The 20 Best Commodore 64 Horror Games
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- čas přidán 19. 06. 2024
- Hey whatsup guys OSG here and with Halloween fast approaching I think its only fair to do a 20 Best Commodore 64 Horror games. Obviously these were days before we got the true horror games of Resident evil and silent hill so horror on the C64 involves a lot of imagination and most the games in this list are in for having horror elements like killing, ghosts, mummies etc. or having an overall eerie atmosphere
Anyway here is what I would say are the 20 best Commodore 64 Horror games in order of greatness
Games in this video :-
Nosferatu the Vampyre @ 00:41
Stryker in the Crypts of Trogan @ 01:16
Infernal Runner @ 01:51
Aliens @ 02:26
Werewolves of London @ 03:01
Beyond the Forbidden Forest @ 03:36
Cauldron II: The Pumpkin Strikes Back @ 04:05
Ghouls'n'Ghosts @ 04:39
Castle of Terror @ 05:16
Forbidden Forest @ 05:51
Uninvited @ 06:26
Guns 'n' Ghosts @ 07:01
The Castles of Doctor Creep @ 07:36
Mad Doctor @ 08:11
Elvira - Mistress of the Dark @ 08:46
Elvira II - The Jaws of Cerberus @ 09:21
Ghosts'n Goblins (Arcade) @ 09:55
The Shadow Over Hawksmill @ 10:30
Project Firestart @ 11:05
Maniac Mansion @ 11:42
Please remember to like this video and subscribe to my channel for more great retro content - Hry
Kudoes for showing “Elvira II” as the fifth scariest horror game, but showing footage of an empty road. Chilling. But nowhere near as scary as hearing this guy try to say, “Elvira.”
It always surprised me for years that Project Firestart got completely overlooked when people spoke about early survival horror games as most people didn't even know of it's existence until it started getting mentioned online years later and because there were no other versions made. It was also probably the best Aliens game for ages without the licence.
I was fortunate enough to have bought Project Firestart as a teenager. Scared the bejeezus out of me and always attracted an audience when fired up.
I never owned it but I had the Zzap issue that reviewed it so I was aware of it and how unknown it is.
"Rescue on Fractulus" used to give me legitimate scares as a kid (and it's not even a horror game). Flying through those mountains was scary enough, but finally landing to pick up a civilian, only for it to pop up on-screen as a deformed alien punching the windscreen, was NOT what 7 year old me signed up for.
I always liked Frankenstein, if i remember correctly you were a hunchback collecting body parts for Dr Frankenstein so he could build his monster. had a really creepy soundtrack
Great list as always mate. A little known game is The Rats; very underrated imho. The adventure elements are played in real time, and scared the crap out of me!
I know it's text only, but for those with a good imagination, Lurking Horror, by Infocom is the best horror game! I played through it again on my C64 just 2 years ago!!!
Great list. Ghosts n' Goblins original still is a good horror game for me. That game's soundtrack will always be spooky.
I consider myself a C64 fan but I regret to admit I haven't played any of those games apart from Forbidden Forest and G&G (1986 version), I'll be checking some out, that The Shadow Over Hawksmill looks good. Yeah Xyphoe was playing Project Firestart the other night, I'd never seen it before, top game. Maniac Mansion at no1, good call! I played it on Amiga, that C64 version looks class. Great list m8, Happy Halloween :)
Yeah mate that hawksmill is a beautiful game . Will be checking more of that out
I can't believe both Elvira games got ported to C64. That must have been so late in the C64 lifespan. They must be mega rare and come on loads of disks. I would also imagine (a bit like 'Uninvited') that they would be cumbersome to play without a mouse just using the joystick to drag the cursor around. I had Elvira 1 on ST and then played Elvira 2 years later on DOS as part of the 'Horrorsoft' pack which also had 'Waxworks' on it.
Agreed! I had a C64 and then later the Atari STE and I completely missed that Elvira was ported to the C64! Rather amazing that they could pull that off! Wow!
@Rika Tomoe I can imagine!
I guess there were no tape version? :)
Super list OSG. For future consideration can I also suggest Frankenstein Jnr... the lightning effects, the music, the tension, the body parts, the cover art, the unforgettable horror of never being able to find that final key!
