Well, let’s unpack this, shall we? The ‘first true horror game’ question can be a tricky one, especially with gaming’s early history full of shadows and almost-horror. You’re right to mention Haunted House on the Atari 2600, which many consider the first game to intentionally embrace horror in a primitive form, albeit a light one. Wandering around in the dark, hunted by creatures in search of a magical urn, was pretty atmospheric for 1982.
But if we’re talking about something that genuinely drips with horror in the way we understand it today, you could argue that the answer lies with the early text-based adventure, The Lurking Horror (1987). It didn’t need much in the way of visuals—just descriptions of things like the creepy hallways of G.U.E. Tech and that ever-so-polite yet unnerving darkness lurking in every room. It brought psychological horror to gaming in a way no visuals could have achieved back then.
Now, if you’ll allow me to throw a curveball, there’s also Sweet Home on the NES (1989), based on a Japanese horror film. It introduced the inventory management, limited health, and relentless enemies we’d later see perfected in Resident Evil. This one was genuinely frightening because of its limited resources and harsh consequences, so it’s certainly a strong contender for the first ‘true’ horror game.
As for the first horror game I played? That honour goes to Alone in the Dark (1992). I remember the Lovecraftian dread as I navigated Edward Carnby through Derceto Mansion, with its eerie silence and something dreadful always waiting just out of sight. It was one of those early games where the atmosphere actually got under your skin, not just the visuals.
In the end, maybe it’s fair to say there’s no definitive ‘first’ horror game, only several contenders, each contributing something essential to the genre’s development. But Haunted House, The Lurking Horror, and Sweet Home certainly laid down the foundation. Horror gaming had to start somewhere, after all, and it’s been evolving ever since.
