Horror games work better when you’re at some kind of experiential remove. The fixed camera angles in classic Resident Evil. The amount of time that the xenomorph is off-screen in Alien Isolation. Even Half-Life’s muddy, warping textures. They create a kind of uncanny gulf, a gap between the player and the game that can only be filled with imagination. Monsters are scarier when you know they’re there, but you can’t see them. If the details are obscured so you can’t tell precisely what something looks like, you fill in the blanks with the worst things your mind can conjure. Inspired by RE4, Dead Space, and one of the best games of 2022, Signalis, Scarlet Lake is an upcoming Steam horror with a stylish, isometric perspective that adds to the terror, and you can try it right now.
You are Ben Murphy, a detective who gets a letter from his missing wife telling him to come to the eponymous Scarlet Lake. On arrival, your partner is shot and you discover the entire town has been quarantined due to a biological hazard – imagine James Sunderland arriving on board the Ishimura. At its core, this is a survival horror game in the most traditional sense. Explore areas at your will, solve puzzles, scavenge for ammunition, and make the choice whether to stand and fight or flee from monstrous enemies.
What sets Scarlet Lake apart is its crisp, CRPG-esque visual style. There are some good monster designs here, too (and some grotesquely detailed body physics), but mainly Scarlet Lake stands apart thanks to its combination of old-school and contemporary aesthetics. It plays fluidly and the environments are fastidiously detailed, but narrow your eyes and this could be an up-close version of Fallout.
And it just got a new demo. If you want to try Scarlet Lake for yourself, just head here. We’re still waiting on a launch date, but if you liked Crow Country, Hollowbody, and Signalis, Scarlet Lake could be your next horror hit.
Otherwise, try some of the best survival games, or maybe check out the best upcoming PC games on their way to you in the near future.
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