Good list. You should try Castle of Doctor creep as a two player game to see the full potential. One of the best Co op games in c64. Although Elvira games are amazing in terms of ambience and technically but, they have a dull gameplay. impossible without walkthrough. Also check zombi from ubisoft that as great ambience (but also dull gameplay). Forbidden forest is also great. Tried to play project firestart but I never got into it (kind of hard to know we're to go and very labyrithic)
Wow loom at the graphics on shadow over hawksmill 👌 Great list and great viewing OSG 👍🏴
Amazing, all that new content is still being released. Nothing beats a game with some good old SID music😁
Playing Beyond the Forbidden Forest back in 87 as a kid was the only game that ever really unnerved me...up until I played Dead Space on PS3 years later: Both Forbidden Forest and Beyond Forbidden Forest are absolute all-time classics, even the blocky graphics somehow add to the drama...
The footage you showed for Aliens didn't seem appropriate for the list, so I decided to check out a video and see what I was missing. I don't know what it's like to actually play, but I was really impressed.
Something about the presentation of the corridor sections and how you move from screen to screen brought Resident Evil to mind. Despite being simplistic they managed to create a really rich atmosphere. I could see navigation being frustrating and I don't really understand how the motion tracker works but I really like the overall approach they took. It really does evoke the source material in a way most movie tie-ins don't.
Good video. I like that you don't waffle. You reminded me to play Forbidden Forest again - it really is a genuinely creepy experience. For me some of the best horror games are the CRL Rod Pike adventures (Dracula, Frankenstein and Wolfman). Frankenstein is probably the best, with real atmosphere and a better parser.
I always forget how much more impressive Forbidden Forest looks in motion since it isn't a game for screen shots. Good on you for having new and old on your list. :)
good video & good list . - My favourites were Gates of Dawn (Virgin), Pandora (Firebird) and Scarabaeus (Ariola) - all kind of creepy in their own right too
I wouldn’t classify Rescue on Fractalus as a horror game but it was really tense and gave me genuine jumps - still does - when waiting for those pilots to get onboard!
Little late but I love horror great video found some new games to add to my collection thanks to you
I’m going to put The Master of Magic in there for pure creepy ambiance, starting with the intro screen of your character peering into a dark cave with a flashlight (with eerily thrilling soundtrack by Rob Hubbard)
A game called Entombed used to freak me out as a kid. The sound the scorpions made when moving ... ugh
Blackwyche was similar and from the same developers. Still haunts me.
Some cool games there, I loved Forbidden Forest back in the day and that would be top of my list. Loved his little dance at the end of a stage. My brother used to play Chiller for hours on end and I enjoyed Ghostbusters immensely but they couldnt really be classed as horror games. First time an Alien popped up at my window in Rescue on Fractulus made me jump
Some great choices on there. I'd make room for Curse of Rabenstein in the top 20 tho - a new(ish) text adventure I played to test out the keyboard on my c64 maxi and ended up being properly creeped out!!
I liked Friday the 13th. It was graphically very uncomplex but had a good cat and mouse feel about it as you tried to work out who Jason was disguised as. Being able to use many different weapons was also a good aspect of the game as you played through all of the characters until you were able to find and destroy Jason Vorhees. There's some nice creepy music and a digitized scream would happen every time one of your friends was eliminated!
Yeah, and sometimes you also got to see a fullscreen horror graphic, like a group of skulls, or a machete severing a head.
The day I played to Friday the 13th fort the first time, it was night and I was playing with the lights out, and seeing one of those screens coupled with the digitized scream scared me and made me jump up and turn on the light.
I was watching this thinking that I should say something if No 1 wasn't on the list. But its No 1, you nailed it OSG
Lol that's yhd best when that happens ... gives you a sense of satisfaction at thd end of the video lol
Attack Of The Killer Phantom Karate Devils should also have been on this list for being utterly horror-ble.. ;) jus kiddin', what a great idea for a video, brilliant stuff, so many games Ive still yet to play.
I enjoyed playing Werewolves of London as it was one of the best games on C64 ! However, Castle master was maybe the greatest horror game on C64. Great list though.
