After releasing the first three draws of the movie side of the Nightmare Deck, my attention went to how I would begin the videogame side of the mission. The biggest concern I had was on how to tackle the practicality of how to conduct drawings for videogames in general. As you can surely surmise, it is much easier to review a lot of movies than it is videogames. I can literally watch forty-five movies in the time it took me to finish my first original playthrough of Dark Souls. Thereby, I had to ask myself whether I wanted to have drawings be a “Nightmare Deck” or a sort-of hybrid half / half with the Nightmare Deck and the Black Deck (as in, generalized videogames and horror / horror adjacent videogames in harmony without a divide. It would certainly make each drawing happen faster, after all. In the end, I decided ‘fuck it’ and that I would start sharing the draws with you as they are in progression. This means that you can probably expect the second draw in the the videogame Nightmare Deck to take a couple years before it is finished.
Thankfully, I had enough reviews in the chamber to start things off with a fully completed first draw. The reviews date all the way back to 2014, so I hope you will be considerate and pay mind to when they were originally written. Sometimes in the 2014 and 2015 era (and a little after that), I could be a little bit cruder than I’d like to admit. Nowadays, I try to always be thoughtful and considerate with everything I say and write nothing about a product that I wouldn’t say to the actual people who made that product. Unfortunately, that policy doesn’t always extend to my older reviews. Likewise, sometimes I may miss the mark or not at length about certain things I probably should have. This is just a consequence of having written these reviews for as long as I have. Sometimes, it was a hobby and I didn’t take it seriously. Sometimes, I wanted it to be a career and I could come off a little too try-hard. Other times, I meander a little too much for comfort. At any rate, since I shot my entire load of videogames in one-go, the deck-in-progress will be exclusively new reviews. Worked out pretty smoothly.
This initial draw is actually a great microcosm of my videogame tastes displayed in front of you.
- Specifically, the Souls-like sub-genre is crazy represented. From the moment I was introduced to Demon’s Souls in 2014, I have been on a Souls-like kick that is, more or less, going as strongly now as it was then. FromSoftware nearly dominates the first draw in the videogame Nightmare Deck. I can still remember how absolutely enthralled I was in Demon’s Souls and the first Dark Souls when I first experienced them nearly a decade ago. Since then, I went back to Demon’s Souls remake and didn’t enjoy it as much as I did then. Still, I don’t want to stop it from getting its flowers, because I did absolutely love it then and I definitely think it is worthy of making the cut. I have also went back and played Dark Souls with the remaster, and honestly, it remains, by far, my favorite Souls-like videogame ever created. I poured one-hundred hours into my first playthrough and I felt like I was able to come back to it and immediately rediscover all the things I loved about it in my second playthrough. The original not only deserves to make the cut, but is one of the most invested I have ever been in a videogame. Dark Souls III also barely makes the cut. I loved Dark Souls III and all the quality-of-life tweaks and all the ways it kept the bonfires lit. Even if it wasn’t as good as the original, I really loved it. I haven’t done a review of Dark Souls II, but I don’t think it would make the cut (I know a lot of people don’t like the sequel, and while I certainly like it a lot, I think it would likely fall as my least favorite in the trilogy). Finally, Elden Ring tops the first draw of the Nightmare Deck. It isn’t my favorite Souls-like, but I think it is the best Souls-like that I have ever played. In total, FromSoftware was able to add four videogames to the final deck.
- Other Souls-likes that are represented include Nioh, Mortal Shell, and Hellpoint. A lot of people call Let It Die a Souls-like, but I don’t personally think it fits the sub-genre. Of the three, Nioh was the best, but both Mortal Shell and Hellpoint had something to offer. Furthermore, I am more hopeful of a Mortal Shell or Hellpoint follow-up than I am with what Ninja Theory has done since with Nioh sequel and spiritual successors. Personally, I am not huge on the games that pull from Sekiro (maybe I will play it again, but it wasn’t for me).
