the classic depressing plague vibes.
7 Little Nightmares
With the recent release of Little Nightmares II, a lot of players are awestruck with how the game has improved upon its prequel in both visuals and scale.
The games are both as beautiful as they are horrifying, and it’s hard not to stop and stare at some of the environments. With the genius usage of lighting and color and the ambient fade-distances, almost any in-game screenshots are wallpaper-worthy.
6 Visage
Another game to take the mantle of “the next Silent Hills,” Visage makes its inspiration from Hideo Kojima’s Playable Teaser pretty apparent from the get-go. Where other appropriations of the formula fail, however, Visage picks up and runs, becoming a hit in no time after hitting the Steam stores.
The game is also unabashedly gorgeous, with some of the best horror graphics of the decade among a list of horror asset-flips that fake their textures to appear as triple-A as possible. The game also claims VR support, which would make an RTX makeover even more immersive.
5 DreadOut 2
Much like its prequel, DreadOut 2 hasn’t gotten quite the repertoire that it deserves relative to its western first-person-haunted-house-sim counterparts.
The original was a beautifully original game, with some of the best monster designs in recent memory and a tense environment to boot. The second delivers on just as much of the terror, with an upgraded graphical system and a lot more intensity.
4 Outlast 2
Outlast’s titular sequel got slept on after its release a few years back. While the series has never been perfect in terms of horror or storytelling, they’re fun rides through what’s more or less simulated haunted houses with stealth mechanics.
That is to say, on par with most other first-person horror games. The second game takes a bit of a surreal departure from the first, taking full advantage of its medium to tell its story in the most effective way. It’s visually stunning in a lot of these moments, and the final climax is a gorgeously befuddling slap in the face.
3 Devotion
Devotion has had a hard life since launch, which is a real shame considering it’s one of the best horror games of recent years with a lot of charm in it. Developers Red Candle Games previously worked on Detention, receiving rave reviews for its originality and execution.
Devotion seems to be taking a lot of the same praise from the few who are able to play it legally, and what has been seen of its visual mastery is impressive, to say the least.
2 Fatal Frame
Fatal Frame is one of those series that sort of fell short in the West, with its sibling survival horror franchises taking center stage. The last release was 2014’s Maiden of Black Water on the Wii U, and it’s a shame the sales were restricted to such a fizzled-out console.
For its generation, MoBW was a gorgeous game, and even the earlier installments of the series are breathtaking in spots, with wonderful scares and constant tension. While Nintendo currently has the series on lockdown, it’d be fantastic to see PC and Switch remasters.
1 Resident Evil 7
Resident Evil 7 is one of the most interesting titles in the series, taking fans’ criticisms around the previous two entries and simultaneously fixing the prequels’ problems and branching the series into new and original territory.
One of the few criticisms the game faced was with its graphical glitches, especially with the Playstation’s VR support, which made quite a few gamers nauseated or otherwise broke their immersion in the experience. With the upcoming release of Village, and the PC ports of Biohazard, it’d be fun to see some graphical mods in play to really make this gem shine.
![\"IT電腦補習](\"http://itteacheritfreelance.hk/test/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/logo2-2.png\"){kind=logo}
www.itsec.hk
www.itsec.vip
www.itseceu.uk
Leave a Reply