Hi OSG 👋 I really enjoyed that, thank you - i had green eyes for the C64 back in the day, as they say. Looking back through your eyes i see it differently. I admit i was jealous of the graphics and the quality of the games compared to my amstrad 464 but that is from the perspective of a child not yet a man. Many of the games you love are not the pinnacle of graphical miracles. It is nice to appreciate the creativity of the genera without the “brand” loyalty nonsense of the “teenager” - much love to you OSG
The first two places have my agreement! Greetings from an old C64-Fan in Germany
Welcome is this your first time at my channel?
@@oldstylegaming No I have already posted some comments under your videos. I am following your channel since 1 year I think.
thank you so much for all your work
Thank you for watching
Loved playing Forbidden Forrest back in the days.
Some of those are quite eerie! I'm thinking Entombed might be a candidate as well?
I got Werwolves of London for Christmas as a kid. Came packaged with a large poster of the cover art. I liked the game but, as with a lot of games on the c64 at the time, I hadn’t the slightest idea what you had to do to complete it.
Lol loads of games were like that and only through the internet do I learn how to do them Haha
I'm at about number 8 and I hope Scarabaeus is up there...that game scared the shit out of me as a wean.
Edit: BAH
Damn thats not on but ive just checked it out and it looks great. Thats the good thing about these lists i always get good recommendations to play...sorry its not in though but I may actually do a gameplay video on that as it looks good
@@oldstylegaming Yeah! Scarabaeus, good one, very atmospheric :)
@@oldstylegaming yes please
Agreed. Scarabaeus fucked me up as a kid. Just so dark and strange.
Forgot all about Cauldron, loved that sooooooo much
I think one of the creepiest games on C64 is Fist2, with that awesome music, and those dank caves. I remember really liking Aliens though, that was so cinematic for its time.
Some cool games there, nice video.
Maniac Mansipon on #1? Thumbs up!
Edna scared the crap out of me as a kid. :D
Wonderful list osg or should I say creepy list😱
Love playing Ghosts N’ Goblins Awesome game. But Friday the 13th was my go to Horror game👻 Did not know, there were so many versions of Ghosts N’ Goblins for the Commodore 64🤔
I loved Cauldron II as a kid. I didn't make it far and I just went for an explore but the game had a definite atmosphere and it sucked me in. I have bought it again for my CPC and I will give it a try and maybe, just maybe I'll make progress but it's very hard and I'll need to map it and work out how to properly do each room. I'm surprised that there's enough good games to make a list of 20 though, as I thought horror was usually a bad genre for lazy games relying on shock but you've got 20 decent games here OSG.
There were actually more, there were some absolutely cracking text games but they dont really translate into good viewing videos though...but they are very good probably more scary than anything on the list
Especially the fourth monster in Beyond the Forbidden Forest was scary. You barely saw it lurking on the edges of the screen. Then it ate you.
Great list !!
I just wish they would have kept Mark Cooksey's original C64 Ghost n Goblins music for the arcade version.
Or even better, let you choose your favourite.
Yeah like they did with yhd commando arcade where you could still have the Hubbard music
Totally agree on aliens, this version is way better! Love guns n ghosts, gonna do a homebrew video on it. 😂 I knew Elvira would make the list!! Shadow over hawkesmill is superb, I got the cartridge version. I’ve never played project firestrt either, looks great. I love chiller, loadsa nostalgia with that one
i love mad doctor! it was such an atmospheric game back when i had an imagination :P
I didn't play a lot of horror games but Friday the 13th for the C64 comes to mind. Gameplay was pretty bad from what I remember but the jump scares freaked me out really good. :)
Good to see you have Maniac Mansion and Project Firestart on there. I almost thought you forgot them and had my finger hovering above the downvote. I missed The Detective Game, Murder on the Mississippi, and Friday 13th though. Those were damn creepy back then, and I loved them.
Really good video!
What about the foursome of horror text adventures by CRL, Dracula, Jack the Ripper, Frankenstein and Wolfman? They really had a creepy atmosphere and some disturbing static screenshots!
Aaaah ghosts n goblins, classic. Not seen many of the others being a C64 virgin, some great looking games :)
A very good list, I would have also put Caverns of Kafka in it, surely a game with a poor gameplay but it still is the creepiest game ever
You get a like for Project Firestart. Awesome game!
