Either way, without further ado, allow me to name six personal horror favorites that also happen to be the 2s of their respective franchises – and in case you missed any of them, well… now you know what to play for Halloween this year.
Silent Hill 2
“In my restless dreams, I see that town. Silent Hill.”
We’re starting this list off with a bang, because Silent Hill 2 is not only a fantastic sequel to a good game, it also happens to be my personal pick for greatest horror game of all time. Silent Hill 2 remains a standalone story in the franchise: it breaks away from Harry Mason’s story established in the original (and sort of continued in Silent Hill 3), and introduces James Sunderland as its protagonist – a man drawn back to the city of Silent Hill by a letter he had just received from Mary, his wife. The problem? Well, Mary has been dead for years. Nonetheless, James sets out on a seemingly pointless quest, determined to find his beloved in the misty town of Silent Hill.
Silent Hill 2 is a terrific example of its genre – poignant and disturbing, it encapsulates everything that a good psychological horror game should be. It is, in a word, a masterpiece.
Resident Evil 2
Bigger, better, and scarier – Resident Evil 2 took what worked in the 1996 original and elevated it to new heights. The game knew that the mansion exploration of the first Resident Evil remained a memorable aspect to many, and thus added its own “mansion” segment in the form of the Raccoon City Police Department. With two protagonists and two different storylines to play through, a number of terrifying new enemies and surprises in store (hi, Lickers), Resident Evil 2 established itself as one of the greats of the survival horror genre.
In 2015, Capcom revealed that a Resident Evil 2 remake was in the works.
System Shock 2
“Look at you, hacker – a pathetic creature of meat and bone, panting and sweating as you run through my corridors. How can you challenge a perfect, immortal machine?”
When it comes to sci-fi survival horror, System Shock 2 is hard to beat – it is a game that made us afraid of creepy, abandoned space ships roughly a decade before the first Dead Space ever hit store shelves. In the game, you find yourself on the desolate Von Braun spaceship, and the more you explore, the more apparent it becomes that something went extremely wrong on board. With its haunting atmosphere and story, genuinely disturbing monsters, complex levels to explore and a truly memorable villain in the form of the rogue artificial intelligence SHODAN, System Shock 2 is up there with the original Deus Ex as an esteemed member of the FPS/RPG hybrid hall of fame.
Dead Space 2
Now, I personally enjoyed the first Dead Space just fine, and it is a respectable game in the genre, but to me, it was in Dead Space 2 where the series truly shined, improving on the prequel on almost all fronts, with a more varied set of locations, plenty of memorable moments and an overall more satisfying combat system. Still, if you wish to jump into the series, do absolutely play the first one as well – it’s more than worth a playthrough, and may even be somewhat spookier at parts.
Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly
Fatal Frame, also known as Project Zero in Europe – the game where you literally need to face your fears in order to succeed. After all, the franchise is largely based around the concept of a supernatural camera that can exorcize ghosts, but in order to do so, you must take a good snapshot of them. Preferably from up close. You know, just before they lunge at you. The bottom line is this: if you’re into Japanese horror in the vein of The Ring or The Grudge, Fatal Frame 2 is one solid horror title to play.
Penumbra: Black Plague
“If we are lucky, then by the time you receive this, I will be dead. If fate frowns, we all perish.”
Though it doesn’t have an actual “2” in the title, Penumbra: Black Plague – made by Frictional Games, the team that would later go on to create Amnesia: The Dark Descent – is nonetheless the second installment of its series, working as a sequel to Penumbra: Overture. In it, our protagonist Philip travels to Greenland in search of Howard, his lost father, and finds something much, much more sinister. Although Overture itself was a fairly atmospheric experience on its own, Black Plague was the game that truly terrified me, to the point where I consider it to be a better game than Amnesia.
So there you have it, that’s our list. Did you like it? See anything you haven’t played yet? Whatever the case may be, do find yourself a spooky game and have a great Halloween.
