In addition to nerding out about Alaska’s political world, I’m also a big nerd about video games — I know, who would have guessed? But unless you have a subscription to the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner, you probably haven’t seen much of my nerdery. But thanks to The Alaska Current, I have a new platform for The Great Indoors, my bi-weekly column about all things dorky (mostly, but not always, video games).
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not a huge fan of horror in my video games. I already get spooked in the dark of my own home, and it’s not totally unusual to hear me bounding up the stairs two steps at a time at night.
So that’s why, if I must play a spooky game, I prefer to do so with friends.
In The Great Indoors’ debut on The Alaska Current, let’s take a look at three multiplayer “horror” games that break the tension with a heavy dose of goofiness and unique twists on the formula. While they all can definitely give you a good spook, they’ll just as frequently be making you and your friends laugh at just how ridiculous they get.
R.E.P.O.
The latest in a growing line of spooky multiplayer extraction games, “R.E.P.O.” strikes the perfect balance of goofy slapstick and creepy atmosphere, making playing with friends special. You and a crew of up to three other players are tasked with exploring abandoned locations – each touching on tropes like mansions and abandoned polar science stations – and repossessing everything of value. Each mission will have a monetary value you need to hit before you can hit the road, where you can upgrade your character between missions.
What makes it really unique is its physics-based interaction system with objects. Instead of the typical mechanics of just holding onto an item with your hands, you use a tool that grabs onto an item and levitates it off the ground. You can rotate the item and get a hand from friends for the really heavy stuff, but also, everything is breakable. That vase might be worth $7,000, but if you knock it around too much, it’ll be worth nothing.
The physics-based system can take a little getting used to, but once you get a feel for navigating around large objects, it’s a lot of fun and makes for a satisfying loop that will keep you playing late.
$9.99, PC
The Headliners
Leaning more into the aliens and kaiju, “The Headliners” puts you in the shoes of a band of hapless — and ethically questionable — photojournalists deployed into a city where the aliens or giant, Godzilla-like monsters are breaking loose. Armed with cameras, it’s your job to document the action with extra points for mayhem, explosions and in-frame monsters. Unfortunately, the monsters don’t respect your press badges, so you’re always at risk of getting chased down by a spine-toothed alien, ambushed by a sewer monster or swooped up by a mothman.
Each round in the field plays out over a 10-minute timer before the helicopter — your only chance to escape — takes off. The action escalates from a quiet and eerie night, where the sounds of the action seem far off, to all-out chaos as the monsters emerge and clash with the odd band of roaming troops. It all makes for some great moments and better pictures, narrowly escaping as bombs explode and cars are hurled into the air by a skyscraper-tall skeletal monster.
You can also break plenty of journalistic norms by getting in on the action yourself, by setting traps for monsters or luring hapless survivors into danger so you can get the perfect picture. There are also bonus points for capturing a picture of yourself or a fellow photographer in peril. Extra points if you’re dancing.
$7.99, PC
Gone Fishing
A relatively new entry into the multiplayer horror genre, “Gone Fishing” is a co-op multiplayer survival horror game centered on fishing. Set around a collection of inexplicably deep lakes filled with an inexplicably diverse amount of fish – and sometimes more – your job is to catch enough fish every day to keep an otherworldly beast fed or else you’ll become its next meal.
At its core, “Gone Fishing” is a surprisingly nice little fishing simulator. You’ll catch bait, upgrade your fishing gear and hike around the lakes to find the perfect spot to cast your line. Locations and times of day will each yield different results, encouraging you to explore – and wait, was that someone watching me from the bushes?
Anyway, you’ll catch everything from trout and sturgeon to goblin sharks and… is that a mermaid? And why does that fish have legs? And why is it chasing me?!?
“Gone Fishing” may still need a bit of polish, but its jankiness also lends itself to the overall unnerving atmosphere that surrounds an otherwise solid fishing game.
$11.99, PC