My personal horror favorites from the C64 were Friday the 13th, and definitely A Nightmare on Elm Street. Kreuger could pop out at any time, and things weren't always what they seemed, just like the films. I also remember a sort of alien horror in outer space game that took place on a spaceship, but I can't remember the name of it.
Aliens was the last C64 game I ever bought and ended up probably being my favorite of all the ones I owned.
I sorta miss Nemesis the warlock in this list. Perhaps not really a horror game, but seems fairly comparable to Gun's n ghost (which I haven't played) so could fit in here?
Nemesis had a creepy atmosphere (plus awesome Rob Hubbard soundtrack) and the nastiest power meter for the time.
Also, having dead bodies stack up as a gameplay mechanic was pretty gruesome and clever for the time.
no lack of imagination on the C64, especially when you go around a castle with a bouncy pumpkin, zapping things with magic. :P
Lol :-)
@2:24 Alien has a definite "Master of the lamps" vibe. Even the music is similar.
When I was a child I had a C64 horror game (not listed in this video) which had a vampire walking through rooms in a cave... I can't remember the name, but it was a good one... Does anybody recall this game?
The Jack The Ripper graphical text adventure would be the top of my list. It's gruesome as hell and really engaging.
I've spent the better part of 35 years trying to remember the name of Infernal Runner! All I could remember about it was the sound wave machine that made your head grow larger and larger till it exploded
Really enjoyed that OSG. Plenty of games I forgot there.
Beyond the forbidden Forrest, what other game has atmosphere in the intro like that has?
Yeah it's very 1950's b movie horror atmosphere
The c64 was my first console and I loved every game from the amazing dizzy collection to the grate escape.. but as horror goes there are 3 that should have been in your top 5..
1. Clive barkers nightbreed an amazing atmospheric game and deep story
2. Vampire.. a grate game with a very spooky feel.
3. Ghost hunters. Another grate game that was underestimate. And a bonus one
The rocky horror picture show.. grate soundtrack grate story and just all round grate game 🎮. Could i have a mention in the next video please.. i love the c64 and still play to this day and love watching your videos many thanks ... dave kevan
Maniac Mansion is so well made for the time! I like point and click games like that, Remind me of Monkey Island and Broken Sword
It's a classic mate
I once had & played Forbidden Forest & Beyond the Forbidden Forest... I never did manage to beat either of them. I suck too much at Archery.
I miss Friday the 13th... very horror and freaked me out as a kid.
This list really missed Alien (Argus) and Aliens (UK version - Electric Dreams). Definite horror games on C64! Very unique gameplays. Later is precursor to Space Hulk on 16 bit computers.
The first game I think of when I think of spooky C64 games is Mastertronic's Chiller. To be honest, I'm not really a horror fan, which is why I haven't played too many.
How can you put ALIENS on this list, one of the best C64 games ever, and then only show what was literally the worst part of the game, the drop ship landing? How about the hive escape? Where you have to watch everyones vitals and switch between them while trying to escape? The tension was insane!
I remember a game scaring me as a kid where it was all one main image with text under it. You controlled what direction you walked and had simple options like “look” or “open”. I remember this werewolf in a graveyard scaring me so much )I was like 6) that I can still picture it
Funny how things like that stick with you forever
Haha when i seen this video title i thought this was a list for the worst games ever (horror) as a twist. Great video buddy as always and hey this also reminds me of my extra large
Elvira poster i had up as a kid ;-). Also super nice to see games i never knew about, catch you in the next one buddy :-)
God, these games were the shyte back in the day! Miss those times.
Nightmare on elm street was scary..never knew when Freddy was going to appear and unless you had the time stop character, you were dead.
I'm on an osg binge 😛
Did Bride of Frankenstein come out on the C64? Had the same engine as Werewolves of London.
Yes Bride was on C64, and BOF got re-released by Codemasters as Frankenstein Jnr (with a bit of a GFX change)
@@superduckuk I had that on budget. What a pile of crap it was, even with my then pre-pubescent eyes.
@@Emulous79 Yeah wasn't great but worse games out there for sure.
@Larry yeah but werewolves was better and that only just made it onto the list
@@superduckuk thats right, i almost bought it again until i noticed it was the exact same game
impressive that both elvira games made it to the c64!
