Haunted House

Haunted House was released by Atari in 1982 and is today considered one of the very first horror-tinged video games in the history of the medium. The player controls only a pair of glowing eyes moving through a dark, haunted mansion full of rooms, searches dark chambers, collects a key, a candle, and a broken urn that must be pieced together, all while avoiding spiders, bats, and a ghostly specter lurking silently in the dark around every corner. Most screens are shrouded in thick darkness, and the player sees only a small circle of light around their character, or a larger one after picking up the candle - an unusual and, for its time, bold design choice for the Atari 2600.

It is precisely this handling of darkness and deliberately limited visibility that makes Haunted House an atmospheric experience, one that differs markedly from the colorful, clearly visible action titles of the era full of vivid colors. Sound effects - creaking doors, footsteps, sudden sounds of approaching enemies, or a ghost's howl - replace the missing music and heighten the sense of tension and uncertainty with every further step through the house's dark corridors, where the player never feels entirely safe.

At the time of release the game caught attention precisely for its unusual approach to horror on limited hardware, and it is still cited today as one of the direct forebears of the entire survival horror genre, long before that term had even settled into the game industry and before horror games became a category of their own. Even with very simple graphics and simple mechanics, Haunted House still retains to this day the ability to send a chill down the spine, mainly thanks to clever use of sound and darkness rather than any graphical detail or effects. Many retro players still recommend it today as proof that tension can be built without a single drop of blood on screen, through nothing more than play with shadows and the silence of an empty house, something game creators reached for as inspiration for a whole generation afterward.

Why play it: Anyone wanting to experience the roots of survival horror built purely on sound and darkness without a single drop of blood will appreciate Haunted House as proof that tension can be conjured even on very modest hardware.