- Naughty Dog is represented with The Last of Us and The Last of Us: Part II, both of which, I thoroughly enjoyed. Although I know Last of Us 2 isn’t without its naysayers, I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it to be a marked improvement over the original. I will agree, however, that I wish Naughty Dog would offer some love to its other titles like Jak & Daxter and Uncharted.
- Evil Empire and Motion Twin both receive some love for Dead Cells. I consider it to be the God almighty of Rogue-likes, and I personally consider it one of my favorite videogames of all-time. The base game is fantastic, but, through the considerable DLC, Dead Cells truly stands as one of my favorite experiences. As someone who loves Prince of Persia with a passion, you can imagine how I am excited about Evil Empire developing a rogue-like Prince of Persia. Meanwhile, I am also exciting for what’s next for Motion Twin.
- Castlevania is represented. Ironically, I didn’t review a single side scroller. There is an entire sub-genre called Metroidvania, named after Castlevania games, and I reviewed four Castlevania’s, without reviewing a single one. I will, eventually. I own all of the Castlevania’s, and I have more than a handful of the side-scrollers already under my belt. I am hoping to go through and review the Castlevania Advance Collection someday soon. I have them on the Nintendo Switch, which I don’t particularly like to dust off (it is more my wife’s Animal Crossing device). When I start the Shin Megami Tensei games, I imagine that I will burn through all the Advance games back-to-back-to-back. For now, I reviewed the Lords of Shadows games, and two titles released on PlayStation 2. For what it’s worth, it isn’t a bad heap of titles. I loved the first Lords of Shadow and have played it several times over. It may not exactly deserve as high a score as I have given it, but I have too much love for it for it not to make the cut. Meanwhile, Lords of Shadow 2 brought out such a strong, visceral reaction from me. Really didn’t care for it.
- Capcom is crazy represented. Five damn videogames. Most of them, of course, were Resident Evil. Of them, only Resident Evil 2 makes it into the final deck, and, frankly, it is an apprehensive addition. I really, really like the production values of the Resident Evil 2 remake, as well as the atmosphere and puzzle-solving, but I don’t love Mr. X and his stalking as much as many others do. I liked it enough that it makes the cut, and I still really like it overall though. The rest of Capcom is a mixed-bag. I really liked Resident Evil: Revelations 2, and part of me even liked it enough for it to make the cut, but the episodic nature and the tacked on multiplayer makes me think I need to reinspect it at a later date. I feel like, around that time, after Resident Evil 6 and before 7, Resident Evil fans were seeing things with tinted-glasses, feasting whatever horror bits we could find. Meanwhile, I didn’t like Operation Raccoon City. No one did, so I don’t really have much to say about it. Even to this day, Capcom will release an Operation Raccoon City caliber videogame no one plays and then, it just disappears. I liked Resident Evil: The Director’s Cut (that was the original PS1 port, not the Anniversary edition remaster), but I consider it a rather basic entry in the franchise. I liked Devil May Cry a lot. I really didn’t like Devil May Cry 2. Where it stands, we will be seeing a lot more of Capcom in the next drawing, for sure. I still have the rest of the Resident Evil videogames to review. The remake of Resident Evil 4 will be the first one I look at. After that, it will be up to what Capcom decides to release next. I also intend to replay and review 7 and 8 one of these days. Likewise, I eventually plan to review all the the Devil May Cry games.
- Tango Gameworks makes the cut with The Evil Within. It was a flawed, but incredibly ambitious videogame, and one I love a lot. I know some people prefer The Evil Within 2, but I don’t find myself among them. I personally loved the first and have beaten it three times and am lukewarm on the sequel, which I beaten twice. Unfortunately, Tango Gameworks has been shutdown, meaning the odds of a sequel are slim to none. I am sorry to see it. Their videogame Hi-Fi Rush was also very fun.
