With Halloween upon us it is time to confront our fears and approach the darkness that waits in the winter. I can think of no better way to celebrate this time of darkness and horror then with playing MMOs. Especially the ones who give you that creepy feeling or try to bring other horrors to a massive online interactive world. We have gathered what we think are the best 5 horror MMOs that are playable today. All this so that you can get into that wonderful Halloween spirit with your favourite medium. While horror and MMO are concepts that on paper might not be comparable, there are still some great and scary choices out there. Read and find out what MMOs fit in our top 5 horror MMO list.
While not being an MMO, the Dark Souls series and its spiritual follow-up Bloodborne all come with the opportunity of both playing with and against other people, but also leaving notes and making a mark on the game world. Playing these games online makes the worthy to be on this list, and it is hard to find a better and more fighting experience for a horror MMO then these games. Wandering around in an eternal darkness filled with both small and huge monster, all of them are after you and can kill you easily. The games worlds are built with horror in mind for every corner of the game, and the games do make themselves the most enjoyable when playing with friends.
Hellgate is also a game that has had changes made to its name since the game has been killed off and revived with new owners. The now Hellgate: Global takes place in both London and its latest expansion in Tokyo. You take the role as a Templar fighting against demons unleashed at earth with both guns, gadgets and swords. Created by some of the people behind Diablo 2, Hellgate follows in a similar formula, with randomized environments where you kill a huge number of demon in search for the best loot. What makes Hellgate stand out and make it a great horror game are is first person perspective making it feel more like an Doom MMO then anything else.
Set in a dark world that was almost made inhabitable by a huge event called “Thanatos Incident”, Requiem stands as the second and last game to profile itself as a horror MMO. You play this free to play MMO as a biological weapon against the darkness which is trying to take over the world. Requiem is a game that has changed its name over the years only keeping Requiem intact because of all the big changes the game has gone through. But it is a game where you get to fight ugly and scary monsters which you can completely obliterate until there is only pools of blood left. If a dark fantasy environment where blood and gore fills the screen with every kill gets you in Halloween mood, Requiem: Rise of the Reaver will keep the blood flowing.
When talking about horror nowadays, it is almost impossible to not start talking about zombies. While the zombie genre isn´t something new, it is something that have hit the mainstream audience the last couple of years. One of the titles that manages to stand out the most among the zombie filled ones is DayZ. What first started as a mod for Arma 2, is now a standalone game in alpha, and its survivor gameplay is something that have inspired to countless other games using similar mechanics. In DayZ, the zombies are mostly not the greatest horror you can encounter, but other humans are. The game manages to get very tense when moving about a building where you´ve heard or seen another human, whom might kill you for your gear.
This might be the most obvious game on the list and for very good reasons. It is also one of the few games on the market explicitly using the term horror MMO when talking about the game. Set in the modern world where all the myth and horror stories you have heard are true. There is no other MMO that both tries so hard at creating a horror atmosphere and story, and the best thing is that they manage to do this very well. If you are looking for the game where all stories you have read come true, combined with a chilling soundtrack and monsters taken from H.P Lovecraft, this is the horror game that should occupy your time before the screen during Halloween. All areas in the game manages well to capture the horror setting perfectly. From the vampire infected Transylvania to the mummies occupying Egypt, and to my favorite; the H.P Lovecraft inspired town along the coastline, right next to Indian burying grounds.
While not technically a horror game, Hello Kitty Online stood close to the finishing line of top horror MMOs when making this list. There are no real monster, no darkness and no blood in the game. Instead the game is filled colour, mainly 50 shades of pink, cute animals and ribbons for everyone. But that does sound like the biggest nightmare of them all to me. Imagine waking up in a world where everything is pink and purple, where cute cats overeagerly tries to be your best friend without even knowing you, and with no means to defend yourself when they stop being cute.
Horror MMOs is a sub-genre that sadly isn´t as huge as other sub-genres, but there are still some really great games out there, and this list have given you our top 5 horror MMOs. Halloween is closing in fast and there is no better way to get in the mood then playing games. Use this list wisely and kill demons, zombies and monsters from old myths, nothing can stop you from being in mood for Halloween with these five games.
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