Best Horror Games With a Fixed Camera Angle

Key Takeaways

• Indie games, like Tormented Souls, have revived fixed camera angles, paying homage to classic horror games.
• Classic horror games like Resident Evil Remake effectively used fixed camera angles to build tension and hide horrors.
• Alone in the Dark predates Resident Evil and played a significant role in shaping the survival horror genre.

Horror video games have come a long way since the dawn of consoles. Nowadays, there are so many different ways to enjoy horror, from first-person psychological experiences to great horror third-person shooters. But before all of that, horror games were often from the perspective of a fixed camera angle from which players would view their protagonist (depending on where the developers placed the camera), intentionally limiting the player’s vision as a way to draw on their fear.

With the fixed camera angle, developers can dedicate more console power to make the game look better, since they don’t have to render more than what the static camera can see, sometimes opting to use pre-rendered backgrounds to create a stronger sense of immersion. As horror games evolved, this fixed perspective faded out, at least for a while, but it has since made a comeback in recent years thanks to indie games. The horror genre owes a lot to these games for how impactful they are and for the legacy they left.

8 Alone In The Dark

A Genre’s Genesis

While it may look silly rather than scary by today’s standards, the original Alone in the Dark was one of the first games to use the fixed camera angle, predating Resident Evil by four years — and possibly inspiring it. It even has two playable protagonists, tank controls, and is set in a spooky mansion.

In fact, much of the survival horror genre owes at least some of its legacy to Alone In The Dark. The game is widely considered to be one of the first 3D horror games and has many of the genre staples, such as puzzles, inventory management, and, of course, fixed camera angles. Its impact on the genre is legendary, and there have been many follow-ups to the original game (for better or worse).

7 Dino Crisis

Clever Girls

While it’s certainly not Capcom’s flagship horror franchise, Dino Crisis is remembered fondly. Trading slow-moving zombies for a range of deadly and persistent prehistoric predators, the game puts the player in the shoes of Regina as she discovers what went wrong at a research facility — and why it happened.

It has everything expected from the genre: tense chases, thrilling boss fights, and careful inventory management, all wrapped in a fun B-movie story with multiple endings. It has that unique charm and quality expected from a Capcom game during this era.

6 Who’s Lila?

If Mario 64’s Title Screen Was A Video Game

Opting for a completely different approach, Who’s Liladoes away with the traditional enemies and monsters and goes for one of the most unique approaches to social mechanics. Multiple characters must be talked to throughout the game, but instead of selecting one of multiple dialogue options, players manipulate the facial expressions of the protagonist to determine their response. The facial expressions alone can lead to the uncanny valley.

Players who have not yet mastered this system can give the wrong response to somebody, leading to one of the game’s many different endings. The dreamlike presentation, camera angles, and David Lynch-esque story (one full of mystery and weirdness) create one of the most memorable horror games in recent years.

5 Tormented Souls

A New Take On Classic Survival Horror

Kidnapped protagonist Caroline Walker awakens in a mansion where she must combat horrific enemies and challenging puzzles to fight her way out. Tormented Souls is a love letter to the fixed camera angle horror genre, but that doesn’t mean it’s lacking its own identity.

Many puzzles are difficult, even for the most seasoned experts, but in a way that feels satisfying to solve. The game goes one step further by having the player traverse between two different realities to solve some of the puzzles, something rarely explored in the genre.

4 Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Butterfly

Frames The Horror Genre Perfectly

Taking away the gun and forcing the players to get up close and personal with a camera is Fatal Frame 2: Crimson Buterrfly’s (and the franchise’s) central mechanic — and its greatest strength. While the perspective typically uses fixed camera angles for exploration, the game changes to first-person perspective when combating the game’s ghosts using the camera. The closer the ghost, the more damage having their picture taken will do.

While many other games focus more on Western horror (zombies and monsters), Fatal Frame 2 opts for more supernatural Japanese horror such as vengeful spirits, haunted villages, and failed rituals. The second installment only ups the ante and builds on the horror of the first game. Fans of films like The Ring or The Grudge will find themselves right at home.

3 Signalis

Do Androids Dream Of More Than Electric Sheep?

Delving into Sci-fi horror, SIGNALIS is set in a future where humanity has managed to colonize the solar system. Naturally, this will have the player trading the typical scary mansion for an alien planet, and their flesh-and-bone human protagonist for an android. This means plenty of variety in what players will explore, from a crashed derelict ship to seemingly abandoned mines, all with unique head-scratching puzzles and nightmarish enemies.

Despite having a fixed camera, the game will occasionally switch to a first-person perspective for short exploration sequences, giving the game some nuance and variety, setting it apart from its contemporaries. These sequences (and other cutscenes and notes throughout the game) give context to the game’s dreamlike story that will have players thinking for hours after the credits role.

2 Silent Hill 2 (2001)

It’s So Foggy Here…

While the 2024 remake has certainly made waves with a change in perspective and its new endings, the original Silent Hill 2 is something special. While most fixed camera games use this technique to make the games scarier and tense, Silent Hill uses it to make the game feel otherworldly and mysterious, like the player is detached from reality itself. The foggy and empty town that the protagonist, James Sunderland, wanders through only adds to the atmosphere.

The game is widely renowned for its storytelling, answering enough questions to leave any player satisfied with the outcome, and it gives enough context clues through its environmental designs that more curious players can (and have) spent countless hours theorizing what everything means.

1 Resident Evil (2002)

And What A Mansion It Was

While the 1996 original was revolutionary for the time, the 2002 remake of Resident Evil is the superior version and the start of the games being remade. Originally released on the GameCube (before being ported to every capable system from 2015 onwards), the Resident Evil ​​​​​​remake not only has impressive graphics that still stand up against more modern, more graphically demanding games, but it also has a list of additions and changes that enhance the original.

There’s new voice acting, replacing the cheesy delivery from the original, along with new items and changes to the environment that keep veterans of the original on their toes. It also introduces the terrifying Crimson Heads, zombies previously killed by the player that come back to life stronger — unless the player uses a precious resource to burn them. It’s perhaps the most effective game at using fixed camera angles, hiding various monstrosities around corners and making the player listen for sound cues to detect them.