ROGUE-LIKE
METROIDVANIA
RPGS
VISUAL NOVELS
RHYTHM
While we are currently deep into the month of horror, spooky games are fun to play all year round. You do not need it to be October to invest your time into scary games. If you are just looking for something new to try, or something different to tickle your gaming bone then read on for the best spooky games on the portable powerhouse, and a few which you should not waste your time or money on.
THE USUAL
Resident Evil
Do you want to know a secret? Almost every PSone classic game is playable on the Vita. No hacking required, and they cost about $5 each. Crash Bandicoot? You got it! Tomb Raider? Absolutely! Croc: Legend of the Gobbos? Uhhh … moving on. Yes, that means you dear reader can play Silent Hill and the original 3 Resident Evil games on your Vita today. The first Resident Evil really chilled my bones with its the literal fear that at any moment you are gonna make a huge error and lose all your progress. That is a legitimate, physical fear. An actual horror. Resident Evil Revelations 2 is also available on Vita for a more modern 3rd person shooter take on the classic series and you can buy a Japanese physical copy which has full English support. Huzzah!
The Walking Dead
I mentioned Telltale’s other fare The Wolf Among Us in my VN recommendations, but when it comes to fear, The Walking Dead is far more gruesome. What is great about The Walking Dead is that it explores horror in two different ways. Firstly, of course there is your standard zombie story, with guts and gore and horrific images that stick with you (anyone who made it to the milk farm know EXACTLY what I am talking about) but there is the other fear. The fear that you will make the wrong decision, that a character you have come to love will die as a result of your choices. In the end of course, the story always has to wrap up the same way so that the sequel is coherent. Yet, that extra life you can give some of your favourite characters can always mean a lot. Available digitally, physically in the West and the Japanese version has full English.
Yomawari
This is actually the first game I recommend to EVERYONE when they ask about horror games on Vita. The way you can only see yokai when your light shines on them, how you sense their presence with your increasing heartbeat, the juxtaposition of cute and creepy. Everything just works together in the two amazing Yomawari games. The lack of music makes the games so intense and the atmosphere is absolutely butt clenching. If you already know and have played the Yomawari games then I fully recommend Nippon Ichi’s other great creepy cute games, htoL#NiQ, A Rose in the Twillight and The Liar Princess and the Blind Prince all of which give similar creepy cute vibes with terrifying undertones. All must plays. All available physically.
THE UNUSUAL
The House in Fata Morgana
This is one of the most achingly beautiful stories I have ever experienced. Everything from the artwork, the music and the outstanding writing is pure perfection. It tells the story of a man who wakes up remembering nothing of his past in an abandoned mansion and all the people who lived with him there before. To reveal more would spoil the experience and as a visual novel I know it is not for everyone. However, if you are willing to give it a try I could not be more supportive. There are no jump-scares here, no sense that your game will be destroyed but the subtle sense of foreboding settles deep within you long after the game reaches its conclusion. Available physically and digitally.
Night Trap
We are all friends here right? So you will not judge me too hard if I admit to you that I LOVE Night Trap. So yes, it is far more camp than scary, and the ‘gameplay’ is far more keeping diligent notes of when and where all the ‘vampires’ (read: men dressed in bin bags) will appear, but the fun is in exploring the house, finding all the secret cut scenes. Playing it over and over until you have the whole terrible slasher movie memorised and then playing it until you have the whole thing perfect. Play Night Trap for a part of gaming history. Understand the moral panic and outrage it caused and laugh at it. Learn to love FMV. This one is also available digitally and physically.
7’s Carlet
Romance and horror are two genres which blend together too frequently for my liking. Whether it is discovering your long lost pen pal in Root Letter, trying to break free of the nightmare in Psychedelia of the Black Butterfly, or escaping the Danganronpa-esque death game in Sweet Fuse: At Your Side, so many romance games play over a terrifying back story. Here I have chosen to showcase 7’s Carlet as a girl Ichiko Hanamaki goes to a small tourist town with the hopes of discovering what happened to her missing brother. Truly I recommend all of these games, but I chose Ichiko’s story as it is one of the few that truly stuck with me, and yet it is one that few have spoken about. A story worth discovering if you are into romance or not. Available physically and digitally.
OTHER RECOMMENDATIONS
Death Mark/ NG – I highlighted this already in my VN list but these are possibly the best horror games on the Vita. With a background of myths and fairytales respectively be ready to get terrified.
Darkest Dungeon – Again highlighted under rogue-likes, Darkest Dungeon instills physical fear as your characters you have worked hard on can be taken from you in an instant.
Limbo – Is a beautifully written representation of a child’s nightmare with excellent platforming tied in. If you have not played this classic yet, then you owe it to yourself to give it a try.
Corpse Party – I was not a big fan of Corpse Party it is clunky to the point of frustrating on Vita but it has enough of a following that I felt it was worth mentioning. Ghosts chase you around an abandoned nightmare school.
Lone Survivor/ Claire/ Home – These are shorter indie spooky titles which I have not played yet but have only heard good things. Home is by the fabulous Benjamin Rivers who made Alone with You which is a straight up banger.
Parasite Eve – Another PSone classic which I sadly have not played but have only heard brilliant things about. A kind of classic horror RPG.
The Count Lucanor – A short and sweet horror adventure game which I have heard is a pretty fun experience and plenty of others have recommended to me.
And ones to avoid …
Sadly horror appears to be the genre which has the biggest flops on Vita. Night Cry is massively broken, The Long Reach suffers from performance issues as well as being poorly written, Sense: A Cyberpunk Ghost Story has a game-breaking bug which halts progression, and while I believe it works smoothly I have not once heard a good thing about Silent Hill: Book of Memories.
Vita Paradisa 
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