I have a guilty pleasure.....Vampire by Codemasters. It was a Speccy port, nothing to write home about technically, and Zzap HATED it. But I always had a soft spot and it was the first platformer I ever completed. Nostalgia forgives a lot 😄
Project Firestart is a tremendous game and still highly playable even today.
Nightbreed and Friday the 13th used to always get me scared
I never had Mad Doctor back then, but I wish I had. Assuming I knew how to play it, I would have loved that game.
Couple others;
Castle Master - One of the 3D Freescape games. Very slow, but you explore a creepy castle and fight ghosts.
Darkland - Surprisingly creepy SEUCK game where you walk along and shoot octopus-like monsters. The twist is that you usually can't see them, except when you shine your flashlight on them.
The Lurking Horror - Infocom text adventure based on the works of HP Lovecraft.
Realm of Impossibility - isometric game where you descend into underground levels, avoid zombies (stick figures) and spiders, drop crosses to trip them up, grab scrolls to use magic against them, find the key and then get back out. Great for 2-player co-op too!
Trolls and Tribulations - Cute little game where you go through sewers avoiding skulls and spiders while collecting treasures. The controls take some getting used to though.
I had the Lurking Horror in but then took it out as although its really really good it's not great for a video... same with RATS game
I'm shocked that Return Of the Phantom isn't on this list!
Ghostbusters!!!
Am I only one who was terrified by Friday the 13th? That, and It came from the desert on Amiga are the only games that have truly scared me 🎃
ICFTD yes was scary..... but Friday the 13th lol
@@oldstylegaming Yeah, don't you remember the ear ripping screams when Jason killed somebody and the flashing picture of a guy with a machete on his head? Still haunts me 😅 and the music...
@@oldstylegaming Friday The 13th has jump scares that pop up randomly and the first time you play it it may shock you, it happened to me.
@@6perkele6 Yeah, I must have experienced it when I was 11 years old, it was late in the evening (night already), and I was alone in the house, and I had the stupid idea to play this for the first time with lights out.
Caverns of Kafka was quite creepy too.
I preferred Beyond the Forbbine Forrest to the first one. Well outside one metric, I feel the first one had greater replayability.
Great list but wheres The Rats? Based on the James Herbert book of the same name. Came out in 1985 if i recall.
I actually had that in with a few more text based games but then took them out as they dont really make good viewing
@@oldstylegaming just watching a stream of it now. Not as good now, but the intro is still fantastic!
Great list, though I really expected Friday the 13th here. That game scared the crap out of me with its haunting music and screams when I was a kid. Gameplay wasn't revolutionary though.
Did you also figure out how to 'resurrect' dead players on that one?
Oh no I didn't know that was possible, I only figured out the very basics of the game. 🙃
Surprised nightmare on elm st didn't make it. Played that game for quite some time. I think it was based on the dream warriors.
Looking through the list of games I remember from my C64 days, Ant Attack and Realms of Impossibility (giant ants, and zombies respectively) would be on my horror list. I would jokingly add that I bought many horrifying games, in terms of their poor quality rather than their intended theme!
Alien was the most creepy game on the whole machine.... Forbidden Forest was also scary.
Commodore 64 was such a mixed bag for gaming. Some of the games looked absolutely stunning, some of them looked like hot dog shit.
Ghosts N Goblins hell yeah!
MadDoctor : how to eat and drink? where the fuck movelist?! HOLD 'fire', and now 'up\down' change comand line, 'right' - to try to do, sometimes i need to answer Y/N by actual YN buttons - my mind is melting
Didn't know Infernal Runner used the music from Sex Games. Or I'd it the other way around?
I thought Cauldron was going to be number one. I don't know how many hours I put into that game. I really enjoyed it but the difficulty level was brutal.
I've always preferred the original Ghosts and Goblins music compared to the remake
Yeah they should have included the option to have the original music like they did with the commando music
no friday the 13th featuring Jason? no Frankie goes to hollywood?
Greetings from down south in Yorkshire 👊
Lol
Honorable mentions: Friday the 13th and Evil Dead.
Hi, how about Friday 13th and Evil Dead?
they were horror games ...but also horrible games, especially the Evil Dead .... i mean apart from the top down plan of the cabin wtf did that game have to do with Evil Dead
@@oldstylegaming The horror of these two was how horrible they were lol :-)
No Eidolon or Scarabaeus? Blasphemy!