31 Days of Horror Games: Lone Survivor

In celebration of Halloween, we’re counting down the days with some of the greatest horror games ever made -- 31 of our favorites! Every day, we’ll take a look back at a horror game that gave us goosebumps, made our controllers tremble, and chased us out of our living rooms. Long live the horror game! And make sure to check out our full list of 31 Great Horror Games To Play In October!

If you look at all of the latest and greatest horror games in the 2010s, it won’t be long before you notice an emerging trend: a growing number of them are coming to us from independent developers. For some reason, the classic staples of horror games seem to go hand in hand with the low-fi, retro styling that are all the rage with indie devs these days. Lone Survivor from Superflat Games and designer Jasper Byrne is one such game, taking inspiration from established horror franchises like Silent Hilland reworking their elements into a simple, yet seriously complex indie trick-or-treat.

At its core, Lone Survivor is a sidescrolling 2D survival horror game, complete with an intricate inventory system used to solve environmental puzzles, and the occasional combat (or stealth, if you prefer) segment with creatures that lurk in the night. You play as a man referred to as “You,” who walks around a dilapidated apartment complex in the wake of an unspecified apocalypse. “You” also wears a surgical mask around his face at all times, which is just one of the many small but extremely eerie details that work to give this game its profound and frightening sense of identity.

Lone Survivor features a heavily pixelated, yet equally atmospheric art style, which really adds to that unique look and feel. Besides slinking past monsters in the shadows or directly engaging them with your limited arsenal, you’ll also have to keep track of the more basic aspects of survival: such as eating and getting enough sleep. Food and sleep play a crucial role in Lone Survivor, and there are a lot of delicious (and not so delicious) items you can scrounge up or even cook to keep “You” going strong through this 2D vista of the apocalypse.

Even stronger than Lone Survivor’s atmosphere is the game’s bleak and dreary story, which is full of ambiguity, frayed ends, and hallucinatory moments, thanks to the colorful pills that “You” can take for some nighttime meetings with the mysterious “Director.”

The game also has a very bizarre sense of humor that can be seen in certain places, like the plant named Chuck or “You’s” random monologues with a Cat Plush toy, and are not too far off from Silent Hill’s notorious U.F.O. endings.

While Lone Survivor’s actual horror moments are more on the subtler side of the genre, the game speaks wonders on the topic of atmosphere, and is a must-play if you’re a fan of indie games with a spooky twist. I just wonder how “You” eats that squid on a stick and irradiated oranges with that mask in the way?

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