Horror Games With Possession Mechanics

One of the interesting things about video games is that they allow players to inhabit the bodies of other beings. This takes them through myriad experiences with diverse characters, seeing the world from a unique point of view.

Some video games take this a step further by allowing the player-controlled characters to inhabit the bodies of entities or objects within the game itself. Horror games, with their focus on supernatural and science-fiction themes, are ripe for these kinds of experiences. Bearing this in mind, here are some titles that allow gamers to use player characters to take possession of other entities in-game.

9 Beyond: Two Souls

A Psychic Bond With A Powerful Entity

Beyond: Two Souls

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Systems

Released

October 8, 2013

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OpenCritic Rating

Fair

Beyond: Two Souls is the follow-up to Quantic Dream’s narrative adventure game Heavy Rain. This title follows protagonist Jodie, played by Elliot Page, who has a psychic connection with an entity named Aiden.

From a young age, Jodie is subjected to experiments that test her psychic abilities, and she even ends up working for the CIA. In one early stage, she can send Aiden to possess a security guard who is monitoring cameras, and even kill him, if the player so chooses.

8 Dishonored

Help From The Outside

Dishonored sees Corvo Attano, the bodyguard for the royal family of Dunwall, framed for the murder of the Queen and the abduction of her daughter, Emily. This takes Corvo on a quest for revenge against those who wronged him. Along his journey, he joins a resistance group claiming to fight Dunwall’s new totalitarian rule. He also receives supernatural abilities from an extra-dimensional being known as The Outsider.

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One of the abilities Corvo can unlock is possession. This allows him to first control smaller animals, like rats, and eventually progresses to controlling other people. He can use this power to get around guards or sneak into tight spaces, surprising his targets.

7 Inside

Mind Control

Inside follows a young boy through a dark, dystopian, totalitarian city in a 2D puzzle-solving platformer. Employing a restrained use of color, this title creates a tense atmosphere, with implied danger around every corner. Many of the residents have been forcibly subjected to mind control, making them no more than puppets.

The boy will have to use an apparatus placed on his head to manipulate these human drones into solving rudimentary puzzles. These may involve positioning them on platforms or pushing boxes to allow access to high places.

6 Siren

Zombie Vision

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Released

April 20, 2004

Developer(s)

Japan Studio

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Silent Hill fans should take notice of this overlooked survival horror title. Set in the supernatural village of Hanuda, Siren follows multiple characters from different time periods as they explore this remote location and try to survive its zombified residents.

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In order to do this, characters use an ability known as “sightjacking.” This allows them to see through the eyes of their foes, indicating their location and activity in the game world. Sightjacking is essential for avoiding confrontations, as a single hit from an enemy can mean instant death.

5 Murdered: Soul Suspect

Solving His Own Murder

Murdered: Soul Suspect is an appropriately spooky tale, taking place in Salem, MA, known for the infamous Salem Witch Trials. Detective Ronan O’Connor, a former criminal, has just been murdered, and as a ghost, he must find the one who killed him, uncovering the perpetrator’s motives in the process.

Being newly dead, Ronan has new abilities that allow him to dig up information, enhancing his detective skills. One such ability is to jump into the bodies of the living. This allows him to see through their eyes, listen in on their conversations, and influence their behavior.

4 Midnight Ghost Hunt

Don’t Cross The Streams

Midnight Ghost Hunt

Systems

Released

March 31, 2022

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Developer

Vaulted Sky Games

OpenCritic Rating

Strong

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Midnight Ghost Hunt is what would happen if the hide-and-seek video game Prop Hunt merged with Ghostbusters. It is a 4v4 game where a team of ghost hunters must track down and destroy a team of ghosts in spooky locations.

The ghosts can possess multiple objects in the game world, allowing them to utilize their attributes to attack the hunters—or at the very least give them a fright. Such “possessable” objects include stone gargoyles, which allow ghosts to glide briefly, or suits of armor that can be used to strike at foes.

3 Stubbs The Zombie In Rebel Without A Pulse

Using A Helping Hand

In a retro-futuristic city, a body in a nice brown suit and hat is disturbed by radioactive materials. Rising from the grave, the zombie sees a woman on a television and instantly falls for her. To get to her, he will eat anyone and anything that gets in his way.

Being a zombie does have its advantages. One of these is detaching a hand and remotely controlling it as if it were Thing from The Addams Family. Stubbs can then latch the hand onto an unsuspecting human’s head. This acts as an antenna, allowing him to control the human for a short period of time. Some enemies have guns, so they can be possessed and then used to mow down foes until they are terminated themselves.

2 The Possession Experiment

Controlling The Controller Controlling The Controlled

An employee is in a paranormal research lab on lockdown, as entities roam the hallways. Almost everyone is dead. As one of the last few survivors, unable to leave the room he is trapped in, he must use test subjects in the lab in order to escape.

The Possession Experiment advertises itself as a “second-person” game. The character behind the computer is controlled from a first-person perspective. From there, test subjects are controlled via specialized masks, and navigated through the halls of the facility. They are monitored through security cameras, which emulate the fixed camera angles of early Resident Evil games. The dangerous entities can attack at any moment, and will even walk by the window of the controller.

1 Geist

A Ghost In The Shell

Geist is a GameCube-exclusive first-person adventure game published by Nintendo. It takes silent protagonist John Raimi into the heart of the Volks Corporation. After one of his fellow soldiers goes berserk and kills him, an experiment tears John’s soul from his body. As a spirit, he must navigate the Volks Corporation to recover his body, as well as to discover the past of both its leader and a young girl whose spirit wanders its halls.

The bulk of Geist’s gameplay involves using John’s ghostly possession abilities, allowing him to control humans, animals, and other objects to solve puzzles. Living entities can only be possessed if they are scared, making them vulnerable enough for him to control, which adds an interesting wrinkle to the gameplay.

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