THE THING

John Carpenter's The Thing is a milestone in sci-fi cinema so it's surprising that it took 20 years until we saw a videogame based on it. Released in 2002, Computer Artworks underrated gem proved that it was worth the wait. So much so that John Carpenter himself officially endorsed it as the canonical sequel.

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RIPPER

In the realm of FMV computer games, has there ever been a more star-studded cast that of Ripper? Released in 1996 by Take-Two Interactive, it stars Christopher Walken, Karen Allen, Burgess Meredeth and several other recognisable faces among the rabble of Hollywood working stiffs. But can this retelling of Jack the Ripper transposed to the cyberpunk future of 2040 match the movie-quality output of its US setting?

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AMBER: JOURNEYS BEYOND

Haunted houses are ripe settings for computer games. Within its four walls can hold countless tales of vengeful spirits and bloody murder. It's also a perfect location for some Myst style exploration and puzzling and Hue Forest Entertainment's oft-requested AMBER: Journeys Beyond from 1996 does just this.

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CREATURE CRUNCH

by Austin Brewer

Being an obscure diamond in the rough, the point and click adventure Creature Crunch truly deserves some attention. Debuting at E3 in 1996, this game was developed by Class6 Interactive, an offshoot of Class6 Entertainment responsible for the likes of Ren & Stimpy and many animated commercials. Creature Crunch was an unfortunate commercial failure with talented people involved. Even though it won the “Best Director of Animation for CD-ROM” award in 97, the game was swept under the rug from too little exposure.

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JOHN SAUL'S BLACKSTONE CHRONICLES

Legend Entertainment's admiral mission statement to create excellent games based on literary works continued with their last dedicated adventure game; Blackstone Chronicles. Published by Mindscape and released in the latter half of 1998 at the tail end of the genre's golden age, the revered developers managed to weave a ghostly tale worthy of the series of novels by John Saul.

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SILVERLOAD

The Wild West was a treacherous time in American history, but imagine if werewolves and vampires were thrown into the mix. Well, imagine no more because the 1995 adventure, Silverload by Millennium Interactive, did just that. And the PlayStation port did it too, only way better.

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HURLEMENTS

Before Ubi Soft were the powerhouse publisher they are today, the long-running French company was mainly known in its country of origin. It developed and distributed some neat games, including Zombi (found elsewhere on this site). In 1988, a spiritual sequel by the name of Hurlements swapped the gruesome groans of zombies with the high-pitched howls of werewolves.

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RULE OF ROSE

Why are creepy kids so disturbing? From The Omen to The Exorcist, the perverted innocent trope has always been a controversial one, and Punchline's 2006 survival horror, Rule of Rose, is no different. Like The Exorcist before it, this twisted tale of juvenile depravity was banned in the UK.

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GOOSEBUMPS: ESCAPE FROM HORRORLAND

Between 1992 and 1997 over 60 books were released in R.L. Stine's Goosebumps series. During this time, a television show, a board game, several game books and as much merchandise as a Disney movie came to market. In 1996 at the height of that media blitz, Dreamworks Interactive in partnership with Microsoft gained the rights to develop a video game for Windows. The result is Escape to Horrorland, an FMV adventure that boasts Hollywood production value and the involvement of Steven Spielberg.

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PSYCHO

It is now officially Halloween season, it's time to indulge in the horrors video games can bestow upon us. One of cinema's greatest scare-fests is Alfred Hitcock's 1960 thriller Psycho. The film remains evergreen, but what of the 1988 computer game adaptation by Starsoft Development Laboratories?

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ALIEN RESURRECTION

The videogame adaptation of Alien Resurrection really missed the boat. The movie came out in 1997 but it wasn't until the new millennium that the tie-in came out on the original PlayStation. Was the additional 3 years in development well worth the wait? Hell yes it was!

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ALIEN TRILOGY

It's been a long time since the Alien franchise was known as a trilogy. And with Alien Covenant hitting cinemas (not to mention Prometheus), we can throw away the made up word of "quadrilogy" too. But way back in 1996, Ridley Scott's seminal sci-fi horror was still three movies and this was when Acclaim Entertainment published a FPS decidedly known as Alien Trilogy.

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DARK SEED 2

It's Halloween and what better way to celebrate than to travel deep in the psyche of H.R. Giger? Dark Seed 2 began development as soon as the success of the first game was evident when it hit store shelves and became a surprise hit (it even won the prestigious Codie award in 1992 against the more popular likes of King's Quest VI, Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis and Ultima VII). The result of such a success is sequels and one finally arrived in the December of 1995...

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ECHO NIGHT: BEYOND

Echo Night: Beyond may be the third (and last) entry to From Software's excellent horror series, but it was the first to get an official release in Europe. Released in Japan and the US in 2004, it would be another year before it reached our shores and it was worth the wait. The previous entries may have been set in traditional spooky setting - a ghost ship and a haunted mansion - but Beyond relocates us to outer space. The Moon to be specific.

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KING OF DEMONS (MAJYUUOU)

The Super Nintendo - or indeed any Nintendo console - isn't exactly known to bring on the scares. Sure Castlevania was a thing but it was hardly a nightmare inducing experience. To get a more petrifying play, you have to look to Japan who actually had a fair few titles for an older audience, much more than the West that's for sure. The King of Demons (known natively as Majyuuou) is one of them. And you can play it in English too thanks to a fan-made translation by Aeon Genesis.

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GAHAN WILSON'S ULTIMATE HAUNTED HOUSE

Gahan Wilson's The Ultimate Haunted House, released in 1994, is a surprisingly fun kid's game from the mind of a surprisingly adult cartoonist. Wilson's work, which often includes such macabre topics as murder, dismemberment and cannibalism, were featured in the likes of Playboy and The New Yorker. Let's see how this strange psyche can be translated for a younger audience...

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DARK SEED

Nothing gives you an unnerving sense of unease quite like a piece of art by H.R. Giger. He's one of the reasons (if not the reason) why the Alien franchise has scared generations, as well as elevating Species from a schlocky b-movie to a nightmare-inducing guilty pleasure. In 1992 Cyberdreams took his large portfolio of art, gave it a story and used it as the driving force to create their first adventure game; Dark Seed.

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ALIEN INCIDENT

If you have an Uncle who is also a scientist, don't ever visit his house. At least that's what adventure game logic has always taught me. His contraption will almost always bring forth the possibility of a cataclysmic event that only your teenage mind can fix. Add a stormy Halloween night into the mix (like Housemarque's 1996 adventure, Alien Incident), and your almost guaranteed to bear witness to some strange things.

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CARNEVIL

October is upon us so get ready for a hoard of frothing gaming goodness escaping from the darkest depths of the Chamber. The first to maul its way out is Midway's 1998 arcade gem, CarnEvil, a horror themed light gun shooter that's sadly never had an official home conversion.

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