- Blasphemous and Condemned: Criminal Origins also both make the cut. Both of them were dark horses in this, but I decided to shoot them through. I had so much fun with Condemned: Criminal Origins and I would kill for a remake and some way to continue with a third videogame (the second Condemned isn’t as good, however). Blasphemous was a lot of fun. I actually sort of did an interview with the developers when it was first released. I say sort of, because I emailed them asking for an interview and they emailed me an interview back. Like, … they sent me a transcript of an interview. The transcript doesn’t pop up anyplace else on the internet, so, from where I can tell, it was an original interview they sent me. Weird, but fair enough. At any rate, Blasphemous has a second installment that I will definitely play and review when I have the chance to.
- Bloober Team starts its journey with Layers of Fear. A lot of people don’t like Bloober Team. Like, a lot of people don’t like Bloober Team. I have reviewed Layers of Fear, but I liked it well enough. It is a generic horror story, but it was effective and well made. I feel like every horror writer at some point writes the story of the artist consumed by their art. I know I did it. This is theirs. I need to play Layers of Fear 2 one of these days. I also own The Medium, but I have been putting it off. I need to re-beat the Blair Witch videogame before I can do a review, but, … I liked it too. So far, I liked them. I know their real test will be when their remake of Silent Hill 2 comes out later this year.
- Speaking of Silent Hill, I logged reviews of Silent Hill: Homecoming, Downpour, and Origins. All three reviews are fairly mixed. I kind-of, sort-of came away with a hopeful undertone for all three of them, but they aren’t without their shortcomings, especially Origins. I would recommend Homecoming and Downpour, and I don’t think they deserve to be cast off as bad Silent Hill games like they are. They feel like a 2000’s style horror film, akin to an early James Wan film. Which is … not great, but they aren’t without a certain memorable charm to them. I have played through the original Silent Hill trilogy already once, but I will certainly do it again one of these days if a port becomes accessible. For now, the next stop for Silent Hill will be when I review Silent Hill 2 and the new Welcome to Silent Hill film. I also look forward to Silent Hill f and anything else they cook up.
- Grasshopper Manufacture is represented in the form of Let It Die, Deathverse, and Lollipop Chainsaw. Lollipop Chainsaw is the best of the three, but I spent a gargantuan amount of time on Let It Die and Deathverse. They aren’t the most consistent developers, but I do look forward to their output. They don’t have the high standard of Atlus (whose Persona 3: Portal is in this list, but will also be represented shortly with Persona 4, 5, Catherine, and the Shin Megami games), but they have a similar sense of humor that I dig. I will check out their remasters of Shadows of the Damned and Lollipop Chainsaw when they are released and log reviews when I do. I have always wanted to play their No More Heroes videogames, but I found the game-play of the first so jarring when I started it on the Switch that I never went back to it.
1.) Elden Ring – review originally written in 2021 (4.5 out of 5.0)
developed by FromSoftware (4)
2.) Dark Souls – review originally written in 2014 (4.5 out of 5.0)
developed by FromSoftware (4)
3.) The Last of Us: Part II – review originally written in 2020 (4.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Naughty Dog (2)
4.) The Last of Us – review originally written in 2014 (4.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Naughty Dog (2)
5.) Dead Cells – review originally written in 2020 (4.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Evil Empire / Motion Twin (1,1)
6.) Castlevania: Lords of Shadow – review originally written in 2014 (4.3 out of 5.0)
developed by MercurySteam and Kojima Productions (2,1)
7.) BioShock – review originally written in 2014 (4.2 out of 5.0)
developed by Irrational Games (1)
8.) Dark Souls III – review originally written in 2018 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by FromSoftware (4)
9.) The Evil Within – review originally written in 2014 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Tango Gameworks (1)
10.) Demon’s Souls – review originally written in 2014 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by FromSoftware (4)
11.) Resident Evil 2 – review originally written in 2021 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Capcom (5)
12.) Blasphemous – review originally written in 2020 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by The Game Kitchen (1)
13.) Condemned: Criminal Origins – review originally written in 2014 (4.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Monolith Productions (1)
