Article by Contributing Writer Mario Mergola.

The video game medium is unlike any other due to one distinct difference – interactivity. Gamers not only have direct input on the action unfolding onscreen, but a good game will leave them feeling immersed in the development of the plot and its direction. This level of interactivity was the reason horror games have been so successful throughout the years.

The Safe One: Are You Afraid of the Dark? The Tale of Orpheo’s Curse by Viacom

The Tale of Orpheo’s Curse unfolded like an episode of Nickelodeon’s hit television series Are You Afraid of the Dark?, told as a “scary story around a campfire”. Orpheo’s Curse was the tale of a failed magician still seeking a partner to complete his act, with the gamer as the perfect candidate. The game took place in Orpheo’s Palace and players explored the haunted theater utilizing a first person, point-and-click control style.

The palace itself provided a perfect setting for danger, but what qualified this game as one of the scariest were the video cutscenes. Performed by actual actors from the television show, the cutscenes were presented identically to the program’s marquee style, keeping every gamer on edge as they explored the wax museum, cemetery, and catwalk. The Tale of Orpheo’s Curse was an impressive display of a scary video game which successfully contains no actual violence.

The Dark: Dead Space by Electronic Arts

Dead Space was created with only one emotion in mind: panic. Applying the most popular scare tactics in claustrophobia, loneliness, and -naturally- darkness, Dead Space wielded exceptional graphics to create one of the most dark and threatening settings ever presented in gaming.

Isaac Clarke was an engineer who became eerily isolated in an alien-ridden spaceship. Utilizing weapons suitable to his lifestyle as an engineer, Isaac’s repair mission swiftly escalates into one of survival. Dead Space pushes the survival-horror genre to new limits as Isaac’s linear path forces gamers to simply press onward or turn off the game.

F.E.A.R. First Encounter Assault Recon by Vivendi

F.E.A.R. makes no secret about its intentions. An assault team was formed to deal with paranormal threats and the gamer assumes the position of “Point Man”. The game wholly surrounds the concept of paranormal activity and utilizes a “creepy young girl with long hair” scare tactic to perfection.

Because frights lie in waiting around every corner, the gamer was constantly provided the feeling of being haunted. This paranoia was a deliberate action set forth by the creators of F.E.A.R. and proves that not all horror games have to rely solely on enemies jumping out of nowhere.

The Bloody: Doom by id Software

The grandfather of first-person shooters, Doom was the original science fiction bloodbath. The unnamed protagonist of Doom was pitted with only one goal and one option: to survive.

With little plot and dozens of weapons, Doom focused its entire attention to gameplay, and this simplistic style allowed players to do nothing but grab weapons and let loose on the hordes of enemies found at every turn. It was in this way that Doom has created such an eternal appeal.

Aliens Versus Predator by Sierra

Based on the franchises of Alien and Predator, Aliens Versus Predator allowed gamers to play as either of the rival species or as a human Colonial Marine. Each had its own missions and abilities, and the game was played via independent campaigns.

Aliens Versus Predator was a first-person shooter, and although the general nature of a survival horror game was at the core of a game’s fear factor, AvP gained some appeal for its technical limitations. While most games provide the player some type of indication that an enemy was near, AvP’s enemies approached their victim in silence, making the discovery of an enemy a heart-stopping experience.

The Creepy: Silent Hill 2 by Konami

Set in the same terrifying town as its predecessor, Silent Hill 2 was the prototypical horror game. The protagonist, James Sunderland, entered Silent Hill in search of his wife, Mary, who had died years earlier. The game was played in third-person perspective, but rather than follow the character from behind, fixed camera angles gave an interesting viewpoint to the game.

The plot itself was truly bone chilling, and the unsettling surroundings ensured that players were never too comfortable while playing. Additionally, much of the game was experienced with little lighting; consequently, there was always the feeling that an enemy was too close for comfort.

Fatal Frame 2 by Tecmo

Fatal Frame 2 was the unnerving story of twin sisters who entered a mysterious village that had supposedly vanished. Upon entering the town, they began to fall under the town’s curse, and start to relive the horrific fate that befell the community.

The main gameplay element of Fatal Frame 2 came in the form of a mystical camera which allowed the girls to take pictures of the spirits currently inhabiting the town. Photographing a ghost was the sisters’ best weapon, as a properly-taken picture would eliminate a spirit. Additionally, the game rewarded players who allowed ghosts in close proximity, since more damage was done for a “clearer picture”. Consequently, the success in Fatal Frame 2 was entirely based on the gamer’s will to withstand the fear of imminent attacks.

The Innovators: System Shock 2 by Electronic Arts

As the predecessor to 2007’s hit Bioshock, System Shock and System Shock 2 are often referenced as two of the most influential games to the first-person shooter-slash-survival horror genre.

System Shock 2 employed the tactics of the emptiness of space and the suspense of survival – an idea which Dead Space would later imitate The game took place on a futuristic spacecraft which eventually became infested with alien eggs, leaving the player alone to unravel the mysteries of the aliens through exploration and paranormal encounters.

Resident Evil by Capcom

The Resident Evil series was the most critically-acclaimed and significant franchises to the survival horror genre. Many of the elements that horror games employ today are direct descendants of those created in Resident Evil. Furthermore, the game was filled with objects that people typically fear most – zombies, spiders, and ravaging dogs, to name a few.

Resident Evil was one of the first games to utilize fixed camera angles, forcing the player into an unenviable position. This allowed the creators to determine the most effective scare tactics in a particular situation, and as a result, the player would instructively venture into a trap. In fact, thanks to Resident Evil, no gamer could ever walk through a long hallway feeling safe again.

The Psycho-Thriller: Eternal Darkness: Sanity’s Requiem by Nintendo

Eternal Darkness was more than just a scary video game; rather, it was a calculated assault on one’s ability to remain calm and steadfast throughout the entire experience. The story of Eternal Darkness chronicles twelve characters who encounter a mysterious book entitled “The Tome of Eternal Darkness.” During the game, each character’s story was told respective to his or her time period.

The genius of Eternal Darkness lies in the gameplay. Throughout the game, if a player caught a glimpse of an unsettling sight, the sanity meter would begin to drain. Eventually, when the player’s “sanity” became too low, psychological effects emanated, including blood seeping from the walls and books flying from library shelves. At its finest moments, the “insanity” was not merely constricted to the game, as Eternal Darkness actually played tricks on the gamer. The game could mysteriously mute the television or appear to change video inputs. At the epitome of fear, Eternal Darkness would occasionally display a gamer’s worst nightmare: “memory card error”.