As a fleeting moment of being frightened can feel like a lifetime, many survival horror games tend to only be around six to eight hours long, but other developers choose to design horrors much shorter, with the hopes of shocking and impressing players. They stand by the logic of keeping it short and leaving a lasting impression, rather than outstaying their welcome.
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On the other hand, there are many horror games that can take tens of hours to fully play through, prolonging gamers’ terror and displeasure as they turn each corridor of a haunted house or scramble for the way out of a forest. Whether successful or not, here are the five shortest and the five longest survival horror games.
10Shortest: Blair Witch
This adaptation of one of the most low-budget but horrifying movies of all time,The Blair Witch Project, may come as no surprise that it’s one of the shortest survival horror games on consoles, as the majority of the game is trying not to trip over branches in forests.
The game might clock in at just five hours, and that’s for casual gamers, but the game packs in more than enough jump scares, perhapstoo many.
9Longest: The Evil Within
With a game-time of 37 hours,The Evil Withinis one of the longest games to play with the lights off. It isranked as the scariest game on the PS4, and as it was developed by theResident Evilcreator, it comes as no surprise.
However, unlikeResident Evil, The Evil Withinfocuses more on psychological horror, a laSilent Hill, as opposed to physical beasts. As it has some of the most disturbing images ever rendered in a game, it may take the faint-hearted even longer than 37 hours.
8Shortest: Outlast
Outlastis a game that could be completed in one evening long playthrough, but what makes this game so short (and scary) is that players are completely helpless and most of what happens on screen are completelyout of the player’s control.
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Though there are tonnes of enemies in the game world, the player is unable to engage in a fight and players are forced to explore the world, staying out of harm’s way. Though there is a significant lack of combat compared toThe Last Of Us,Outlastwas named as one of the fewzombie horrors better than the AAA game.
Though this Valve developed survival horror isn’t quite as long as it’s predecessor, Left 4 Dead 2is still one of the longest horror videogames, totaling around 40 hours to fully complete.
And as if that wasn’t enough content for a game that will leave you pale white after just two hours, it is reported that the game will be getting a content update, and that’s after laying dormant for a full decade!
6Shortest: Resident Evil: Survivor
Survivor,one of the earliestResident Evilgames, and the first that was in the perspective of first-person is the shortestResident Evilgame and one of the shortest survival horror games of all time. However, Capcom changed the gameplay to suit the game’s length, and the result was two hours full of fun.
Being more of an arcade game,Survivorused the PlayStation light-gun to shoot at enemies on-screen, similar to an on-rails shooter. Should the gameplay style return to the franchise, it would be embraced with open arms.
5Longest: Resident Evil 6
On the other side of the spectrum is the longest game in theResident Evilfranchise and one of the longest survival horror games in the genre’s history. Coming in at almost 60 hours long, it has been argued that the game isbegging to be adapted into a TV show.
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However, the 60 hours it takes to totally complete the game is easier to stomach than the other games, asResident Evil 6is more of an action game than a survival horror game, something it has been criticized for.
4Shortest: P.T.
Oddly enough,P.T.has been described as one of themost beautiful games of the decade, and the game was hyped to no end, as it was a collaboration between Hideo Kojima and filmmaking auteur, Guillermo Del Toro.
Originally dubbed as a teaser for a mysteriousSilent Hillgame, which was eventually canceled, this two-hour journey is what could have been of theSilent Hillfranchise.
Being one of thebest pandemic themed video gamesin recent years,Left 4 Deadis one of the most refreshing survival horrors with its energetic gameplay, succinctly switching between erratic shootouts and trying not to make any noise.
One playthrough of the game can take as long as 70 hours, and there are a slew of different game modes too, making the game replayable able as hell.
2Shortest: One Late Night
There’s nothing more horrifying than working nine to five in an office, andOne Late Nightups the ante of laborious and menial paperwork by turning the IKEA furniture stuffed workplace into a theatre of horror.
Easily the shortest survival horror game, clocking in at just one hour long,One Late Night is an indie game that is so immersive and relatable, as opposed to just another zombie apocalypse.
1Longest: Bloodborne
From the genius developers behindDark Souls, the intentionally cryptic creators released the very longest survival horror game there has ever been, which is undoubtedlyBloodborne.
No other survival horror game has even come close, as the epic takes more than 75 hours to play through just once. The world ofBloodborneis so huge and expansive that there have been countlessfan theoriesthat, after having your mind warped from playing a survival horror for 70+ hours, will actually start to make sense.
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