14.) Devil May Cry – review originally written in 2022 (3.7 out of 5.0)
developed by Capcom (5)
15.) Dead Space (remake) – review originally written in 2022 (3.6 out of 5.0)
developed by Visceral Games (1)
16.) Nioh – review originally written in 2021 (3.6 out of 5.0)
developed by Team Ninja (1)
17.) Heavy Rain – review originally written in 2014 (3.6 out of 5.0)
developed by Quantic Dream (2)
18.) Persona 3 Portable – review originally written in 2022 (3.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Atlus (1)
19.) Resident Evil: Revelations 2 – review originally written in 2015 (3.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Capcom (5)
20.) Twisted Metal (PS3) – review originally written in 2014 (3.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Eat Sleep Play (1)
21.) Curse of the Dead Gods – review originally written in 2021 (3.2 out of 5.0)
developed by Passtech Games (1)
22.) Alien: Isolation – review originally written in 2015 (3.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Creative Assembly (1)
23.) Resident Evil: The Director’s Cut – review originally written in 2014 (3.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Capcom (5)
24.) Castlevania: Curse of Darkness – review originally written in 2014 (3.3 out of 5.0)
developed by Konami (2)
25.) Outlast – review originally written in 2014 (3.1 out of 5.0)
developed by Red Barrel (1)
26.) Lollipop Chainsaw – review originally written in 2014 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Grasshopper Manufacture (3)
27.) Layers of Fear – review originally written in 2019 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Bloober Team (1)
28.) MediEvil – review originally written in 2019 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by SCE Cambridge Studio/Other Ocean Interactive (1,1)
29.) Mortal Shell – review originally written in 2020 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Cold Symmetry (1)
30.) Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc – review originally written in 2022 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Spike (1)
31.) Saw: The Video Game – review originally written in 2014 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Zombie Studios (1)
32.) Deathverse: Let It Die – review originally written in 2022 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Grasshopper / SUPERTRICK GAMES (3,1)
33.) Castlevania: Lords of Shadow II – review originally written in 2014 (3.0 out of 5.0)
developed by MercurySteam (2)
34.) Tormented Souls – review originally written in 2023 (2.8 out of 5.0)
developed by Dual Effect and Abstract Digital (1,1)
35.) Silent Hill: Homecoming – review originally written in 2014 (2.7 out of 5.0)
developed by Double Helix Games (1)
36.) Indigo Prophecy – review originally written in 2014 (2.6 out of 5.0)
developed by Quantic Dream (2)
37.) Clive Barker’s Jericho – review originally written in 2014 (2.6 out of 5.0)
developed by Codemasters (1)
38.) Hellpoint – review originally written in 2020 (2.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Cradle Games (1)
39.) Let It Die – review originally written in 2021 (2.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Grasshopper Manufacture (3)
40.) Castlevania: Lament of Innocence – review originally written in 2014 (2.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Konami (2)
41.) Cold Fear – review originally written in 2014 (2.4 out of 5.0)
developed by Darkworks (1)
42.) BloodRayne – review originally written in 2014 (2.2 out of 5.0)
developed by Terminal Reality (1)
43.) INJECTION Π23 ‘NO NAME, NO NUMBER’ – review originally written in 2020 (2.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Abramelin Games (1)
44.) Agony – review originally written in 2023 (2.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Madmind Studios (2)
45.) Fatal Frame – review originally written in 2021 (2.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Tecmo (1)
46.) Welcome to Hanwell – review originally written in 2020 (2.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Steel Arts Software (1)
47.) Silent Hill Origins – review originally written in 2014 (1.8 out of 5.0)
developed by Climax Studios (1)
48.) Spawn: Armageddon – review originally written in 2015 (1.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Point of View (1)
49.) Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City – review originally written in 2015 (1.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Slant Six Games and Capcom (1,5)
50.) Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper – review originally writtenin 2014 (1.5 out of 5.0)
developed by Frogwares (1)
51.) Devil May Cry 2 – review originally written in 2022 (1.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Capcom (5)
52.) Succubus – review originally written in 2023 (1.0 out of 5.0)
developed by Madmind Studios (2)
GIPHY App Key not set. Please check settings