Summary
The best parody horror games offer something beyond a cheap laugh. Some games are highly replayable and offer something new with each run. Others pack enough story, character development, or lore for players to keep at it. More introduce innovations or different takes on horror gameplay that make them more than parodies of their genre.
Some may even argue that games likeKiller FrequencyandDoki Doki Literature Clubare not strictly horror parody games. But these games imitate the style of their main inspiration, like 80s slasher horror and visual novels, to a comical effect. They do so while introducing, or before showing, the gameplay twists that made them unique.
Platforms
Baldi’s Basics in Educationaims to teach players the basics of education such as math and spelling. It’s also a horrific trapwhere angering Baldiwill lead to their death. To escape intact, players must collect 7 notebooks around school while dodging Baldi and his friends to get out.
As Basically Games notes on their Itch.io page,Baldi’s Basics in Educationis a sendup to endearingly mediocre 90s edutainment games. There’s zero educational value here save for quizzes players need to get right lest they incur Baldi’s wrath.
2010 (website)
InThe Oregon Trail, dysentery and cholera can end runs in a snap. Not so inThe Organ Trail, where gastrointestinal problems are the least of the player’s problems.Zombie-inflicted organ lossand zombification are the ultimate threats in this Americana trek to Safe Haven.
The Organ Trailchallenges players with balancing supplies and keeping their pack of five and station wagon churning, on top of fighting zombies. Towns will have supplies and trainers to prepare the party for random encounters that can end a party’s run.
Gamers likePowerWash Simulatorfor its relaxing, hypnotic gameplay.Spirit Washingcombines its coziness with visual novel elements for a short, bittersweet experience. Players are tasked to spray off bloodstains andcare for the ghostsin a gory house. The game switches between first- and third-person for cleaning and story snooping.
The game uses the infamous HQ_Residential_House asset, but its music and set dressing lend it a comfy aura.Spirit Washing’s quick pace keeps it charming too, and lends a feeling of tragedy to the ghosts.
Microsoft Windows
Gordon O’Brian’s a grouch whose anti-social tendencies may soon get him sacked from his repairman job. His last hope takes him to an abandoned studio broadcasting the supposedly defunct puppet showThe Friendly Neighborhoodagain. He soon finds out that the studio isn’t abandoned, and the puppets are definitely, horrifically, in working condition.
My Friendly Neighborhoodhas depth despite its horror parody premise. Gordon needs to manage his supply in true survival horror fashion and decide when to fight puppets or leave. The plot also turns its initial thesis on its head, giving the player an incentive to learn the real reason whyThe Friendly Neighborhoodwent back on air.
The House of the Dead (THOTD)is campy on its own thanks to its over-the-top voice acting and rule-of-fun style gameplay. SpinoffOverkillamps up the campiness to B-movie levels with corny one-liners, inexact locations, and hilariously gory setups.
The Typing of the Dead: Overkillmarries the absurdity ofOverkillwithThe Typing of the Dead, a typing game spin-off with the exact story ofTHOTD. It’s the sillier version of an already ridiculous game, thoughits typing mechanicpresents a different kind of challenge from developing light gun reflexes.
Shadows Over Loathingshunts the player into the dreary Ocean City after their Uncle Murray sent out for them. Uncle Murray’s nowhere to be found, but the artifacts at his antique shop thrusts the player toward a sinister apocalyptic plot.
As the eldritch noir successor to the comedy WesternWest of Loathing,Shadows Over Loathingserves more of the same humor in the stick figureturn-based RPG. This time, instead of Westerns, it lovingly lambasts tropes in cosmic horror and noir mysteries, while deepening combat and quest/side quest integration.
Slayaway Campis a loving send-up to 80s slasher movies with an adorable serial killer in Skullface. The killer must calculate the optimal number of moves to slay victims on a voxel isometric map filled with traps and killer implements. Players can unlock killers to replace Skullface, though changes are purely cosmetic.
Slayaway Camphas a sequel calledSlayaway Camp: Free 2 Slay. Instead of a single camp, Skullface slaughters acrosslegally distinct movie parodies. Killers now have special powers and access to new killing implements such as rolling boulders and pressure plates.
Two things stand in Spooky’s way of being recognized as a frightening evil spirit: her cuteness and the player. The player slowly realizes this as they navigateSpooky’s Jump Scare Mansionand survive the child ghost’s cohort of evil ghouls.
Aside from parodying jumpscare-based horror games,Spooky’salso built a fun narrative and world around the scant lore provided in the base game.Karimari HospitalandThe Doll Housetie together the base game’s scattered lore and turn gameplay away from puzzles to survival horror lite.
Doki Doki Literature Club (DDLC)follows the charming attempt of four high school girls and the player to establish their school’s literature club. In another game, they would have succeeded, and love would’ve bloomed between the player and a lit club member. But this isDDLC, a title where describing too much would give the game away.
DDLCblew up in popularity in 2017 for its refreshing take on dating sims but was dismissed by some for allegedly relying on shock horror. YetDDLCendures for having good character writing and thought-provoking existential horror for a visual novel parody. The game’s subversions also work precisely because its first act perfectlysets up expectationsfor a typical visual novel.
DJ Forrest Nash and producer Peggy already have their plates full running The Scream, a floundering radio show on station 189.16. Things get worse when they’re forced to juggle 911 calls from local townsfolk hunted by the serial killer, The Whistling Man. With police out of town to call for backup, Nash and Peggy must uncover the real identity of the town’s boogeyman.
Killer Frequencychallenges players to solve riddles, gather clues, and find useful materials to help callers survive The Whistling Man. Every choice matters in this 1987-set slasher thriller, and one character’s death may spell doom for another. Fans of 80s slasher movies may find their knowledge of movie tropes helpful, but can also trick them into making a fatal decision.
