The best horror game leaves a lasting impression on your psyche without the excessive use of guts and gore - think Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho. A game like House of the Dead had its creepy moments, but the title was really about spattering the screen with as much zombie juice as possible. Often, developers overlook the atmosphere of the game and instead fill the game with enough blood to make even George Romero cringe.

However, as we've learned with games like Sony's Ico, there is a lot that can be done with atmosphere. Indeed, an entire game can be simple, but it is atmosphere that can really make it engrossing. The horrors described herein are games that will chill you to the very bone and may even make sleep without a nightlight and baseball bat at your side nigh impossible. And it's all done with atmosphere.

Fatal Frame And Siren

Tecmo's Fatal Frame series for the Xbox and PlayStation 2 is one of the best games to make use of atmosphere. In these games, the goal is to dispatch spirits to their final resting place with the aid of a camera imbued with mysterious powers. From the get-go, Fatal Frame is extremely tense. In the first iteration, you're cast as Miku Hinusaki, who searches an old mansion following the disappearance of her brother, Mafuyu. Fatal Frame II puts you in the shoes of Mio and Mayu Amakura, twins who have stumbled upon a village that was supposedly lost after a mysterious festival. Both games are cast against a very dim backdrop without a lot of direction. What makes it particularly pulse quickening is the need to utilize the camera to see and dispatch these spirits. At some points, when the camera is pointed at a disturbance, you'll find the ghost is right in front of the lens.

In a similar vein, Sony Computer Entertainment released their atmospheric horror game Siren for the PS2 last year. This title was an attempt to capture a more visceral level of terror. The game's core mechanic surrounds the concept of "sight-jacking," which is essentially seeing things from another's perspective. While it works well in debates, this particular mechanic made the game viable for gamers with a good amount of patience. However, the game begins with the lead character, Kyoya Suda, witnessing a bizarre ritual. Later, it comes to light that the quiet town in which he's seen this ritual is inhabited by "shibito," or undead who desire to convert the rest of humanity to their ways. And as any good storyteller knows, the event preceding all of the town's weirdness was a natural disaster - an earthquake to be specific. The most striking element of Siren's atmosphere is the sense of urgency it elicits from the player. Getting to the exit is your goal. There may be more to it than just finding the exit, but the real burden of Siren is getting there in one piece.