Best Horror Games About Finding Your Wife

Video game genres all possess their own tropes and patterns. It is what makes them immediately recognizable and distinct to their respective fans. While players may get tired of the overuse of one particular trope – like developers’ insistence on including watch towers in their open-world games -, without holding onto at least a few of them, these genres wouldn’t feel like home anymore.

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7 Famous Sci-Fi Tropes in Gaming

From megastructures to AI, the sci-fi video gaming genre has several tropes that have risen to fame status over the years for being effective.

One trope that seems to consistently emerge in the horror genre is narratives based around the protagonist looking for their beloved wife. It is a set-up that players can immediately relate with, where they either admire the lengths these characters go for their loved ones, or they question whether or not they’d do the same if they were in a similar position.

Spoiler Warning: Some of the following entries delve into major story plot points.

7

Outlast 2

An Investigator Must Explore A Terrifying Town Full Of Crazed Cultists To Find His Missing Wife

Released

April 25, 2017

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Intense Violence, Blood and Gore, Sexual Content, Nudity, Strong Language

Red Barrels’ Outlast 2 leaves behind its predecessors’ mental asylum full of psychos in favor of a town full of psychos. Players take on the role of Blake Langermann who, with his wife Lynn, is investigating the murder of a pregnant woman referred to only as Jane Doe.

After a helicopter crash, Blake is separated from Lynn and forced to avoid crazed cultists as he braves the town of Temple Gate in search of her. As is custom with the Outlast franchise, players are armed with naught but a camera and a plethora of hiding spots.

6

The Evil Within 2

A Washed Up Detective Takes On A Nightmare Simulation For His Wife And Daughter

Systems

Released

October 13, 2017

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ due to Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Strong Language

The Evil Within 2 is a twofer when it comes to horror protagonists saving their loved ones. In Tanga Gameworks’ second foray into this nightmarish world, Sebastian is given an opportunity to save his previously-thought-dead daughter, Lily, by entering STEM once again.

While in the twisted mental simulation, he discovers that The Watcher, a gloopy monstrosity that appears multiple times across the course of the game, is serving his wife, who had willingly entered STEM to be with Lily. With the reveal, the game’s stakes are doubled as Sebastian resolves to save both of them from the simulation.

5

Signalis

An Android Takes On The Horrors Of Space For Her Lover

Survival Horror

Indie Games

Adventure

Shooter

Released

October 27, 2022

ESRB

m

Yuri Stern and Barbara Wittman, the two-person team behind rose-engine, managed to balance intricate sci-fi world-building with a mind-bending, overlapping story of identity, love, and grief in Signalis, their debut title.

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Horror and tragedy are often intertwined, and these games illustrate that relationship beautifully.

Players assume the role of Elster, an android or Replika, as she travels across the moon of Rotfront – fighting twitching monstrosities and navigating time loop paradoxes – in search of a mysterious woman. Said woman is revealed to be Ariane, Elster’s lover, turning what appeared to just be a psychological horror game into a tragic sapphic love story, too.

4

Alan Wake

A Writer Must Save His Wife From A Haunted Lake

Third-Person Shooter

Survival Horror

Systems

Released

February 16, 2012

ESRB

T for Teen: Blood, Language, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco, Violence

After his wife, Alice, is dragged into Cauldron Lake by a supernatural force, Alan Wake‘s titular protagonist finds himself living the nightmare all writers experience a variation of once or twice. Zombie-like Taken, residents of Bright Falls possessed by an entity called the Dark Presence, attempt to kill Alan as he realizes scattered pages of a manuscript – ostensibly written by him – are changing reality around him. Playing as Alan, players must get to the bottom of the mystery behind Bright Falls all while finding a way to save Alice.

Being thirteen years-old, Alan Wake‘s graphics and gameplay can feel a little dated to gamers unfamiliar with the title, but it’s more than worthwhile to stick it out. If not for the excellent story, then those curious should at least play it in order to have the appropriate context for its superior sequel, Alan Wake 2.

3

Resident Evil 7: Biohazard

An Everyman Takes On Zombies And Louisiana Swamps For His Wife

Released

January 24, 2017

ESRB

M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language

Ethan, the leading man of Capcom’s Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, is so good at looking for his wife that he did it for two games. In his first entry to the franchise, Ethan is lured to the Baker household in the swamps of Louisiana after receiving a cryptic message from his wife, Mia, who had been missing for three years prior.

Once he arrives, he suffers the typical Resident Evil shenanigans, just with a a southern gothic twist, finding himself trapped inside the house and being forced to fight through mold monsters and the infected Bakers themselves. He must also stop occasionally in order to solve elaborate puzzles that likely make players wonder what the architects of the house were thinking when they built it.

2

Siletn Hill 2 (2024)

Facing Inner Demons To Find His Wife

Survival Horror

Horror

Adventure

Action

Systems

Released

October 8, 2024

ESRB

M For Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Language, Sexual Themes, Violence

Silent Hill 2‘s James Sunderland is the original wife guy. He’s not a very good one, as players will come to find out, but when looking back at the origins of the ‘finding your wife trope,’ Silent Hill 2 is one of the titles that popularized it. Players take control of James as he enters the mysterious, fog-ridden town of Silent Hill in search of his wife, Mary Shepard-Sunderland. Along the way, they will face twisted monstrosities conjured from James’ very psyche and encounter a cast of characters each dealing with their own demons.

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10 Best Horror Remakes, Ranked

It’s time to jump back into the horror with these stellar remakes.

Despite fans’ anxieties about Bloober Team’s handling of the franchise, their 2024 remake is arguably the best way to experience the game for the first time. Not only is the original story preserved with stunning visuals, but players can also easily experience James’ story without having to dredge up a Playstation 2.

1

Dead Space (2023)

Cutting Up Monsters To Stich Up A Broken Relationship

Systems

Released

January 27, 2023

ESRB

Rated M for Mature for Blood and Gore, Strong Language, and Intense Violence.

In 2023, Dead Space got the Capcom treatment with Motive’s remake of the sci-fi survival horror classic. Never before have gamers been able to see in such detail the gore of a Necromorph’s crushed head clinging to Isaac’s boot. Speaking of, players assume the role of engineer turned Doom Slayer, Isaac Clarke, as he tries to escape from the monster infested USG Ishimura.

Also on this ship is Isaac’s partner, Nicole, who he had been hoping to mend his relationship with during what was supposed to be a simple job. So between cutting up Necromorphs with repurposed tools, players must work to find Nicole and devise a plan to get off the ship.

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