Horror games like to use every tool in their toolbox to terrify you. Some horror games aremasters at using tense music to build dread, while others know how to makecombat just clunky enough that every encounter feels like a fight for survival. However, the most underappreciated trick horror devs like to employ is using inventories and menus to add tension.
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Some horror game inventories are slow and cumbersome, meaning as a zombie chases you down, you’ll find yourself fumbling with your weapons like a real final girl. In contrast, other horror games make their inventory systems so involved that they practically become satisfying mini-games themselves.
10The Last Of Us
It’s rare that a survival-horror game will make its inventory fast and easy to use, butThe Last of Usdoes just that to great effect. It does this with a crafting menu where Joel can take a knee, and it can quickly show you resources and how much tape, nails, etc. will be used making a bomb or modifying a bat. Better yet you speedily craft certain items without having to open the full menu by just tabbing over traps in your weapon select.
This is an inventory system that keeps combat moving and allows you to quickly take a knee, while the enemies stay moving. However, this system really comes into its own in the first game’s multiplayer mode. Here, real players won’t give you the time to slowly tab through menus so a quick-to-use inventory is vital to keeping matches competitive.
9DayZ
DayZ’s system can be found at the other end of the spectrum of convenient UIs. The thing that makes it so good is that it is kind of a pain to use. Items will go into your backpack as you pick them up, but in order to equip them you will have to open up an in-depth interface and drag and drop attachments onto weapons or clothing onto your character.
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This sounds like an inconvenience, and it really is, but it laid the foundation for games like Escape From Tarkov and Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, where opening your inventory is a time-consuming risk. The horror and tension in these multiplayer survival games come from knowing that if another player comes around the corner while you are fiddling with your gear, then you’re most likely done for. In these games, itisthe menu that makes playing them scary at times.
8Stalker: Call Of Pripyat
Everything in the Stalker games is overwhelming, the world-building, the factions, and the lack of a modern HUD. However, one of the most overwhelming aspects of the series is its inventories. Imagine if a developer looked at Tarkov’s inventory, and said, “what if we made this even more awkward?”
This is definitely a love-it-or-hate-it design decision to add to the game’s uncomfortable atmosphere where literally nothing in the world is easy or simple. So much so that many PC fans have taken to modding in a streamlined system. But if you ask us the clutter just adds to the tension.
7Silent Hill 2
Silent Hill’scarousel inventory might bring to mind games like Hitman and the original Tomb Raider series, but it actually serves a great thematic purpose. Slowly paging through items, one by one, really does bring to mind James Sunderland palming through the few possessions he has left to his name as he enters the titular town.
What’s more, the way the game makes innocuous collectables like a picture of James' wife take up an inventory slot the same as any other item or weapon, really helps lend importance to these items. It’s not just another collectable or note on the floor, it’s something James has ensured he has room for and values alongside his weapons. However, like any other item in this game, you may drop it, and leave it behind.
Despite having no traditional HUD,Dead Spacedoes a great job at making sure you know how much health you have with a vitality bar on your neck. To add to this all of your menus are presented as projections that Isaac can seethanks to his cool helmet.
The inventory follows suit being visualised only by his visor. And while the original game’s inventory is perfectly manageable (if somewhat limiting), the remake does a great job at making it a little easier to navigate. Better yet, the projection in that game takes up less of Issac’s field of view, so you might not get surprised by necromorphs quite as often.
5The Callisto Protocol
The Callisto Protocoldidn’t live up to the expectations many had for it. However, this spiritual successor does nail one thing and that’s its unforgiving inventory.It’s very similar in concept to Dead Space, in that it is also an augmented reality projection, but it’s much more limited for the first half of the game.
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This is because Josh Duhamel’s space trucker has been stripped of his spacesuit and is only wearing a prison jumpsuit, which we doubt has many pockets. While this might be a major frustration for the first few hours of the game, there are very few moments as satisfying as when you finally get to put on the game’s industrial exosuit and your inventory grows exponentially. This system might be harsh, but it epitomises the struggle and reward that make survival horror games so fun.
4ZombiU
Speaking of things that didn’t get much right: the Wii U. That might be a bit harsh on Nintendo’s predecessor to the Switch, but that console had a lot of problems. So too did Ubisoft’s launch title, ZombiU. However, looking back on it now,it’s hard not to think of it as a game that arrived too soon.
A tough-as-nails survival roguelike set in zombie-infested London sounds like a blast, but sadly, the game was too clunky for its own good. One thing that worked amazingly though was its unique inventory system that actually utilised the Wii U’s gamepad. You could only sort your backpack on this second screen which meant taking your eyes off the action, and any potential lurking undead. The tension this created is the highlight of this oft-forgotten game.
3Resident Evil 2 Remake
Resident Evil 2’s remake made a lot of changes to update theclassic story of Claire, Leon, and a very bad night in Raccoon City. However, while the remade flashy graphics and bombastic set pieces being brought into the modern age might have grabbed all the headlines, some of the best changes were the most subtle ones.
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These include the game’s incredible map that does an incredible job at highlighting what rooms you have picked over for goods. However, the smartest changes came in the inventory, which is basically a reworked version of Resident Evil 7’s system. It’s smart, it’s simple, and it’s easy to use, but it still does a great job at limiting how much you can take with you during each stage of the game, even as you slowly upgrade it.
2Signalis
If Resident Evil 2 embodies a survival horror game nailing the pace at which it doles out inventory upgrades to you, so that you slowly feel more powerful, thenSignalisis a game that would much rather just punch you in the gut while you’re down. In Signalis you can never upgrade past six item slots.
Six slots to share all your guns, ammo, keys, repair spray, and anything else you might need. It’s brutal. Moreover, if you drop anything from your inventory it disappears. That means you can’t place ammo on the ground, pick up a repair spray, heal up, and then re-grab your ammo. Is it harsh? Yes. Does it make the game feel like a gritty and horrific tale of survival? Most certainly.
1Resident Evil 4
It really couldn’t have been any other system. From the visual image of Leon lugging his holiday suitcase around with him as he slays ganados, to just how damn fun playing Tetris with a grenade launcher, shotgun shells, and suspect herbs, the attache case is iconic.
It may not be as limiting as other systems but that suits perfectly withResident Evil 4’s tone. This game is less survival-horror and more action-comedy-horror, and that’s why a suitcase full of eggs is perfect for this game.
