Summary
While mosthorror gamesstart at a slow pace so they can ease players into the experience and set the mood and tone, not every title within this genre will decide to follow this trend. There’s a fair number of well-known and high-quality horror games that kick off their adventures by throwing a ton of enemies at the player, forcing them to familiarize themselves with the controls and basics of the game as quickly as possible if they want any chance of surviving.
Having a horror game start at a fast pace allows players to feel immediately immersed in the experience, hooking them in just minutes after they press start. Of course, if this is handled poorly, it can end up making the intro a little annoying, but when a developer manages to nail that first hour, it can be all that’s needed to encourage players to continue until the very end. With that being said, these are some of the very best horror titles for those who like getting into the thick of the action as quickly as possible.
When players load up a new save in the firstAlan Wakegame, they will assume control of the protagonist without any context of the story or even the characters to go off. Instead, the first 10 minutes are dedicated to letting players know the basics of how the gameplay loop works, and more specifically, the importance of using light to fend off the enemies who have been consumed by Darkness.
The beginning of the game sees players dashing towards the lighthouse for safety, taking on a handful of enemies along the way with Alan’s trusty flashlight. Without any idea of what these monstrous freaks even are, and the true danger of the Darkness itself, it results in a pretty chaotic introduction which also works as agood tutorialfor getting used to the game’s baked-in mechanics and systems.
The beginning ofThe Evil Withinseems like a fairly normal day on the job forDetective Sebastian Castellanos, but once he and his comrades enter a mysterious hospital to investigate a crime scene, they are suddenly attacked by a mysterious hooded figure. Once Sebastian wakes up in the gruesome butcher’s factory, players spend the first few minutes of the game being chased by a maniacal chainsaw-wielding monster with not a single weapon to defend themselves with.
With the walls closing in and traps scattered around every corner, this is truly one of the most intense intro sequences of any modern horror game, especially because of how defenseless it makes the player feel. Thankfully, Sebastian does manage to get his hands on a revolver not long after this nightmarish introduction, but it is certainly one that kicks off the game with a bang.
Developers Monolith clearly wanted to ramp up the horror in the sequel to their immensely popularF.E.A.R.game, but there’s still a decent dose of action in here to keep players on their toes. This becomes apparent in the first few minutes, which in the timeline, takes place not long before the ending of the original game, with players assuming control of a Delta squad operative who touches down at Aristide’s penthouse.
Though the building initially seems to be abandoned, it’s not long before enemies start jumping out of the shadows with heavy weaponry to take the player down. Of course, there’s also some prettygrizzly horror imageryscattered throughout this opening level which reminds players that Alma is never too far away.
The firstFatal Framegame doesn’t give players much time to calm their nerves before stepping up against the ghosts that act as the main enemies of the game. In fact, after an intro cutscene that only lasts a few seconds, players find themselves wandering around a large and creepy abandoned temple, which is crawling with ghouls who can only be defeated with the Camera Obscura.
With a static filter covering the entire screen and ghosts walking around in plain view, this entire section feels extremely intense and truly spine-chilling to play through. If anything, it acts as a test of the players' confidence, since if they can’t handle this intro, they’ll have a pretty rough time getting through the rest of the game, consideringit only gets scarier from here.
Though mostSilent Hillgames start with a slow burn, gradually building up to the scares over time, Homecoming does things a little differently. While there is a very brief opportunity to do some exploring once they take control of Alex, it’s only a few minutes before players will be taking on an iconic enemy of the series, the Nurse, who is just as dangerous as they were back inSilent Hill 2.
Because players seemingly enterthe Otherworldpretty much as soon as they start the game, it means that they are tasked with taking on a plethora of Nurses just in the first section alone. It’s a different way to open up this entry in the Iconic survival horror series compared to what came before, and needless to say, it’s a pretty terrifying introduction.
Dead Rising 2wastes no time getting players into the action. Only a few minutes into the story, players are free to take part in the gory game show known as Terror is Reality, where they can cruise around a larger arena on a motorbike that has been equipped with a chainsaw on each end. The goal here is to reach the top of the scoreboard by killing as many zombies as possible, and while it may not be all that scary of an introduction, it’s certainly an exciting gameplay segment to be a part of.
At the same time, it also does a pretty good job of giving players an idea of who Chuck actually is as a character and how he’s willing to do anything to earn some money to keep his daughter safe.Dead Rising 2is one of those games that never lets its foot off the gas, always moving at a pretty fast pace throughout, but the first section is a standout for how sudden and exhilarating it is.
No horror game fan will ever be able to forget the moment they walked up to the front door of theUSG Ishimurain the originalDead Space. Upon setting foot on the giant space station, players get roughly two to three minutes to get accustomed to their surroundings before the grossly mutated Necromorphs make their appearance known.
With freakish monsters bursting through the ceiling and leaping through vents, Isaac has no choice but to make a run for it, separating himself from Kendra and Simmons in the process. The fast pace ofDead Space’s intro does an excellent job of conveying just how dangerous the Necromorphs truly are, alongside the horrific state of the Ishimura itself, which has been completely taken over by the time Isaac arrives.
Resident Evil 4drops players right in the middle of a chaotic bloodbath only five minutes into a playthrough, despite knowing that they are severely unprepared for what they are about to face. After Leon encounters a few infected villagers at the beginning of his rescue mission, he eventually stumbles across a massive horde of weapon-wielding Ganado who are all hell bent on taking him down for good.
This results in one of themost iconic opening levelsin all of gaming, as players are forced to use every last resource they have stashed away to make it out alive, considering the staggering number of enemies that will chase them down. In both the original game and the remake, this is a segment that always gets the heart racing, but it’s especially surprising on that first playthrough, where it can catch the player by surprise when they least expect it.
